Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon took a swipe at UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for demanding an end to the Jewish state’s counterterrorism operations in the West Bank at a time when Palestinian leaders have called for a return to suicide bombings against Israel.

Danon on Thursday morning defended the West Bank operations, saying intervention by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is necessary to thwart potential terrorist attacks.

“Since Oct. 7, Iran has been working vigorously to introduce into Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] sophisticated explosive devices that are intended to explode in the centers of cities in Israel,” Danon posted on X/Twitter, referring to the aftermath of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Iran is the chief international sponsor of Hamas, providing the terrorist group with weapons, funding, and training.

“The State of Israel cannot sit idly by and wait for the spectacle of buses and cafes exploding in city centers,” the ambassador continued. “The activity of the IDF forces … is intended for the clear purpose of thwarting terrorist attacks and acts before they are carried out under Iranian direction.”

Danon was responding to Guterres, who hours earlier condemned Israel’s defensive military operations in the West Bank, arguing that they endanger the lives of innocent civilians. 

“Latest developments in the occupied West Bank, including Israel’s launch of large-scale military operations, are deeply concerning. I strongly condemn the loss of lives, including of children, and I call for an immediate cessation of these operations,” Guterres posted on X/Twitter.

Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli forces killed several Palestinian terrorists who hid in a mosque during counterterrorism activities in the West Bank city of Tulkarem. One of the men killed was Muhhamad Jabber, also known as Abu Shujaa, the head of the Nur Shams terrorist network, according to a joint statement from the IDF, Israel Security Agency, and Israel Border Police. Jabber, a local commander of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, was one of the most wanted men in the West Bank involved in planning attacks against Israeli targets, Israeli authorities said.

Guterres’s condemnation came shortly after top Hamas official Khaled Mashal on Wednesday called for a resumption of suicide bombings in the West Bank. According to Arabic media, Mashal said during an address at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey that Palestinians should implement “actual resistance against the Zionist entity [Israel].” He also reportedly said that Hamas wanted to “return to [suicide] operations.”

Mourning the elimination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, Mashal added, “The enemy has opened the conflict on all fronts, seeking us all, whether we fight or not.”

While Hamas’s core terrorist infrastructure is in Gaza, it has operatives in the West Bank.

Last week, the military wings of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a failed suicide bombing near a synagogue in Tel Aviv. In a statement, Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades said its “martyrdom operations” (suicide attacks) inside Israel would continue as long as the “occupation’s massacres and assassination policy continue” — a reference to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and and the killing of Haniyeh in the Iranian capital last month.

Israeli officials have long accused the UN of having a bias against the Jewish state. Last year, the UN General Assembly condemned Israel twice as often as it did all other countries. Meanwhile, of all the country-specific resolutions passed by the UN Human Rights Council, nearly half have condemned Israel, a seemingly disproportionate focus on the lone democracy in the Middle East.

Just weeks following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the UN adopted a resolution calling for a “ceasefire” between the two sides. The UN failed to pass a measure condemning the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.

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Anti-Zionists roiled the University of Michigan campus on Wednesday, staging a protest that aimed to sabotage one of its biggest fall events.

Organized by a group which calls itself the “Tahrir Coalition,” the demonstration saw 45 students and non-students stage a “die-in” on the Diag section of campus without prior authorization from university officials, according to The Daily Michigan. The demonstration was timed to coincide with Festifall, an annual fair which the university says draws over 8,000 people and big spending sponsors who pay as much $50,000 to participate.

The demonstration lasted for two hours, the Daily added. In that time the protesters chanted “Israel bombs, U of M pays, how many kids did you kill today?,” as can be seen in footage which emerged online. They also waved signs showing images of civilian victims of the Israel-Hamas war.

Counter pro-Israel protesters descended on the Diag too, chanting “Bring them home,” referring to Israeli hostages who have been held captive by Hamas in Gaza since the Palestinian terror group’s Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state. Ultimately, University of Michigan law enforcement arrested four Tahrir Coalition members, one of whom is a university employee, after they ignored repeated calls to clear the area.

“The university has been clear that we will enforce our policies related to protests and expressive activity, and will hold individuals accountable for their actions in order to ensure a safe and inclusive enforcement for all,” university spokeswoman Colleen Mastony told the Daily in a statement addressing the incident. “Today, a group of approximately 50 individuals sought to disrupt a university event and were asked to disperse. For more than an hour, they were given multiple warnings that made clear they were blocking pedestrian traffic and violating university policy.”

One of the protest organizers, student Assmaa Eidy, accused the school of squelching free speech by clearing a demonstration it did not authorize.

“It’s been a continuation of the university trying to suppress us, villainize us, and criminalize us and use any attempt they can to limit our freedoms to protest and essentially our right to protest the genocide that they’re complicit in,” she said in an interview with the Daily.

Anti-Zionist activity at the University of Michigan has starter earlier than normal this academic year, which is barely a week old.

As The Algemeiner previously reported, a slew of anti-Zionist candidates at the University of Michigan secured election to Central Student Government (CSG) last semester by running as the Shut It Down party, whose platform promised to sever the university’s ties, both financial and academic, to Israel, according to The Detroit News. Since assuming power, its members have shredded the budget for the summer term approved by the previous administration and vowed to block funding for student clubs during the upcoming fall semester.

Founded in the months after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, Shut It Down (SID) allegedly committed multiple election code infractions to amass its newfound and unprecedented power. According to The Michigan Daily, students banded together to contest their election victory, citing multiple instances in which they campaigned in proscribed areas and violated other rules regulating the use of posters and email communications. SID ultimately overcame the challenge following a controversial hearing which the student government, breaking precedent, conducted in secret.

SID announced its plans to defund student clubs in July, with its chair, Shubh Agrawal, saying in remarks quoted by the Daily, “The university of Michigan is one of those institutions [whose] $6 billion of the endowment are implicated in the genocide or occupation of people of Palestine. And the University of Michigan does not deserve to function as normal while it continues to do those things.”

The party’s actions prompted the university to dispossess CSG of the power of the purse.

“The University of Michigan will make funding available to registered student organizations who apply for funding for the fall semester,” Colleen Mastony, University of Michigan assistant vice president of public affairs, told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “UM’s vice president for student life and dean of students notified the Central Student Government on August 19 of the decision to immediately institute a temporary funding process. This step was taken at the request of senior leaders within the CSG assembly, after the CSG president in June vetoed a budget resolution that had been passed unanimously by the assembly. The veto impacted the summer budget only. University funding will remain in place until a budget is passed.”

Anti-Zionist activists at other college campuses are also testing administrators, pushing the boundaries of their conduct and daring a response.

On Monday, anti-Israel agitators vandalized an administrative building at Cornell University, a provocation which marked an early test of the resolve of its recently appointed interim president, Michael Kotlikoff, who announced new policies on “institutional neutrality,” discipline, and encampments around the time of incident.

According to the Cornell Daily Sun, the agitators graffitied “Israel Bombs, Cornell pays” and “Blood is on your hands” on Day Hall. They also shattered the glazing of its front doors.

“We had to accept that the only way to make ourselves heard is by targeting the only thing the university administration really cares about: property,” the students told the Cornell Daily Sun, which agreed to conceal their identities. “With the start of this new academic year, the Cornell administration is trying desperately to upkeep a facade of normalcy knowing that, since last semester, they have been working tirelessly to uphold Cornell’s function as a fascist, classist, imperial machine.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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Reported hate crimes in New York state spiked by a staggering 69 percent since 2019, largely fueled by sharp increases in antisemitic incidents, according to a new analysis released by New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on Wednesday.

The report from the Office of State Comptroller found that hate crimes against Jews increased across New York by 89 percent — from 253 incidents in 2018 to 477 outrages in 2023.

“In 2023, nearly 44 percent of all recorded hate crime incidents and 88 percent of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish victims, the largest share of all such crimes,” the report stated.

As for New York City specifically, antisemitic incidents accounted for a striking 65 percent of all felony hate crime incidents last year.

One such outrage that made headlines this week was a man in New York City allegedly spitting in a 65-year-old Jewish man’s face late last month after proclaiming “Hitler was right” in what is being investigated as an antisemitic hate crime.

On Tuesday, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) released a video of the alleged perpetrator of the crime, who has still not been found or arrested.

The NYPD said its Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident.

The perpetrator also allegedly said “Should I slap you or punch you,” prior to pulling down his mask and spitting on the man in broad daylight.

New York defines a hate crime as “an offense that is motivated by a perception or belief about the victim’s race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or another protected characteristic. Hate crimes can be committed against a person or property.”

New York state’s total of 1,089 reported hate crimes last year marked the highest number “since data collection and annual reporting were mandated by New York’s Hates Crimes Act of 2000,” according to a press release accompanying the report.

“Fighting hatred and bigotry demands that we communicate with, respect, and accept our neighbors,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “It requires our spiritual, political, community, and business leaders to take active roles in denouncing hate, investing in prevention and protection efforts, and increasing education that celebrates the value of New York’s diversity.”

The surge in antisemitism in New York was also seen nationwide across the US. Earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League released a report showing antisemitic incidents in the US rose 140 percent last year, reaching a record high. Most of the outrages occurred after the Hamas terror group’s Oct. 7 across southern Israel, during the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

In December, the FBI said there had been a 60 percent spike in antisemitic hate crime investigations since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. Then, in April, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the probes into antisemitic crimes tripled in the months following Oct. 7.

“Between Oct. 7 and Jan. 30 of this year, we opened over three times more anti-Jewish hate crime investigations than in the four months before Oct. 7,” he explained.

In 2023, the FBI found that 63 percent of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the US were directed against Jews.

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