Latest news with #Antisemites
Roya News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Roya News
Italian politicians targeted in brutal media attack for Palestine support
A brutal political and media assault has been launched against Five Star Movement (M5S) MP Stefania Ascari and her political ally Alessandro Di Battista, two of Italy's most outspoken advocates for Palestinian rights. The attack is being spearheaded by Il Tempo, a right-wing newspaper, which has weaponized its front page to create a full-blown political crisis for the opposition figures. A visual bombshell was seen on the paper's Sunday cover: Headline screaming "ANTISEMITI" ("Antisemites") above a photo of Ascari and Di Battista, provocatively set against a background of six yellow Stars of David. This shocking accusation was designed for maximum impact, immediately framing the politicians with the most toxic label in European politics. Following up on the headline, the full online report laid out the detailed allegations. It claims a video from a conference in Milan links the pair to individuals believed to be "Hamas sympathizers", specifically naming Mohammad Hannoun who was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for allegedly providing financial support to the resistance movement, Hamas. This coordinated attack appears to be a direct consequence of Ascari and Di Battista's political activism. Ascari, in particular, has a long history in parliament of condemning 'Israeli' government actions and championing the cause of Palestinian statehood. In a defiant response, Onorevole Stefania Ascari provided the following statement directly to Roya News: "Following the numerous defamatory articles published by the newspaper Il Tempo, the latest of which this morning accuses me of anti-Semitism, I have decided to file a complaint demanding that the newspaper answer for its shameful statements about me, clearly made in an attempt to undermine my commitment to fighting the genocide in Gaza. It is clear to me that these misleading attacks are part of a broader strategy aimed at discrediting those who denounce the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Netanyahu's terrorist and criminal government. Let me be clear: they will not stop me. I will continue to fearlessly denounce what is happening and defend human rights and the truth, against any attempt at intimidation or delegitimization." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Stefania Ascari (@stefaniaascari3) The newspaper, owned by the powerful right-wing Angelucci family, has seized upon this history, launching a campaign that strategically conflates their pro-Palestinian advocacy with antisemitism and support for Hamas. This comes after years of unapologetic and high-profile advocacy for the Palestinian cause from both politicians. Stefania Ascari has repeatedly used her platform in the Italian Chamber of Deputies to make serious accusations against the 'Israeli' government, accusing it of committing "war crimes" and "genocide" in Gaza, where over 50,000 Palestinians have now been killed by 'Israel' most of whom are women and children, while calling on Italy to formally recognize the state of Palestine. Similarly, Alessandro Di Battista has made his fervent support for Palestine a cornerstone of his public identity, consistently framing the issue within a broader anti-imperialist critique of Western foreign policy in his widely followed speeches and writings.
Vox
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Vox
How the Jeffrey Epstein scandal became the mother of all conspiracy theories
is a senior politics correspondent at Vox, covering the White House, elections, and political scandals and investigations. He's worked at Vox since the site's launch in 2014, and before that, he worked as a research assistant at the New Yorker's Washington, DC, bureau. A message calling on President Donald Trump to release all files related to Jeffrey Epstein is projected onto the US Chamber of Commerce building across from the White House on July 18, 2025. Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images The political world's frenzy over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal has essentially blotted out the sun. That's even though Epstein has been dead for nearly six years, and the scandal around him has no apparent import to American public policy. So why is the obsession over it so intense? The known facts around Epstein are genuinely mysterious and shocking. He became fabulously wealthy through unclear means, he cultivated a social circle full of powerful elites, he's been accused of sex crimes by dozens of women (many of whom were underage), he owned two private islands, and he died in jail in what the FBI has said was a suicide. But in the minds of many, the scandal has become something far more than the known facts — it's become, basically, the mother of all conspiracy theories. Because a curious aspect to the Epstein scandal is that it has something to captivate just about every political subculture. Depending on which parts of the story you zoom in on or studiously ignore, it can be a Me Too story of women being abused by a powerful man, a MAGA tale of liberal elites' sex crimes, or a #Resistance scandal that will reveal the dark truth about Trump. Those inclined to suspect deep state malfeasance fixate on a cover-up or the hypothetical involvement of intelligence agencies. Antisemites focus on Epstein being Jewish. Particularly, the MAGA right demonstrated extraordinary amounts of compartmentalization by becoming obsessed with Epstein while totally ignoring that the leader of their political movement, Trump, had well-documented ties to the man. The Epstein scandal would, they thought, reveal that Democrats were perverted sex criminals — and Trump would help expose the truth. But any hopes of a revelatory new dump of Epstein info from the Trump administration have been extinguished, and Trump has desperately tried to change the subject to other topics. This may well be because Trump's own name is in there. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that, back in May, administration officials told Trump his name appeared in Epstein case documents, alongside many other people's names — and that the files contained lots of unverified hearsay about these people. Trump and his team's contortions — and the unusual tension between the Trump administration and their base — have spurred a new round of investigative reporting about Trump and Epstein's ties. Democrats, too, have glommed on to the scandal as a way to hurt Trump politically. It's gotten so awkward for Republicans that Speaker Mike Johnson cut short the House of Representatives' work schedule this week, specifically to avoid votes on Epstein disclosures. But so far, every attempt by Trump and his allies to move on from Epstein has only spurred more interest in the topic — and more questions about whether they're trying to hide something. Epstein theories escaped containment on the right, getting out of Trump's control Trump, a longtime fan of conspiracy theories about his political enemies, has generally proved quite skilled at guiding and diverting the MAGA base's attention to his preferred targets — mainly, top Democrats and government officials involved in investigating Trump. But there's always been an element of far-right conspiracy theorizing he couldn't quite control — as demonstrated with Pizzagate and especially QAnon, two made-up theories about Democrats being involved in child sex crimes that were fervently believed by many on the right. With QAnon in particular, Trump never outright endorsed the theory's claims, but he recognized the power it held over many in his base, so he and his team pandered to it in coded ways. The obsession with the idea that Democrats were secret child sex abusers transitioned neatly into the Epstein saga. Epstein was accused of sexually abusing underage girls, he had flown former President Bill Clinton around on his private jet in the early 2000s, and he had many connections in elite liberal circles, including from Hollywood and academia. All this has only heightened suspicions that something is in those files that makes Trump look quite bad. Then, Epstein's 2019 death in jail was the clincher: Clearly, the right-wing base believed he was murdered before his trial to prevent him from implicating other powerful people in his sex crimes. Elements of the government were probably involved in this cover-up, they thought. The belief spread that there was an Epstein 'client list' naming people he supplied underage girls to. It would have been a perfect issue for Trump to use to fire up the base, if not for the inconvenient problem that Trump actually knew Epstein quite well. Trump and Epstein frequently socialized in New York and Florida in the 1990s and early 2000s, Trump flew on Epstein's private jet seven times, Epstein attended Trump's second wedding, and Trump reportedly wrote Epstein a message for his 50th birthday saying they had 'certain things in common' and alluding to a 'wonderful secret.' In 2002, Trump even told a reporter that Epstein was a 'terrific guy' who likes women 'on the younger side.' So Trump would've very much preferred his base not get so fixated on Jeffrey Epstein as the key to all conspiracies. But the president couldn't stop it. Over the past few years, the theory escaped 'containment,' promoted by right-wing commentators, podcasters, and influencers who perceived that it was quite effective at boosting ratings and engagement. They all proved extremely adept at averting their eyes from the well-documented Trump-Epstein connections, but in practice they spurred the MAGA base on to demand the release of the 'Epstein Files' once Trump was back in the White House. Furthermore, Trump chose top law enforcement officials — Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino — who were extremely sensitive to how they were portrayed in right-wing media. Their ham-handed efforts to please the base on this topic just resulted in further uproars (and finger-pointing among themselves). Finally, Trump himself stepped in to try to give his base their new talking points: that the Epstein story was a 'Hoax' akin to the Russia investigation, cooked up by his political enemies to make him look bad. 'Let's keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about,' he posted on Truth Social. All this has only heightened suspicions that something is in those files that makes Trump look quite bad. After some trepidation, Democrats have now embraced the Epstein scandal In the past, Democrats have had a complicated relationship with the Epstein scandal. In the early 2000s, after Clinton left office, he became friends with Epstein, flying on his private jet several times during that period. Given Clinton's own history of sex scandals, this looked awkward, even suspicious, when the allegations about Epstein started to become known in the mid-2000s. Hillary Clinton was viewed as the party's future, so there was little desire to dwell on what happened with Epstein. That changed during the Me Too era. With a societal reckoning against powerful men like Harvey Weinstein, who abused and mistreated women, Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown delved back into the Epstein case. Brown chronicled his victims' stories and questioned whether prosecutors had given him a sweetheart deal during his first brush with the law. One news 'hook' was that a prosecutor who'd arranged that deal, Alexander Acosta, was then serving in Trump's Cabinet. Brown's reporting helped spur Epstein's indictment and arrest in 2019, and the media prepared for what was sure to be a blockbuster trial. But the trial never happened, because Epstein was found dead in his cell just a month after his arrest. After Epstein's death, the MAGA base's interest in him increased, while Democrats' interest in him dwindled. 'Epstein didn't kill himself' became a common phrase on some parts of the right, but the idea of a secret jail murder conspiracy sounded silly to Democrats' increasingly upscale and educated voter base. What Democrats needed to revive their interest was for the Epstein scandal to become a Trump scandal. And that's what Trump's team has inadvertently brought about. Their botched disclosures and awkward attempts to change the subject spurred new investigative reporting about Trump and Epstein. And it's resulted in a frenzy of public interest that Trump hasn't been able to escape.
New York Post
04-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Princeton smiles on antisemites, big savings for New York and other commentary
Campus watch: Princeton Smiles on Antisemites Protesters at 'an event at Princeton featuring former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett' called Jewish students ' 'inbred swine,' among other slurs' as they disrupted the guest's address, but the school says no student will 'be disciplined for their premeditated disruption and blatant antisemitism,' laments Danielle Shapiro at Real Clear Politics. Princeton pretends it can't ID those 'who were shouting antisemitic slurs' since 'it was dark and they were wearing masks.' Bull. The message is clear: 'Wear a mask and you can abuse Jews on campus.' Advertisement 'Princeton's president constantly talks about Princeton's free speech rules, and yet when tested, the university will not enforce them.' Indeed, 'If Princeton won't take basic steps to protect its students,' then the 'Department of Education must.' Eye on Congress: Big Savings for New York 'Look alert, New Yorkers: Congress has a chance to cut the cost of living,' cheers The Wall Street Journal editorial board. Advertisement Rep. Nick Langworthy's House bill 'would reduce the cost of federally funded construction projects' in New York, which unlike the other 49 states places 'absolute liability on property owners and contractors for construction workers' gravity-related injuries.' 'High liability means expensive insurance,' so 'many construction companies refuse to work in New York.' The House bill would 'determine liability based on which parties are to blame for the accident' for 'any project that receives federal money or tax incentives, or 'is subject to Federal permitting requirements.' ' With the feds running the Penn Station revamp and the Gateway NY-NJ rail project, Langworthy savings of 'at least $2 billion in federal tax dollars over the next 10 years.' Advertisement Speech beat: Tyranny Rules Britannia 'Lucy Connolly is Britain's foremost political prisoner,' rails Dominic Green at The Free Press. The mother and nanny is 'serving a 31-month sentence for 'stirring up racial hatred' in a single tweet that she deleted less than four hours after posting.' Her 2024 post 'called for the mass deportation of foreign-born criminals' after Axel Rudakubana 'went on a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed children's party' in England's north. Advertisement 'Plenty of more serious offenders escape prison terms.' Britain's government is simply 'intimidating the law-abiding majority into silence.' 'Lucy Connolly is in prison' purely 'to 'deter' other British people from venting their dissatisfaction about immigration and its discontents on social media outlets that, being American companies, the government cannot control.' Censorship desk: Rubio Takes on EU Bullies Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week 'shocked many of our allies by issuing a new visa restriction policy that bars foreign nationals deemed 'responsible for censorship of protected expression' in the U.S.,' hails Jonathan Turley at The Hill. Until now, 'Europe has faced no consequences for its aggressive efforts at transnational censorship,' particularly its 'draconian' Digital Services Law, which 'allows for sweeping censorship and speech prosecutions' — leading the EU 'to threaten' US corporations for refusing to censor Americans and others on social media. It's 'time for the U.S. to treat this as an attack on our citizens from abroad' and 'get serious about the European threat to free speech. And Rubio is doing just that — finally imposing real consequences for censorship.' Conservative: Greta's Narcissistic Gaza Mission Greta Thunberg heading to Gaza on a sailboat seems far more like 'Western narcissism . . . than an actual attempt to effect change,' snarks Ian Haworth at the Washington Examiner. 'What is a small boat of a dozen professional agitators going to achieve by trying, and inevitably failing, to reach an active war zone?' Advertisement Plus, 'Thunberg is actively supporting' Hamas, 'the brutal terrorist group that carried out the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.' She may not 'care about Hamas's Israeli victims,' but should about its 'Palestinian victims.' 'Thunberg is a participant, willing or unwilling, in the latest pseudo-religious cult that provides members with the same frenzied levels of purist adulation as the climate change cult.' — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Columbia U threatens to arrest anti-Israel protesters, remove encampments as new demonstrations loom
Columbia University has warned anti-Israel protesting students that the college will tear down any encampments – and potentially arrest agitators – should they try and set up encampments on campus again this year. The stern warning comes after the university said it became aware of secretive plans to repeat last year's protest at the university, which culminated in students taking control of Hamilton Hall and clashing with police in riot gear. The ugly scenes saw more than 200 people arrested as students protested Israel's war in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that left more than 1,200 people dead. "We have been made aware of possible plans to establish encampments on Columbia's campuses," a public safety alert put out by the university reads. "We want to clearly communicate that camping and encampments on Columbia's campuses are prohibited by university policy." Columbia University Yields To Trump Admin Demands Over Revoked $400M In Federal Funding The university said authorities would immediately take steps to remove tents or other structures and tell demonstrators to disperse. "Individuals who refuse to disperse will be identified and sanctions, including potential removal from campus and possible arrest, may be applied." Read On The Fox News App Columbia said it values free expression and the right to protest, but such activities must be conducted in accordance with university rules and policies to ensure safety and allow academic and other campus activities to continue unimpeded. Pro-israel Influencer Says Bibas Memorial In Nyc 'Brought Out The Worst' In Antisemites Last year's on-campus protest started just over 12 months ago and university leaders aim to stamp out any recurrence of the chaos and disorder that unfolded. The Ivy League college was forced to cancel its main graduation ceremony, citing safety concerns amid ongoing protests and a wave of antisemitism gripping the grounds. Columbia University President Minouche Shafik stepped down after months of criticism of her handling of the protests, many of which devolved into clashes between anti-Israel demonstrators and police, and antisemitism on campus. The announcement by Columbia comes after NBC News reported that more than 100 people gathered in Brooklyn on Tuesday to discuss ways to re-ignite on-campus protests later this week. A form being dispersed by organizers and obtained by NBC tells participants to prepare for "prolonged jail time" and how emergency contacts can access their apartments or homes. Organizers cited, in part, the Trump administration's efforts to pull federal funds from the university as a reason for this year's protest as well as what they said was the "abduction of our comrade Mahmoud Khalil." Khalil, a Palestinian green card holder, has been arrested by federal immigration authorities who say he was one of last year's ringleaders and promoted Hamas. Columbia has come under intense scrutiny over the rise in antisemitism on campus with Trump canceling $400 million in grants to the university in March. That led to Columbia caving to certain demands in an attempt to restore funding. The move enraged organizers in Brooklyn. The Ivy League school agreed to ban masks for the purpose of concealing identity, empower 36 campus police officers with new powers to arrest students, and appoint a senior vice provost with broad authority to oversee the department of the Middle East, South Asian and African Studies, as well as the Center for Palestine Studies. Sources familiar with the negotiations told Fox News that meeting the demands doesn't mean that Columbia will get its $400 million in funding back, but that it's just a precondition to opening talks. The reforms were acknowledged positively by Education Secretary Linda McMahon, but the funds have not yet been reinstated. Fox News' Louis Casiano and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report Original article source: Columbia U threatens to arrest anti-Israel protesters, remove encampments as new demonstrations loom
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Teachers union sues Trump administration over $400M cuts to Columbia University
President Donald Trump's administration is facing a new lawsuit that argues that the administration's threat to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding from Columbia University is illegal. The American Federation of Teachers filed the lawsuit alongside the American Association of University Professors on Tuesday, arguing that the Trump administration is seeking to "consolidate power over higher education." "This action challenges the Trump administration's unlawful and unprecedented effort to overpower a university's academic autonomy and control the thought, association, scholarship, and expression of its faculty and students," the lawsuit reads. "The Trump administration is coercing Columbia University to do its bidding and regulate speech and expression on campus by holding hostage billions of dollars in congressionally authorized federal funding—funding that is responsible for positioning the American university system as a global leader in scientific, medical, and technological research and is crucial to ensuring it remains so," it continues. Video Shows Arrest Of Columbia Anti-israel Ringleader Mahmoud Khalil The lawsuit comes after Columbia's administrators agreed to enact sweeping changes to its policies regarding student protests and conduct a review of its Middle Eastern studies department. Read On The Fox News App The Trump administration threatened to withhold some $400 million if changes were not made. Pro-israel Influencer Says Bibas Memorial In Nyc 'Brought Out The Worst' In Antisemites The Ivy League school agreed to ban masks for the purpose of concealing identity, empower 36 campus police officers with new powers to arrest students and appoint a senior vice provost with broad authority to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies, as well as the Center for Palestine Studies. Sources familiar with the negotiations told Fox News that meeting the demands doesn't mean that Columbia will get their $400 million in funding back, but that it's just a precondition to opening talks. Tuesday's lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, calls on the court to require the Trump administration to reinstate "all grants and contracts to Columbia University." It also urges the court to prohibit the Trump administration from making further funding cuts, as well as award damages to the plaintiffs. Fox News' Louis Casiano contributed to this article source: Teachers union sues Trump administration over $400M cuts to Columbia University
