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George Washington University opens investigation into allegations of a professor’s antisemitic harassment
(JTA) – George Washington University says it has opened an investigation into whether a psychology professor displayed antisemitic behavior in her interactions with Jewish and Israeli students, in the latest row over the state of Jewish life at the university in Washington, D.C.
The investigation was prompted by a federal complaint filed by the pro-Israel watchdog group StandWithUs, which quoted graduate psychology students alleging that they had been targeted last fall by their professor due to “their Jewish and Israeli identities.”
The group’s complaint, filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office, quotes the professor, Lara Sheehi, as having told an Israeli student on the first day, “It’s not your fault you were born in Israel.” It goes on to allege that Jewish students felt targeted by a guest speaker Sheehi had brought into class, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, for comments she made advocating throwing stones at Israelis as a form of resistance. When students brought their concerns to Sheehi, the complaint alleges, she accused them of Islamophobia.
Subsequent meetings with higher-ups at the university did not yield satisfactory results, the complaint said.
In a statement last week, GWU President Mark Wrighton said the university would be opening “an investigation by a third party” into the complaint’s “claims of discrimination and retaliation against unnamed students in a GW course.” A GWU spokesperson previously told the Forward that the university “strongly condemns antisemitism and hatred” and “also recognizes and supports academic freedom.”
The Department of Education has yet to weigh in on whether it will open its own investigation, as it has with similar complaints of campus antisemitism in recent years.
The university, whose Hillel opened a new kosher cafe this week, has been the flashpoint of several incidents, putting a spotlight on Jewish student life in the past couple years. Groups posted anti-Zionist flyers near the campus Hillel and Jewish students rallied in 2021 after vandalism at a Jewish fraternity that included damage to a replica Torah.
But over the course of the 2021-2022 academic year, Jewish students across the political spectrum told the Forward they found claims of pervasive antisemitism on campus exaggerated. Some said they thought the frequent involvement of outside pro-Israel groups was counterproductive.
A graduate of the American University of Beirut, Sheehi is a professor of clinical psychology and the co-author of “Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine.” The incidents described in the StandWithUs report allegedly took place in Sheehi’s required diversity training course for GWU’s psychology graduate students.
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The post George Washington University opens investigation into allegations of a professor’s antisemitic harassment appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
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EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
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Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.