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UC Berkeley President Walks Back Positive Statements on Pro-Hamas Protesters, Israel Boycott
Aftermath of pro-Hamas group’s occupation of a University of California, Berkeley administrative building. Photo: Michael Wai Lee via Reuters Connect
University of California, Berkeley chancellor Carol Christ has issued a message assuring Jewish faculty that the school will not boycott and divest from Israel, according to a letter shared with The Algemeiner.
The letter — written to the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Jewish Student Life and Campus Climate — followed concerns that Christ expressed agreement with the ideology and aims of pro-Hamas protesters in a previous missive announcing a settlement for ending a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” in which students lived for several weeks and refused to leave unless the school adopted an anti-Israel stance. In it, Christ commended the protesters as “professional” and “productive” while describing Israel’s prosecution of its war against Hamas as “horrific,” sentiments that were reportedly dictated by the protesters as a condition of their cooperation.
“I plan to make a public statement by the end of the month sharing my personal support for government officials’ efforts to secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” Christ said. “Such support for the plight of Palestinians, including protest, should not be conflated with hatred or antisemitism.”
Christ, who will soon retire from academia, did say that the protesters’ demands for a boycott of Israel and divestment of holdings in countries linked to it are nonviable, but she hesitated to formally denounce the latter, saying only that it is prohibited under California law.
In the latest letter, however, Christ announced “new campus programs to provide antisemitism education to larger numbers of students, faculty, and staff.” Additionally, she said that her earlier comments do “not in any way, open the door to, or have anything to do with, divestment from entities based on the fact that they do business with Israel or are situated in Israel.” The outgoing chancellor also denounced rising antisemitism on the campus as “deeply disturbing” and expressed support for the school’s Jewish Studies and Israel Studies fields — statements that drew praise from Jewish faculty leader and political science professor Ron Hassner.
“The chancellor’s statement is evidence of Berkeley’s ongoing support for Jewish Studies and Israel studies. That, in turn, is a function of respect for our Jewish students and faculty community,” Hassner told The Algemeiner on Monday. “While masked anti-Israel protesters engaged in violence, racism, intimidation, and property destruction, the Jewish campus community responded with quiet dignity. While protesters made quixotic ‘foreign policy’ demands, the Jewish community called for safety, coexistence, and antisemitism education. I’m glad campus ignored the former and embraced the latter.”
Christ’s initial praise of pro-Hamas students troubled many on campus given their actions during the 2023-24 academic year, particularly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
In February, a mob of hundreds of student and non-student protesters shut down an event at the UC Berkeley Zellerbach Library featuring Israeli reservist Ran Bar-Yoshafat, forcing Jewish students to flee to a secret safe room as the protesters overwhelmed campus police.
Footage of the incident showed a frenzied mass of anti-Zionist agitators banging on the doors of the Zellerbach. The mob then, according to witnesses, eventually stormed the building — breaking windows in the process, according to reports in The Daily Wire — and precipitated the decision to evacuate the area. During the infiltration of Zellerbach, one of the mob — assembled by Bears for Palestine, which had earlier proclaimed its intention to cancel the event — spit on a Jewish student and called him a “Jew,” pejoratively.
“You know what I was screamed at? ‘Jew, you Jew, you Jew,’ literally right to my face,” the student who was attacked said to a friend. “Some woman — then she spit at me.”
Shaya Keyvanfar, a student, later told The Algemeiner that her sister was spit on and that the incident was unlike any she had ever witnessed.
“Once the doors were closed, the protesters somehow found a side door and pushed it open, and a few of them managed to get in, and once they did, they tried to open the door for the rest of them,” Keyvanfar said. “It was really scary. They were pounding on the windows outside — they broke one — they spit at my sister and others. They called someone a dirty Jew. It was eerie.”
UC Berkeley assistant vice chancellor for communications and public affairs Dan Mogul told The Algemeiner the next day that the incident left a “black mark” on the university’s history.
During May’s encampment, the protesters — members of UCB Divest — resorted to physically attacking Jews, committing what the school’s newspaper described as “an aggravated assault and attempted robbery” of a Jewish demonstrator’s pro-Israel flag. In the end, the pro-Hamas agitator who instigated the incident punched a Jewish student in the face and paramedics had to be called to the scene. Despite this incident and others in which Hamas symbols were paraded across the campus, Christ’s public statements portrayed the protesters actions’ positively. That she agreed to negotiate with them instead of ending a protest which disrupted university business and promoted racial hatred not seen in the US since the 1950s frustrated faculty.
“Their mission statement ends with ‘in solidarity without compromise, from the river to the sea,’ a phrase identified by Congress as antisemitic and calling for genocide and the destruction of Israel,” over 300 professors said in a letter to University of California Board of Regents president Michael Drake, which was first obtained by The Jewish News of Northern California. “In negotiating with UCB Divest and in agreeing to their demands to review the holdings of the endowment, the chancellor has given legitimacy to this virulently anti-Israel and antisemitic group.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post UC Berkeley President Walks Back Positive Statements on Pro-Hamas Protesters, Israel Boycott first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Washington Warns UK, France Against Recognizing Palestinian Statehood

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves Downing Street, following the results of the election, in London, Britain, July 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville
i24 News – The United States has warned the UK and France not to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at a UN conference scheduled for June 17 in New York, the Middle East Eye reported Tuesday.
France and Saudi Arabia will co-host this conference on the two-state solution, with Paris reportedly preparing to unilaterally recognize Palestine. France is also pressuring London to follow this path, according to sources from the British Foreign Office.
French media reports indicate that French authorities believe they have the agreement of the British government. Meanwhile, Arab states are encouraging this move, measuring the success of the conference by the recognitions obtained.
This initiative deeply divides Western allies. If France and the UK were to carry out this recognition, they would become the first G7 nations to take this step, causing a “political earthquake” according to observers, given their historical ties with Israel. The Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer threatened last week to annex parts of the West Bank if this recognition took place, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
In the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary David Lammy publicly opposes unilateral recognition, stating that London would only recognize a Palestinian state when we know that it is going to happen and that it is in view.
However, pressure is mounting within the Labour Party. MP Uma Kumaran, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the government was elected on a platform that promised to recognize Palestine as a step towards a just and lasting peace. Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, believes that there is no legitimate reason for the United States to interfere in a sovereign decision of recognition, while highlighting the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump on this issue.
The post Washington Warns UK, France Against Recognizing Palestinian Statehood first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Police, Shin Bet Thwart Suspected Iranian Attempt Perpetrate Terror Attack

A small number of Jewish worshipers pray during the priestly blessing, a traditional prayer which usually attracts thousands of worshipers at the Western Wall on the holiday of Passover during 2020, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 12, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun.
i24 News – The Shin Bet security agency and Israel Police thwarted another Iranian attempt to recruit Israelis, according to a statement on Tuesday, arresting a resident of East Jerusalem for allegedly carrying out missions for the Islamic Republic.
Iranian agents recruited the suspect, who in turn recruited members of his family. He is a resident of the Isawiya neighborhood in his 30s, and is accused of maintaining contact with a hostile foreign entity to harm the state by carrying out a terrorist attack against Jews.
The suspect had already begun perpetrating acts of sabotage and espionage, including collecting intelligence about areas in Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and Mahane Yehuda Market. He also hung signs, burned Israeli army uniforms, and more in exchange for payment totaling thousands of shekels.
He was also charged with planning a terror attack in central Israel, including setting fire to a forest, and was told to transfer weapons to terrorist elements in the West Bank.
The suspect’s sought the help of family members, including his mother. A search at his home revealed sums of cash, a spray can used in some of his activities, airsoft guns, suspected illegal drugs, and more.
His indictment is expected to be filed by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
The statement said that the case is yet another example of Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis. “We will continue to coordinate efforts to thwart terrorism and terrorist elements, including those operating outside Israel, while attempting to mobilize local elements in order to protect the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Shin Bet and Police said.
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Pro-Russian, Anti-Israeli Hackers Pose Biggest Cybercrime Threats in Germany

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt holds a chart showing the development of antisemitic crime, during a press conference on Figures for Politically Motivated Crime in the Country, in Berlin, Germany, May 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Cybercrime in Germany rose to a record level last year, driven by hacker attacks from pro-Russian and anti-Israeli groups, the BKA Federal Crime Office reported on Tuesday as the government said it would boost countermeasures to combat it.
“Cybercrime is an increasing threat to our security,” said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. “It is getting more aggressive but our counter-strategies are also becoming more professional,” he said.
Some 131,391 cases of cybercrime took place in Germany last year and a further 201,877 cases were committed from abroad or an unknown location, a BKA report said.
The actors behind the hacker attacks on German targets were primarily either pro-Russian or anti-Israeli, said the BKA, adding targets were mostly public and federal institutions.
Ransomware, when criminals copy and encrypt data, is one of the main threats, said the BKA, with 950 companies and institutes reporting cases in 2024.
German digital association Bitkom said damage caused by cyberattacks here totaled 178.6 billion euros ($203.87 billion) last year, some 30.4 billion euros more than in the previous year.
Dobrindt said the government planned to extend the legal capabilities authorities could use to combat cybercrime and set higher security standards for companies.
The post Pro-Russian, Anti-Israeli Hackers Pose Biggest Cybercrime Threats in Germany first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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