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Rutgers Must Protect Jewish Students From Antisemitic Referenda

View of Rutgers University from College Avenue. Tomwsulcer/Wikimedia Commons.

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, is awash in a wave of antisemitic rhetoric and actions. This moment, with Jewish and Israeli students facing unprecedented harassment and challenges, is a dangerous time indeed for the university to proceed with two referenda demonizing Israel. The measures were placed by the Rutgers University Student Assembly on the upcoming Spring 2024 Assembly elections ballot. The administration must step in now and cancel the BDS referendum to protect these students.

On October 7, 2023, the Jewish community faced its largest massacre in a single day since the Holocaust, as Hamas terrorists butchered more than 1,200 innocent people, including over 300 young people at a music festival, raping and mutilating many of the victims, and taking over 240 hostages, over 130 of whom are believed to remain in Gaza. In the months since, Israel has fought to prevent future atrocities, and rescue these hostages, who, according to both released hostages and the United Nations, are experiencing ongoing sexual assault.

What a strange time for Rutgers students to be forced to vote on two referenda delegitimizing Israel, one demanding that the university end its investments in any firms that do business with Israel, and the other insisting that Rutgers terminate its longstanding partnership with Tel Aviv University.

We know that anti-Israel campaigns contribute to a rise in antisemitism on campus, and that anti-Israel activists have raised the climate of antisemitism in the United States to its highest level since before World War II.

At Rutgers specifically, the situation is stark. Between October 7 and February 15, Rutgers Hillel noted 49 individual instances of antisemitism on campus. When Rutgers’ president wrote a letter expressing sorrow at the horrific deaths of the 1,200 civilians in Israel on October 7 — just two days after the nightmare, on October 9 — he was attacked by a group of anti-Israel Rutgers faculty members for sympathizing with Israelis without mentioning Palestinians. In one instance, a student wearing a kippah — a Jewish religious head covering — in the student center was greeted with chants of “Murderer, murderer.”

Rutgers was already forced to suspend the radical organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which called Hamas’ massacre of Jews “justified,” and was found to have exhibited “disruptive or disorderly conduct,” disrupted “classes, a program, meals, and students studying[,]” and sparked “allegations of vandalism.” Little wonder, then, that students are taking their cues from extremists on the faculty who hold seminars with genocidal content, referring to Israel as a form of “white nationalism,” and calling for it to be destroyed as a country.

The Rutgers administration should take its cues from other universities that have boldly and appropriately stepped in to ensure that their schools are not hijacked by anti-Israel radicals, who make Jewish students feel so unsafe on campus that they are uncomfortable even wearing religious, Hebrew language, or other Jewish-identifying clothing.

Earlier this month, Ohio State University acted to block an Israel-targeting referendum placed on their ballot, after the Ohio attorney general advised the school that divesting from Israel would violate state law. Also, this month, Vanderbilt University’s administration blocked an attempt to add anti-Israel language to the student government’s constitution. Similarly, in December, the University of Michigan stopped a referendum that would have delegitimized and called for divestment from Israel.

A New Jersey law, passed overwhelmingly in 2016, calls for state pension funds to be divested from any company involved in the boycott of the State of Israel, and the state has invoked this legislation against offenders as significant as Unilever and Danske Bank.

New Jersey public policy is clearly against the aims of the BDS movement, which calls for the utter derecognition and dismantling of the State of Israel. Recognizing the climate of harassment Jewish and Israeli students face on campus, Rutgers must act now to remove the two antisemitic referendums from the ballot.

Hen Mazzig runs the Tel Aviv Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to combating online antisemitism. He has been named one of the top 50 LGBTQ+ influencers. 

The post Rutgers Must Protect Jewish Students From Antisemitic Referenda first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Putin Speaks to Trump, Condemns Israel’s Strikes on Iran, Kremlin Says

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meet in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to US President Donald Trump for 50 minutes on Saturday, condemning the Israeli military operation against Iran and expressing concern about the risks of escalation, the Kremlin said.

“Vladimir Putin condemned Israel’s military operation against Iran and expressed serious concern about a possible escalation of the conflict, which would have unpredictable consequences for the entire situation in the Middle East,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

Trump, for his part, described events in the Middle East as “very alarming,” according to Ushakov. But the two leaders said they do not rule out a return to the negotiating track on Iran’s nuclear program, Ushakov said.

On Ukraine, Putin told the US leader that Russia was ready to continue negotiations with the Ukrainians after June 22, according to state news agency RIA.

Trump reiterated his interest in a speedy resolution to the conflict, the Kremlin aide said.

Putin also congratulated Trump on his 79th birthday.

The post Putin Speaks to Trump, Condemns Israel’s Strikes on Iran, Kremlin Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Sunday’s US-Iran Nuclear Talks Cancelled, Oman Says

FILE PHOTO: Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi attends a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia July 11, 2023. Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

The latest round of US-Iran nuclear talks scheduled for Sunday in Muscat will not take place, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X on Saturday. Oman has been mediating the talks.

Albusaidi’s statement came a day after Israel launched a sweeping air offensive against Iran, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop it building an atomic weapon.

A senior official of US President Donald Trump’s administration, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Sunday’s talks had been cancelled.

Washington, however, remained committed to the negotiations and hoped “the Iranians will come to the table soon,” the official said.

The post Sunday’s US-Iran Nuclear Talks Cancelled, Oman Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Iran Says Talks with US ‘Meaningless’ After Israel Attack, But Yet to Decide on Attending

USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, Sept. 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Iran said the dialogue with the US over Tehran’s nuclear program is “meaningless” after Israel’s biggest-ever military strike against its longstanding enemy, but said it is yet to decide on whether to attend planned talks on Sunday.

“The other side (the US) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime (Israel) to target Iran’s territory,” state media on Saturday quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying.

“It is still unclear what decision we will make on Sunday in this regard,” Baghaei was quoted as saying.

He said Israel “succeeded in influencing” the diplomatic process and the Israeli attack would not have happened without Washington’s permission, accusing Washington of supporting the attack.

Iran earlier accused the US of being complicit in Israel’s attacks, but Washington denied the allegation and told Tehran at the United Nations Security Council that it would be “wise” to negotiate over its nuclear program.

The sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks was set to be held on Sunday in Muscat, but it was unclear whether it would go ahead after the Israeli strikes.

Iran denies that its uranium enrichment program is for anything other than civilian purposes, rejecting Israeli allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.

US President Donald Trump told Reuters that he and his team had known the Israeli attacks were coming but they still saw room for an accord.

The post Iran Says Talks with US ‘Meaningless’ After Israel Attack, But Yet to Decide on Attending first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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