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University of New Mexico Funds Plane Ticket Home for Israeli Student Worried About His Safety Amid Campus Protests
Illustrative: 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
The University of New Mexico (UNM) offered to buy a plane ticket to send one of its Israeli students — and star athletes — back to Israel this week after he expressed concern for his safety amid anti-Israel protests at the university.
Israeli sprinter Gal Arad, 24, was in the middle of his third year at the university, studying computer science, but stopped his studies and immediately went back to Israel.
“Mr. Arad asked to be sent home as soon as possible, as he did not feel safe being here,” Eddie Nuñez, the vice president and director of athletics at UNM, told The Algemeiner on Wednesday.
“As you are probably well aware, the University of New Mexico is no different than what most colleges are facing in regards to protest,” he added. “I cannot speak to what Mr. Arad was feeling but we supported him on his decision to go back home. At no point did we choose to send him home. We supported his decision and also funded the opportunity for him to be able to travel back home.”
Nuñez did not clarify if Arad will eventually return to UNM, but the Ramat Gan native told the Israeli publication Ynet that he will find another school where he can finish his studies. Arad previously studied at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, from 2020-2022.
Nuñez also explained that on April 2, Arad entered his name in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Transfer Portal, which is for student athletes who want to transfer between NCAA member institutions. Before officially entering the portal, UNM coach Darren Gauson offered Arad the opportunity to remain on the school’s team for next season with his full scholarship. By entering the transfer portal, his scholarship would not be guaranteed for the next year, which Nuñez told The Algemeiner is standard procedure.
The athlete was just in Israel on May 15 competing in a race in Jerusalem, where he won first place in both the men’s 100-meter sprint and 200-meter sprint. His finish time in the 200-meter dash — 20.70 seconds — is the second-best time in Israeli history for that race.
The same day as his race, New Mexico police removed a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” and arrested and charged students at the university. The students had camped out for weeks at the school in protest of Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip and also US support for the Jewish state. They were arrested after refusing to vacate the premises.
Nearly two weeks earlier, student protesters took over the university’s Student Union building, chanted “viva Palestine,” and demanded that UNM divest from companies associated with Israel. They also had confrontations with police, who arrested 16 people. UNM President Garnett Stokes said in a statement on May 14 that the school stands for peace “in all global conflicts” and will review and research its investment portfolios, with results being shared in August.
Because of his return to Israel this week, Arad was able to compete in the Jerusalem Grand Slam on Monday, the first international competition in Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, which launched the ongoing war. He finished fifth in the 200-meter race.
Arad did not respond to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment.
The post University of New Mexico Funds Plane Ticket Home for Israeli Student Worried About His Safety Amid Campus Protests 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.