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University of Wisconsin Launches Investigation Into Pro-Hamas Group
Illustrative: A pro-Hamas demonstrator uses a megaphone at a college campus in New York City, US, Oct. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has opened an investigation into whether its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter (SJP) — one part of an inter-campus network of anti-Zionists with ties to jihadist terror organizations — violated school rules when it disrupted a regents board meeting on Dec. 5, according to reporting published by The Daily Cardinal.
“A source familiar with SJP shared documents with The Daily Cardinal that said the organization may have violated the rules in the [registered student organization] Code of Conduct through the ‘use of university facilities and grounds,’ ‘obstructing orderly conduct,’ and failing to comply with administration when around 50 protesters disrupted the board of regents meeting … demanding the university financially and socially divest from Israel,” said the Cardinal, the official campus newspaper of UW-Madison.
According to another source who spoke to the paper, SJP’s alleged misconduct, which resulted in the arrests of some 19 students, could lead to “sanctions up to and including termination of [recognized student organization] status.” The university already disciplined the group in October, however, placing it on probation for 10 months as punishment for its commandeering of a section of campus with a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” during spring semester. The university, according to documents cited by the Cardinal, noted the group’s cooperation with administrative officials in May as a “mitigating factor” which saved it from a full suspension.
The university is gearing up a second time to determine whether SJP should be held accountable for its members’ alleged transgressions, and, according to the Cardinal, it has asked the group to respond to a request for an “investigatory interview” by Dec. 15 and make other arrangements for a formal hearing in the case against it.
SJP maintains its innocence, and on Friday its spokeswoman, Dahlia Saba told the paper that the university is guilty of suppressing free expression and subjecting its students to police brutality.
“SJP protested the business and finance meeting of the board of regents to demand that they disclose their investments and, in accordance with Wisconsin law, divest from companies complicit in Israeli apartheid,” Saba proclaimed. “Now, the university is again putting SJP through a disciplinary process to punish us for calling out the university’s unethical and illegal investment practices.”
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), as well as its spinoff groups, are responsible for the lion’s share of pro-Hamas agitation on college campuses since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last October.
Last month, a mob of its members took over the Westlands administrative building at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and vowed not to surrender it unless school officials adopt the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
The action, the first of its kinds since the spring “uprising” of encampments on colleges across the US, was reportedly precipitated by the college’s declining to accept SJP’s divestment recommendations — which aim to compromise Israel’s national security and leave the world’s lone Jewish state vulnerable to jihadist extremists.
“Westlands is occupied,” SJP said in a series of statements published on Instagram during the occupation. “Students have occupied Westlands to demand immediate action on the genocide of Palestinians. Administration has failed to meet our disclosure deadline. Westland residents are safe: they can come and go at will. We need your support: Walkout to the south lawn, bring food donations, sign divestment proposal.”
SJP also called on students to obstruct justice, imploring them to amass “as many bodies blocking doors as possible” and instructing them to wear “mask [sic] and indiscernible clothing, hats, scarves, etc to support the student intifada.” Since then, National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), which coordinates activities at individual colleges, has cheered the insurrectionist behavior, using the same incendiary language as the students.
“ALL OUT TO SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE! DEFEND THE STUDENT INTIFADA! For over 400 days our institutions have ignored the genocide for our people in Gaza, we demand that they disclose their financial investments and they DIVEST FROM DEATH 
,” the group tweeted.
NSJP further urged the students to “bring keffiyehs, noise makers, and flags.”
In October, when Jews around the world mourned on the anniversary of Hamas’s invasion of Israel last Oct. 7, a Harvard University student group called on pro-Hamas activists to “Bring the war home” and proceeded to vandalize a campus administrative building. The group members, who described themselves as “anonymous,” later said in a statement, “We are committed to bringing the war home and answering the call to open up a new front here in the belly of the beast.”
Some universities, such as the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, are at their wits end. Earlier this month, school officials there reportedly suspended and demanded financial restitution from seven pro-Hamas activists who were arrested for commandeering the Morrill Hall administrative building on Oct. 21.
According to a statement from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other anti-Israel campus groups posted on social media, seven of eight students charged with rules violations on that day have been “found guilty” by a university disciplinary tribunal. Each has been fined about $5,500, the statement further alleged, and suspended for periods ranging from one to five semesters. Following the action, SJP claimed that the university is cynically quelling dissent.
“Alongside arbitrary suspensions, the university intends to withhold the transcripts of those arrested,” it said. “This means for the duration of the suspension the students are unable to transfer to a different institution without forfeiting the credits they have rightfully earned and paid for. To even be readmitted after suspensions, the students have to do 20 hours of community service and write a 5-10 page essay about the ‘difference between vandalism and protest.’”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post University of Wisconsin Launches Investigation Into Pro-Hamas Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hezbollah Says Lebanon Move on Army Plan Is ‘Opportunity,’ Urges Israel to Commit to Ceasefire
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and members of the cabinet stand as they attend a cabinet session to discuss the army’s plan to disarm Hezbollah, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, September 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati told Reuters on Saturday that the group considered Friday’s cabinet session on an army plan to establish a state monopoly on arms “an opportunity to return to wisdom and reason, preventing the country from slipping into the unknown.”
Lebanon’s cabinet on Friday welcomed a plan by the army that would disarm Hezbollah and said the military would begin executing it, without setting a timeframe for implementation and cautioning that the army had limited capabilities.
But it said continued Israeli military operations in Lebanon would hamper the army’s progress. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Lebanese information minister Paul Morcos stopped short of saying the cabinet had formally approved the plan.
Qmati told Reuters that Hezbollah had reached its assessment based on the government’s declaration on Friday that further implementation of a US roadmap on the matter was dependent on Israel’s commitment. He said that without Israel halting strikes and withdrawing its troops from southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s implementation of the plan should remain “suspended until further notice.”
Lebanon’s cabinet last month tasked the army with coming up with a plan that would establish a state monopoly on arms and approved a US roadmap aimed at disarming Hezbollah in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations in Lebanon.
Qmati said that Hezbollah “unequivocally rejected” those two decisions and expected the Lebanese government to draw up a national defense strategy.
Israel last week signaled it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if the army took action to disarm Hezbollah. Meanwhile, it has continued its strikes, killing four people on Wednesday.
A national divide over Hezbollah’s disarmament has taken center stage in Lebanon since last year’s devastating war with Israel, which upended a power balance long dominated by the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim group.
Lebanon is under pressure from the US, Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah’s domestic rivals to disarm the group. But Hezbollah has pushed back, saying it would be a serious misstep to even discuss disarmament while Israel continues its air strikes on Lebanon and occupies swathes of territory in the south.
Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem last month raised the specter of civil war, warning the government against trying to confront the group and saying street protests were possible.
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UK Police Arrest Dozens at Latest Protest for Banned Palestine Action
Demonstrators attend the “Lift The Ban” rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, September 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Jasso
British police arrested dozens more people on Saturday under anti-terrorism laws for demonstrating in support of Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group banned by the government as a terrorist organization.
Britain banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation in July after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged military planes. The group accuses Britain’s government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Police have arrested hundreds of Palestine Action supporters in recent weeks under anti-terrorism legislation, including over 500 in just one day last month, many of them over the age of 60.
On Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered near parliament in central London to protest against the ban on Saturday, with many holding up signs that said: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
London’s Metropolitan Police said officers had begun arresting those expressing support for Palestine Action. Police did not say how many arrests were made but a Reuters witness said dozens of people were detained.
Palestine Action’s ban, or proscription, puts the group alongside al-Qaeda and ISIS and makes it a crime to support or belong to the organization, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
“I can be unequivocal, if you show support for Palestine Action – an offense under the Terrorism Act – you will be arrested,” Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said on Friday. “We have the officer numbers, custody capacity and all other resources to process as many people as is required.”
Human rights groups have criticized Britain’s decision to ban the group as disproportionate and say it limits the freedom of expression of peaceful protesters.
The government has accused Palestine Action of causing millions of pounds worth of criminal damage and says the ban does not prevent other pro-Palestinian protests.
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Macron’s Meeting with American Jewry ‘Won’t Happen’ Amid Palestinian Recognition Drive, Surge in Antisemitism
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference in Paris, France, June 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
i24 News – French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to set up a meeting with American Jewish leaders later this month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
i24NEWS has learned that the meeting won’t happen, firstly because Macron was only available for the meeting ahead of the UN General Assembly during Rosh Hashanah, and yet, a person invited to meet with Macron and who has knowledge of the discussions told i24NEWS the sit-down simply wasn’t going to happen, anyway.
“I think the organizations, for the most part, would not have participated,” the person said, adding that AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee would have likely received invitations, among other entities.
“The guy has a 15% popularity rating in France. It’s not our job to help him out,” the person said.
Asked by i24NEWS whether Macron’s push for greater Palestinian state recognition or his lack of action in tackling antisemitism at home led to the stance of organized American Jewry, the person said it’s more of “the climate” which allows one to say ‘Look, the American Jews met with me,’ regardless of the content.”
The person said they are sure, if a meeting would have happened, that everybody in the room would have taken a hard line with Macron, including his “statements on Israel, the failure to respond to antisemitism” and France’s announcement this summer that it will recognize a Palestinian state later this month, and is leading an effort to get more countries to do the same.
But, the person told i24NEWS they are convinced that, in the end, while no final decision actually had to be taken, there was enough pressure that a consensus would have been reached to decline the meeting.
Of the timing of Rosh Hashanah allowing for leadership to not be forced to officially say no to Macron, the person said “G-d saves us every time.”
Another source familiar with the matter noted that it cannot be ruled out that Macron may eventually succeed in arranging a meeting with certain representatives, as the organizations are not a single unified body. However, he is unlikely to be welcomed by the overwhelming majority of groups representing American Jewry.
i24NEWS has also learned that French President Emmanuel Macron explored the possibility of visiting Israel ahead of the convention, but was advised by the Prime Minister’s Office that the timing was inappropriate. The message came as Macron continues to push for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move Israel strongly opposes. Sources further told i24NEWS that Israel is weighing additional retaliatory measures against Macron, including the potential closure of the French consulate in Jerusalem, which primarily serves Palestinians in the West Bank.