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Students for Justice in Palestine Group Loses Lawsuit Against Columbia University

The “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia University, located in the Manhattan borough of New York City, on April 25, 2024. Photo: Reuters Connect
A New York judge has upheld Columbia University’s suspension of its Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter, a measure taken against the campus group after it launched of spree of assaults, hate campaigns, and disruptive protests following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.
SJP, as well as its affiliate pro-Hamas partner Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), sued the university in March, alleging that its suspension perpetuated “already pervasive dangerous stereotypes about Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims,” and other minority groups. Represented by the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the groups sought to have their status restored by appealing to the courts, as well as the public, whom it attempted to convince that Columbia University, one of the most culturally left-wing higher education institutions in the country, discriminates against minorities of color.
The strategy proved unsuccessful last week, as Judge Nicholas Moyne of the New York State Supreme Court, who presided over the case, ruled that the university had sufficient cause to suspend the two groups.
“After reviewing the record, the court finds that Columbia University’s decision to temporarily suspend the petitioners from their status as recognized student groups was neither arbitrary or capricious, irrational, or in violation of clearly established university policies,” Moyne said in his decision. “Accordingly, the petition is denied and the cross-motion to dismiss the petition is granted. All student groups at Columbia are subject to and required to comply with Columbia’s special events policies, which govern, inter alia, when, where, and how events on campus, including protests and demonstrations, may be held and what notice needs to be given to university officials prior to the commencement of any student group events, demonstrations, or protests.”
Columbia University suspended SJP and JVP in last November, explaining in a statement that the groups had “repeatedly violated university policies related to holding campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event … that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.” Both SJP and JVP have been instrumental in organizing disruptive anti-Israel protests on Columbia’s campus since Hamas invaded Israel last Oct. 7 and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Even after being disciplined, however, SJP members continued their activities in front groups — such as Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a non-campus affiliated organization that supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel — staging more protests in flagrant violation of the terms of its suspension.
ACLU’s portrayal of pro-Hamas students as peaceful and artistic victims of racism has always been in tension with how Jewish Columbia students have described their behavior and the university’s response to it.
Anti-Israel activists have chanted “F— the Jews,” “Death to Jews,” “Jews will not defeat us,” and “From water to water, Palestine will be Arab,” on campus grounds since the Oct. 7 atrocities, violating the school’s code of conduct, according to a lawsuit filed against Columbia University earlier this year by StandWithUs, a Jewish civil rights organization. In other alleged incidents, they allegedly beat up five Jewish students in Columbia’s Butler Library and attacked another with a stick, lacerating his head and breaking his finger.
Anti-Jewish violence and hatred became so common, the lawsuit charged, that Columbia told Jewish students that campus security could no longer guarantee their safety.
Jewish victims at Columbia have prevailed in other lawsuits filed against the university in recent months. In June, the university’s legal counsel settled a case in which it was accused of neglecting its obligation to foster a safe learning environment amid riotous pro-Hamas protests that were held at the school throughout the final weeks of the 2023-2024 academic year.
The resolution of the case, first reported by Reuters, called for Columbia to hire a “Safe Passage Liaison” who will monitor protests and “walking escorts” who will accompany students whose safety is threatened around the campus. Other details of the settlement include “accommodations” for students whose academic lives are disrupted by protests and new security policies for controlling access to school property.
“We’re pleased we’ve been able to come to a resolution and remain committed to our number one priority: the safety of our campus so that all of our students can successfully pursue their education and meet their academic goals,” the university told The Algemeiner after the settlement was announced.
The university is the target of another pro-Hamas lawfare suit in which the plaintiff is on the record promoting antisemitic hatred.
In October, the school was sued for discrimination by a student, Khymani James, whom officials suspended for filming himself proclaim that Zionists should be murdered and are fortunate that he has not begun killing them himself. James alleges that the suspension — prompted by the incident and other misconduct charges Columbia filed against him for participating in an illegal pro-Hamas encampment — was racist and aimed at “privileging a subset of Jewish people.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Students for Justice in Palestine Group Loses Lawsuit Against Columbia University 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.