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University of Pennsylvania Report Disavows BDS but Rejects Globally Accepted Antisemitism Definition
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.
The University of Pennsylvania Task Force on Antisemitism has issued a final report recommending various ways in which school officials should address rising antisemitism on campus, capping off a tumultuous academic year which saw a series of jarring antisemitic incidents that angered Jewish alumni and prompted important philanthropic supporters to forswear ever giving to the university again.
“We recommend that the university re-issue a clear statement on its opposition to divestment, sanctions, or boycotts against Israel,” the report, released on Thursday, said, delivering a major loss to the anti-Zionist student movement at Penn, which had demanded such a policy during a nearly three-week-long protest in the final weeks of spring semester.
“Our university champions academic freedom and values the open exchange of ideas as vital to our educational mission,” it continued. “We believe in building bridges through dialogue, engagement, and collaboration rather than isolation and division. Penn has important and successful scholarly collaborations with Israeli institutions that touch on many areas of our academic expertise and these should continue to grow unfettered and unabated.”
This section of the report added that the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement is “discriminatory” and “anti-intellectual” and called on the university to reiterate opposition to it “immediately.”
Other recommendations denied Jewish civil rights advocates a less clear-cut policy victory. The task force, for example, declined to recommend that Penn adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is widely accepted across the world and describes the ways in which anti-Zionism, both subtly and overtly, employs antisemitic tropes to foster hatred of Jews and deny their right to self-determination.
Describing the IHRA definition as “controversial,” the report explained that other definitions of antisemitism, such as the “Jerusalem Definition” and the “Nexus Document,” are in tension with IHRA’s, preventing them from reaching a consensus about which is best.
“Our deliberations led us to appreciate that scholars, teachers, and policy makers remain divided not only about the accuracy and utility of any single definition of antisemitism, but about whether it is necessary and/or possible to settle on a single, shared definition,” the report continued. “Rather than embrace a controversial definition and appreciating that doing so might inhibit rather than advance our commitment to combating it, the Task Force agrees that antisemitism can be defined as ‘the expression of manifestation of hatred, violence, hostility, or discrimination against Jews because they are Jews.”
The report added, “We have come to that conclusion after studying influential definitions of antisemitism and recognizing how they differ, particularly on the emphasis they place on examples involving the State of Israel.”
The task force also addressed the chanting of slogans — such as “globalize the intifada” — widely deemed as calling for a genocide of Jews. While maintaining that Penn should not “prescribe a catalogue of forbidden words and phrases” it stressed that “it is hateful to target Jews or Zionists, individually or as a group.”
Antisemitism at the University of Pennsylvania, often fueled by anti-Zionism, exploded at the university long before Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7. In September, it hosted “The Palestine Writes Literature Festival,” which included speakers such as Palestinian researcher Salman Abu Sitta, who has been accused of promoting antisemitic tropes and once said in an interview, “Jews were hated in Europe because they played a role in the destruction of the economy in some of the countries, so they would hate them.” Another controversial figure invited to the event was former Pink Floyd vocalist Roger Waters, whose long record of anti-Jewish snipes was the subject of a documentary released last year.
One day before the event took place, an unidentified male walked into the university’s Hillel building behind a staffer and shouted “F—k the Jews” and “Jesus Christ is king!” before overturning tables, podium stands, and chairs, according to students and school officials who spoke with The Algemeiner. Days earlier, just before the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah, a swastika was graffitied in the basement of the university’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
Former Penn president Elizabeth Magill, who refused to stop the university from hosting the festival, resigned from her post in December, ending a 17-month tenure marked by controversy over what critics described as an insufficient response to surging antisemitism on campus.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post University of Pennsylvania Report Disavows BDS but Rejects Globally Accepted Antisemitism Definition 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.