Latest news with #Zionism
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Jewish organizers are increasingly confronting Trump: ‘The repression is growing, but so is the resistance'
On the morning of Columbia University's commencement last week, an intergenerational group of Jewish alumni gathered in the rain outside the Manhattan campus's heavily policed gates, wearing keffiyehs and shirts emblazoned with the words 'not in our name'. Two had graduated more than 60 years earlier, and one spoke of having fled the Nazis to the US as a child. Others recalled participating in Columbia protests of the past, including those that led the university to divest from apartheid South Africa. They spoke as alumni and as Jews to condemn the university's investments in Israel, its repression of pro-Palestinian speech, and its capitulation to the Trump administration's assault on academic freedom in the name of fighting antisemitism on campus. They had planned to burn their Columbia diplomas in protest, but the rain got in their way, so many ripped them to pieces instead. 'As a Jewish person, I'm really appalled at the idea that they are trying to make it sound as if opposing genocide is somehow antisemitic,' said Josh Dubnau, a professor at Stony Brook University who received a PhD from Columbia in 1995 and led the protest. 'There are thousands of us who don't believe in the right of the Jewish people to ethnically cleanse Palestine. There were Jews thousands of years before Zionism, and there will be Jews when Zionism is in the dustbin of history.' Another alumnus, who graduated last year after being suspended over her participation in campus protests, wore a graduation gown and carried the photo of one of nearly 15,000 Palestinian students killed in Gaza during the current war. 'We have a particular duty to show up as Jews because we are not being actively targeted in the way that Palestinian students, Muslim students and Arab students are,' said the student, who asked to remain anonymous. 'It's our duty to weaponise our privilege as Jewish students.' New York police arrested her along with another protester after they set their Columbia diplomas on fire. Nineteen months into Israel's war in Gaza and the US protest movement it prompted, allegations of antisemitism on campuses have become one of the primary pretexts for the Trump administration's multipronged attack on higher education, including billions in funding cuts, demands universities submit to a string of measures curtailing their academic freedom, and the detention and attempted deportation of international students who expressed pro-Palestinian views. But increasingly, Jewish students, faculty and alumni are pushing back against the exploitation of antisemitism charges to justify repressive policies they say do not represent their Jewish values. They have written letters, led protests, lobbied legislators and denounced what they say is the systematic exclusion of Jewish perspectives that are critical of Israel from the national conversation over antisemitism. Jewish Americans – some identifying as 'anti-Zionists', others with a range of views about Israel – have been at the forefront of the movement against the war in Gaza. Last summer, some 200 people, almost all Jewish, were arrested at a protest on Capitol Hill a day before a visit by Benjamin Netanyahu. Earlier this year, more than 350 rabbis, along with more Jewish creatives and activists, signed a New York Times ad denouncing Trump's proposal to ethnically cleanse Gaza. But Jewish-led organising has broadened in recent months. As Jewish Americans continue to protest the war, they are also taking on Trump's onslaught against higher education in the name of Jewish safety, rallying around detained students and condemning what they view as the exploitation of antisemitism in the service of a rightwing political project. In yet another New York Times ad, several former heads of leading Jewish advocacy groups, including conservative ones like Aipac and Hillel International, criticised US Jewish groups that 'have been far too silent about the stunning assault on democratic norms and the rule of law' under Trump. 'The repression has been growing, but so has the resistance,' said Marianne Hirsch, a retired literature professor at Columbia University, who researches memory and the Holocaust and is outspoken against efforts to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. 'I'm seeing a really cross-generational, Jewish faculty, student, and community mobilisation against this narrative.' Jewish Americans' views on Israel, the war in Gaza, antisemitism on campuses and the Trump administration's actions are far more complex than mainstream political discourse may suggest. A recent poll by the Jewish Voters Resource Center found that a majority of Jewish Americans are concerned about antisemitism and say they are 'emotionally attached' to Israel, although older respondents poll much higher on both questions than younger ones. But the survey also found that 64% disapprove of Trump's policies to purportedly combat antisemitism, and 61% believe arresting and deporting pro-Palestinian protesters contribute to increased antisemitism. A rightwing Israeli thinktank found last year that one-third of American Jews believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. While large numbers of Jewish students point to feelings of ostracization on campus in the last year and a half, their views on the campus protests vary widely. A qualitative study of the experiences of Jewish students, published this month, criticizes representations of campus life that 'compartmentalize students into either/or categories, diminishing nuances between them'. The authors point to 'a need for nuanced discussions about Israel, antisemitism, and Jewish identity that respect generational differences and diverse perspectives'. But tackling complex questions – for instance, about when anti-Zionism veers into antisemitism – has become difficult in an increasingly repressive climate. 'It is making it impossible to have discussions in the classroom,' said Joel Swanson, a Jewish studies professor at Sarah Lawrence College. Swanson noted that many Jewish Americans are now mobilising against precisely the kind of repression their ancestors came to the US to escape. 'The very liberal principles that have enabled Jewish thriving in the United States are being chipped away at systematically, one by one,' he said. Many of those who identify as anti-Zionist have found a home under the umbrella of Jewish Voice for Peace, a pro-Palestinian Jewish group whose membership has doubled since the war started – to 32,000 dues-paying members – and whose student chapters were banned from several campuses during last year's protests. In Baltimore, earlier this month, members of the group's dozens of chapters gathered for a national convening. Over four days of workshops at the heavily secured event, participants talked about organising from campuses to religious spaces to promote a 'Judaism beyond Zionism', as the conference tagline read, as well as address authoritarianism in the US. As US universities have become political battlefields, much Jewish organising is happening on campuses and academic spaces. Responding to what they view as a crisis in their scholarly field precipitated by Israel's atrocities in Gaza, Hirsch, the Columbia scholar, and others have launched a multidisciplinary Genocide and Holocaust Studies Crisis Network, a group of mostly Jewish academics invoking their expertise to advocate against universities capitulating to authoritarianism. Jewish faculty and students have also organised in defense of pro-Palestinian students detained by the Trump administration. Following the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian permanent resident and Columbia University graduate who has been detained for nearly three months with no charges, more than 3,400 Jewish faculty across the country signed a letter to denounce 'without equivocation, anyone who invokes our name – and cynical claims of antisemitism – to harass, expel, arrest, or deport members of our campus communities'. Several Jewish students and faculty wrote letters to the court in support of Khalil. And Jewish groups and synagogues filed a court briefing in support of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish Tufts University student who was detained over an op-ed critical of Israel and released earlier this month as her case continues. 'Jewish people came to America to escape generations of similar predations,' they wrote. 'Yet the images of Ozturk's arrest in twenty-first century Massachusetts evoke the oppressive tactics employed by the authoritarian regimes that many ancestors of [our] members left behind in Odessa, Kishinev, and Warsaw.' Faculty and students have also denounced congressional hearings against antisemitism on campuses that they say misrepresent their experiences and exclude their perspectives. As their president prepared to face legislators for a fresh round of antisemitism hearings in Congress this month, Jewish faculty and students at Haverford College issued a statement saying that their voices 'have absolutely not been represented in the current public discussion of antisemitism' and questioning the credibility of mostly non-Jewish, Republican legislators leading the battle over antisemitism on campuses. Earlier this month, a group of Jewish students from Columbia University visited Congress to talk to legislators about their participation in campus protests that politicians paint as antisemitic, bringing their views 'to lawmakers who are almost never hearing from that specific perspective', said Beth Miller, the political director of Jewish Voice for Peace's action group, who accompanied the group. As the Trump administration has sought to justify its repressive measures in their names, many American Jews have found themselves invoking their Jewishness in a public way for the first time. 'We've been criticising identity politics and the way everything gets siloed into identities, and suddenly we find ourselves saying 'as Jewish faculty' or 'as the daughter of Holocaust survivors',' said Hirsch. 'I've always tried to steer clear of having a public Jewish identity. I never felt like I had to advertise it,' echoed Joshua Moses, an anthropology professor at Haverford. 'But this moment kind of demands it.'
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Wynne Evans won't be last star axed by BBC as famous faces to be 'cannon fodder'
The BBC has launched a non-nonsense drive to be seen to clean up its act, and there will be consequences for some on-air talent, but a source has told the Mirror that Wynne won't be the last Wynne Evans won't be the last star axed in the big BBC clean-up, a senior TV source told the Mirror. Earlier today, Go Compare star and radio and TV personality Evans confirmed he will not be returning to his BBC Wales radio show after a series of incidents and warnings over his behaviour. In a statement on social media, Evans said: "It breaks my heart to say the BBC has decided not to renew my contract so I won't be returning to my radio show. I'm gutted. That show wasn't just work -- it was home. It was us. We laughed, we cried, we sang like nobody was listening. And somehow, through the airwaves, we became a family.' And the BBC responded with their own statement and a spokesman said: 'Wynne Evans is not under contract with the BBC. He is not returning to the mid-morning show on BBC Radio Wales and there are currently no plans to work with him'. Now a PR source with knowledge of recent BBC investigations insisted Wynne Evans would not be the last big name axed by the BBC in their latest crackdown. The source said: 'The BBC and major production companies are cutting talent loose faster than ever. One mistake, old or new, and you're out.. Some ignore warnings, others are punished for past missteps. 'The BBC's playing hardball, desperate to be seen cleaning house—regardless of context. Some will be cannon fodder. 'Celebs like Lineker are shifting power to their own channels, using social media as a safety net. When institutions drop you, the crowd becomes your vital platform. Fame isn't a red carpet anymore—it's a trapdoor.' The BBC has been at pains to clean up any issues with Strictly or other talent issues in recent months. In July last year, BBC Director General Tim Davie promised of Strictly: 'We will never tolerate unacceptable behaviour of any kind.' Wynne hit the headlines for multiple reasons during his time on the BBC dance show. He was shown grabbing his professional partner Katya's waist before she pushed his hand away, but he later insisted it was a joke. He then came under fire for using the term 'spit roast' to Janette Manrara during a Strictly photocall but he later insisted it was directed at Jamie Borthwick and nothing to do with Janette. "As a result of the comment, he was axed from the Strictly tour - and then a video emerged of him sending a sex toy to his co-star Jamie, which both were heavily criticised for. He has now seen his BBC career seemingly end, at least in the short term. In April this year a BBC Workplace Culture review was published and the corporation vowed to take 'immediate action' to change things in the wake of the Huw Edwards scandal. Last weekend Gary Lineker left the BBC, a year earlier than planned. He was axed after a social media row where the 64-year-old shared a post about Zionism, which featured a depiction of a rat, historically an antisemitic insult. Lineker, the BBC's highest-paid presenter, issued an unreserved apology as it was confirmed he would leave his presenting role at the BBC early and will no longer front the corporation's coverage of the 2026 World Cup or the FA Cup next season.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Israel's Major Expansion of Settlements in West Bank
Israeli Army personnel on duty in Hebron, West Bank, guarding Israeli settlers on May 24, 2025. Credit - Mosab Shawer - Getty Images Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that "22 new settlements" will be established in the West Bank. Some already exist as outputs, but will be made legal under Israeli law, whilst others will be entirely new settlements. The politician called it a 'historic decision,' adding: 'We have succeeded in creating a profound strategic change, returning the State of Israel to a path of construction, Zionism, and vision. Settlement in the land of our ancestors is the protective wall of the State of Israel.' Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the move 'anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism,' adding that it is 'a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel.' It is believed that two of the settlements will be Homesh and Sa-Nur, villages in the West Bank that were evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel's disengagement plan from Gaza, in which all Israeli settlers withdrew from the Strip. Thursday's announcement has gained criticism from international lawmakers. British politician Hamish Falconer, the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, said that 'the U.K. condemns these actions.' In a post on X, Falconer said that the approval of these settlements "is a deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood" and that "settlements are illegal under international law, further imperil the two state solution, and do not protect Israel." The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, originally posted in Arabic, on X: 'This is a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, and a clear violation of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent, sovereign state.' Israeli activist group Peace Now has also heavily condemned the expansion. In a statement published on May 29, the organization said: "The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise, the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal.' Peace Now maintains that this is the biggest expansion of settlements in the West Bank since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993. These accords were seen as hope of a potential route towards peace and a two-state solution, which has since diminished. According to Peace Now, nine of the settlements will be completely new, one is an already established community, and 12 are outposts and farms that will now be recognized as official settlements. Read More: Hamas Leader Mohammed Sinwar Killed In Airstrike, Netanyahu Says Israeli settlements in the West Bank are widely considered to be in violation of international law. The West Bank is defined by the United Nations as under Israeli military occupation, after it took control of the territory, as well as Gaza and East Jerusalem, in 1967 after the Six-Day War. According to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, 'the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.' However, Israel considers itself to be the administrative power, not an occupier. It administers the territory as Israel's 'Judea and Samaria Area.' Therefore, any Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not deemed illegal under Israeli law. Read More: France and Italy Summon Israeli Ambassadors After Israel Fired 'Warning Shots' at Diplomatic Delegation As of December 2024, there were 529,455 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank, spread across 141 settlements. The West Bank is also home to roughly three million Palestinians who live in pockets administered by the Palestinian Authority. Under Israeli rule, Palestinian residents must pass through the Israeli checkpoints they have access to, in order to move throughout the West Bank. Israeli settler movement to the West Bank and the expansion of communities has accelerated since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. A U.N. Human Rights Office report found that between November 2023 and October 2024, construction plans were put in place for over 10,300 new housing units within existing Israeli settlements. The report stated: 'Dozens of unauthorised roads have been paved by settlers and the army around settlements and outposts, helping to connect them while blocking Palestinians' movement and enabling further seizure of their land.' This rise in the settler population in the West Bank has been coupled with an increase in violence towards Palestinians. Between Jan. 1, 2024, and April 30, 2025, at least 616 Palestinians, including 115 children, had been killed by settlers or the Israeli military according to the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA). In the same period, OCHA recorded 1,936 incidents of violence towards Palestinians, with 41,272 being displaced in the West Bank. These trends have been on the rise since 2020. Contact us at letters@
Time Magazine
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time Magazine
What To Know About Israel's Major Expansion of Settlements in Occupied West Bank
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that "22 new settlements" will be established in the West Bank. Some already exist as outputs, but will be made legal under Israeli law, whilst others will be entirely new settlements. The politician called it a 'historic decision,' adding: 'We have succeeded in creating a profound strategic change, returning the State of Israel to a path of construction, Zionism, and vision. Settlement in the land of our ancestors is the protective wall of the State of Israel.' Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the move 'anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism,' adding that it is 'a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel.' It is believed that two of the settlements will be Homesh and Sa-Nur, villages in the West Bank that were evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel's disengagement plan from Gaza, in which all Israeli settlers withdrew from the Strip. Thursday's announcement has gained criticism from international lawmakers. British politician Hamish Falconer, the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, said that 'the U.K. condemns these actions.' In a post on X, Falconer said that the approval of these settlements "is a deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood" and that "settlements are illegal under international law, further imperil the two state solution, and do not protect Israel." The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, originally posted in Arabic, on X: 'This is a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, and a clear violation of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent, sovereign state.' Israeli activist group Peace Now has also heavily condemned the expansion. In a statement published on May 29, the organization said: "The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise, the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal.' Peace Now maintains that this is the biggest expansion of settlements in the West Bank since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993. These accords were seen as hope of a potential route towards peace and a two-state solution, which has since diminished. According to Peace Now, nine of the settlements will be completely new, one is an already established community, and 12 are outposts and farms that will now be recognized as official settlements. What is the legality of Israel expanding its West Bank settlements? Israeli settlements in the West Bank are widely considered to be in violation of international law. The West Bank is defined by the United Nations as under Israeli military occupation, after it took control of the territory, as well as Gaza and East Jerusalem, in 1967 after the Six-Day War. According to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, 'the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.' However, Israel considers itself to be the administrative power, not an occupier. It administers the territory as Israel's 'Judea and Samaria Area.' Therefore, any Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not deemed illegal under Israeli law. The growth of the West Bank settlements As of December 2024, there were 529,455 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank, spread across 141 settlements. The West Bank is also home to roughly three million Palestinians who live in pockets administered by the Palestinian Authority. Under Israeli rule, Palestinian residents must pass through the Israeli checkpoints they have access to, in order to move throughout the West Bank. Israeli settler movement to the West Bank and the expansion of communities has accelerated since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. A U.N. Human Rights Office report found that between November 2023 and October 2024, construction plans were put in place for over 10,300 new housing units within existing Israeli settlements. The report stated: 'Dozens of unauthorised roads have been paved by settlers and the army around settlements and outposts, helping to connect them while blocking Palestinians' movement and enabling further seizure of their land.' This rise in the settler population in the West Bank has been coupled with an increase in violence towards Palestinians. Between Jan. 1, 2024, and April 30, 2025, at least 616 Palestinians, including 115 children, had been killed by settlers or the Israeli military according to the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA). In the same period, OCHA recorded 1,936 incidents of violence towards Palestinians, with 41,272 being displaced in the West Bank. These trends have been on the rise since 2020.
Saba Yemen
3 days ago
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Summer courses conclude in Bani Hashish, Bani Matar, Jahana & Sinhan, Sana'a
Sana'a - Saba: The activities of the summer courses, under the slogan "Knowledge and Jihad", were concluded in the districts of Bani Hashish, Bani Matar, Jahana and Sinhan in Sana'a province on Wednesday. At the closing ceremony in Bani Hashish district, in the presence of Shura Council member Mohammed Mufadl, the first deputy governor of the province, Hamid Asim, stressed the importance of the role of summer activities in immunizing young people from misleading and deviant cultures and the soft war led by America and global Zionism to target the children of the Islamic Ummah. He congratulated the students on their graduation from this year's summer courses, from which they gained knowledge and knowledge, were equipped with the guidance of God and the guidance of the Quran, and gained awareness, insight and useful knowledge. At the closing ceremony, which was attended by Taleb Dahan, deputy governor of the education and youth sector, director of the Youth and Sports Office Abdul Mohsen al-Sharif, director of the directorate Rajeh al-Hanami, and mobilization officer Walid al-Arkeda, Sabri al-Qahm, head of the executive committee for summer courses in the directorate, praised the success of the summer activities and the size of the turnout. He explained that the number of students enrolled in summer schools in the directorate this year is 9,000 and 72 students, distributed among 92 model and open schools. The ceremony, which was attended by social and educational figures, included a poem, choral and theatrical performances, honoring students, and opening a paper manufacturing exhibition that embodied the students' skills during the summer period. At the closing ceremony, which was attended by Taleb Dahan, deputy governor of the education and youth sector, director of the Youth and Sports Office Abdul Mohsen al-Sharif, director of the directorate Rajeh al-Hanami, and mobilization officer Walid al-Arkeda, the head of the executive committee for summer courses in the directorate Sabri al-Qahm praised the success of the summer activities and the size of the turnout. He explained that the number of students enrolled in summer schools in the directorate this year is 9,000 and 72 students, distributed among 92 model and open schools. The ceremony, which was attended by social and educational figures, included a poetry recitation, choral and theatrical performances, honoring students, and opening a paper-making exhibition that embodied students' skills during the summer period. Yahya Al-Kahli, head of the executive committee for summer courses in the directorate, urged parents to keep their children connected to mosques, dhikr and Quranic circles. The number of students enrolled in the summer courses in the directorate is 14,478, distributed among 151 model and open schools. The activities of the summer courses in the Jahana district were also concluded in the presence of Abdulmalik al-Gharbi, the governorate's deputy deputy governor, Ahmed Othman, and Amin al-Jalal, the deputy head of the educational sector in the governorate. During the closing ceremony, Ahmed Nasser, head of the executive committee of the summer courses in the directorate, emphasized the success of the summer courses in the directorate this year. He praised the high turnout of both sexes at the summer schools. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (Local)
