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After police clash with Tel Aviv protesters who blocked highway, Netanyahu likens demonstrations to settlers who rioted

(JTA) — In a defiant televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared protesters of his government’s proposed judicial overhaul to the West Bank settlers who recently rioted in a Palestinian village, burning houses and cars.

Netanyahu, speaking for about seven minutes shortly after 8 p.m., warned that the protesters were crossing “red lines” and would themselves face retaliation, without elaborating on what shape it might take.

His remarks came after what protesters billed as a “day of disruption,” in which demonstrations blocked roads across the country, including a central highway in Tel Aviv. Police fired stun grenades, water cannons and tear gas at protesters, and at least 11 were hospitalized. Dozens of protesters were arrested.

Later in the day, including during Netanyahu’s speech, a crowd of protesters surrounded a hair salon in an upper-class neighborhood where Sara Netanyahu, the prime minister’s wife, was getting a haircut. The crowd kept the salon surrounded for hours, until a convoy of Israeli border police came to evacuate her from the building.

Netanyahu alluded to the crowd surrounding his wife in his speech and likened the protesters to the settlers who rioted in the Palestinian village of Huwara after a Palestinian killed two Israelis there. The settler rioters injured dozens of Palestinians, and a Palestinian man was killed amid the riots in another village.

“In Huwara, in the face of the horrific murder of two wonderful brothers, I said to the lawbreakers, we will not tolerate a situation in which ‘every man does that which is right in his own eyes,’” Netanyahu said, quoting a biblical passage. “And I say it again to the lawbreakers who crossed red lines in Tel Aviv today, we will not tolerate a situation in which ‘every man does that which is right in his own eyes.’”

Netanyahu added, “We cannot accept violence, we cannot accept attacks on police officers, we cannot accept blocking roads, we cannot accept threats toward public figures and their family members, something that is happening at this very moment in the heart of Tel Aviv.”

Later in the speech, he added, “If you erase the red lines on one side, they will be erased on the other, and the path to chaos is very quick,” he said.

Benny Gantz, one of the opposition leaders, called for talks under the aegis of President Isaac Herzog, who has offered to mediate, as did four influential Knesset members. Netanyahu did not mention those appeals in his speech.

Leaders of Israel’s parliamentary opposition came out in support of the protests — and some also called on protesters to let Sara Netanyahu leave the salon. Labor Party leader Meirav Michaeli, a Netanyahu opponent, also noted that police arrested more protesters in Tel Aviv than rioters in Huwara.

“Huwara was a terrorists’ pogrom,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, the head of the Yesh Atid Party, tweeted after Netanyahu’s speech. “How can Netanyahu compare that to members of [Israeli commando unit] Sayeret Matkal, to Apache pilots, to army reservists, to doctors and students, to people that came out today to the street? These are the best people in the country.”

For weeks, protesters have been turning out in the streets in the hundreds of thousands in a bid to stop the advance of legislation that would gut the courts of their independence. Pieces of that legislation were approved in a committee vote on Wednesday, moving one step closer to passage. The proposed overhaul would enable a majority of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to override Supreme Court decisions, and would give the government full control over appointments to the court.

Most of the protests are coordinated with the police, and there have been minimal arrests until Wednesday.

In his speech, Netanyahu also favorably compared protests by right-wing activists in 2005, when a centrist government evacuated settlements from the Gaza Strip, to today’s demonstrations. “That struggle did not cross red lines,” he said. “We did not see then what we see today. Those protesters did not attack police officers, did not call for civilian uprising, did not call for refusal [of military service], nor to take their money out of the country. They did not  slander Israel in the world.”

In fact, around the time of the Gaza withdrawal,  there were attacks on policemen, protests that blocked roads and calls on soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate settlements.


The post After police clash with Tel Aviv protesters who blocked highway, Netanyahu likens demonstrations to settlers who rioted appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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UN Nuclear Watchdog Believes Iran’s Enriched Uranium Survived War With Israel as Tehran Rebuffs Trump

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, confirmed that most of Iran’s enriched uranium survived the 12-day war with Israel in June and remains stored in damaged nuclear facilities, contradicting earlier reports of the strikes’ impact.

In an interview last week with the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said the agency’s new findings indicate that “the majority” of Iran’s enriched uranium “remains in the nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Fordow, and some in Natanz.”

Earlier this year, Israel, with support from the United States, carried out a large-scale military strike against the Islamist regime in Tehran, targeting three critical nuclear enrichment sites, including the heavily fortified Fordow facility.

According to Grossi, the three facilities were “massively damaged” in the strikes, restricting the IAEA’s access to them — and the enriched uranium inside — without “Iran’s full cooperation.”

“This will only happen if Iran sees it as a national interest,” he told NZZ.

However, Grossi’s latest assessment appears to somewhat contradict earlier reports from the White House, which claimed Iran’s nuclear facilities were “totally obliterated” and its nuclear program set back by years. US and Israeli intelligence reports have indicated the Iranian program could be set back anywhere from one or two to “several” years.

After the 12-day war with Israel, Iran halted its cooperation with the IAEA, accusing the agency of failing to firmly condemn the Israeli and US strikes.

On Monday, Tehran confirmed it ended the cooperation deal signed with the IAEA in September — which had allowed the agency to resume inspections of its nuclear sites — after Western powers reinstated UN sanctions last month.

This past weekend, Iranian officials also announced that the country is no longer party to the 2015 nuclear deal, under which economic sanctions were lifted in exchange for limits on Tehran’s nuclear program, following the deal’s expiration on Saturday.

According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, “all provisions [of the 2015 nuclear deal], including the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program and the related mechanisms, are now considered terminated.”

Still, the regime emphasized that the country “firmly expresses its commitment to diplomacy.”

After several rounds of nuclear talks failed to yield any results, Britain, Germany, and France activated the so-called “snapback” mechanism, leading to the reimposition of UN sanctions.

However, the three European powers — all parties to the 2015 nuclear deal — announced last week that they would still pursue efforts to restart talks aimed at finding a “comprehensive, durable, and verifiable agreement.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected such efforts, saying that Tehran did “not see any reason to negotiate” with Western powers once sanctions were reimposed

Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei mocked US President Donald Trump for claiming that he had destroyed the country’s nuclear facilities with his airstrike campaign in June.

“The US president proudly says they bombed and destroyed Iran’s nuclear industry. Very well, keep dreaming!” the Iranian leader said on Monday.

Khamenei also dismissed Trump’s proposal to resume nuclear negotiations, insisting that Iran had no interest in engaging under such conditions.

“Trump says he is a dealmaker, but if a deal is accompanied by coercion and its outcome is predetermined, it is not a deal but rather an imposition and bullying,” Khamenei said.

“What does it have to do with America whether Iran has nuclear facilities or not? These interventions are inappropriate, wrong, and coercive,” he continued.

Despite Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes rather than weapons development, Western powers have said there is no “credible civilian justification” for the country’s nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”

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Islamic Group CAIR’s Lawsuit Against University to Block Antisemitism Course Prompts Derision

People walk on the campus of Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, US, April 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Vincent Alban

Northwestern University in Illinois is being sued for teaching its students and staff not to indulge or promote antisemitism, according to a new lawsuit filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization that has been scrutinized by US authorities over alleged ties to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The action comes several weeks after the university paused course enrollment for an unspecified number of students who refused to participate in anti-discrimination seminars which emphasized antisemitism prevention. In a statement to The Algemeiner, Northwestern said the students had advanced notice that their declining to complete the course, as well as other “mandatory student trainings,” in a manner consistent with “the policy on Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct,” would precipitate “action, including a registration hold.”

CAIR, acting on behalf of the Northwestern Graduate Workers for Palestine (GW4P) group, argues that the course violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and accuses Northwestern University of holding it as a “pretense” for censoring “expressions of Palestinian identity, culture, and advocacy for self-determination.”

The argument castigates a training video featured in the course while appearing to suggest that the behavior perpetrated by anti-Israel activists that Jewish civil rights groups have aimed to stop — such as beating up Jewish students, calling for their deaths, and advocating the destruction of their ancient homeland by terrorists — is inherent to both Palestinian and Arab culture.

“Northwestern coerced many of its students into … watching the JUF video by placing a hold on the registration of students who did not,” the suit states, disparaging the group which produced the video, Jewish United Fund, as being founded to promote censorship. “These policies and practices discriminate against the university’s Palestinian and other Arab students by branding their ethnic and religious identities, cultures, and advocacy for the rights of their national group as antisemitic and subject to discipline.”

On Monday Jewish civil rights advocates said that CAIR’s lawsuit is meritless, arguing it undermines the spirit of the Civil Rights Act.

“CAIR’s lawsuit is not a civil rights case. On the contrary, it’s an attack on civil rights enforcement,” said Lisa Fields, national chair of Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern (CAAN) and parent of a Northwestern student. “Northwestern’s antisemitism training was developed to protect Jewish students after years of escalating harassment. The complaint – which argues that teaching students about antisemitism violates the Civil Rights Act – illustrates how litigation is being used to intimidate universities into silence.”

She added, “This is precisely why Northwestern needs independent federal oversight. Jewish students deserve safety and equal protection, not legal challenges that undermine the fight against antisemitism.”

“The Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Graduate Workers for Palestine at Northwestern University, which alleges that mandatory antisemitism training constitutes a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” said StopAntisemitism, a civil rights nonprofit. “We wish we were kidding.”

CAIR’s activity in the US has prompted a storm of controversy, as previously reported by The Algemeiner. In September, US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) exposed materials which CAIR distributes in its local activism — notably its “American Jews and Political Power” course — to spread its beliefs. Some of it attempts to revise the history of Sharia law, which severely restricts the rights of women and is opposed to other core features of liberal societies.

Additionally, since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, CAIR’s chapter in Philadelphia has lobbied the state government to enact anti-Israel policies and accused Gov. Josh Shapiro of ignoring the plight of Palestinians. In a 2023 speech following Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, CAIR’s national executive director, Nihad Awad, said he was “happy to see” Palestinians “breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land.”

Northwestern University’s handling of antisemitism after Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of Israel continues to be investigated by the federal government, which recently impounded $790 million worth of taxpayer funds previously appropriated to it, for potential civil rights violations. In response to public concern, Northwestern earlier this year issued a report detailing its enactment of a checklist of policies it said has meaningfully addressed campus antisemitism.

“The university administration took this criticism to heart and spent much of last summer revising our rules and policies to make our university safe for all of our students, regardless of their religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, or political viewpoint,” the university said. “Among the updated policies is our Demonstration Policy, which includes new requirements and guidance on how, when, and where members of the community may protest or otherwise engage in expressive activity.”

Northwestern added that it adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and instituted the “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions for “all students, faculty, and staff” that CAIR aims to abolish.

Jewish Northwestern students continue to report experiencing antisemitism at alarming rates. According to a Spring Campus Poll conducted by The Daily Northwestern, the school’s official campus newspaper, 58 percent of Jewish students reported being subjected to antisemitism or knowing someone who has. An even higher 63.1 percent said antisemitism remains a “somewhat or very serious problem.”

At the time, Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), a coalition of hundreds of organizations that fight anti-Jewish bigotry around the world, charged that the results show that the university has more to do to establish equality for all students.

“Yes, the university has reformed policies, implemented trainings, and adopted new definitions. It has pledged transparency and accountability — and some of those measures are meaningful,” the organization said. “But the reality remains: Jewish students continue to feel unsafe, and a majority still see antisemitism as a serious, unresolved issue.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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Muslim Groups Call on US Lawmakers to Condemn Jewish Rep. Randy Fine for ‘Islamophobic Attack’ on Mamdani

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) leaves the US Capitol after the last votes of the week on Sept. 4, 2025. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

A coalition of Muslim organizations across New York has called on the state’s congressional delegation to take a public stand against what it described as “rising Islamophobia” in the US Congress, focusing on comments made by Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) against New York city mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

In a letter sent on Oct. 16 to all 28 members of New York’s congressional delegation, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the groups accused Fine of a “racist and Islamophobic attack” on Mamdani, who currently serves in the New York State Assembly. Fine, a Jewish Republican who represents a district in Florida, referred to Mamdani on X as “little more than a Muslim terrorist” and said he should be “deported to the Ugandan s–thole he came from.”

The letter, signed by organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Emgage Action NY Metro, and Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), called for Fine’s condemnation, censure, and removal from committee assignments.

In the 2000s, CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The groups urged both political parties to reaffirm that “anti-Muslim, anti-African hate has no place in Congress.”

“This rhetoric is not only Islamophobic and xenophobic but unmistakably anti-Black,” the letter said, arguing that Fine’s comments echoed “colonial language once used to dehumanize African and immigrant communities.”

Mamdani, who has made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career, has alarmed the Jewish community in New York City by falsely accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, refusing to recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, and defending the phrase “globalize the intifada” — which has been widely interpreted as a call for terrorism against Jews and Israelis around the world — before walking back his defense of the controversial slogan. The Democratic mayoral nominee has maintained a comfortable lead in the race, according to recent polling, and is expected to win the general election next month.

The Muslim groups tied Fine’s statements against Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, to what they described as a broader pattern of Islamophobic hate on Capitol Hill. The letter cited comments by several lawmakers, including Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), who said, “I think we should kill them … Everybody in Hamas” when asked about the deaths of Palestinian children in Gaza, referring to the terrorist group that has ruled the enclave for nearly two decades. The letter also cited Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who recently called to “ban Sharia law” in the US. The organizations compared such proposals to banning Catholic canon law or Jewish Halacha, framing them as a form of religious discrimination. Critics counter that Sharia, or Islamic law, is incompatible with Western values and that Islamist extremists ultimately aim for the system to supersede the US Constitution.

According to the letter, New York’s Muslims make up about roughly 10 percent of the state’s population and are integral to its economy, public services, and schools. “We will not be silenced or scapegoated,” the groups wrote, warning that legislative measures conflating Palestinian advocacy with antisemitism “threaten civil rights and free speech.”

The coalition concluded by appealing to New York lawmakers to “meet this moment with moral clarity,” defending Muslim leaders under attack and rejecting the “weaponization of Islamophobia.”

“For generations,” they wrote, “New York’s congressional delegation has served as a moral compass for the nation. That tradition must continue.”

Since entering Congress, Fine has established himself as an outspoken advocate for Israel and critic of Islam. Earlier this month, Fine posted online that “Fear of Islam is rational. Islamophobia is a lie.” He also wrote that Islam is not “compatible with American values.” He has argued that radical Islam poses an existential threat to the United States and Jewish Americans in particular.

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