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US House Committee Announces Investigation Into Antisemitism at Rutgers University

The Endowment Justice Collective, a coalition of organizations at Rutgers University, held a “die in,” Piscataway, New Jersey, March 19, 2024. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect

Rutgers University in New Jersey has been named as the latest school being investigated by the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce for allegedly ignoring antisemitism for years and allowing an open season on hate toward Jewish students.

“Rutgers stands out for the intensity and pervasiveness of antisemitism on its campuses,” Committee Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) wrote to high-level university officials on Wednesday. “Rutgers senior administrators, faculty, staff, academic departments and centers, and student organizations have contributed to the development of a pervasive climate of antisemitism.”

With the announcement, Rutgers University joined a slew of colleges and universities accused of disregarding complaints of bullying, discrimination, and harassment reported by Jewish students. Foxx, as well as other lawmakers, have scrutinized this alleged pattern of behavior, which persists despite the fact that virtually all higher education institutions in the US impose robust anti-discrimination policies aimed at protecting minority groups from bigotry. Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California, Berkeley are among the other schools currently being investigated by the committee.

In Wednesday’s letter, Foxx recounted numerous incidents as cause for a thorough examination of Rutgers University’s handling of antisemitism, zeroing in on the conduct of its officials employed by the Center for Security, Race, and Rights (CSRR). Foxx noted that after Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughtering of Israeli civilians, CSRR rationalized the terrorist group’s violence, saying in a public statement that it was the result of “decades of oppression and attempted erasure.”

CSRR also recruits figures accused of antisemitism, Foxx noted. Lara Sheehi, a former George Washington University professor who has been accused of abusing Jewish students and filing phony disciplinary charges against them, is listed as one of its affiliates, and just three days after Oct. 7, CSRR hosted an event featuring Sheehi in which she defended Hamas’ actions as a legitimate response to “Zionist settler colonialism,” which she called “the provocation.”

CSRR’s extremism has infected the student body, according to Foxx. Last month, during an event titled “Gaza, Genocide, and International Law,” anti-Zionist students heckled an Israeli professor and later accused him of stoking “hatred” and endangering their safety. One of them expressed her desire to pelt his “shiny pink head” with a bottled water.

The congressional letter detailed how other academic departments have exuded similar anti-Jewish attitudes. Last month, the program coordinator of the university’s Center for Latino Arts and Culture, Silismar Suriel, “refused to advertise” an event because it was co-organized by Rutgers Hillel. Foxx noted that Suriel was on record saying, “We are a f—king university serving capitalist issues, serving Zionists … do the Zionists own the university?” and “f—k you colonizer … f—k you, Zionist, why don’t you go and read a f—king book?”

As The Algemeiner has previously reported, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has been a wellspring of antisemitic rhetoric at Rutgers. The group was one of dozens of SJP chapters that cheered Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, an attack that resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths and numerous rapes of Israeli women. As video footage of the terrorist group’s atrocities circled the web, Rutgers SJP shared on its Instagram pages memes that said “Glory to resistance” and “the clock started running when the majority of the Palestinian population was expelled from their land by Zionists during the Nakba.” It added, “You are watching an occupied people rise up against an apartheid nuclear power that has been occupying them and making their life unlivable since 1948.”

A milieu of extreme anti-Zionism at the school has resulted in at least one death threat against the life of a Jewish student since Oct. 7. In November, a local news outlet reported, freshman Matthew Skorny, 19, called for the murder of a fraternity member he identified as an Israeli, saying on the popular social media forum YikYak, “To all the pro-Palestinian ralliers [sic] … Go kill him.”

Similar incidents at Rutgers are not new. In the past few years, the school’s AEPi house has been vandalized three times. In one incident, in April 2022, on the last day of the Jewish holiday of Passover, a caravan of participants from a SJP rally drove there, shouting antisemitic slurs and spitting in the direction of fraternity members. Four days later, before Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, the house was egged during a 24-hour reading of the names of Holocaust victims.

Foxx has requested from Rutgers “all reports of antisemitic acts or incidents” and “related documents” going back to 2021 that were made to the offices of the president, general counsel, dean of students, police department, human resources, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, among others. She also requested documentation on the school’s funding of Rutgers Students for Justice in Palestine and disciplinary measures taken against students who have been found guilty of antisemitic abuse.

“Congress’ oversight powers are derived from the US Constitution and have been repeatedly affirmed by the United States Supreme Court,” Foxx concluded, explaining the university’s legal obligation to provide the documents she requested. “I expect that this request will be conveyed promptly to all parities who would be reasonably expected to have responsive materials.”

The Algemeiner has reached out to Rutgers University for comment for this story.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post US House Committee Announces Investigation Into Antisemitism at Rutgers University first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Caitlin Jenner to Participate in Tel Aviv Pride Parade for 1st time

Caitlyn Jenner speaking at the 2018 Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala. Photo: Screenshot.

i24 NewsCaitlyn Jenner, the former Olympic champion and leading figure in the transgender community, will participate in the Tel Aviv Pride Parade for the first time, scheduled for June 13.

The Israeli Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, as well as the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality, will host her for three days during the city’s Pride events. The program for the media personality, who has over 15 million followers on social media, includes a press conference before the festivities. Jenner will also explore the country’s tourist attractions with a visit to Jerusalem.

This visit is part of a broader diplomatic strategy, including international journalists who will tour the country, meet with representatives of the gay community, and attend various events, hosted by the Tourism Ministry. Six delegations of LGBTQ+ influencers from around the world are expected this year by the Foreign Ministry. These groups, composed of representatives from civil society, the media, academia, and digital influencers, will visit community organizations in Jerusalem, Beersheba, Haifa, and Tel Aviv.

Authorities are presenting this initiative as a demonstration that “the Jewish state remains the only democracy in the Middle East where everyone is accepted, regardless of religion, race, or gender.” Tel Aviv is described as “a symbol of openness and acceptance of others.” The influence of Jenner, an award-winning cultural and television icon, transcends American political divides, reaching both liberal and conservative audiences.

The post Caitlin Jenner to Participate in Tel Aviv Pride Parade for 1st time first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Body of Mohammed Sinwar Recovered from Gaza, Taken to Israel

A screengrab shows according to the Israeli Army, Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar, taken from a handout video, released Dec/ 17, 2023. Photo: Israeli Army/Handout via REUTERS

i24 NewsDuring excavations carried out recently in the area of ​​the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, several bodies were found – i24NEWS learned on Sunday that one belonged to late Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, which is now being held in Israel.

On Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces published documentation from the underground space located under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. The tunnels include a command and control complex from which the fighting was conducted by senior Hamas commanders. During the scans, several additional bodies of terrorists were found.

About three weeks ago, Israel heavily shelled the hospital area, targeting the underground space below it, where the terrorist organization’s headquarters was located. In recent days, Israeli forces have been operating in the area, with an emphasis on underground tunnels, and have located the body. The IDF’s recovery of Sinwar’s body contradicts a previous report, according to which Hamas recovered his body from the tunnel under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, and buried it in a tunnel in the Deir al-Balah area.

Sinwar was one of the senior and veteran figures in Hamas’ military wing, and took a significant part in the planning and execution of the murderous massacre on October 7, 2023, in which he served as head of the operations headquarters. After the assassination of military commander Mohammed Deif, Sinwar was appointed by his brother, late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, to the position. He was an influential and central factor in the organization’s decision-making, promoting Hamas’s effort to rehabilitate after IDF operations.

Now, Israel possesses the bodies of both Sinwar brothers, with much of the Hamas leadership eliminated in the more than 600 days since the war began.

The post Body of Mohammed Sinwar Recovered from Gaza, Taken to Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Hamas Militants Kill Gaza Civilians, Publicly Asserting Brutal Control

A drone view shows buildings lying in ruins, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Al-Basos

i24 NewsThe Israeli army released footage from the Gaza Strip on Sunday showing a Palestinian brutally shot dead in public by what the military claims is a Hamas militant.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, General Ghassan Alian, released the footage via military channels. According to the official statement, the brutal execution took place last weekend in a Gaza City square, in front of witnesses. Israeli military authorities described the footage as “exceptional documentation” illustrating the Islamist movement’s methods against its own population.

General Alian addressed the residents of Gaza directly in a statement – “Hamas, terrorists, and criminals are killing you and do not care about your lives,” he said. “There is no difference between a dictator who kills in silence and a terrorist who massacres openly. Both are your enemies and the enemies of life.”

Alian described the act as “a desperate, further, and failed attempt to sow public fear in order to preserve Hamas’s rule, power, and governance, while cynically trampling on and exploiting the residents of Gaza for the survival of the Hamas terrorist regime and the preservation of its rule.”

Meanwhile, the IDF is intensifying its operations in key flashpoints in Gaza, particularly in Jabalia and Khan Yunis. Military forces continue to reach areas where they were not previously present.

The post Hamas Militants Kill Gaza Civilians, Publicly Asserting Brutal Control first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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