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University of Pennsylvania Ordered to Deliver Documents on Antisemitic Incidents

A swastika graffitied in the basement of the University of Pennsylvania’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design on Sept. 14, 2023. Photo taken by student.

University of Pennsylvania was ordered on Wednesday to hand over documents relating to a federal investigation of antisemitism.

The letter, sent by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), on behalf of the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, cited two reports by The Algemeiner as well as others to explain the basis of the committee’s inquiry.

“An environment of pervasive antisemitism has been documented at Penn dating back to well before the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks,” said the letter. “Penn has demonstrated a clear double standard by tolerating antisemitic vandalism, harassment, and intimidation, but suppressing and penalizing other expression it deemed problematic,” Foxx continued.

Foxx is seeking from Penn “all reports of antisemitic acts or incidents” and “related communications” going back to 2021 that were sent to the university’s offices of the president, general counsel, dean of students, police department, human resources, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, among others. In addition to those items, she asked the university to “produce” all correspondence, including meeting minutes, shared by members of Penn’s University Task Force on Antisemitism, which was created only after anti-Jewish hatred at Penn reached crisis proportions.

Penn has had numerous antisemitism scandals during fall semester, before Oct. 7, starting with a torrent of outrage over its decision to host an extreme anti-Zionist festival that featured a mass of individuals accused of promoting antisemitic conspiracies and tropes to undermine the State of Israel. Several more incidents occurred over the following weeks, including the graffitiing of a swastika in a campus building and raiding of the school’s Hillel building by a crazed student who vandalized property and screamed antisemitic remarks.

Foxx went on to cite numerous examples of antisemitic hate speech Penn would not punish, including students’ chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a slogan widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of Israel, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, a professor’s saying during a rally held after Hamas’ atrocities became public that Israel “desecrates the memory of Holocaust victims,” and a political science professor’s promotion of Hamas on his Facebook page.

The Algemeiner has reported on several other incidents Penn’s administration ignored long before its former president, Elizabeth Magill, resigned after telling Foxx’s committee during a hearing that deciding whether calling for a genocide of Jews would violate school rules would be “context-dependent.” In March, for example, the anti-Zionist group Penn Against the Occupation (POA) hosted Mohammed El-Kurd during its “Israeli Apartheid Week.” Currently a columnist for the left-wing magazine The Nation, the 25-year-old El-Kurd has trafficked in antisemitic tropes, demonized Zionism, and falsely accused Israelis of eating the organs of Palestinians.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is also investigating other elite universities, including Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to determine whether administrators at those schools ignored antisemitic discrimination. The probes were announced after the committee grilled the presidents of Harvard, Penn, and MIT about their plans to respond to rising anti-Jewish hate in their communities.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post University of Pennsylvania Ordered to Deliver Documents on Antisemitic Incidents first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.

The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.

They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.

Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.

Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.

The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.

The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.

Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.

He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.

The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.

Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.

Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.

Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.

Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.

The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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