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Sarah Lawrence Has Allowed and Encouraged Antisemitism; I Would Not Send My Own Children There
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) members inside the Westlands administrative building at Sarah Lawrence College. Photo: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)/Screenshot
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel and perpetrated the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
On that same day — while these atrocities were occurring — Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) professor Suzanne Gardinier made 17 social media posts with the hashtag “#freepalestine.” In one of the posts, Gardinier appeared to celebrate the attack.
On Oct. 8, 2023, Emmaia Gelman — Sarah Lawrence professor and Director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism — made an Instagram post featuring a photo of Hamas invading Israel by breaking through a barrier fence with the accompanying comment, “Solidarity with those who break prison walls.”
A reader responded, “The romanticization of an event whose sole purpose was to murder innocent civilians is a bewildering level of delusion.” Another reader replied, “This is by far the most fu**ed up thing I have seen on social media.”
A Sarah Lawrence student at the time, Sammy Tweedy, responded, “#youshouldbefired.”
Later that school year, Tweedy — son of the singer Jeff Tweedy of Wilco fame — made news for publicly addressing antisemitism at Sarah Lawrence.
Sammy Tweedy told the politically progressive Forward that he was “excommunicated” on campus “for just going to Israel.” Tweedy shared, “If you’re Jewish and you have an identity where Israel is a part of it, you are dehumanized. People called me a Nazi. People called me genocidal.”
According to this 2023 Forward report, Tweedy “said he has filed bias incident reports with the school along with more than 100 screenshots of online harassment, including students identified by name saying ‘they want me to die,’ but the school has taken no action.”
In a column published just this week, Sarah Lawrence professor Samuel J. Abrams discussed a current student who is fearful to be on campus:
As a Jewish Zionist, the student — like others — has faced threats and harassment. The college experience has been anything but normal. No real campus life. No security. No peace. Sarah Lawrence has let this happen. It has become a place where students like this one, and professors like me, are targeted for our faith, heritage, and belief in Israel’s right to exist.
As a professor and a Zionist, I find it heartbreaking. No student should fear their own campus. No student should have to choose between safety and an education.
On Oct. 9, 2023, the SLC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) celebrated Hamas’s pogrom on social media, referring to the rapes, massacre, and hostage-taking of Israelis as “the uprising in Palestine.” Interestingly, the SLC-SJP post used the same photograph of a Hamas bulldozer breaking into Israel that Gelman used a day earlier. In March, SLC-SJP featured Gelman at an event, referring to her as a “fantastic” speaker.
According to a report by The Algemeiner, “No sooner had the [Oct. 7] tragedy occurred than Briana Martin — SLC director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) — called on students to ignore Jewish suffering by attending on Oct. 9 an ‘Hour of Solidarity with Palestine,’ an event co-sponsored by SJP.”
On Feb. 6 of this year, Gardinier shared someone else’s post on X which stated, “Palestinians did not commit a crime on Oct. 7.”
The next day, Gardinier shared two posts on X blaming Israel — not Hamas — for most of the Oct. 7 murders and denying Hamas’s use of mass rape against Israeli women and girls. One post read, “Most of the people killed on Oct. 7 were actually killed by Israel.” The other stated, “israel [sic] killed most of its own people on oct 7 and there was no mass rape, it was all atrocity propaganda.”
Even the United Nations — an organization viewed by many as notoriously anti-Israel — is clear: “On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups killed approximately 1,200 persons in Israel.” And The New York Times — a publication often accused of being biased against Israel — published a widely read, in-depth investigation titled, “How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7.”
On Nov. 24, Gardinier wrote on social media that it was “an honor” to stand with others at the SLC encampment. She did not mention the prominent support of terrorism on display at the encampment as clearly encapsulated by a large banner promoting Samidoun. Samidoun was designated by the US Department of the Treasury under President Biden as a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.”
As reported by the ADL, the banner also included “the image of convicted terrorist Georges Abdallah, formerly with the PFLP, who was sentenced to life in prison in France for the 1982 murders in Paris of an Israeli diplomat and an American military attaché.”
In a 2024 zine written by “Anonymous Sarah Lawrence Students,” the authors state that they answered Hamas’s call for “escalation” by occupying a building on campus.
Considering that student groups have promoted fundraisers for Gaza and considering the student support for Hamas and Samidoun, the college — as well as local and federal authorities — should investigate the possibility that funds may have been provided to organizations that support terrorism.
In November of 2024, Abrams published a column about the now dismantled SLC encampment, titled “Sarah Lawrence Has Fallen,” explaining the anti-Israel fervor on campus:
In the dead of night on Nov. 21, a group of students linked to Sarah Lawrence College’s (SLC) Divestment Coalition stormed Westlands, the school’s main administrative building, and announced their occupation through social media. This was no quiet protest. Hiding their identities behind masks, the group decorated the building with signs, barricaded doors, and blocked windows with plywood, effectively shutting down the school’s operations. Dozens of students living in the dormitory above were trapped and access to key school offices were blocked. Outside, an encampment took shape, turning the scene into a spectacle broadcast across social media for the world to witness.
Abrams, a Jewish professor, added that SLC students “issued demands not for dialogue but for destruction. They called for harm against Zionists, the eradication of Israel, and displayed deeply inflammatory slogans such as ‘Long live the intifada!’”
In the end, students failed in their efforts to have Sarah Lawrence divest from Israel, and the encampment was dismantled.
Recently, anti-Israel students at SLC have encouraged fellow students to boycott Abrams’ classes. Abrams explained that the boycott is because he supports “Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself” and because he is a “Zionist Jew.”
This week, on a Sarah Lawrence alumni social media page, a graduate of the college wrote, “May no Zionist, be they Christian, Jewish, or atheist (because all of these exist) be safe from harassment just as white men who espouse white supremacy should not be safe from harassment either.”
In early 2025, the US Department of Education opened a Title VI antisemitism investigation into Sarah Lawrence in response to a complaint filed by Hillel accusing the college of fostering a hostile environment towards Jewish students.
I received a rigorous education at Sarah Lawrence and am proud of it. For decades, I recommended Sarah Lawrence to anyone who asked. Now, I would not send my own children to Sarah Lawrence.
Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.
The post Sarah Lawrence Has Allowed and Encouraged Antisemitism; I Would Not Send My Own Children There first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Says It Has Replaced Air Defenses Damaged in Israel War
The S-300 missile system is seen during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran has replaced air defenses damaged during last month’s conflict with Israel, Iran’s Defah Press news agency reported on Sunday quoting Mahmoud Mousavi, the regular army’s deputy for operations.
During the conflict in June, Israel’s air force dominated Iran’s airspace and dealt a heavy blow to the country’s air defenses while Iranian armed forces launched successive barrages of missiles and drones on Israeli territory.
“Some of our air defenses were damaged, this is not something we can hide, but our colleagues have used domestic resources and replaced them with pre-arranged systems that were stored in suitable locations in order to keep the airspace secure,” Mousavi said.
Prior to the war, Iran had its own domestically-made long-range air defense system Bavar-373 in addition to the Russian-made S-300 system. The report by Defah Press did not mention any import of foreign-made air defense systems to Iran in past weeks.
Following limited Israeli strikes against Iranian missile factories last October, Iran later displayed Russian-made air defenses in a military exercise to show it recovered from the attack.
The post Iran Says It Has Replaced Air Defenses Damaged in Israel War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Calm Reported in Syria’s Sweida, Damascus Says Truce Holding
Members of Internal Security Forces stand guard at an Internal Security Forces’ checkpoint working to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Walgha, Sweida province, Syria, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Residents reported calm in Syria’s Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and a US envoy signaled that a deal to end days of fighting was being implemented.
With hundreds reported killed, the Sweida bloodshed is a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, prompting Israel to launch airstrikes against government forces last week as it declared support for the Druze. Fighting continued on Saturday despite a ceasefire call.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said on Sunday that internal security forces had managed to calm the situation and enforce the ceasefire, “paving the way for a prisoner exchange and the gradual return of stability throughout the governorate.”
Reuters images showed interior ministry forces near the city, blocking the road in front of members of tribes congregated there. The Interior Ministry said late on Saturday that Bedouin fighters had left the city.
US envoy Tom Barrack said the sides had “navigated to a pause and cessation of hostilities”. “The next foundation stone on a path to inclusion, and lasting de-escalation, is a complete exchange of hostages and detainees, the logistics of which are in process,” he wrote on X.
Kenan Azzam, a dentist, said there was an uneasy calm but the city’s residents were struggling with a lack of water and electricity. “The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,” he said by phone.
Another resident, Raed Khazaal, said aid was urgently needed. “Houses are destroyed … The smell of corpses is spread throughout the national hospital,” he said in a voice message to Reuters from Sweida.
The Syrian state news agency said an aid convoy sent to the city by the government was refused entry while aid organized by the Syrian Red Crescent was let in. A source familiar with the situation said local factions in Sweida had turned back the government convoy.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday that Israel sent urgent medical aid to the Druze in Sweida and the step was coordinated with Washington and Syria. Spokespeople for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Ministry and the military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Druze are a small but influential minority in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion that is an offshoot of a branch of Shi’ite Islam. Some hardline Sunnis deem their beliefs heretical.
The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. Damascus sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of widespread violations against the Druze.
Residents of the predominantly Druze city said friends and neighbours were shot at close range in their homes or in the streets by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and insignia.
Sharaa on Thursday promised to protect the rights of Druze and to hold to account those who committed violations against “our Druze people.”
He has blamed the violence on “outlaw groups.”
While Sharaa has won US backing since meeting President Donald Trump in May, the violence has underscored the challenge he faces stitching back together a country shattered by 14 years of conflict, and added to pressures on its mosaic of sectarian and ethnic groups.
COASTAL VIOLENCE
After Israel bombed Syrian government forces in Sweida and hit the defense ministry in Damascus last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarization of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida.
He also said Israel would protect the Druze.
The United States however said it did not support the Israeli strikes. On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for two days.
A Syrian security source told Reuters that internal security forces had taken up positions near Sweida, establishing checkpoints in western and eastern parts of the province where retreating tribal fighters had gathered.
On Sunday, Sharaa received the report of an inquiry into violence in Syria’s coastal region in March, where Reuters reported in June that Syrian forces killed 1,500 members of the Alawite minority following attacks on security forces.
The presidency said it would review the inquiry’s conclusions and ensure steps to “bring about justice” and prevent the recurrence of “such violations.” It called on the inquiry to hold a news conference on its findings – if appropriate – as soon as possible.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said on July 18 it had documented the deaths of at least 321 people in Sweida province since July 13. The preliminary toll included civilians, women, children, Bedouin fighters, members of local groups and members of the security forces, it said, and the dead included people killed in field executions by both sides.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another monitoring group, has reported a death toll of at least 940 people.
Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.
The post Calm Reported in Syria’s Sweida, Damascus Says Truce Holding first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pope Leo Calls for End to ‘Barbarity of War’ After Strike on Gaza Church
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Pope Leo called for an end to the “barbarity of war” on Sunday as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza.
Three people died and several were injured, including the parish priest, in the strike on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City on Thursday. Photos show its roof has been hit close to the main cross, scorching the stone facade, and shattering windows.
Speaking after his Angelus prayer, Leo read out the names of those killed in the incident.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population,” he said.
The post Pope Leo Calls for End to ‘Barbarity of War’ After Strike on Gaza Church first appeared on Algemeiner.com.