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Trump Says US Colleges Could Lose Accreditation Over ‘Antisemitic Propaganda’ if He’s Elected
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump points to his ear as he speaks at the Economic Club of New York in New York City, Sept. 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told Jewish donors on Thursday that US universities would lose accreditation and federal support over what he described as “antisemitic propaganda” if he is elected to the White House.
“Colleges will and must end the antisemitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and federal support,” Trump said, speaking remotely to a crowd of more than 1,000 Republican Jewish Coalition donors in Las Vegas.
Protests roiled college campuses in spring, with students opposing Israel‘s military offensive in Gaza and demanding institutions boycott and divest from all entities linked to Israel.
Republicans have said the protests show some Democrats are antisemites who support chaos. Protest groups say authorities have unfairly labeled their criticism of Israel‘s policies as antisemitic.
The Association of American Universities, which says it represents some 69 leading US universities, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the United States, the federal government does not directly accredit universities but has a role in overseeing the mostly private organizations that give colleges accreditation.
In his speech, Trump also said he would ban refugee resettlement from “terror infested” areas like Gaza and arrest “pro-Hamas thugs” who engage in vandalism, an apparent reference to the college student protesters.
Under both Trump and incumbent US President Joe Biden, similar numbers of Palestinians were admitted to the US as refugees. From fiscal year 2017-2020, the US accepted 114 Palestinian refugees, according to US State Department data, compared with 124 Palestinian refugees from fiscal year 2021 to July 31 of this year.
While Trump sketched out few concrete Middle Eastern policy proposals for a second term, he painted a potential Harris presidency in cataclysmic terms for Israel.
“You’re going to be abandoned if she becomes president. And I think you need to explain that to your people … You’re not going to have an Israel if she becomes president,” Trump said.
A campaign spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, Morgan Finkelstein, said Harris was a lifelong supporter of Israel and stood against antisemitism. Finkelstein highlighted that Trump in 2022 dined with white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-A-Lago resort.
Harris has hewed closely to Biden’s support of Israel and rejected calls from some in the Democratic Party that Washington should rethink sending weapons to Israel because of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza.
She has, however, called for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling the situation there “devastating.”
Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza say more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in the enclave since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks led by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Experts have cast doubt on the reliability of such casualty figures coming out of Gaza, in part because they do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Some 1,200 Israelis were killed in the surprise attack and about 250 were taken hostage during the onslaught, in which Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists also perpetrated widespread sexual violence, including torture and gang-rape.
Israel responded with its ongoing military campaign in neighboring Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.
WISH LIST FOR TRUMP
The Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund says it is spending some $15 million to support Trump by helping bring out Jewish voters in battleground states.
The network has been financially supported by Sheldon Adelson, the late American casino mogul, and his Israeli-born widow Miriam Adelson. RJC members gathered this week for their annual conference at The Venetian Resort, which was developed by Sheldon Adelson’s company, the Las Vegas Sands Corp. Miriam Adelson is also the lead financier of a super PAC spending group that has said it is looking to raise over $100 million to support Trump.
In a half-dozen Reuters interviews at the conference, attendees broadly voiced three priorities for a potential second Trump term: expanding the Abraham Accords, pursuing a tougher line on Iran, and either reforming or defunding the United Nations.
The Trump administration in 2020 helped broker the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab nations.
But US-backed plans to normalize ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel were put on ice last year as war escalated between Israel and Hamas.
RJC chairman Norm Coleman, who is also a lobbyist for Saudi Arabia in Washington, told Reuters he was still hopeful the Abraham Accords could be expanded under Biden.
“But if it’s not done, I would hope that President Trump would do what he did before and play a role in bringing the region together,” Coleman said.
The post Trump Says US Colleges Could Lose Accreditation Over ‘Antisemitic Propaganda’ if He’s Elected 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.