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University of Michigan Police Arrest Anti-Zionist Protesters After Sabotage Attempt
Law enforcement clash with pro-Hamas demonstrators at the University of Michigan on Aug. 28, 2024. Photo: Brendan Gutenschwager/X
Anti-Zionists roiled the University of Michigan campus on Wednesday, staging a protest that aimed to sabotage one of its biggest fall events.
Organized by a group which calls itself the “Tahrir Coalition,” the demonstration saw 45 students and non-students stage a “die-in” on the Diag section of campus without prior authorization from university officials, according to The Daily Michigan. The demonstration was timed to coincide with Festifall, an annual fair which the university says draws over 8,000 people and big spending sponsors who pay as much $50,000 to participate.
The demonstration lasted for two hours, the Daily added. In that time the protesters chanted “Israel bombs, U of M pays, how many kids did you kill today?,” as can be seen in footage which emerged online. They also waved signs showing images of civilian victims of the Israel-Hamas war.
Counter pro-Israel protesters descended on the Diag too, chanting “Bring them home,” referring to Israeli hostages who have been held captive by Hamas in Gaza since the Palestinian terror group’s Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state. Ultimately, University of Michigan law enforcement arrested four Tahrir Coalition members, one of whom is a university employee, after they ignored repeated calls to clear the area.
“The university has been clear that we will enforce our policies related to protests and expressive activity, and will hold individuals accountable for their actions in order to ensure a safe and inclusive enforcement for all,” university spokeswoman Colleen Mastony told the Daily in a statement addressing the incident. “Today, a group of approximately 50 individuals sought to disrupt a university event and were asked to disperse. For more than an hour, they were given multiple warnings that made clear they were blocking pedestrian traffic and violating university policy.”
One of the protest organizers, student Assmaa Eidy, accused the school of squelching free speech by clearing a demonstration it did not authorize.
“It’s been a continuation of the university trying to suppress us, villainize us, and criminalize us and use any attempt they can to limit our freedoms to protest and essentially our right to protest the genocide that they’re complicit in,” she said in an interview with the Daily.
Anti-Zionist activity at the University of Michigan has starter earlier than normal this academic year, which is barely a week old.
As The Algemeiner previously reported, a slew of anti-Zionist candidates at the University of Michigan secured election to Central Student Government (CSG) last semester by running as the Shut It Down party, whose platform promised to sever the university’s ties, both financial and academic, to Israel, according to The Detroit News. Since assuming power, its members have shredded the budget for the summer term approved by the previous administration and vowed to block funding for student clubs during the upcoming fall semester.
Founded in the months after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, Shut It Down (SID) allegedly committed multiple election code infractions to amass its newfound and unprecedented power. According to The Michigan Daily, students banded together to contest their election victory, citing multiple instances in which they campaigned in proscribed areas and violated other rules regulating the use of posters and email communications. SID ultimately overcame the challenge following a controversial hearing which the student government, breaking precedent, conducted in secret.
SID announced its plans to defund student clubs in July, with its chair, Shubh Agrawal, saying in remarks quoted by the Daily, “The university of Michigan is one of those institutions [whose] $6 billion of the endowment are implicated in the genocide or occupation of people of Palestine. And the University of Michigan does not deserve to function as normal while it continues to do those things.”
The party’s actions prompted the university to dispossess CSG of the power of the purse.
“The University of Michigan will make funding available to registered student organizations who apply for funding for the fall semester,” Colleen Mastony, University of Michigan assistant vice president of public affairs, told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “UM’s vice president for student life and dean of students notified the Central Student Government on August 19 of the decision to immediately institute a temporary funding process. This step was taken at the request of senior leaders within the CSG assembly, after the CSG president in June vetoed a budget resolution that had been passed unanimously by the assembly. The veto impacted the summer budget only. University funding will remain in place until a budget is passed.”
Anti-Zionist activists at other college campuses are also testing administrators, pushing the boundaries of their conduct and daring a response.
On Monday, anti-Israel agitators vandalized an administrative building at Cornell University, a provocation which marked an early test of the resolve of its recently appointed interim president, Michael Kotlikoff, who announced new policies on “institutional neutrality,” discipline, and encampments around the time of incident.
According to the Cornell Daily Sun, the agitators graffitied “Israel Bombs, Cornell pays” and “Blood is on your hands” on Day Hall. They also shattered the glazing of its front doors.
“We had to accept that the only way to make ourselves heard is by targeting the only thing the university administration really cares about: property,” the students told the Cornell Daily Sun, which agreed to conceal their identities. “With the start of this new academic year, the Cornell administration is trying desperately to upkeep a facade of normalcy knowing that, since last semester, they have been working tirelessly to uphold Cornell’s function as a fascist, classist, imperial machine.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post University of Michigan Police Arrest Anti-Zionist Protesters After Sabotage Attempt first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Falsified Polling Data to Indicate Higher Support for Oct. 7 Among Gaza Civilians, IDF Says
Palestinians gather near damage, following what Palestinians say was an Israeli strike at a tent camp in Al-Mawasi area, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that runs Gaza, has been secretly fabricating polling results from civilians of the war-torn enclave in order to hide that the Islamist organization enjoys far less support than previously thought, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The IDF revealed on Thursday that it obtained documents in Gaza showing that Hamas falsified polling data from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR). The IDF said that it found the documents while conducting military operations in Gaza.
“The IDF just exposed Hamas for manipulating public opinion surveys by the Palestinian polling institute (PSR) to fake support for its leaders, especially after the October 7 massacre,” the IDF posted on X/Twitter.
#busted : The IDF just exposed Hamas for manipulating public opinion surveys by the Palestinian polling institute (PSR) to fake support for its leaders, especially after the October 7 massacre.
The documents, found during operations in Gaza, show how Hamas altered PSR’s March… pic.twitter.com/Y2AoAy1bBv
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 29, 2024
According to the IDF, the March 2024 polling results were doctored by Hamas “to falsely boost Yahya Sinwar’s popularity,” referring to the terrorist group’s top leader.
A striking 71 percent of Palestinians in Gaza said that Hamas was “correct” in its “decision to attack Israel on October 7th,” according to the allegedly faked polling data. In reality, 31 percent of Gazans expressed support for the Oct. 7 attacks, according to what the IDF characterized as the accurate polling data, representing a difference of roughly 40 percentage points.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas slaughtered roughly 1,200 people throughout southern Israel, captured roughly 250 hostages, and engaged in a systematic rape campaign against women.
Only 23 percent of Gazans indicated that Hamas made the “incorrect” decision to execute the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, according to the original data. In contrast, over 64 percent of Gazans responded that Hamas made the wrong decision to attack Israel, according to the allegedly accurate data.
The purportedly fabricated polling results suggested that a plurality of Gazans support the use of violence to achieve “Palestinian goals.” The authentic polling data indicated far higher support for non-violent methods, the IDF said.
According to the allegedly fabricated polling results, 39 percent of Gazans support engaging in “armed activity” against Israel. Comparatively, according to the faked data, only 23 percent and 27 percent of respondents believe Palestinians should pursue their goals through “political negotiations” and “non-violent popular resistance,” respectively.
Almost 50 percent of Palestinians in Gaza support engaging in “political negotiations” with Israel, according to the authentic polling data, and nearly 21 percent of Gazans support “non-violent popular resistance.” Only 28 percent of Gazans back “armed activity” against the Jewish state, the same polling data showed.
Moreover, the allegedly authentic polling data suggested that Palestinians are far less bullish on Hamas’s chances of defeating Israel than previously thought.
The faked data indicated that 56 percent of Gazans believe Hamas would “win” the ongoing war in Gaza. The same data set also showed that 18 percent of Gaza civilians think that Israel will defeat Hamas.
In what the IDF described as the accurate data set, only 30 percent of Gaza civilians believe the terrorist group will trounce the Jewish state, and more than 51% of Gazans think that Israel will defeat Hamas.
The IDF argued that the Hamas terrorist group doctored the polling results to bolster the appearance of its own popularity, noting there’s no evidence to suggest PSR was complicit.
“There’s no evidence PSR was involved — Hamas did this on its own. This just proves how far Hamas is willing to go to keep up the appearance of strength,” IDF posted on X/Twitter.
The data appears to undermine the belief that the vast majority of Palestinians support Hamas and its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
The post Hamas Falsified Polling Data to Indicate Higher Support for Oct. 7 Among Gaza Civilians, IDF Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove explores Israel’s treatment at the United Nations
On May 11, 1949, after the Security Council concluded that Israel is a peace-loving nation, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to admit the Jewish state as the 59th member of the United Nations. The UN now has 193 members. United Nations Resolution 181 dated Nov. 29, 1947 called for the creation of […]
The post Treasure Trove explores Israel’s treatment at the United Nations appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Israel Blasts UN Chief for Demanding Stop to West Bank Operation Amid Threat of Return to Suicide Bombings
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the UN headquarters in New York City, US, before a meeting about the conflict in Gaza, Nov. 6, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon took a swipe at UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for demanding an end to the Jewish state’s counterterrorism operations in the West Bank at a time when Palestinian leaders have called for a return to suicide bombings against Israel.
Danon on Thursday morning defended the West Bank operations, saying intervention by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is necessary to thwart potential terrorist attacks.
“Since Oct. 7, Iran has been working vigorously to introduce into Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] sophisticated explosive devices that are intended to explode in the centers of cities in Israel,” Danon posted on X/Twitter, referring to the aftermath of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Iran is the chief international sponsor of Hamas, providing the terrorist group with weapons, funding, and training.
“The State of Israel cannot sit idly by and wait for the spectacle of buses and cafes exploding in city centers,” the ambassador continued. “The activity of the IDF forces … is intended for the clear purpose of thwarting terrorist attacks and acts before they are carried out under Iranian direction.”
Danon was responding to Guterres, who hours earlier condemned Israel’s defensive military operations in the West Bank, arguing that they endanger the lives of innocent civilians.
“Latest developments in the occupied West Bank, including Israel’s launch of large-scale military operations, are deeply concerning. I strongly condemn the loss of lives, including of children, and I call for an immediate cessation of these operations,” Guterres posted on X/Twitter.
Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli forces killed several Palestinian terrorists who hid in a mosque during counterterrorism activities in the West Bank city of Tulkarem. One of the men killed was Muhhamad Jabber, also known as Abu Shujaa, the head of the Nur Shams terrorist network, according to a joint statement from the IDF, Israel Security Agency, and Israel Border Police. Jabber, a local commander of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, was one of the most wanted men in the West Bank involved in planning attacks against Israeli targets, Israeli authorities said.
Guterres’s condemnation came shortly after top Hamas official Khaled Mashal on Wednesday called for a resumption of suicide bombings in the West Bank. According to Arabic media, Mashal said during an address at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey that Palestinians should implement “actual resistance against the Zionist entity [Israel].” He also reportedly said that Hamas wanted to “return to [suicide] operations.”
Mourning the elimination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, Mashal added, “The enemy has opened the conflict on all fronts, seeking us all, whether we fight or not.”
While Hamas’s core terrorist infrastructure is in Gaza, it has operatives in the West Bank.
Last week, the military wings of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a failed suicide bombing near a synagogue in Tel Aviv. In a statement, Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades said its “martyrdom operations” (suicide attacks) inside Israel would continue as long as the “occupation’s massacres and assassination policy continue” — a reference to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and and the killing of Haniyeh in the Iranian capital last month.
Israeli officials have long accused the UN of having a bias against the Jewish state. Last year, the UN General Assembly condemned Israel twice as often as it did all other countries. Meanwhile, of all the country-specific resolutions passed by the UN Human Rights Council, nearly half have condemned Israel, a seemingly disproportionate focus on the lone democracy in the Middle East.
Just weeks following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the UN adopted a resolution calling for a “ceasefire” between the two sides. The UN failed to pass a measure condemning the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
In June, the UN put Israel on its so-called “list of shame” of countries that kill children in armed conflict. Israel is considered to be the only democracy on the list.
Since Oct. 7, top Israeli officials have called on Guterres to resign as secretary-general of the UN, arguing he is unfit to lead and emboldening terrorism.
The post Israel Blasts UN Chief for Demanding Stop to West Bank Operation Amid Threat of Return to Suicide Bombings first appeared on Algemeiner.com.