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Wesleyan University Anti-Zionist Students Planning ‘Mass’ Regional Demonstration
Illustrative: Thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators from the Midwest gather in support of Palestinians and hold a rally and march through the Loop in Chicago on Oct. 21, 2023. Photo: Alexandra Buxbaum/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Students for Justice in Palestine at Wesleyan University (WesSJP) and other allied anti-Zionist groups are planning a “Mass Action” demonstration across the entire northeast region of the US to call for alienating and destroying the State of Israel.
According to an announcement published on Tuesday in the school’s student newspaper, The Wesleyan Argus, the so-called Mass Action could take place at as many as 15 universities simultaneously on Feb. 24, drawing an army of students, non-students, faculty, and staff who will suspend normal business to participate in it. Wesleyan’s version of the event will take place at the Usdan University Center and the North College academic department.
“ALL [sic] students, faculty, and community members are invited to the upcoming events and rally to join and strengthen the mass movement for a liberated Palestine, and to demand of our institutions and the federal government that they immediately cease support for the Zionist state and the industries which profit from warmongering, genocide, and oppression across the globe,” wrote event organizer and Wesleyan student June Labourdette. “The rally itself will be a mass demonstration of solidarity between our community, Palestine, and the many struggles that unite organizers and workers around the world.”
She continued, “The fight for a free Palestine is an intersectional movement that encompasses fights for environmental justice, racial justice, health care and reproductive justice, and the liberation of oppressed peoples worldwide.”
Labourdette went on to describe a paranoid worldview in which Zionism is linked to “mass surveillance” which “gives our government and institutions the capability to identify members of our movement through their usual clothing or facial recognition trained on ID databases” and implored protesters who attend the event to conceal their identifies by “wearing masks and sunglasses or nondescript clothing.” At past anti-Israel protests, such instructions have facilitated hate crime assaults, property destruction, and the illegal occupation of campus buildings.
As part of the demonstration, the students will issue a slew of demands calling for policies which fulfill the requirements of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. They include terminating foreign aid to Israel, severing Wesleyan University’s relationship with the aerospace company Pratt & Whitney, and ending “all university partnerships and programs with Israeli academic institutions due to their direct contribution to the Zionist state’s goals of colonization.” According to Labourdette, these demands, and others, were authored by the group known as the February Action Committee, a splinter group of National Students for Justice for Palestine (NSJP) by way of its affiliation with Connecticut Students for Palestine.
NSJP, which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations, has publicly discussed its grand strategy of using the anti-Zionist student movement as a weapon for destroying the US.
“Divestment is not an incrementalist goal. True divestment necessitates nothing short of the total collapse of the university structure and American empire itself,” it said in Sept. 2024 in a now-deleted tweet. “It is not possible for imperial spoils to remain so heavily concentrated in the metropole and its high-cultural repositories without the continuous suppression of populations that resist the empire’s expansion; to divest from this is to undermine and eradicate America as we know it.”
The group’s statement followed a series of revelations of SJP’s revolutionary goals and its apparent plans to amass armies of students and young people for a long campaign of subversion against US institutions, including the economy, military, and higher education. Like past anti-American movements, NSJP is also fixated on the presence and prominence of Jews in American life and the US’s alliance with Israel, the world’s only Jewish state.
Achieving its goals has involved causing havoc on college campuses across the US and enlisting groups such as WesSJP to publicly proclaim its support for Hamas, a jihadist terrorist group which is responsible for mass murder and mass rape.
“On that day [Oct. 7, 2023], [Hamas] fighters broke through the occupation walls, initiating a new chapter in the struggle against the US-Israeli war machine, and demanding the release of thousands of Palestinians unfairly imprisoned across their historic homeland,” WesSJP said in a manifesto, published in September, which equated Israel with vermin and seemingly described WesSJP as an arm of Hamas. “Our actions are part of a strategy that strives to isolate this invasive imperial threat, and weaker it to aid in its eventual abolition. In addition to this, having undergone a major restructuring process, WesSJP looks forward to strengthening our movement capacity in collaboration with other organizations on campus, the Middletown community, and Connecticut as a whole by leaning into political education and direct action.”
In Tuesday’s announcement, Labourdette, drawing on the language of Marxism, proclaimed that the event will further anti-Zionists’ dream of a “liberated Palestine.”
“The rally itself will be a mass demonstration of solidarity between our community, Palestine, and the many struggles that unite organizers and workers around the world!” she proclaimed. “It is perhaps more important than ever to continue showing up for Palestine, showing up for each other, and carry out open, democratic mass action.”
Wesleyan University acceded to WesSJP’s demands during the campus disturbances of the 2023-2024 academic year even as advocacy groups denounced the movement of which it is a part as antisemitic.
In May, president Michael Roth agreed, at WesSJP’s behest, to create scholarships for “displaced” Palestinian students, form a working group of anti-Zionists which will “review” the possibility of an academic boycott of Israeli institutions, disclose its investments in what SJP called the “military industrial complex” and Israeli companies — a provision of the deal the school has already satisfied —and consider a divestment proposal authored by another anti-Zionist group of students and faculty.
“Later this month, representatives from the pro-Palestinian protest will meet members of the Investment Committee,” Roth said in a statement announcing the concessions, which were made as part of a deal to end a protest encampment. “In the fall, the Committee for Investor Responsibility (CIR) — a standing representative body of students, faculty, alumni, and staff — will be able to propose changes to the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework for investment/divestment for consideration by the board at its fall meeting.”
Ultimately, Wesleyan rejected divestment. Its board of trustees said that “adopting a strategy that requires divesting from an ever-changing list of companies depending on changing political conditions—the proposal recommended divestment from approximately 300 companies—would be impractical and irresponsible.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Hamas Leader Calls Trump’s Gaza Plan ‘Bulls—,’ Vows Palestinians Will Not Depart ‘Homeland’
Palestinian terrorists and members of the Red Cross gather near vehicles on the day Hamas hands over deceased hostages Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas, seized during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, to the Red Cross, as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Members of the Hamas terrorist group lambasted US President Donald Trump’s recent proposal to remove Palestinian civilians from the Gaza strip as a “bull— plan.”
The remarks were made during what appears to be a rally in the Khan Yunis town of southern Gaza celebrating the transfer of the bodies of four hostages—Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas, Shiri Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz—back to Israel after they had been murdered by Hamas. In the video, a large crowd was circled around a dirt pit, attentively listening to a leader of the terrorist group both criticized Trump as an “unleashed bull” and promise that future generations of Palestinians would continue fighting against Israel.
Hamas erected a large banner depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a blood-drenched vampire superimposed on pictures of the Bibas family and Lifshitz. Thousands of Palestinian civilians assembled to partake in the event, shouting chants of victory.
“Do you really think that boy that attacked a tank barefooted with his bayonet and IED will leave his homeland because of fear?” the terrorist member said, “What do you think might frighten us? We’ve made very good friends with death lately.”
The Hamas member warned Trump to “think twice” about his proposal to vacate Gaza civilians from the war-torn strip, arguing that the terrorist group is capable of “delivering” death to its opponents.
“The war criminal Netanyahu & his Nazi Army killed them with missiles from Zionist warplanes,” the banner read.
Earlier this month, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was visiting the White House, held a press conference following their private meeting in the Oval Office. Trump asserted that the US would assume control of Gaza and develop it economically into “the Riviera of the Middle East” after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”
Trump has also referred to Gaza as a “demolition site” and said its residents have “no alternative” but to leave, suggesting Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states as possible relocation sites.
Trump has called for Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states in the region to take in Palestinians from Gaza. Thus far, every state in the region has refused to absorb Palestinian migrants from Gaza.
The post Hamas Leader Calls Trump’s Gaza Plan ‘Bulls—,’ Vows Palestinians Will Not Depart ‘Homeland’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Chaos’: Students for Justice in Palestine Forced to Abandon Building Occupation at Swarthmore College
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) members during its illegal occupation of Parrish Hall on February 19, 2025. Photo: Screenshot/X
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania led a failed takeover of an administrative building that it was forced to abandon after just 11 hours, according to a recent report by The Phoenix, the school’s campus daily.
“Chaos and uncertainty ruled campus yesterday,” wrote staff writers Daniel Perrin and Ella Walker on Thursday, describing the welter of events which saw SJP occupy the Parrish Hall administrative building and security officials launch a frenetic operation to boot them out.
While SJP had announced an “emergency rally” scheduled for noon that day, there was little indication that it planned on commandeering the building and remaining inside of it indefinitely, according to the report in The Phoenix.
“Swarthmore students hold sit-in to demand accountability for political repression and complicity in genocide,” SJP said in a statement after revealing its intentions. “We will not rest until Swarthmore College divests from the genocidal Zionist entity and drops all charges against our peers. Free Palestine and long live the student intifada.”
Inside, the students dressed like Hamas fighters, wrapping their faces with keffiyeh in a style coined by the group’s members to avoid being identified as terrorists.
SJP members left the building before the 11pm deadline set by the College. Administrators told The Phoenix that they “do not expect to issue interim suspensions.”
Occupying campus property to protest Israel and Zionism is now an old phenomenon. Thousands of students did so during the conclusion of the 2023-2024 academic year, precipitating an epidemic of antisemitic hate crime assaults, property destruction, and hate speech which cost several university presidents their jobs. So-called “Gaza Solidarity Encampments” which sprung in campuses across the United States last year caught university administrators off guard, and they hesitated to discipline protesters who openly violated school rules, creating an impression that rule-breaking was acceptable so long as the students doing it were promoting left-wing viewpoints.
Swarthmore resolved on Wednesday not to make a similar mistake, The Phoenix reported. No sooner had the students captured the building than security officials moved to lock it down to prevent both SJP’s being joined by more students and receiving supplies such as food and water that would sustain and ultimately prolong the demonstration. But it was many hours before Swarthmore’s vice president of student affairs Stephanie Ives sent SJP a letter warning the group that its members were risking being placed on interim suspensions that would carry a ban from campus, as well as their losing “all academic privileges.”
By that time, the students had unleashed a barrage of misconduct, shouting slogans through bullhorns, attempting to break into offices that had been locked to keep them out, and pounding the doors of others that refused to admit them access. Meanwhile, SJP collaborators circumvented security’s lockdown of the building to smuggle food inside. Several students then grew impatient and attempted to end the lockdown themselves by raiding the building, and in doing so caused a physical altercation with security, whom they proceeded to pelt with expletives and other imprecations spoken in the style of inner-city vernacular.
“What the f— is your problem!?” a female student, captured in video shared by The Phoenix, can be heard screaming at an official who used his body to block a protester from forcing his way inside. “B—ch! F—ck you! Stop f—ing touching people bruh!”
In a letter to Swarthmore SJP, Ives said that the group’s activities, which it heavily promoted on social media, had drawn the attention of the local Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office.
“Your actions, and the promotion of them on social media, have triggered a range of responses from within and beyond the community, including local and federal law enforcement agencies,” she wrote. “We have already identified several individuals involved in today’s actions. Those individuals, along with others we identify moving forward, will face interim suspension if the occupation does not end by 11 p.m. tonight.”
In a statement later issued to The Phoenix, Swarthmore College said, “The FBI contacted us based on the nature and volume of social media posts by Swarthmore SJP, along with other regional and national SJP and other accounts, calling for people from outside the campus community to come to Swarthmore and participate in the occupation.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Jewish Man Violently Attacked in England, Assailant Reportedly Said He Was ‘Responsible for Gaza War’
A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect
A visibly Jewish man in England was brutally attacked after attending a prayer service, leaving him fearing for his eyesight, in what local police are investigating as a hate crime.
The attack took place on Feb. 3 in Manchester City Center around 1:30 om. As the victim was walking home, he was approached from behind and struck in the face with a hard glass object, shattering his glasses and leaving him covered in blood.
“I thought I could have been blinded in my right eye,” the victim told the Manchester Evening News.
“In the split second before, I gripped my phone tightly in case someone tried to grab it and did not have a chance to protect myself,” he recalled. “I was then hit extremely forcefully with what felt like a bottle around the right side of my face, instantly shattering my glasses and knocking me off balance.”
After being examined by paramedics, the victim said he suffered bruising around his eye and cuts to his upper cheek and side of his face, adding that he still experiences black dots in his vision.
A bystander who witnessed the attack said he heard the attacker shout “murderer” at the victim and accuse him of being “responsible for the war in Gaza.”
“I’m apprehensive walking around and now get nervous anyone could attack me at any time,” the victim said. “I remain very traumatized by what happened.”
Greater Manchester Police confirmed that an investigation was ongoing, but two weeks after the attack, no arrests had been made. Meanwhile, the British charity Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has offered a £5,000 (around $6,300 US dollars) reward for information about the suspect leading to a conviction.
“This victim’s testimony is horrific. At a time of surging antisemitism, incidents like these are becoming far too common, and those responsible must be held to account,” a spokesperson for CAA said in a statement.
The incident came amid an ongoing surge in antisemitic crimes across the United Kingdom since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.
Last week, the Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, released data showing the UK experienced its second worst year for antisemitism in 2024, despite recording an 18 percent drop in antisemitic incidents from the previous year’s all-time high
Specifically, CST 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, a drop from the 4,296 in 2023. These numbers compare to 1,662 antisemitic incidents in 2022, 2,261 in 2021, and 1,684 in 2020.
In Greater Manchester, home to the largest Jewish community outside London, 480 cases were reported last year.
In a joint statement addressing the rise in antisemitic incidents, a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police and CST said, “Everyone should feel safe and welcome when visiting our city-region.”
“Hate crimes in Greater Manchester will not be tolerated, and we will always endeavor to take action against those responsible for this type of offence to keep our communities safe,” they added.
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the war in Gaza when they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during their invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
Last month, both sides reached a ceasefire and hostage-release deal brokered by the US, Egypt, and Qatar. Under phase one, Hamas agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom are deceased, in exchange for Israel freeing over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are serving multiple life sentences for terrorism-related offenses.
Talks for a second phase are set to begin in the coming days, focusing on the release of around 60 remaining hostages, about half of whom are believed to be dead, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
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