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New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
CUNY Labor School honcho spreads ‘antisemitic' conspiracy and lies about Gaza war: critics
A top CUNY official is spreading 'antisemitic' conspiracy theories and lies that Israel was in on or welcomed Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, massacre as a 'pretext' to take over the Gaza strip, critics fume. Arthur Cheliotes, 76, the board chairman of CUNY's School of Labor and Urban Studies, posted an online thread that compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, too. Cheliotes, who was instrumental in founding the CUNY 'social justice' Labor School, reposted on Facebook a series of conspiracies and falsehoods under the heading, 'What Israel Doesn't Want You to Know,' and accompanied by a picture of Netanyahu and the Israeli Star of David flag. Advertisement 3 Arthur Cheliotes, the board chairman of CUNY's School of Labor and Urban Studies, has come under fire for sharing conspiracy theories about Israel on his Facebook page. Emblem Health It says: '1. Egypt warned Israel — twice. '2. Israel gave Hamas $200 million in cash. '3. 2/3 of IDF Troops were pulled from [the] Gaza border 3 days before. '4. Israel invoked the Hannibal Directive — killing their own to prevent hostage-taking. '5. Bodies were moved to the music festival. No explanation given. '6. Border surveillance footage deleted. '7. Lies about 'beheaded babies and mass rape' were pushed — none confirmed.' Advertisement The message then closes with, 'They wanted a pretext. Gaza was the goal.' In another post, the CUNY big — who served as president of the Communication Workers of America Local 1180 for 39 years — shows a picture side by side of Hitler and the Nazi flag in the year 1939 with Netanyahu and the Israeli flag in 2023. A CUNY insider who has known Cheliotes for years was stunned by the posts. 'I'm blown away. I'm saddened. These are bogus conspiracy theories that are at odds with the truth,' the source said. Advertisement 3 A post about the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel that Cheliotes shared online. Former longtime City University Board of Trustees Jeffrey Wiesenfeld fumed, 'This man is an imbecile and antisemite.' There are legitimate criticisms that Israel's intelligence and security underestimated the threat from Hamas, Wiesenfeld said. The terrorists' Oct. 7, 2023 attack caught Israel defenses off guard, slaughtering 1,200 and triggering the brutal retaliatory war in Gaza. 'The worst thing you can do the martyrdom of 1,200 people who were killed. Of course this is antisemitic,' Wiesenfeld said. Advertisement 'This man is disgrace to New York City, to union leadership and to CUNY.' Weisenfeld said President Trump and his team fighting antisemitism at Ivy League schools such as Columbia and Harvard should pivot to CUNY 'where there's enough trash to clean up for a long time.' Cheliotes, who was instrumental over 40 years in setting up labor programs at CUNY and creating the the Labor school, defended his postings during a Sunday interview. 'These positions seem reasonable to me,' said Cheliotes, who has chaired the CUNY Labor school's advisory board since its creation. Asked if any of the seven points were conspiratorial or falsehoods, Cheliots, 'I don't know? Are they?' He claimed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin is taking certain actions to extend the Gaza war to avoid prosecution of criminal indictments against him and jail time. 'You create a crisis to stay in power and create a circustmance to harm your people. That's what I think Netanyahu has done,' said Chelioties, doubling down on the conspiracy theory. Advertisement '[Netanyanu] allowed the circumstances to allow [the Oct. 27,2023 Hamas attack] to happen. Cheliotes shot down claims that he's a Jew hater, noting his mother was under Nazi occupation in Greece. His father fought the Nazis in the US military during World II and two uncles fought the Nazi occupation in Greece. He visited Israel twice and supports its people. 'I'm particularly sensitive to anyone who claims I'm antisemitic,' said Cheliotes. CUNY declined to comment. Advertisement 3 Anti-Israel protesters outside of Barclays Center in Brooklyn during at CUNY graduation ceremony on May 23, 2025. Photo byAnti-Israel protests have marred some of CUNY's campuses. Last month, Brooklyn College saw anti-Israel student agitators brawl with cops after they set up a tent encampment — with one officer being forced to fire a Taser to subdue a violent protester. In another frightening incident last year, anti-Israel criminals caused at least $3 million in damage and the need for costly extra security at taxpayer-funded City College's campus in Upper Manhattan during a violent protest there last year. Advertisement CUNY officials said they've moved to tamp down on Israel-bashing, antisemitism and other form of discrimination of their campuses. Still, reports of campus antisemitism are of such concern that Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered a review of Jew-hatred at CUNY campuses in 2023. The analysis — released last September and overseen by former state chief judge Jonathan Lippman –concluded that CUNY needed a top-to-bottom overhaul to combat 'alarming'' antisemitism fanned by its own faculty and do-nothing higher-ups.
Middle East Eye
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israeli troops 'killed civilian during Hamas attack and covered it up'
The Israeli army killed an Israeli civilian, Tom Godo, on 8 October 2023 while he was hiding in the safe room of his home with his wife and three daughters and covered up the incident, Channel 13 revealed on Sunday. An Israeli spokesperson confirmed the report, saying that "the IDF [the Israeli army] determined that Tom Godo was apparently killed by IDF gunfire directed at the door of the safe room". Godo's widow, Limor Havdala, described to Channel 13 the events that led to her husband's death. At 6.30am on 7 October, the Godo family rushed to their safe room in the kibbutz of Kissufim, near the Gaza border, following the launch of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel. The army reached their home at only 4.20pm, Havdala said. When they left, the soldiers promised that more help was on the way and that the family would be evacuated by the army. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters During the day, the army safely evacuated many of the kibbutz's residents but nobody came to rescue Godo's family, his wife said. Then during the night, Israeli forces arrived and fought against Hamas combatants. 'It turned out that those who killed Tom were IDF soldiers' - Limor Havdala, widow of Tom Godo At 7.30am on Sunday 8 October, while the Godos were still confined in the safe room, they heard a knock on the door and someone requesting to open it. Godo went to the door and asked who was there. In response, shots were fired at the safe room. Havdala escaped with her three daughters through the window of the safe room and ran through the kibbutz until they met an army unit. "I'm shocked by what the investigation revealed," Havdala told Channel 13. "It turned out that those who killed Tom were IDF soldiers," she said. "For a reason that was not explained to me, [the soldiers] decided that there was a terrorist in the safe room." 'Disregard for human life' According to the military debriefing presented to Godo's wife, Israeli soldiers heard voices in Arabic coming from the family's safe room. Havdala said she was told that the soldiers "heard a girl's scream, and then the force decided that there was a hostage situation inside the safe room". The killing of Godo is not the only case in which Israeli civilians and soldiers have been killed by Israeli military fire since 7 October. What is the Hannibal Directive and why is it controversial? Read More » Haaretz revealed last year that during the attack, when Hamas captured dozens of Israelis, the army was instructed to shoot at any suspicious target moving across the border with Gaza. "Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza," the army order read in accordance with the Hannibal Directive, a notorious Israeli military protocol that has been implemented since the mid-1980s to prevent the abduction of Israeli soldiers at any cost. One of the most prominent incidents on 7 October took place in the Kfar Aza kibbutz, where 13 Israeli captives held by Hamas fighters were killed. An army force under the command of Barak Hiram, who has since been promoted to commander of the Gaza Division, fired two shells at the house where the hostages were held. The findings of the military investigation did not however unequivocally determine that the civilians were killed because of the shelling. In Godo's case, the army refused to hand over the file to the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division, the army unit responsible for investigating crimes committed by soldiers. "How can I live in a country where the body that is entrusted with my security doesn't want to check itself properly," said Havdala. She is asking for a comprehensive investigation into the military's handling of the incident, not only "the shooting toward what the IDF identified as hostages' but also 'the cover-up of the information for a year and a half". According to Channel 13, the soldiers who killed Godo knew, after they entered the safe room, that they had killed an Israeli civilian, but the information was not revealed to his family until last month. Netanyahu only ever saw the hostages as his path back to genocide Read More » According to Havdala, the delay in providing information "doubles the sense of failure and disregard for human life". "It doesn't relate to my world of values when you shoot at the door while you heard there's a girl behind it, and you hide that an innocent civilian was killed," she said. "If you find out that you killed by mistake, you go and say, 'Come and interrogate me, I want to be held accountable for it,'" she added. While the mother and her children have begun to reintegrate into a new kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley, in the northwest of the country, they are now struggling to come to terms with the discovery that "those who killed Tom and threatened their safety were soldiers." Last week, Israeli media revealed that army and government officials are fully aware that military action in the war on Gaza has led to the killing of Israeli hostages. As a result, some hostages' families have asked the government to refrain from implementing the so-called 'Gideon's Chariots' operation, a new plan for an expanded military offensive aiming to occupy the whole of Gaza and expel all its Palestinian residents to a small area in the south.
Roya News
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Roya News
Gallant: 500 days ago, we failed in our most important mission
Resigned "Israeli" War Minister Yoav Gallant admitted that 500 days ago, his army and government failed in their primary mission—ensuring the safety of settlers in the occupied territories and protecting them from threats. Despite claiming that Tel Aviv's military and security forces have reportedly achieved unprecedented successes, Gallant acknowledged that victory remains elusive. "We have not yet achieved victory over our enemy," he said. "A political step is needed to turn military gains into a true victory." Gallant previously revealed details about decisions made by Netanyahu's government during the war on Gaza, directly accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of negligence and deception. In an interview with "Israel's" Channel 12, Gallant stated that the Security Cabinet was close to approving the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah before Netanyahu abruptly halted the decision, claiming that Tel Aviv was not prepared to take such a step. He added that Nasrallah had been at the targeted location for days, raising concerns that he could leave at any moment. Pagers explosion, Hezbollah's missiles In the same interview, Gallant described the explosion of pager devices in Lebanon as a "marginal event," noting the existence of bomb-laden communication devices in Hezbollah's storage that would have completely wiped out the party's fighting force, according to his claims. He stated that Hezbollah had 44,000 missiles at the beginning of the war, but "Israeli" strikes reduced its arsenal to less than 10,000, a number that contradicts previous "Israeli" claims of Hezbollah owning more than 200,000 missiles, according to his assertions. Secret assassinations, complexities of war Gallant spoke about assassination operations targeting Hezbollah leaders, revealing that while Mossad operatives were tasked with assassinating Hamas's political bureau chief, the late Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, he received a call about the tracking of Hezbollah leader Fouad Shukr, and moved to the Air Force Command to oversee the operation. He also admitted that Tel Aviv focused less on Gaza tunnels and more on Hezbollah and Iran, despite news anchor Yonit Levy on Channel 12 acknowledging Tel Aviv's ability to assassinate leaders like Haniyeh and Nasrallah without revealing how they built a complex tunnel network. Failures in war management, delayed decisions Gallant criticized Netanyahu's government's handling of the October 7 event, saying he was riding his bike that morning when he learned of the event from his daughter, while the General Staff was in a state of "not understanding what was happening." He also revealed that Netanyahu had been in a "disrupted psychological state" since the start of the war and that some "Israeli" sites implemented the "Hannibal Directive" while others did not, leading to major confusion. Tel Aviv, Doha Netanyahu prioritized Trump's politics over security
