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University of North Carolina Hosts Event Promoting the ‘Eradication of Zionism’; Will Anyone Act?
Students sit on the steps of Wilson Library on the campus of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US, Sept. 20, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Drake
On Nov. 28, I attended the event “No Peace Without Justice: A Round-Table Talk about Social Justice in Palestine,” hosted by numerous departments at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).
One of the speakers, Dr. Rania Masri, said: “Oct. 7 for many of us from the region was a beautiful day. It was the day in which we saw that, we saw our brothers, we saw our fathers, we saw men break out of a concentration camp.”
Then speaking with pride and admiration for Hamas and their paragliders, she continued: “So for many of us, the question is, how did they learn that? How did they develop those paratroopers? Where did they get those skills? How, how, after a hundred years of having a military boot on your neck, could you still develop the technique and the resilience to literally fly? That is what Oct. 7 means to many of us. And I just want to be very frank about it and not be in the least bit apologetic of the violence of the oppressed or the occupied.”
Panelist and UNC doctoral student Kylie Broderick was the only speaker who participated via Zoom. She was projected on a huge screen above the in-person panelists. While Masri spoke her hateful words, Broderick nodded along in approval. The Reverend Mark Davidson spoke about five minutes after Masri, pronouncing, “I agree with everything my colleagues have said.”
Masri went on to call Zionism a “cancer,” and President Biden a “racist Zionist.” Masri said: “Let us demand the eradication of Zionism. Let us have that be our goal.”
There were seven panelists, two moderators, and UNC professors present. No one appeared concerned by what Masri said, or challenged her. Further, the absence of a question and answer period meant that nothing could be challenged by audience members.
After introductions, the audience was shown a short film titled “Gaza Concentration Camp,” chosen by panelist Dr. Frances Hasso from Duke’s Department of Sociology. The film narrator stated that on Oct. 7, “Palestinians didn’t break through a border to enter Israel.” She added, “They destroyed a fence separating them from the homes they were forced out of.” The film portrayed Hamas’ massacre of Israelis as people simply going home. The film did not mention Hamas’ killing of 1,200 Israelis, taking more than 240 hostages, and raping and torturing many others.
UNC professor of Geography Sara Smith began the program by announcing “This should be Danielle Purifoy. I’m so sorry she couldn’t make it, but please know that she is the one who organized all of this and gets all the credit for this event.” In 2021, Smith and Purifoy both signed a public letter which stated, “As academics based in the United States, we acknowledge our complicity in Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians.” Also in 2021, Smith signed a letter affirming her commitment to promote the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel “in the classroom and on campus.”
A moderator explained that all the prepared questions for the panel were “written by Dr. Danielle Purifoy.” Questions included “How do we explain the US government response to Palestinian genocide?” and “How do we connect Palestine to other forms of colonial and imperial violence?” The starting point of these conversations was clearly the demonization of Israel.
The event was sponsored by the UNC Department of Geography and Environment, the UNC Center for Middle East & Islamic Studies, and UNC’s Student Life & Leadership.
Kylie Broderick taught UNC’s 2021 course on Israel and the Palestinians, even though she publicly promoted the view that Israel should not exist. On Oct. 15, 2023, Broderick tweeted “F—k Israel.” Her anti-Israel track record is beyond vile, and has been reported on extensively.
Not all in the audience were activists. I saw a number of students taking notes. It made me wonder: Are some students actually receiving credit for attending this antisemitic event?
The event reminded me of UNC’s 2019 Conflict Over Gaza conference — co-sponsored by the university’s Center for Middle East & Islamic Studies — which made international news for featuring an antisemitic rap performance. In response to an antisemitism complaint filed with the US Department of Education stemming from this conference, UNC entered into a Resolution Agreement with the department’s Office of Civil Rights, requiring UNC “to ensure that students enrolled in the university are not subjected to a hostile environment.”
As this column and my recent reporting suggests, UNC may be breaching its obligation to protect its Jewish students.
The painful question I can’t shake and that I keep asking myself is: why would any parent, especially those who are Jewish, ever wish to send their children to UNC?
Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.
The post University of North Carolina Hosts Event Promoting the ‘Eradication of Zionism’; Will Anyone Act? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Putin Has Invitation to Visit Iran, but Dates Have Yet to Be Set, Kremlin Says
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a ceremony to sign an agreement of comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 17, 2025. Photo: Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has an invitation to visit Iran, but the dates have not yet been agreed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Iran‘s government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday as saying that Putin‘s visit to Iran “is currently being worked out.”
Moscow and Tehran signed a 20-year strategic partnership agreement in January, the two countries have supplied each other with weapons, and Russia has defended what it says is Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy.
“Indeed, President Putin has an invitation to pay an official or working visit to Iran. The dates have not yet been agreed. As soon as they are agreed, we will inform you,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about a possible visit.
“We highly value our partnership with this country and we highly value the depth of our relationship in a wide variety of areas.”
The last time Putin visited Iran was in 2022, months after he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
The post Putin Has Invitation to Visit Iran, but Dates Have Yet to Be Set, Kremlin Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Intercepts Missile From Yemen, Houthis Claim Responsibility
People take cover, while sirens sound in Jerusalem, May 13, 2025. Israel’s military reported that a missile was launched from Yemen towards Israel and was intercepted. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards its territory.
The launch coincides with US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf. Trump has announced that he reached a ceasefire with Yemen‘s Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist group, that will halt attacks on US vessels.
The Iran-aligned group fired a missile towards Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, according to the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree.
Trump announced early in May that the US would stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen as the group had agreed to stop attacking US ships.
The Houthis said they will continue to fire missiles and drones towards Israel.
The Houthis have attacked numerous vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade, in a campaign that they say is aimed at showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza since a deadly raid by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas into southern Israel in October 2023.
The post Israel Intercepts Missile From Yemen, Houthis Claim Responsibility first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Accuses France’s Macron of Siding With Hamas, Pushing Anti-Israel ‘Blood Libels’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Jerusalem, Oct. 24, 2023. Photo: Christophe Ena/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday accused French President Emmanuel Macron of standing with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and repeating “blood libels” against the Jewish state after Macron castigated Israel’s policy in Gaza.
“Macron has once again chosen to stand with a murderous Islamist terrorist organization and echo its despicable propaganda, accusing Israel of blood libels,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “Israel will not stop and will not surrender.”
The statement added that Israel is fighting “for its very existence following the horrific massacre committed by Hamas against innocent people on Oct. 7, including the murder and kidnapping of dozens of French nationals.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the ongoing war on Oct. 7, 2023, when they invaded southern Israel, murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and kidnapped 251 hostages while perpetrating widespread sexual violence and other atrocities. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza, the neighboring Palestinian enclave ruled by the terrorist group for nearly two decades.
Speaking to French television on Tuesday, Macron said the Israeli government’s blockade of aid into Gaza is “unacceptable” and “shameful.”
“What the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is doing is unacceptable … there is no water, no medicine, the wounded cannot get out, the doctors cannot get in. What he is doing is shameful,” Macron told TF1 television. “We need the United States. President Trump has the levers. I have had tough words with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I got angry, but they [Israel] don’t depend on us, they depend on American weapons.”
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza aid since early March, when it resumed military operations against Hamas following a two-month ceasefire. Experts and Israeli officials have said that Hamas steals much of the aid to fuel its terrorist operations and sells some of the remainder to Gaza’s civilian population at an increased price. Jerusalem has also said that aid distribution cannot be left to international organizations, which it accuses of allowing Hamas to seize supplies intended for the civilian population.
Netanyahu’s office slammed Macron for lambasting Israel rather than siding with the Middle East’s lone democracy.
“Instead of supporting the Western democratic camp fighting the Islamist terrorist organizations and calling for the release of the hostages, Macron is once again demanding that Israel surrender and reward terrorism,” the statement said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also lambasted Macron for his comments.
“We remember well what happened to the Jews in France when they could not defend themselves,” he said in a post on X/Twitter, apparently referring to the mass killing of Jews during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. “President Macron will not preach morality to us. It is expected of those who define themselves as friends of Israel to stand by Israel in its war against the murderous terrorist organization Hamas and the Iranian axis of evil that threaten to destroy the State of Israel — instead of trying to deny it the right to self-defense.”
He added, “The IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] operates at an unsurpassed level of morality in difficult and complex circumstances — certainly more than anything France has done in its past wars.”
The spat between Paris and Jerusalem came after Macron said last month that France is making plans to recognize a Palestinian state and could do so as early as June. Israeli and French Jewish leaders sharply criticized Macron’s announcement, decrying such a decision as a “prize for terrorism and a boost for Hamas.”
The post Netanyahu Accuses France’s Macron of Siding With Hamas, Pushing Anti-Israel ‘Blood Libels’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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