Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

Columbia University will enact a series of reforms to address campus antisemitism, interim president Claire Shipman announced on Tuesday as the institution nears a deal to pay $200 million to settle allegations that it exposed Jewish students and faculty to discrimination.

In a statement, Shipman said the university will hire new coordinators to oversee complaints alleging civil rights violations; facilitate “deeper education on antisemitism” by creating new training programs for students, faculty, and staff; and adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism — a tool that advocates say is necessary for identifying what constitutes antisemitic conduct and speech.

Shipman also announced new partnerships with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other Jewish groups while delivering a major blow to the anti-Zionist movement on campus by vowing never to “recognize or meet with” the self-titled “Columbia University Apartheid Divest” (CUAD), a notorious pro-Hamas campus group which has serially disrupted academic life with unauthorized, surprise demonstrations attended by non-students.

“I would also add that making these announcements in no way suggests we are finished with the work,” Shipman continued. “In a recent discussion, a faculty member and I agreed that antisemitism at this institution has existed, perhaps less overtly, for a long while, and the work of dismantling it, especially through education and understanding will take time. It will likely require more reform. But I’m hopeful that in doing this work, as we consider and even debate it, we will start to promote healing and to chart our path forward.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Columbia University’s campus has yielded some of the most indelible examples of anti-Jewish hatred in higher education since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel set off explosions of anti-Zionist activity at colleges and universities across the US. Such incidents included a student who proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself and administrative officials who, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting.

Amid these incidents, the university struggled to contain CUAD, which in late January committed infrastructural sabotage by flooding the toilets of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with concrete. Numerous reports indicate the attack may have been the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, ADP reportedly distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia were shared with students.

In September, during the university’s convocation ceremony, CUAD distributed literature calling on students to join Hamas’s movement to destroy Israel.

“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” one of the pamphlets given to freshmen students said. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”

Other portions of the text expressed explicitly Islamist aspirations for global jihad, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose is to mobilize an army of Muslims worldwide.

Citing these issues, the Trump administration in March canceled $400 million in federal research grants and contracts previously appropriated to Columbia. Since then, the university has reportedly agreed to restructure itself to comply with conditions for restoring the money — a process which may see it review undergraduate admissions practices that allegedly discriminate against qualified Jewish applicants, enforce an “anti-mask” policy that protesters have violated to avoid being identified by law enforcement, and enhance the university’s security protocols to allow for a quick restoration of order if and when the campus is upended by unauthorized demonstrations.

In Tuesday’s statement, Shipman, Columbia’s fourth chief administrator since 2023, said that the institution is turning the page.

“I want to reiterate that the university has zero tolerance for discrimination and harassment based on protected traits, including Jewish and Israeli identity,” she said. “And while our university rules and policies are well-defined on this matter, beginning this 2025-2026 academic year, Columbia will make clear our ‘Zero Tolerance for Antisemitism and Hate’ in regular community messages.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Columbia University Pledges New Campus Antisemitism Reforms first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

A flyer for “Jewish Joy Con.” Photo: Jewish Joy, LLC

A unique three-day convention that will celebrate Jewish pop culture, the arts, and creativity was officially launched on Tuesday by organizers, and will take place in early spring 2026.

The inaugural Jewish Joy Con is scheduled for March 13–15, 2026, at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The convention will include live music, comedy, and storytelling; panel discussions with bestselling Jewish authors and special guests; meet-and-greets with Jewish actors, writers, leaders, and influencers; a marketplace highlighting Jewish-owned businesses and vendors; immersive experiences with Jewish food, tradition, and spirituality; and discussions about Jewish identity, resilience, and joy. There will also be a Shabbat dinner experience and “Matzah Ball” dance party.

The convention will unite authors, readers, artists, creatives, influencers, and small business owners. The space can hold up to 10,000 attendees, more than 300 vendors, and a main stage with more than 2,500 seats.

The convention is being organized by Jewish Joy, LLC, an umbrella organization that includes various initiatives including the Facebook group Jewish Women Talk About Romance Books, The Jewish Joy Book Club, The Jewish Joy Box of curated and delivered packages, and Jewish Joy Con. The founder and CEO of Jewish Joy LLC is international bestselling author Jean Meltzer. Jewish Joy LLC is organizing the convention in collaboration with Mischief Management.

Meltzer is the author of five novels: “The Matzah Ball,” “Mr. Perfect on Paper,” “Kissing Kosher,” “Magical Meet Cute,” and “The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah.” She is also a founding member of The Artists Against Antisemitism, and the creator and host of the podcast “Chronically Fabulous with Jean Meltzer.”

For more information about sponsoring, exhibiting, or presenting at Jewish Joy Con, people can visit the event’s website. Ticket sales will open in August.

The post Inaugural ‘Jewish Joy’ Convention Highlighting Pop Culture, Arts Scheduled for March 2026 in Florida first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

The headquarters of The New York Times. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

On and after Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s prime minister and then-foreign minister made clear their plans for Hamas, the group responsible for the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

On the day of the massacre, as Hamas attackers swarmed Israeli towns, Netanyahu spoke of the country’s straightforward goals: to repel the attack, defeat Hamas in Gaza, and deter other fronts. Per Haaretz:

Speaking at the beginning of the security cabinet meeting later on Saturday, Netanyahu said that “Our first goal is to purge the area of enemy forces that have infiltrated and restore security and peace to the towns that were attacked.”

The second goal according to Netanyahu, is to “exact a huge price from the enemy, also in the Gaza Strip. The third goal is to fortify other arenas so that no one makes the mistake of joining this war. [emphasis added]

In a separate statement that same day, Netanyahu said:

The IDF will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities. We will destroy them and we will forcefully avenge this dark day that they have forced on the State of Israel and its citizens. As Bialik wrote: ‘Revenge for the blood of a little child has yet been devised by Satan’.

All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble.

I say to the residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere.

At this hour, the IDF is clearing the terrorists out of the last communities. They are going community by community, house by house, and are restoring our control.

I embrace and send heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families whose loved ones were murdered today in cold blood and endless brutality. [emphasis added]

Two days after the attack, defense minister Yoav Gallant said of Hamas, “We are fighting human animals.” It was a phrase he also used elsewhere to refer to the terror group that he dubbed the ISIS of Gaza.

Three weeks later, as Israel began its ground offensive in Gaza, Netanyahu explained that Israel’s army “does everything to avoid harming non-combatants” and stated that the goals of the war are clear: “Destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, and bringing the captives back home.”

In that speech, he also recited a verse from Deuteronomy. “Remember what Amalek did to you,” he said several sentences after speaking about protecting non-combatants in Gaza. It is a passage that Jewish tradition and Holocaust memorials have long used as a call to remember the oppressors of the Jewish people, including the Nazis, which some consider the spiritual heirs of Amalek.

None of these quotes are particularly surprising or, given the context, notable. Hamas slaughtered Israeli civilians in one of the worst terror attacks in modern memory. Israel said that in response it would destroy the group, and its leaders had harsh words for the group behind the massacre.

And yet so many anti-Israel commentators have absurdly cited those very statements as purported evidence of “genocide.”

A New York Times Guest Essay this week by Omer Bartov is just the latest example. Bartov points to the passages cited above as his leading examples to purport “genocidal intent” by Israel’s leaders.

This is because intent — not simply death resulting from war — is key to the legal definition of “genocide,” as Bartov must acknowledge in his piece:

The crime of genocide was defined in 1948 by the United Nations as the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” In determining what constitutes genocide, therefore, we must both establish intent and show that it is being carried out.

He then claims — as if he hadn’t just cited unremarkable martial language by Israel’s decision makers — that “In Israel’s case, that intent has been publicly expressed by numerous officials and leaders.”

Some lower-ranking Israeli politicians have gone farther. After misconstruing Netanyahu and Gallant’s words, the author points to vitriolic statements by Israel’s finance minister and deputy speaker of Parliament. Both are hardliners far to the right of those with practical authority over the direction of the war — the prime minister and defense minister. But clearly Bartov recognizes that the words by lower-ranking officials, however over-the-top, weren’t enough to make his case. So he invents genocidal rhetoric to manufacture genocidal intent.

Bartov recruits others in support of his allegation. These include Francesca Albanese, the extremist rapporteur and rape denier who herself has relied on misquoted and misrepresented statements by Israeli officials to justify her allegation, and Amnesty International, whose charge of genocide hinges on an assembly line of distorted quotes.

And at the same time, Bartov laments that “only a few scholars of the Holocaust” have echoed his allegation, and that “Most Holocaust scholars I know don’t hold, or at least publicly express” the view that the war is a genocide. (Somewhat puzzlingly, Bartov insists that it isn’t even a war because it is — by contrast? — a series of battles against a group that “continues to fight Israeli forces” while “retaining control” over territory not held by Israel.)

If most scholars don’t agree with Bartov and fellow anti-Israel activists who seem to dominate the discussion, perhaps it is because they recognize that Israel’s calls to destroy Hamas and angry descriptions of the terror group are hardly evidence of genocidal intent — even if The New York Times has chosen to join the campaign to misrepresent those statements.

Gilead Ini is a Senior Research Analyst at CAMERA, the foremost media watchdog organization focused on coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The post The New York Times Continues Its Campaign to Accuse Israel of ‘Genocide’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.