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Trinity College Rejects Divestment Proposal Pushed by Anti-Israel Activists

Pro-Hamas activists gather in Washington Square Park for a rally following a protest march held in response to an NYPD sweep of an anti-Israel encampment at New York University in Manhattan, May 3, 2024. Photo: Matthew Rodier/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Trinity College in Connecticut has rejected a proposal to adopt the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — which aims to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination.

“Guided by its fiduciary responsibilities, the board of trustees has chosen not to change or revise Trinity College’s investment policies,” a statement issued by the school on Monday said. “We will continue with our primary objective of maintaining the endowment’s intergeneration equity to support current and future generations of students.”

It continued, “The long-term and practical challenges of divesting or utilizing the endowment to exert political influence would create too much risk for the institution and potentially compromise its ability to carry out its primary educational mission. The college’s faculty, staff, students, and future students depend upon a strong and growing endowment to support our critical operations.”

In its communication, the college pointed to three groups which demanded divestment from Israel or “disclosure” of the extent of its financial ties to Israel or companies with which it does business, including manufacturers of armaments. Those groups include the Palestine Solidarity Encampment at Trinity College, TrinDivests, and a faction within the college faculty which called on school officials to comply with the students’ demands.

It also noted that acceding to demands for divestment for the sake of “utilizing the endowment to exert political influence” would injure the college financially, stressing that doing so would “compromise our access to fund managers, in turn undermining the board’s ability to perform its fiduciary obligation.”

As The Algemeiner has previously reported, American universities are largely rejecting demands to divest from Israel and entities at all linked to the Jewish state, delivering further blows to the pro-Hamas protest movement, which students and faculty pushed with dozens of illegal demonstrations to coerce officials into enacting the policy.

As Trinity College did on Monday, Chapman University trustee Jim Burra cited in September a “fiduciary responsibility” to future students and faculty which ruled out divestment as a possibility, explaining that “it is important that we make financial decisions based on risk and return.” The prior month, the University of Minnesota pointed to the same reason while touching on the extent to which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict polarizes its campus community. However, the university did adopt a new policy for its investments, a so-called “position of neutrality” which, it says, will be a guardrail protecting university business from the caprices of political opinion.

“For the past several months, we have sought expert analysis and a variety of perspectives on how the university invests its Consolidated Endowment Fund,” University of Minnesota Board of Regents chair Janie Mayeron said in a statement at the time. “We have reviewed how this fund operates, how it supports affordable education for students, groundbreaking research, and community engagement, and the possible financial challenges of divestment … In the end, it is clear our community is divided on the topic. After careful consideration of all this input, we believe today’s action honors our fiduciary duty and the long term needs of the university.”

Several weeks earlier, Oberlin College’s Board of Trustees voted against divestment after reviewing a proposal submitted by “Students for a Free Palestine,” a spin-off of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations.

Colleges and universities will lose tens of billions of dollars collectively from their endowments if they capitulate to demands to divest from Israel , according to a report published in September by JLens, a Jewish investor network that is part of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Titled “The Impact of Israel Divestment on Equity Portfolios: Forecasting BDS’s Financial Toll on University Endowments,” the report presented the potential financial impact of universities adopting the BDS movement, which is widely condemned for being antisemitic.

The losses estimated by JLens are cataclysmic. Adopting BDS, it said, would incinerate $33.21 billion of future returns for the 100 largest university endowments over the next 10 years, with Harvard University losing $2.5 billion and the University of Texas losing $2.2 billion. Other schools would forfeit over $1 billion, including the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Princeton University. For others, such as the University of Michigan and Dartmouth College, the damages would total in the hundreds of millions.

“This groundbreaking report approached the morally problematic BDS movement from an entirely new direction — its negative impact on portfolio returns,” New York University adjunct professor Michael Lustig said in a statement extolling the report. “JLens has done a great job in quantifying the financial effects of implementing the suggestions of this pernicious movement, and importantly, they ‘show their work’ by providing full transparency into their methodology, and properly caveat the points where assumptions must necessarily be made. This report will prove to be an important tool in helping to fight noxious BDS advocacy.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Trinity College Rejects Divestment Proposal Pushed by Anti-Israel Activists first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival

Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

i24 NewsChants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.

One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.

This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.

The post Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Rubio Holds First Meeting with Hostage Families, Urges End to Gaza War

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard

i24 NewsUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio held on Friday his first meeting with the families of the hostages still held in Gaza since taking office in January, telling the loved ones that a “real victory” can only occur in Gaza when the remaining hostages are returned.

Those in attendance included Omri Miran’s brother-in-law; Evyatar David’s brother; Hadar Goldin’s brother; and Iair Horn, who himself is a freed hostage, with his brother Eitan still held by Hamas in Gaza.

According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, they urged the current US administration for a “bold decision.” “We’ve waited long enough,” the family members said. “It’s time to make brave decisions and bring all our loved ones back—all at once.”

Rubio, in turn, expressed the Trump administration’s “unwavering commitment” in rescuing the 49 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

This meeting comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he believes a ceasefire will be reached between Israel and Hamas “within the next week.”

The post Rubio Holds First Meeting with Hostage Families, Urges End to Gaza War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump Says He Would Consider Bombing Iran Again, Drops Sanctions Relief Plan

US President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not pictured), at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

US President Donald Trump sharply criticized Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamanei, on Friday, dropped plans to lift sanctions on Iran and said he would consider bombing Iran again if Tehran is enriching uranium to worrisome levels.

Trump reacted sternly to Khamanei’s first remarks after a 12-day conflict with Israel that ended when the United States launched bombing raids last weekend against Iranian nuclear sites.

Khamanei said Iran “slapped America in the face” by launching an attack against a major US base in Qatar following the US bombing raids. Khamanei also said Iran would never surrender.

Trump said he had spared Khamanei’s life. US officials told Reuters on June 15 that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill the supreme leader.

“His Country was decimated, his three evil Nuclear Sites were OBLITERATED, and I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the U.S. Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life,” Trump said in a social media post.

“I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH,” he said.

Iran said a potential nuclear deal was conditional on the US ending its “disrespectful tone” toward the Supreme Leader.

“If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt followers,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X in the early hours of Saturday.

Trump also said that in recent days he had been working on the possible removal of sanctions on Iran to give it a chance for a speedy recovery. He said he had now abandoned that effort.

“I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more,” he said.

Trump said at a White House news conference that he did not rule out attacking Iran again, when asked about the possibility of new bombing of Iranian nuclear sites if deemed necessary at some point.

“Sure, without question, absolutely,” he said.

Trump said he would like inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency – the U.N. nuclear watchdog – or another respected source to be able to inspect Iran’s nuclear sites after they were bombed last weekend.

Trump has rejected any suggestion that damage to the sites was not as profound as he has said.

The IAEA chief, Rafael Grossi, said on Wednesday that ensuring the resumption of IAEA inspections was his top priority as none had taken place since Israel began bombing on June 13.

However, Iran’s parliament approved moves on Wednesday to suspend such inspections. Araqchi indicated on Friday that Tehran may reject any request by the head of the agency for visits to Iranian nuclear sites.

Trump said Iran still wants to meet about the way forward. The White House had said on Thursday that no meeting between the U.S. and an Iranian delegation has been scheduled thus far.

The post Trump Says He Would Consider Bombing Iran Again, Drops Sanctions Relief Plan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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