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SUNY Purchase Leaders Violated Students’ Rights and Rewarded Jew-Hating Rhetoric; They Must Be Held Accountable

SUNY Purchase. Photo: Wiki Commons.

When I first met Milagros “Milly” Peña — the president of SUNY (State University of New York) Purchase College — it was in the wake of two incidents involving Jewish safety on campus, both prior to October 7.

In the first incident, a vandalized Israeli flag was adorned with a classic blood libel. In the second, Hillel’s sukkah was intentionally overturned just one day after its construction. 

In response to these incidents, I came prepared to my meeting with a list of ways that President Peña could make Jewish students feel safer on campus, including adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism and establishing antisemitism training. Overall, Peña was incredibly supportive, and I left that meeting hopeful towards the year ahead.

But after zero follow-up and several requests for updates, it became clear that I had received the first of what would be many empty promises.

Now, after having witnessed the turmoil that was unleashed on our campus last semester and Milly Peña’s capitulation to anti-Israel students’ demands, I’ve come to understand that the only way the Purchase administration will address the rampant Jew hatred on campus is if the Federal government orders them to do so.

That’s why on August 20, 2024, I, together with a student and the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department, filed a Title VI complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

During the last school year, Jewish students and I faced relentless harassment, threats, and intimidation, repeatedly driving us off of our own campus.

Far too many times, Hillel was forced to redirect funds intended for events to cover hotel rooms and transportation for students frightened to stay in their dorms. Although we consistently reached out to administrators to report incidents, we were largely ignored. 

On February 12, 2024, an unofficial student group by the name of Raise the Consciousness (RTC) began advertising an event in collaboration with Samidoun, an organization known for fundraising for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — a US-designated terrorist organization. The group is banned in Germany for hosting explicitly anti-Jewish rallies.

I alerted Chief Dayton Tucker of the university police department and Lisa Miles-Boyce, Chief Diversity Officer, about the problem — sharing information directly exposing Samidoun’s ties to terrorism and their unabashed antisemitism. I received a quick thank you from Lisa and was redirected to Chief Tucker in case I had “questions or concerns.”

No organizers were contacted, and the event went forward as planned, during which students stood outside of a Jewish administrator’s office and told him to “count your f***ing days.”

The nonchalance with which administrators met RTC’s actions, even as they became more unhinged and outwardly pro-Hamas, continued throughout the year.

Countless acts of vandalism were largely ignored, the only response being facilities staff who were forced to spend their day power-washing pavement in the freezing rain.

Eventually, after months of harassment, conduct violations, and antisemitic remarks, Peña decided to take action — not in the form of consequences for law defying students, but rather a healing circle. Of the roughly 40 attendees, about half were students — yet among them, only four were there to genuinely participate rather than protest. All four were Hillel members.

Curiously, at this event, administrators who had until that point been dismissing or outright ignoring students reporting antisemitism were suddenly eager to greet us as a camera flashed in our direction.

Despite Peña’s healing circle, antisemitism persisted, ultimately culminating on May 2, when RTC erected an illegal encampment.

Jewish safety was threatened, with many students taking refuge in the Hillel lounge to avoid their peers’ glares and shouts of “free Palestine” and “long live the intifada” in their faces. Peña, knowing full well that students were intimidated into hiding, offered to meet with the protestors and shockingly agreed to almost every one of their demands, including full amnesty for the few students that faced consequences for actions such as vandalism, destruction of property, and assault that year. 

Despite Jewish students’ tireless advocacy and strict adherence to campus policy throughout the school year, only the voices of those that had threatened and forced their way to the negotiating table were heard.

Jewish students and faculty tried to resolve the issues on campus behind closed doors countless times throughout the year. We endured antisemitic remarks hurled our way in the presence of administrators, and waited for responses that would never come.

There were many days in which someone would return to the Hillel lounge exasperated after a meeting, having been denied basic acknowledgement of our experiences. 

Now, as the campus reopens and RTC continues to expand on the demands they’d been granted last semester, it’s clear that there’s no more room for negotiation. SUNY Purchase must be held accountable for its dismissal of Jewish students’ rights to safety, dignity, and education. The future of Jewish life at Purchase is at risk, and it cannot afford to wait another moment for action.

Esti Heller graduated from SUNY Purchase with a degree in Creative Writing and Screenwriting in the spring of 2024. During her time at Purchase, she spent two years as president of the Hillel on campus and was the 2023-2024 StandWithUs Emerson Fellow.

The post SUNY Purchase Leaders Violated Students’ Rights and Rewarded Jew-Hating Rhetoric; They Must Be Held Accountable 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.

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