Man Accused of Killing Israeli Embassy Staffers Indicted on Federal Hate Crime Charges
According to the court documents unsealed on Wednesday, Rodriguez, 31, is accused of carrying out a hate crime resulting in death motivated by the 'actual and perceived national origin of any person,' when he allegedly shot Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, on May 21.
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Epoch Times
3 hours ago
- Epoch Times
DOJ Finds George Washington University Allowed Anti-Semitism
The Department of Justice announced on Aug. 12 that George Washington University violated civil rights by acting 'deliberately indifferent to the hostile educational environment for Jewish, American Israeli, and Israeli students and faculty' despite receiving at least eight complaints about harassment and misconduct. 'Every student has the right to equal educational opportunities without fear of harassment or abuse,' Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement.
NBC News
4 hours ago
- NBC News
DOJ accuses George Washington University of 'acting deliberately indifferent' to antisemitism
The Justice Department accused George Washington University on Tuesday of violating civil rights law by 'acting deliberately indifferent' to instances of antisemitism on campus. In a letter to the Washington, D.C. university following an investigation, the DOJ said that Jewish and Israeli students and faculty were subjected to a hostile environment that was 'offensive, severe and pervasive.' Citing clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters last spring and Jewish students, the agency said that the school failed to take appropriate action despite multiple complaints. The Justice Department gave the school the opportunity to enter into a 'voluntary resolution agreement,' threatening to 'proceed with enforcement' if a resolution isn't reached. 'The antisemitic, hate-based misconduct by GWU students directed at Jewish GWU students, faculty, and employees was, in a word, shocking,' said the letter, signed by Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the agency's civil rights division. 'The behavior was demonstrably abhorrent, immoral, and, most importantly, illegal.' George Washington University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said in a statement that the school is currently reviewing the letter. 'GW condemns antisemitism, which has absolutely no place on our campuses or in a civil and humane society,' McClendon said in the statement. 'Moreover, our actions clearly demonstrate our commitment to addressing antisemitic actions and promoting an inclusive campus environment by upholding a safe, respectful, and accountable environment. ' The letter references incidents that took place over a year ago, when students staged pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the country, including rallies and encampments. Since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the Oct. 7 attacks more than 61,000, including thousands of children, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the enclave. In the letter, the DOJ said that between April 25, 2024 and into May 2024, students engaged in protests including the establishment of an encampment. The department's investigation found that during that period of time, there were 'numerous incidents' of Jewish students being harassed. One Jewish student said that they were ordered by antisemitic protestors to leave the yard where the encampment was located, the letter said. 'GWU's Assistant Dean of Students instructed the Jewish student to leave because his presence was 'antagonizing and provoking the crowd,'' the letter said. Another student said that they had held up an Israeli flag and was confronted by protestors who linked arms to restrict the student's movements, the letter said. A nearby school police officer told the student to leave for their own safety. And in a separate incident, another Jewish student who was also holding an Israeli flag said that they were harassed by protesters who yelled expletives at them. Another officer similarly told the student to leave the area, the letter said. McClendon said in the statement that the school took appropriate action including during the encampment. 'We do not tolerate behavior that threatens our community or undermines meaningful dialogue,' McClendon said. The Justice Department's findings surrounding GWU follow the agency's similar announcement in late July over public university UCLA. The civil rights division also said that UCLA had failed to 'adequately' respond to complaints of harassment and abuse toward its Jewish and Israeli students on campus since the Oct. 7 attacks. Days later, UCLA announced that it had been notified that it would be losing federal research funding over alleged antisemitism. Then last week, the Trump administration proposed a $1 billion settlement with the school. 'As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country's greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians,' James B. Milliken, the president of the University of California school system, said in a statement. Since Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian student protesters and their schools, debate has erupted over free speech rights and the role of government in academia. Stanford University's student newspaper, the Stanford Daily, took legal action against the administration last week over two provisions in federal immigration law that it says officials have wielded against those with pro-Palestinian views, threatening deportation and the revocation of visas. They say in the lawsuit that the situation has led to censorship and violations of free speech rights. 'There's real fear on campus and it reaches into the newsroom,' Greta Reich, the Stanford Daily's editor-in-chief, said in a statement. 'The Daily is losing the voices of a significant portion of our student population.'
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Anas Al-Sharif became the face of the war in Gaza for millions. Then Israel killed him
As a ceasefire in Gaza took hold in January, Anas Al-Sharif began removing his protective gear live on television, piece by piece, while a jubilant crowd cheered, hoping the day marked the end of the suffering of 2 million Palestinians in the enclave. Nearly seven months later, Israel killed the Al Jazeera journalist and four of his colleagues in a strike in Gaza City. One of the most well-known Palestinian journalists in Gaza – and one of dozens to be killed by Israel during the war – Al-Sharif's death has ignited international condemnation and calls for accountability. The 28-year-old rose to prominence as the face of the Gaza story for millions while Israel has blocked international media outlets from accessing the territory. Little known before the war, he quickly turned into a household name in the Arab world for his daily coverage of the conflict and its humanitarian toll. His reports provided first-hand accounts of critical moments in the conflict, including the short-lived ceasefires in the territory, the release of Israeli hostages and harrowing stories of the starvation that have shocked the world. Al Jazeera recruited Al-Sharif in December 2023 after his social media footage of Israeli strikes in his hometown of Jabalya went viral. Then a professional cameraman, he was initially reluctant to appear on air but was persuaded by colleagues to front his reports, an experience he called 'indescribable.' 'I had never even appeared on a local channel let alone an international one,' he was cited as saying in the Sotour media outlet in February. 'The person who was happiest was my late father.' His father was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Jabalya shortly after Al-Sharif began appearing on Al Jazeera. A father of two, he appeared on the channel nearly every day since he started his job. 'We (journalists) slept in hospitals, in streets, in vehicles, in ambulances, in displacement shelters, in warehouses, with displaced people. I slept in 30 to 40 different places,' he told the outlet. After he took off his protective gear on air in January, crowds lifted him on their shoulders in celebration. 'I am taking off the helmet that tired me, and this armor that has become an extension of my body,' he said live on Al Jazeera at the time as he paid tribute to colleagues killed and injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza. Al-Sharif's reports attracted the attention of the Israeli military, which, he claimed, warned him to stop his work for Al Jazeera, a network that had already lost several staff members to Israeli actions in Gaza, including Ismail Al Ghoul, killed last year, and Hossam Shabat, killed in March. 'At the end, (the Israeli military) sent me voice notes on my WhatsApp number… an intelligence officer told me… 'you have minutes to leave the location you are in, go to the south, and stop reporting for Al Jazeera'… I was reporting from a hospital live.' 'Minutes later, the room I was reporting from was struck,' he said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) didn't respond to CNN's request for comment. Why now? Israel first accused Al-Sharif of being linked to Hamas 10 months ago. Why it decided to target him now is unclear. In a statement confirming his targeted killing, the IDF accused Al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell in Gaza that orchestrated 'rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces.' In October 2024, the Israeli military published documents it claimed showed 'unequivocal proof' of Al-Sharif's ties to Hamas and named five other Al Jazeera journalists who it said were part of the militant group. An Israeli army spokesperson said in a video on X that Al-Sharif joined a Hamas battalion in 2013, and was injured in training in 2017, an accusation denied by the journalist himself and Irene Khan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression. 'I reaffirm: I, Anas Al-Sharif, am a journalist with no political affiliations. My only mission is to report the truth from the ground – as it is, without bias,' he wrote last month. 'At a time when a deadly famine is ravaging Gaza, speaking the truth has become, in the eyes of the occupation, a threat.' Following the journalist's killing, the IDF's Arabic spokesperson published several pictures of Al-Sharif with Yahya Sinwar, the late Hamas leader who is believed to have masterminded the October 7, 2023 attack that left around 1,200 people in Israel dead and roughly 250 more taken hostage. Israel killed Sinwar in October 2024. Al-Sharif was in a tent with other journalists near the entrance to the Al-Shifa Hospital when he was killed on Sunday, according to hospital director Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya. The tent was marked with a 'Press' sign, Abu Salmiya told CNN. The strike killed at least seven people, Salmiya added. Al Jazeera said correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and photojournalists Ibrahim Al Thaher and Moamen Aliwa were also killed in the strike, as well as Mohammed Noufal, another staff member. 'Pattern of accusing journalists' Al-Sharif's killing prompted condemnations from rights groups and officials. The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was 'appalled,' adding that Israel has 'a longstanding, documented pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof.' The CPJ said 192 journalists have been killed since the beginning of the war nearly two years ago, adding: '184 of those journalists are Palestinians killed by Israel.' Since the start of the war, Israel has not allowed international journalists to enter Gaza to report independently. Just hours before the strike that killed Al-Sharif and his colleagues, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said foreign journalists would now be allowed into Gaza, but only with Israeli military approval and accompanied by them, the same embed policy that has been in place since the beginning of the war. Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, is one of the few global news outlets broadcasting live from Gaza during the conflict, unlike others that primarily rely on local freelance journalists. As one of the most watched channels in the Arab world, its continuous coverage of Gaza has drawn a significant viewership among Palestinians and Arabic-speaking audiences. The network's YouTube channel has more than 21 million subscribers and nearly 16 billion views, with a live stream that attracts millions of viewers Al-Sharif gained prominence in the network as many of its well-known journalists in Gaza were killed or injured by Israeli strikes. Wael Al Dahdouh, the former Gaza bureau chief, was evacuated to Qatar after sustaining injuries and having most of his family killed. Al-Sharif then emerged as a roving reporter across Gaza, providing Al Jazeera with live updates from the north of the enclave. He also regularly posted videos on his Telegram channel highlighting the toll of the war on Palestinians. Last year, Israel banned the Al Jazeera from operating in the country under a sweeping new wartime law that allows the Israeli government to ban foreign media organizations it deems 'harmful' to the nation's security. Al-Sharif was buried in Gaza on Monday in a funeral that attracted large crowds of Palestinian mourners. Anticipating his own death, Al-Sharif had written a will that was released by his colleagues after he was killed. 'I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification… If I die, I die steadfast upon my principles,' he wrote. 'Do not forget Gaza … and do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.'
