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Some Campus Protesters Despise America as Much as They Do Israel
As New York police cleared an anti-Israel encampment at New York University on the morning of May 3, officers discovered rudimentary signs proclaiming “Death to Israeli real estate” and “Death to America!”
The latter is an Islamist rallying cry popularized during the 1979 Iranian revolution. In addition to a hatred of Jews and Israel, some of the rhetoric and conduct that emerged from campus protests shares a similar militant antipathy toward the United States.
While the incidents might appear relatively few in number, Americans would be wise to recognize what this potential trend might mean for the Democratic Convention in August and campus life in the fall, and the country more broadly.
At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) — America’s first public university — anti-Israel protesters replaced the American flag with a Palestinian flag on April 30, amid chants of “There is only one solution! Intifada revolution!”
On April 19, crowds at Yale mocked America and cheered as protesters removed and tried to burn the US flag flying in front of a war memorial honoring Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Protesters at Yale repeated the same chant heard at UNC.
At the University of Michigan, organizers shared pamphlets with students declaring, “Freedom for Palestine means Death to America.” To the antisemitic and anti-American messaging, the pamphleteers added an anarchist element: “Ultimately, our main task as revolutionaries in the United States remains to be the unmaking of the American empire.”
The toxic combination of antisemitic, anti-Israel, and anti-US sentiment at campus protests should sound familiar to Americans.
The parents and grandparents of many campus protesters will remember 9/11. Osama Bin Laden, the Islamist terrorist responsible for orchestrating the most devastating terror attack on the US homeland in its history, called the killing of “Jews and Americans” one of “the most important duties.”
That’s just what Hamas did on October 7. Among the 1,200 killed and 240 abducted on that day were dozens of Americans, some of whom remain hostages. That doesn’t stop campus protesters from supporting Hamas, and championing its goals.
Some campus protesters have even supported the Houthi militia, another Islamist terror group and benefactor of Iran. Protesters at Columbia, Brown, and UCLA shouted “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud, turn another ship around!” referring to Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea — including American vessels. The Houthis chant their mantra, “Death to America, Death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam.”
After the UNC Chancellor and administrators, escorted by police officers, brought a new American flag to replace the Palestinian one, protesters tried pulling that flag down, too. But with a patriotic spirit reminiscent of the New York City firefighters who raised the flag above Ground Zero on September 11, 2001, members of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity rushed to lift the Stars and Stripes above the ground, protecting it for hours as anti-Israel protesters pelted the guardians with objects.
The fraternity brothers at UNC have shown us the way. We will need more young Americans willing to do the same.
Antonette Bowman is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The post Some Campus Protesters Despise America as Much as They Do Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.