Latest news with #radicalism
Fox News
2 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Israeli diplomat warns radicalism is an American problem after deadly DC shooting
Deputy Consul General of Israel in New York, Tsach Saar, is sending a warning to America after the deadly shooting of two Israeli Embassy staffers in D.C.: Radicalism isn't just a problem for Israelis and Jews — it's a problem for all Americans. "It's not an Israeli problem and not a Jewish problem, it's an American problem. These people who incite, who call for violence, who use antisemitic rhetoric, at the end of the day, they are shaking the pillars of American democracy," Saar told Fox News Digital. The diplomat also spoke about the phrase "globalize the Intifada," a slogan that has become more common at anti-Israel demonstrations. Saar says the phrase refers to those seeking to export violence beyond the Middle East to places like America, making the D.C. shooting much more than a local tragedy. "Intifada is a direct call for violence against Jews. So, we have violence on American soil, we have division in American society. It weakens the American democracy and that puts it very, very high on the agenda for Americans themselves. And I have to tell you, people that I speak with, they know exactly what I'm talking about and they understand how severe the problem is. And now it's time for action," he said. Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the fatal shooting of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky outside the Capital Jewish Museum, was heard chanting "free, free Palestine" during his arrest. This prompted renewed discussions about the rhetoric used in anti-Israel demonstrations in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre and resulting war in Gaza. College campuses, which became hotspots for anti-Israel agitators after Oct. 7, have heard this kind of rhetoric, with one of the epicenters being Columbia University in New York. Saar told Fox News Digital that it's clear that not just Jewish and Israeli students, but also those who express pro-Israel views feel "unsafe" on campuses across the country. While Saar acknowledged that America's First Amendment "is sacred," he warned that there is a difference between expressing one's viewpoint and inciting violence. Even as Jews and Israelis feel unsafe, Saar does not think the answer is to hide who they are, but rather to unite and "resist by all legal means" those who use lies and hateful rhetoric to incite violence. "The answer is not hiding our stars [of David], we should be proud of who we are," Saar said. He added that he had seen individuals on social media expressing support for the murders of Milgrim and Lischinsky. Antisemitism has been on the rise in the U.S. since Hamas carried out its attacks against Israel in October 2023. In April, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released its annual audit on antisemitism in which it identified 9,354 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. during 2024, marking a 5% increase from 2023. This was the fourth year in a row that the organization noted a record-breaking number of antisemitic incidents across the country.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Laura Loomer reveals 'dream job' in White House as Trump turbocharges war on Ivy League schools and migrants
Far-right activist Laura Loomer has revealed her 'dream job' in Trump's White House - just as the administration escalates its crackdown on international students and elite universities. Loomer's tweet came hours after an internal State Department cable revealed that the Trump administration has ordered a freeze on new student visa interviews in anticipation of expanded surveillance protocols. The administration plans to implement sweeping new social media screening for all foreign students seeking to study in the US. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered American consulates worldwide to halt new visa appointments for student and exchange visitors 'effective immediately,' citing preparations for a major escalation in vetting. It is part of a sweeping new offensive against both immigration and what President Trump calls 'radicalism in higher education.' 'Sounds like a dream job for me,' Loomer posted on X. 'I would love to research foreign students all day and find an excuse to block them from coming into our country based on their radicalism. Sign me up.' The unprecedented crackdown on international student visas is part of Trump's broader campaign to, in his words, 'cleanse American universities of radicalism.' Known for her inflammatory rhetoric and repeated bans from social media platforms, Loomer previously declared she would 'take a bullet' for Trump. Now, she wants to be on the frontlines of his immigration dragnet, helping to keep out what she describes as 'radicals' from the world's universities. The White House has not responded to questions about whether Loomer is being seriously considered for a role in the administration, but her public pitch has been widely circulated by supporters online - some of whom have urged Trump to appoint her as a 'foreign influence czar.' 'You were meant for this role!' wrote one of Loomer's supporters. 'What if we just ban foreigners from coming to this country?', suggested another. 'This is long overdue. If someone is posting hatred toward America, supporting terrorism, or promoting anti-Western ideology, they have no business setting foot on our soil. Not to study here. Not for any reason. Vetting social media is basic national security. We should be doing this for every visa applicant,' wrote a third. The State Department's cable came just a day after the Trump administration ordered Harvard University to stop enrolling international students, a demand that was swiftly blocked by a federal judge after the school filed a lawsuit. 'I think they should have a cap of maybe around 15%, not 31%,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools. They can't get in because we have foreign students there. Her public pitch has been widely circulated by supporters online - some of whom have urged Trump to appoint her as a 'foreign influence czar.' 'They're taking people from areas of the world that are very radicalized, and we don't want them making trouble in our country,' he added. Harvard's president, Alan Garber, warned on Tuesday that elite universities should prepare for escalating federal pressure, as Trump's administration has already slashed over $2.6 billion in research grants and threatened to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status. The move was followed by another bombshell on Wednesday as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US would begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, particularly those studying in 'critical fields' or with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The Trump administration's tightening grip on academia has sent universities scrambling. Institutions like Northeastern University, which has over 20,000 international students, have set up 'contingency plans' to deal with delays or denials in student visas. Meanwhile, advocacy groups like NAFSA: Association of International Educators are condemning the changes. 'International students are not a threat to this country. If anything, they're an incredible asset,' said CEO Fanta Aw. 'The idea that embassies have the time, the capacity, and taxpayer dollars are being spent this way is very problematic.' The administration's proposed changes would require all student visa applicants to undergo extensive reviews of their social media profiles, a dramatic expansion of rules first enacted during Trump's first term. While applicants have had to provide their social handles since 2019, the new plan would actively screen posts for signs of 'radicalism,' 'protest activity,' or connections to banned organizations. So far, Meta, Google, and TikTok, whose platforms would be subject to scrutiny, have declined to comment. Earlier this year, ICE arrested and tried to deport several international students who had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations over the Israel–Hamas war. The administration then expanded the grounds for deportation based on 'threats to public order.' Trump has painted elite universities, particularly Ivy League, as breeding grounds for what he calls 'anti-American extremism.' Last week the Department of Homeland Security accused Harvard of 'coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party' and providing training to members of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a paramilitary group accused of human rights abuses. Harvard denies the claims and has filed a lawsuit against the administration.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Grandmother of ‘Ivy Nepo Baby' Ramona Sarsgaard was a radical herself—and her best friend would go on to lead the Weather Underground
Runs in the family. The grandmother of 'Ivy Nepo Baby' Ramona Sarsgaard — the daughter of actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard who was arrested during an anti-Israel protest this week at Columbia University — was also a radical in college. 'I went wild,' screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal told The New York Times in 2004 of her time at Columbia's sister school, Barnard College, where her best friend was Eleanor Stein, who went on to become a fugitive leader of the terror group Weather Underground. The radical leftist outfit undertook a number of attacks in the US, including the infamous March 1970 accidental bombing of a Greenwich Village townhouse. 'I still thought we could do it in the system,' recalled Naomi, now 79, who used Stein's time on the run as inspiration for her 1988 flick, 'Running on Empty,' about a family of fugitives on the run from the FBI after a bombing. A Brooklyn native who grew up in a family of 'high-achieving New York Jews,' the elder Gyllenhaal — mother to Maggie and her actor brother, Jake — also supported director and screenwriter Jonathan Glazer's controversial 2024 Oscars speech, in which he compared Nazi Germany to Israel's fight in Gaza. While more than 1,000 Jewish creatives slammed Glazer's speech, Gyllenhaal was among 300 people who signed a letter backing the director. 'We should be able to name Israel's apartheid and occupation — both recognized by leading human rights organizations as such — without being accused of rewriting history,' according to the letter Gyllenhaal signed. Maggie's father, director Stephen Gyllenhaal made it clear that he and Naomi are no longer together when reached by The Post Saturday. 'We're divorced, you know,' Gyllenhaal, 75, said from his Los Angeles home. When asked about Ramona's arrest, he said only, 'they speak for themselves.' Naomi Gyllenhaal could not immediately be reached for comment. Sarsgaard, 18, who attends Columbia College, was slapped with a desk appearance ticket for criminal trespassing Wednesday, the sources said. She could not be reached for comment. Her dad, Peter Sarsgaard, declined comment Saturday on his daughter's brush with the law. 'I don't have anything to say,' he said outside the family's Cobble Hill home.
Arab News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
A new regional order brings major challenges
After more than 70 turbulent years in the history of the Middle East, a new generation may be looking for something better (AFP) Short Url If Francis Fukuyama can get it wrong about the end of history, I can take such a risk about the new regional order in the Middle East. Amid all its complexity, there might be a simple solution to the region's problems and it all boils down to coming to terms with the phenomenon of political Islam, with its various manifestations. Please note that I said 'simple,' I did not say 'easy.' What I am trying to explain is that the new order may have one major challenge instead of a multiplicity of smaller ones. In every conflict in the region, if one digs deep enough, we find at its root an as-yet-unresolved relationship between religion and state. This is not specific to the Middle East, Europe struggled with this one for centuries. It may not even be a problem with religion; it is probably much more of a problem with the state. Religions have been there for centuries, states are the newcomers. Relations between Islam and the state were much healthier in the liberal first half of the 20th century, before a new order of secular nationalists came about in the early 1950s and suppressed religion. Under the oppressive boot of military dictatorships, religion was radicalized and radicalism became contagious, spreading across the region through Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi militants. There is little doubt that change is happening in the region. As if the advent of Donald Trump as president of the US was not enough, the Gaza war has shaken up the region, with Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen all joining in through their nonstate actors — Islamist militias with links to Iran. These were the culmination of the Shiite revival that started in Iran in the 1950s, spreading through the region and becoming radicalized under suppression by the shah and Saddam Hussein. In every conflict in the region, if one digs deep enough, we find at its root an as-yet-unresolved relationship between religion and state Nadim Shehadi The collapse of the Assad regime complicated matters but also made us revise our ideas. It all came too suddenly and challenged our perceptions and understanding of radical Sunni Islam. World leaders are sending their officials to snoop around and figure out the new Syrian leadership, while also meeting President Ahmad Al-Sharaa on the sidelines of international events. Even the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was at the point of being resolved 30 years ago, when Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the Oslo Accords. That was until it became a problem between the PLO and Hamas, and it still is: the state represented by the PLO needs to find a way to coexist with a radicalized version of political Islam. It is true that Hamas won the 2006 elections, but that was almost two decades ago and a whole new generation has been born since. The EU and the US, which pushed for the elections to be held, had to reject the outcome and there have not been any elections since. In Egypt, where the institution of the army has dominated politics since the 1950s, relations with the Muslim Brotherhood are also unresolved. Elections in 2011 after the so-called Arab Spring brought in Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, but a massive popular revolt brought him down. There are similar complex relations between the state and political Islam in Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco. Unresolved relations between religion and state may become part of a global revolt against politicians. But again, it is not a simple division between religious and secular people. There is significant overlap, with individuals sometimes crossing from one side to the other. The French debate over radical Islam is interesting, particularly the analysis of Olivier Roy, who says that it is not Islam that is radicalized, it is radicalization that is Islamized. I tend to agree with this and there is plenty of evidence to support it, with Marxists and nationalists having joined Islamist movements, particularly in the 1980s. For them, religion was seen as a useful tool to recruit followers, in the same way Latin American liberation theology used Catholicism. Two cases are illustrative of this phenomenon. Firstly, the Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh initially trained with the PLO in Lebanon. Part of the reason for him shifting allegiance was the PLO's support for Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War. The second is the case of a Christian Palestinian member of the PLO's student brigade, Munir Shafiq. Shafiq was a Maoist who converted to Sunni Islam and had great influence through his writings. The main division in Israel is between the religious and the secular elements of society, both of which can go to extremes Nadim Shehadi Israel is also not immune to this problem of the relationship between religion and state. The main division in the country is between the religious and the secular elements of society, both of which can go to extremes. Radical religious parties can have far more influence because of the particularities of the electoral system. Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, operation also helped radical Jewish politicians win more support. Radicals from both sides indirectly support each other. Turkiye is a perfect example of this division between religious and secular tendencies. Even Iran is changing. I am told by Iranian friends that in some areas of Tehran you might think you are in Paris, with art galleries and music concerts attended by a mixed audience and with women barely wearing their headscarves. I may have simplified a complex problem for the sake of understanding it better. A new order in the region will have to resolve the issue of the relationship between religion and state, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every society will have to find its own way of dealing with this regionwide challenge. A new order is not announced on state television or through communiques; it evolves by millions of individuals going through a process of revising their ideas. We do not need aid, we need to get our act together. After more than 70 turbulent years in the history of the region, a new generation may be looking for something better. Nadim Shehadi is an economist and political adviser. X: @Confusezeus Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view
