Latest news with #IsraelHamasWar
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Columbia University settles its costly battle with Trump administration
Columbia University said Wednesday it had reached a settlement with the Trump administration to end federal investigations into civil rights violations stemming from the divisive protests at the New York City campus over the Israel-Hamas war. As part of the agreement, the university said it agreed to pay $200 million over three years to the federal government to settle investigations launched by the administration ostensibly in response to allegations of antisemitism by students and faculty during the protests. The administration agreed to reinstate the vast majority of federal grants that were terminated or paused in March 2025 and posed a significant threat to university operations, Columbia said. 'This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,' acting Columbia President Claire Shipman said in a statement. The university said it would pay an additional $21 million to settle investigations brought by the federal employment discrimination commission. It said it would jointly select, with the government, an independent monitor to oversee the resolution's implementation, but emphasized that 'the agreement preserves Columbia's autonomy and authority over faculty hiring, admissions, and academic decision-making.' The settlement represents a capitulation by the university to an administration that had withheld more than $400 million. The school had already agreed to policy changes sought by the administration that had sought to punish Columbia for its response to the protests. Columbia has been in turmoil since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that ignited the war in Gaza and inflamed long-simmering tensions at U.S. universities over the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government and American support for the Jewish nation. Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the agreement 'a seismic shift in our nation's fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.' McMahon said in a statement that the agreement with Columbia has implications for other institutions of higher education. 'Columbia's reforms are a roadmap for elite universities that wish to regain the confidence of the American public by renewing their commitment to truth-seeking, merit, and civil debate,' she said. 'I believe they will ripple across the higher education sector and change the course of campus culture for years to come.' The administration alleges that the school became a hotbed of antisemitism and failed to protect Jewish students and faculty – though many in the campus community and beyond view the administration's response as infringing on academic freedom and free speech. The university, which has lost two presidents during the tumult, said it does not admit to wrongdoing as part of the settlement. But it said in the statement that it affirmed that the 'institution's leaders have recognized, repeatedly, that Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents, and that reform was and is needed.' Columbia has an endowment of more than $14 billion — significantly larger than the vast majority of universities in the country, but small in comparison to Harvard, which has more forcefully rebuked the administration's demands. The $400 million in frozen federal funding had already sharply restrained the university's ability to conduct research. Shipman acknowledged that the $221 million in the settlements was a 'substantial' cost but said the school had not only had $400 million in grants frozen but also had the majority if its $1.3 billion in annual federal funding placed on hold. 'The prospect of that continuing indefinitely, along with the potential loss of top scientists, would jeopardize our status as a world-leading research institution,' she said.
Asharq Al-Awsat
a day ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Human Rights Watch Says Houthi Attacks on Red Sea Vessels Amount to War Crimes
The Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen attacked two ships, the Magic Seas and the Eternity C, on July 6 and 9, killing some of their crew and detaining others, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Wednesday. The militants have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. HRW, however, said the Houthis' attacks on the two vessels 'violates the laws of war applicable to the armed conflict between the Houthis and Israel.' 'The Houthis have sought to justify unlawful attacks by pointing to Israeli violations against Palestinians,' said Niku Jafarnia, HRW's Yemen and Bahrain researcher. Jafarnia called for the Houthis to end all attacks on ships that don't take part in the Israeli-Hamas war and immediately release detained crew members.
CNN
a day ago
- Health
- CNN
‘We are watching our colleagues waste away': Aid workers, doctors, journalists risk starvation alongside people in Gaza
The Middle East Media Israel-Hamas war The UNFacebookTweetLink Follow Dozens of international humanitarian organizations warned Israel's blockade of aid into Gaza is endangering the lives of doctors and aid workers, while a major news agency says it is trying to evacuate its remaining freelance journalists because the situation has become 'untenable.' In a joint statement, 111 international humanitarian organizations called on Israel to end its blockade, restore the full flow of food, clean water and medical supplies to Gaza, and agree to a ceasefire. The coalition warned Wednesday that supplies in the enclave are now 'totally depleted' and that humanitarian groups are 'witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.' 'As the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families,' said the statement, whose signatories include Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Amnesty International, and the Norwegian Refugee Council. The statement followed a scathing indictment of Israel by 28 Western nations, who accused the country of 'drip feeding' aid into the Gaza Strip. Israel's foreign ministry rejected the joint statement – which was not signed by the US - as 'disconnected from reality. The Israeli military 'must stop killing people' seeking aid in Gaza, the European Union's top diplomat said Tuesday. 'The killing of civilians seeking aid in Gaza is indefensible,' Kaja Kallas, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, said in a post on X. In the last 24 hours, 15 people, including four children, had died of starvation across Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 'Cases of malnutrition and starvation are arriving at Gaza's hospitals every moment,' said Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, told CNN Tuesday. Gaza was already heavily dependent on aid and commercial shipments of food before Israel launched its war on Hamas, following the October 2023 attack. Israel has previously blamed Hamas for its decision to halt aid shipments, alleging the militant group was stealing supplies and profiting from it. Hamas has denied this allegation. Israeli authorities have also blamed United Nations agencies, accusing them of not picking up aid that is ready to move into Gaza. But the UN asserts that Israeli forces frequently deny permission to move aid within the enclave, and that much more is waiting to be allowed in. In the statement Wednesday, the coalition of humanitarian agencies also criticized the controversial Israeli-and-US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began operating on May 27. The organizations said shootings occurred almost daily at food distribution sites. Juliette Touma, Director of Communications with the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said in a separate statement that seeking food had 'become as deadly as the bombardments.' She criticized the distribution scheme by the GHF as 'a sadistic death-trap,' saying 'snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they're given a license to kill.' And she added that care workers were unable to perform their duties due to a lack of food. 'Doctors, nurses, journalists, humanitarians' are among staff who are 'hungry… fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties,' she said. Israel has long sought to dismantle UNRWA, arguing that some of its employees are affiliated with Hamas, and that its schools teach hate against Israel. UNRWA has repeatedly denied these accusations. As of July 21, 1,054 people had been killed while trying to get food in Gaza—766 near GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organizations' aid convoys, according to UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan. The Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots toward crowds in some instances and denied responsibility for other incidents. In late June, the military said it had 'reorganized' the approach routes to aid sites to minimize 'friction with the population,' but the killings have continued. Last Wednesday, GHF said 19 people were trampled to death and another person was fatally stabbed in a crowd crush at one of its aid sites. It was the first time the group had acknowledged deaths at one of its sites. International news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP), said Tuesday it is trying to evacuate its remaining freelance staff from Gaza because the situation has become 'untenable.' Alongside Reuters and the Associated Press, Paris-headquartered AFP is one of a trio of major global news agencies that provide other media outlets with text, photo and video images from around the world. Independent journalists are not able to operate in Gaza because of Israeli and Egyptian restrictions on entry to the strip. Palestinian reporters have become the eyes and ears of those suffering inside Gaza during the 21-month conflict and are living in the same arduous conditions as the rest of the population. AFP's main journalist union Société de Journalistes (SDJ), warned on Monday that some of the news agency's remaining freelance journalists inside Gaza were starving and too weak to work. 'Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die,' the union said in a statement. The SDJ said AFP had been working with a freelance reporter, three photographers, and six freelance video journalists in the Gaza Strip. The union shared a social media post from AFP staff, Bashar Taleb, who works for the agency as a photographer, describing the grave conditions in the besieged enclave. 'I don't have the power to cover media anymore. My body is lean and I no longer have the ability to walk,' Taleb, 30, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday, according to the SDJ's statement. Bashar has been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, four brothers, sisters and the family of one of his brothers since February, according to the statement. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had 'fallen, due to hunger.' Another AFP staffer, identified by a single name, Ahlam, was quoted saying: 'Every time I leave the tent to cover an event, do an interview or document a story, I don't know if I'll come back alive.' Her biggest issue is the lack of food and water, she told the union. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Tuesday that France hopes to evacuate some journalists' colleagues 'in the coming weeks' following calls from the SDJ. 'We are dedicating lots of energy,' to get them out, Barrot said in an interview with French radio station FranceInter. He added that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is 'inhumane,' describing it as a 'scandal that must stop immediately.' AFP said it successfully evacuated eight of its employees from Gaza and their families between January and April 2024, and the agency is now 'taking the same steps for its freelance staff, despite the extreme difficulty of leaving a territory subject to a strict blockade.' 'Their lives are in danger, so we urgently call on the Israeli authorities to authorize their immediate evacuation with their families,' it added. CNN has reached out to the Israeli foreign ministry and the Prime Minister's Office for comment. The Israel-Gaza war has killed more journalists over the course of a year than in any other conflict since the Committee to Project Journalists began collecting data three decades ago. At least 186 journalists and media workers were killed and 89 were imprisoned since the war began. As food struggles to reach displaced people and the journalists among them in Gaza, the SDJ said in its statement: 'Since AFP was founded in 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, some have been injured, others taken prisoner. But none of us can ever remember seeing colleagues die of hunger.' CNN's Joseph Ataman and Jerome Taylor contributed to this report.
CBC
6 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Canada's envoy for combatting antisemitism leaving post early
Canada's special official for fighting antisemitism announced on Thursday that she is retiring her post, three months before the end of her term. Deborah Lyons served as Canada's special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism since October 2023, and was set to serve until this October. In a social media post announcing her departure, she did not explain why she is leaving before then. Lyons did say that she is leaving "with a heavy heart" and with some deep disappointments while also pointing to achievements, including work with institutions like universities to improve understanding of anti-Jewish hate. She said her office fought antisemitism "with a vigour and passion not seen in many other countries," and yet she leaves with concern over Canadians who feel they must pick a side when it comes to defending humanity. "Support to one community should never mean, or be interpreted as, minimizing another community. Our value of inclusivity has at its core our ability to hold the concerns of multiple communities in our hearts and minds," Lyons wrote. "It was troubling in the last few years to see our lack of patience, lack of tolerance and inability to reach out across the gulf to one another." Lyons took up the role just days after the start of the Israel-Hamas war that prompted large protests across Canada, which triggered a spike in hate crimes targeting Muslims and especially Jews. She says her office managed to "counter the negative imagery of Canada's struggle with antisemitism that followed October 2023." She says there must be "seamless co-operation amongst the three levels of government to combat hate" and joint efforts from business, education and faith sectors. WATCH | Lyons speaks with Rosemary Barton Live in 2023: Communities are seeing a lot of emotion and anger, says Canada's new special envoy on antisemitism 2 years ago Rosemary Barton speaks with Deborah Lyons, Canada's new special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, about the rise in antisemitic incidents across Canada and why leaders and schools need to do more to combat hate. "This is an issue right across the country," said Lyons. On Monday, Lyons took the unconventional step of releasing a report about issues that fall squarely into provincial jurisdiction, urging Ontario school boards to take seriously incidents of anti-Jewish bigotry targeting students, after she commissioned a survey of Jewish parents with children in the province's schools. Lyons was the second person to hold the post of antisemitism envoy, following former attorney general Irwin Cotler, who filled the role between 2020 and 2023. She is not Jewish, but served as Canada's ambassador to Israel between 2016 and 2020. In a statement, Canadian Heritage said Lyons's replacement will be appointed "in due course." "The special envoy is retiring to spend more time with her family after reaching the milestone of turning 75 and a distinguished career in the public service," the statement said. Her departure prompted messages of support from Jewish advocates.
CNN
17-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
A party resolution accusing Israel of genocide divides Democrats in a key swing state
When the executive committee of North Carolina's Democratic Party passed a resolution in June calling for an immediate arms embargo on Israel, it set off another episode in the party's ongoing struggles with how it addresses the Israel-Hamas war. Some Jewish Democrats in North Carolina said the resolution was consistent with their support of Palestinian human rights while others characterized it as divisive. The resolution's backers are talking to Democrats in other states who want to take the same stand. And top state leaders – notably the party chair and North Carolina's Democratic governor – have declined to comment. The Israel-Hamas war still divides the party as it did before the November election, when Democratic nominee Kamala Harris faced protests and boycott threats from parts of the base before eventually losing to President Donald Trump. In North Carolina, where Sen. Thom Tillis' retirement opened an opportunity for Democrats to flip a Republican-held seat, some in the party are worried the disunity will make it harder to compete in a race they almost certainly have to win next year to regain Senate control. 'This is an issue that's going to divide Democrats at a time when Democrats need to be working together on the issues that voters actually care about, the kitchen table issues,' said Kathy Manning, who chairs the Board of Directors for the advocacy group Democratic Majority for Israel. Alan Smith, a lead sponsor of the resolution and a member of the state party's progressive caucus, sees it differently. Passing the resolution, he argues, shows the party is responsive to the will of Democratic voters. 'I think it's only going to help the Democratic Party. It's going to get people to come back,' Smith said. According to a May survey from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Democrats younger than 45 are far less likely than their older partisan peers to favor the US supporting Israel militarily, with only 38% saying they favor military support until the hostages are returned, compared with 48% support among older Democrats. Disputes over the war have shaped other Democratic races, notably the New York mayoral primary, where Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist and strident critic of Israel, scored an upset victory despite criticism from some Jewish groups that he hadn't sufficiently denounced antisemitism. And in Michigan, where Democrats hope to retain control of an open Senate seat next year, the main candidates in the primary have taken sharply different positions on the war. Trump flipped Michigan in 2024 in part by capitalizing on anger in both Jewish and Arab American communities. Though other Democratic state parties, in Wisconsin and Washington, have recently passed resolutions critical of Israel since the country launched its war against Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, the language passed by North Carolina Democrats is the only example that explicitly calls for an embargo on military aid and weapons transfers and accuses the state of committing genocide and apartheid. 'The military resources that have been made available to Israel through annual and emergency military aid have been used to commit the crime of genocide and other war crimes in Gaza,' it reads. 'The North Carolina Democratic Party supports an immediate embargo on all military aid, weapons shipments and military logistical support to Israel,' it continues. The resolution also won the support of NCDP's African American Caucus, the Arab Caucus, the LGBTQ+ Caucus, the Association of Teen Democrats, the Jewish Democrats and various other groups within the state party. Israel rejects claims that its war against Hamas, which killed 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and still holds Israeli hostages, constitutes a genocide. It also rejects allegations that its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is akin to apartheid. Earlier this month the Gaza Health Ministry reported the Palestinian death toll had passed 58,000, with the most recent rounds of casualties taking place near food distribution sites. Manning says Democratic Majority for Israel is in conversations with Democratic voters across the state and helping them to make their displeasure with the resolution known to state party leadership. The resolution's advocates worked over a multiyear process to get the statement passed, starting at the local precinct level, on to the county convention, then through the congressional district convention, the platform resolutions committee and ultimately the party's state executive committee. 'We see it as an issue of unity and an issue that is local, because we want taxpayer dollars to be invested here, and we believe that speaking up for human lives, including Palestinian lives, is actually a local issue and is a reminder that when grassroots groups come together, that they can accomplish the things that they wish to see within their party,' said Reem Subei, chair of the party's Arab Caucus. Since the resolution's passage, Subei says those engaged with their state-level executive committees have reached out to her asking how they could mirror this effort, including organizers in Texas, Oklahoma and Minnesota. Lisa Jewel, president of the state Democratic party's Jewish Caucus, condemned the resolution as divisive and leaned on leadership to block the effort. 'Our leadership needs to call these extremists out. They need to take a strong stand against antisemitism. By placating these extremists, it helps raise the drum beat that leads to violence,' said Jewel, arguing that state Democrats should be focused on cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, women's reproductive health, the cost of housing, gerrymandering, and other consensus-driven issues. She also voiced fear in the wake of threats against her own synagogue. The Jewish Caucus was created last year in response to what Jewel described as growing antisemitism in the Democratic party and across North Carolina. This is not to be confused with the state party's Jewish Democrats, a separate group that supported the resolution. For a long time, party leadership resisted religious groups creating their own caucuses and wanted the groups to all fall within the Interfaith Caucus out of fear of these very types of disputes, but Jewel says some Jews did not feel welcome in the interfaith group and insisted they would go out on their own. 'It is not feasible for us to disconnect our Judaism from Israel, regardless of the politics that are happening there. It's just part of who we are,' said Jewel. Mark Bochkis, who leads communications for the Jewish Democrats, said he moved to Greensboro as a child from the former Soviet Union and that his extended family lives in Israel. 'We have to take a look at what wins statewide, and we cannot ignore the will of Democratic voters or their values. And their values right now are saying we care about Palestinian human rights,' Bochkis said. 'This is the new North Carolina Democratic Party. This is the way forward. I think the Jewish Caucus represents kind of a view that we're moving past,' he added. The next flashpoint will be if or when the resolution is ultimately adopted into the party platform. Its supporters believe they have cleared all the necessary procedural hurdles and that it will eventually be a part of the party's mission statement, but its opponents argue party leadership can still block that from happening. The timeline for when the platform will be voted on is unclear. There is no readily available record of who supported the measure and no video or even mention of the proceeding on the state Democratic Party's website, though proponents of the resolution say it passed 161-151. According to people who attended the vote, party chair Anderson Clayton and other party officers abstained. Clayton has not commented publicly in local press in the weeks since the resolution passed and declined to speak to CNN. Gov. Josh Stein, the state's first Jewish governor, and his predecessor, Roy Cooper, who many state and national Democrats are pushing to run for Tillis' open Senate seat, also declined requests for comment. An adviser to Cooper told CNN that he generally does not opine on party resolutions. Former US Rep. Wiley Nickel, who is already running for Tillis' seat, dismissed the resolution as one-sided but also criticized the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 'In an issue as complex as this, nuance is essential, and that's something politics often overlooks. You can look at my record and see I'm a staunch supporter of Israel as a key U.S. ally, but I also care deeply about the suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza. The current approach by Trump and Netanyahu is not leading us toward peace or a two-state solution. Instead, their policies are fueling division and perpetuating violence, making a two-state solution seem more out of reach than ever,' said Nickel in a statement to CNN. And Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee who could also mount a Senate run, reaffirmed his commitment to Israel as an ally of the United States. 'I believe that providing support to our allies, including Israel, is essential in our commitment to countering the threats posed by the Iranian regime and its associated terrorist proxies,' said Davis in a statement to CNN.
