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Fifth Column

America’s universities, still fighting against Jews and Israel: week of 5/4-5/10

2025-05-11

Whatever I happened to notice over the past week.

NYU Demands Law Students Renounce Protests Or Be Barred From Final Exams
[TaxProfBlog] New York University School of Law barred 31 pro-Palestine law school students from campus facilities and demanded that they sign away their right to protest in exchange for being allowed to return. If the students — deemed “personae non grata,” or PNG — don’t renounce their right to protest on campus, they will be unable to sit for final exams.

Trump administration revokes visas from 37 Johns Hopkins students for pro-Hamas activism
[CampusReform] 37 international students who attend Johns Hopkins University have had their visas revoked amid the Trump administration’s removal of allegedly pro-Hamas protesters. 15 percent of Johns Hopkins first-years are international students, according to the university website. 37 is the first specific number that the university administration has disclosed to the press. Earlier this month, Johns Hopkins said that “approximately a dozen” student visas had been revoked, signalling a significant recent increase, as noted by The Baltimore Banner.

As of publication, the administration has revoked over 1,800 visas for allegedly pro-Hamas activists, according to Inside Higher Ed. On March 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department had revoked more than 300 visas, tying the revocations to anti-Israel student protests.

Trump administration informs Harvard of freeze on billions in grant funding
[IsraelTimes] The US Department of Education has informed Harvard University that it’s freezing billions of dollars in research grants and other aid until the elite university concedes to a number of demands from the Trump administration, a senior department official says.

Michigan prosecutors drop felony charges against anti-Israel campus protesters
[IsraelTimes] State prosecutors dropped felony charges against seven people accused of trespassing and resisting police a year ago during the break-up of a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Michigan. Attorney General Dana Nessel says she believes the cases are strong but suggests her office was worn down by criticism and other factors. She notes that a judge in Washtenaw County still hasn’t decided whether to send the cases to a trial court despite multiple hearings.

The camp on the Diag, a traditional site for campus protests, was cleared by police in May 2024 after a month. The university said the camp had become a threat to safety, with overloaded power sources and open flames.

Protesters had demanded that the school’s endowment stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. The university insisted it has no direct investments and less than $15 million placed with funds that might include companies in Israel.

Courtesy of Skidmark:

Anti-Israel protesters occupy University of Washington building, 30 arrested
[FoxNews] A group of anti-Israel protesters occupied a building at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle on Monday before police in riot gear intervened and arrested at least 30 of them, according to officials. The protesters occupied an engineering building on campus for hours and demanded that the school divest from Boeing, the large aerospace and defense manufacturer which has a long history with the university. Video from the scene shows several dumpsters on fire as police moved in to regain control of the building after the demonstrators had locked themselves inside. One protester outside could be heard shouting: "Abolish the police. Every cop dead is a victory for the resistance."

Standard Black Bloc/anarchist stuff — in case anyone wondered who has been protesting.

US reviews occupation of University of Washington building by pro-Palestinian protesters
[IsraelTimes] The US government says it will review an incident at the University of Washington in which pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a university building Dwhile demanding the school cut ties with Boeing BA.N over its contracts with the Israeli military.The Trump administration labeled the incident as antisemitic activity. While it praised the university and law enforcement officials for their response, it urged the school to take enforcement actions and make policy changes. Boeing gave the school a $10 million donation for an engineering building in 2022.

“The Task Force’s review is in response to the eruption of antisemitic harassment and violence that occurred Monday, May 5 at UW’s campus in Seattle,” the US Education Department, Health Department and General Services Administration says in a statement.

The protest group, called Super UW, said police had removed the students who occupied the building. It also said 30 people were taken into custody but some were released.

The Trump administration has threatened universities with federal funding cuts over pro-Palestinian campus protests against Israel’s military assault on Gaza following Palestinian Hamas militants’ October 2023 attack in Israel.

Trump administration condemns destructive pro-Palestinian protest at Seattle’s UW campus
[IsraelTimes] US secretary of education decries ‘horrifying display of the antisemitic harassment and lawlessness’ as school says group that praised Oct. 7 atrocities caused $1 million in damages

US says it is probing foreign donations at University of Pennsylvania
[IsraelTimes] Education Department says university has 30 days to provide information on tax records dating back to 2017, details on agreements with foreign governments, and more, alleging the Ivy League school made inaccurate and untimely foreign financial disclosures in the past. US law requires universities to report donations from foreign sources exceeding $250,000 in a year.

GOP lawmakers berate Haverford College chief for silence on antisemitism discipline
[IsraelTimes] At congressional hearing, school president Wendy Raymond declines to detail punishments for students and faculty accused of anti-Jewish bias; some lawmakers threaten funding cuts.

Also appearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce were Jeffrey Armstrong of California Polytechnic State University and Robert Manuel of DePaul University. It was the latest in a series of hearings scrutinizing university presidents over their responses to allegations of anti-Jewish bias in the wake of Palestinian terror group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and a wave of protests that swept the nation’s campuses against Israel’s military response to the assault.

WATCH: I asked the Haverford College president about a professor who celebrated the Oct. 7 massacre. Her response? It could be “perceived in many ways.”

She couldn’t bring herself to say that celebrating mass terrorism is wrong. Just more of the same “depends on the context”… pic.twitter.com/aD5ZuamrLT
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) May 7, 2025

Columbia suspends more than 65 students for library protest
[IsraelTimes] Columbia University in New York has suspended more than 65 students for their role in an anti-Israel protest at a campus library on Wednesday, a Columbia official says. The students are on interim suspension pending further investigation.

The official says 33 individuals, including some from affiliated institutions, have been barred from Columbia’s campus.

Link

Fifth Column

Another round of anti-Trump protests hits US cities, reasons all over the map

2025-04-20

[IsraelTimes] Thousands decry president’s hardline policies, from immigration to intended deportation of some foreign students, with turnout lower than in previous ‘Hands Off’ rallies

But not even tens of thousands, despite pay-for-protest funding? It sounds like nobody cares any more, or perhaps they’re afraid of earning FBI attention…

Thousands of protesters rallied Saturday in New York, Washington and other cities across the United States for a second major round of demonstrations against President Donald Trump and his hardline policies.

In New York, people gathered outside the city’s main library carrying signs targeting the US president with slogans like “No Kings in America” and “Resist Tyranny.”

Many took aim at Trump’s deportations of undocumented migrants, chanting “No ICE, no fear, immigrants are welcome here,” a reference to the role of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in rounding up migrants.

In Washington, DC, protesters voiced concern that Trump was threatening long-respected constitutional norms, including the right to due process.

The administration is carrying out “a direct assault on the idea of the rule of law and the idea that the government should be restrained from abusing the people who live here in the United States,” Benjamin Douglas, 41, told AFP outside the White House.

Wearing a keffiyeh and carrying a sign calling for the freeing of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel student protester arrested last month, Douglas claimed individuals were being singled out as “test cases to rile up xenophobia and erode long-standing legal protections.”

“We are in a great danger,” said 73-year-old New York protester Kathy Valy, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, adding that their stories of how Nazi leader Adolf Hitler rose to power “are what’s happening here.”

“The one thing is that Trump is a lot more stupid than Hitler or than the other fascists,” she said. “He’s being played… and his own team is divided.”

‘SCIENCE IGNORED’
Daniella Butler, 26, said she wanted to “call attention specifically to the defunding of science and health work” by the government.

Studying for a PhD in immunology at Johns Hopkins University, she was carrying a map of Texas covered with spots in reference to the ongoing measles outbreak there.

Trump’s health chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a noted vaccine skeptic, spent decades falsely linking the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot to autism.

“When science is ignored, people die,” Butler said.

In deeply conservative Texas, the coastal city of Galveston saw a small gathering of anti-Trump demonstrators.

“This is my fourth protest and typically I would sit back and wait for the next election,” said 63-year-old writer Patsy Oliver. “We cannot do that right now. We’ve lost too much already.”

On the West Coast, several hundred people gathered on a beach in San Francisco to spell out the words “IMPEACH + REMOVE,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Others nearby held an upside-down US flag, traditionally a symbol of distress.

Organizers hope to use building resentment over Trump’s immigration crackdown, his drastic cuts to government agencies and his pressuring of universities, news media and law firms, to forge a lasting movement.

A lot of people voted for him to get all that, so we’re happy.

The chief organizer of Saturday’s protests — the group 50501, a number representing 50 protests in 50 states and one movement — said some 400 demonstrations were planned.

Four hundred, half a dozen — whatever.

Its website said the protests are “a decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies” — and it insisted on all protests being non-violent.

The group called for millions to take part Saturday, though turnout appeared smaller than the “Hands Off” protests across the country on April 5.

Recall that former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani tracked down the organizers and some of their funders here.

Link

Fifth Column

Two arrested for attacking Teslas: FBI arrests Boston undergrad for throwing Molotov cocktail at Tesla facility, Minnesota bureaucrat busted for slashing tires on lot; 3rd tried to run Tesla off Utah freeway

2025-04-20

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

BREAKING: FBI arrests 19-year-old Boston college student Owen McIntire for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at a Tesla facility in Kansas City, MO, during spring break.

She will be going to prison for a very long time. pic.twitter.com/MPCHqHTQHc
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) April 18, 2025

NEW: Minnesota government fiscal policy analyst busted for causing $20,000 total in damages to multiple Teslas.

33-year-old Dylan Bryan Adams works for the State of Minnesota Department of Human Services under Gov. Tim Walz.

Adams was arrested after multiple Tesla cameras… pic.twitter.com/v8cJeWu1zu
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 18, 2025

…after multiple Tesla cameras caught a man slashing the cars.

According to his LinkedIn page, Adams has been working for the State of Minnesota for nearly 7 years.

He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2014.

Utah man arrested after attempting to run Tesla off highway: police
[PostMillennial] A man in Utah has been arrested after police say that he tried to run a Tesla off the freeway while he was driving over 100 miles per hour.

Oscar Fayani, 27, was arrested on Friday and then booked into Tooele County Jail after he allegedly ran into a Tesla driver on purpose in an attempt to drive the vehicle off the road, according to KSL News. Fayani faces charges of aggravated assault, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license, as well as drug possession.

Link

Government Corruption

Chinese Professor of Cryptography in Indiana AWOL - Feebs (and probably FISA) Curious

2025-04-01

[ArsTechnica] FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado.

Indiana University quietly removes profile of tenured professor and refuses to say why.

A prominent computer scientist who has spent 20 years publishing academic papers on cryptography, privacy, and cybersecurity has gone incommunicado, had his professor profile, email account, and phone number removed by his employer, Indiana University, and had his homes raided by the FBI. No one knows why.

Xiaofeng Wang has a long list of prestigious titles. He was the associate dean for research at Indiana University's Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, a fellow at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a tenured professor at Indiana University at Bloomington. According to his employer, he has served as principal investigator on research projects totaling nearly $23 million over his 21 years there.

He has also co-authored scores of academic papers on a diverse range of research fields, including cryptography, systems security, and data privacy, including the protection of human genomic data. I have personally spoken to him on three occasions for articles here, here, and here.

“NONE OF THIS IS IN ANY WAY NORMAL”
In recent weeks, Wang's email account, phone number, and profile page at the Luddy School were quietly erased by his employer. Over the same time, Indiana University also removed a profile for his wife, Nianli Ma, who was listed as a Lead Systems Analyst and Programmer at the university's Library Technologies division.

As reported by the Bloomingtonian and later the Herald-Times in Bloomington, a small fleet of unmarked cars driven by government agents descended on the Bloomington home of Wang and Ma on Friday. They spent most of the day going in and out of the house and occasionally transferred boxes from their vehicles. TV station WTHR, meanwhile, reported that a second home owned by Wang and Ma and located in Carmel, Indiana, was also searched. The station said that both a resident and an attorney for the resident were on scene during at least part of the search.

Attempts to locate Wang and Ma have so far been unsuccessful. An Indiana University spokesman didn't answer emailed questions asking if the couple was still employed by the university and why their profile pages, email addresses, and phone numbers had been removed. The spokesman provided the contact information for a spokeswoman at the FBI's field office in Indianapolis. In an email, the spokeswoman wrote: "The FBI conducted court authorized law enforcement activity at homes in Bloomington and Carmel Friday. We have no further comment at this time."

Searches of federal court dockets turned up no documents related to Wang, Ma, or any searches of their residences. The FBI spokeswoman didn't answer questions seeking which US district court issued the warrant and when, and whether either Wang or Ma is being detained by authorities. Justice Department representatives didn't return an email seeking the same information. An email sent to a personal email address belonging to Wang went unanswered at the time this post went live. Their resident status (e.g. US citizens or green card holders) is currently unknown.

Fellow researchers took to social media over the weekend to register their concern over the series of events.

"None of this is in any way normal," Matthew Green, a professor specializing in cryptography at Johns Hopkins University, wrote on Mastodon. He continued: "Has anyone been in contact? I hear he’s been missing for two weeks and his students can’t reach him. How does this not get noticed for two weeks???"

In the same thread, Matt Blaze, a McDevitt professor of computer science and law at Georgetown University, said: "It's hard to imagine what reason there could be for the university to scrub its website as if he never worked there. And while there's a process for removing tenured faculty, it takes more than an afternoon to do it."

Local news outlets reported the agents spent several hours moving boxes in an out of the residences. WTHR provided the following details about the raid on the Carmel home:

Neighbors say the agents announced "FBI, come out!" over a megaphone.

A woman came out of the house holding a phone. A video from a neighbor shows an agent taking that phone from her. She was then questioned in the driveway before agents began searching the home, collecting evidence and taking photos.

A car was pulled out of the garage slightly to allow investigators to access the attic.

The woman left the house before 13News arrived. She returned just after noon accompanied by a lawyer. The group of ten or so investigators left a few minutes later.

The FBI would not say what they were looking for or who is under investigation. A bureau spokesperson issued a statement: “I can confirm we conducted court-authorized activity at the address in Carmel today. We have no further comment at this time.”

Investigators were at the house for about four hours before leaving with several boxes of evidence. 13News rang the doorbell when the agents were gone. A lawyer representing the family who answered the door told us they're not sure yet what the investigation is about.

The Indiana Daily Student adds:

Indiana University terminated professor Xiaofeng Wang on Friday, the same day that two of his homes were searched by the FBI, according to a document sent by the American Association of University Professors’ IU Bloomington chapter.

The document, IU Provost Rahul Shrivastav’s email informing Wang of his termination, said it was Shrivastav’s understanding that Wang had accepted a faculty position with a university in Singapore.

Odd that he hadn’t informed IU management…

Shrivastav said in the email that Wang would not be eligible to be hired again at IU.

The email also told Wang he needed to return all IU property to the IU Police Department as soon as possible. IUPD did not respond to a request for comment by publication.

The Indiana Daily Student reached out to IU to confirm the document’s veracity, to which a spokesperson responded that IU will not comment on the investigation.

"Indiana University was recently made aware of a federal investigation of an Indiana University faculty member," an IU spokesperson told the IDS on Monday. "At the direction of the FBI, Indiana University will not make any public comments regarding this investigation. In accordance with Indiana University practices, Indiana University will also not make any public comments regarding the status of this individual."

Wang had been a director at IU’s center for Security and Privacy in Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. The center's co-director, L. Jean Camp, confirmed details first reported by the South China Morning Post that Wang is still in the United States, and that to her knowledge he has not been charged with anything.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Johns Hopkins to cut 1,975 overseas jobs funded by US taxpayers

2025-03-19

[CollegeFix] Donald Trump’s cuts to USAID has led Johns Hopkins University to cut workers in foreign countries

U.S. taxpayers will no longer subsidize nearly 2,000 Johns Hopkins University jobs overseas.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio plan to significantly scale back the United States Agency for International Development due to what the administration sees as wasteful spending. However, critics argue that USAID engages in lifesaving work overseas.

This includes Johns Hopkins University, which says half of its budget comes from federal research grants – and will cut 1,975 overseas jobs and 247 stateside personnel due to Trump’s cuts.

“This is a difficult day for our entire community,” the university told the media, as reported by NBC News. “The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally.”

However, much of that “critical work” is not done in Baltimore, but instead in “44 other countries in support of the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, its medical school and an affiliated nonprofit organization,” according to CBS News.

Link

Government Corruption

Johns Hopkins University says it’s laying off 2,000 employees due to Trump cuts

2025-03-14

[IsraelTimes] The prestigious Johns Hopkins University says it is being forced to lay off more than 2,000 employees in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s massive reduction in foreign aid funding.

The poor darlings. Cut off from government monies that were being improperly spent… at best. Enjoy your slimming diet as you are right-sized, guys.

“This is a difficult day for our entire community. The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally,” the school — a top research institute barely an hour’s drive from the US capital — says in a statement.

Link

Fifth Column

The Jew hate-Black Bloc nexus in American universities 2/23-3/1: The feds take an interest

2025-03-02

Barnard College expels 2 students who disrupted Israel history class last month
[IsraelTimes] Anti-Israel student coalition at US institution shares footage of activists interrupting class, saying course ‘legitimizes the zionist entity’; Hillel president praises expulsion. Columbia University Apartheid Divest said in a statement that the punishment “marks a serious escalation in the crackdown against students advocating for divestment against the Israeli war machine.”

Barnard college EXPELS two students for pro-Palestinian activism under pressure from billionaire donors

Follow @ColumbiaBDS for details on an upcoming WEEK OF ACTION demanding Barnard reverse the expulsions! pic.twitter.com/sngbcSpYc8
— CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) (@ColumbiaBDS) February 23, 2025

NYC university system’s faculty union backtracks after Israel boycott vote
[IsraelTimes] CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress, representing 30,000 members, reverses support for divisive divestment measure due to ‘irregularities’ in voting.

The union, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), has been a battleground for anti-Israel activism for years, and some Jewish professors have long accused the group of bias and discrimination.

The vote to boycott Israel was divisive within the union, and drew criticism from the CUNY administration, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and two groups representing Jewish and pro-Israel faculty in the CUNY system.

The union leadership opposed the boycott, and the vote was controversial and close, so the leadership checked whether alternates had voted when they were not allowed to and found the irregularities, Philipp said.

Passing an Israel boycott vote could have hurt the union in negotiations with city and state officials who oppose such a measure.

George Washington University Retaliated Against Jewish Students Who Lodged Anti-Semitism Complaint, Federal Probe Finds
[FreeBeacon] A federal civil rights investigation uncovered evidence that the George Washington University faculty retaliated against Jewish students based on "shared ancestry-related advocacy" by placing them in a remediation program after the students lodged an anti-Semitism complaint against an anti-Israel professor. The Department of Education also ordered the school to conduct a review of former GW psychology professor Lara Sheehi’s social media posts—which included calls to "destroy Zionism" and described Israelis as "genocidal fucks"—to determine if the comments created a "hostile environment" for Jewish and Israeli students.

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights raised the concerns in a confidential settlement letter with GW on Jan. 16, which followed a two-year investigation, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. As part of the settlement, GW agreed to "review and revise" its anti-discrimination policies and train professors against "unlawful discrimination." The school also agreed to expunge any disciplinary action from the students’ records.

A group of Jewish and Israeli psychology students at GW filed the civil rights complaint in 2023, saying the school failed to protect them after they were "singled out for repeated and persistent harassment" by anti-Israel professors and classmates in the program and later subjected to retaliation when they complained. StandWithUs, the group that brought the complaint on behalf of the students, told the Free Beacon that the settlement letter was a positive step.

Northwestern University Mandatory Anti-Discrimination Training Pushes Unverified CAIR Data
[FreeBeacon] 'This omission is not an oversight; it reflects Northwestern's ongoing pattern of sidelining Jewish concerns in response to activist pressure,' anti-Semitism expert says.

All Northwestern students, faculty, and staff across all departments, must watch the nearly 20-minute video training, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, and is part of a 3-hour online course created by the university.

"Reports from Northwestern University faculty and staff suggest that its so-called anti-discrimination training does the opposite of what it claims," Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern president Michael Teplitsky told the Free Beacon. "Instead of fostering genuine inclusion, it selectively elevates certain perspectives while excluding Israeli students from the conversation—despite these students facing some of the most severe harassment and intimidation on U.S. college campuses."

US federal task force to visit 10 campuses to tackle antisemitism
[IsraelTimes] The US Department of Justice says an antisemitism task force will visit 10 university campuses that saw antisemitic incidents since October 2023.

The visits stem from US President Donald Trump’s executive order to combat antisemitism that was issued last month, part of a wider effort by the new administration to pressure universities to crack down on anti-Jewish discrimination.

The head of the task force, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell, says the group will meet with university leaders, students, staff and law enforcement.

“The task force’s mandate is to bring the full force of the federal government to bear in our effort to eradicate antisemitism, particularly in schools,” Terrell says in a statement.

The universities that will be visited are:
Columbia University
George Washington University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
New York University
Northwestern University
The University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Berkeley
The University of Minnesota
The University of Southern California

The visits are announced after anti-Israel protesters at Barnard College, an affiliate of New York’s Columbia University, invaded a campus building on Wednesday, injuring a university employee. The protest was widely condemned by state and national lawmakers.

NY governor orders Hunter College to remove Palestinian studies job listing
[IsraelTimes] New York’s governor has ordered a state school to remove a job posting for a Palestinian studies teaching position this week, saying she wanted to ensure “antisemitic theories” would not be taught.

The job posting at Hunter College had called for a historian “who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to settler-colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender, and sexuality,” according to screenshots published by the New York Post, which first reported the job announcement.

Following the coverage, Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, ordered the City University of New York school to remove the posting “and conduct a thorough review of the position to ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom,” her office says in a statement.

The CUNY Board of Trustees agreed, and university officials have since removed the posting for a “Palestinian Studies Cluster Hire,” which was marked as expired on Friday.

“We find this language divisive, polarizing and inappropriate and strongly agree with Governor Hochul’s direction to remove this posting,” say Chairperson William C. Thompson Jr. and Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, adding they will work “to tackle antisemitism on our campuses and combat hate in all of its forms.”

The governor’s statement adds that no class is being canceled.

Courtesy of Grom:

Rutgers lecturer, UNRWA official join Hamas-affiliated org webinar
[Jpost] Hamid Abdeljaber, a lecturer for Middle Eastern Studies and former press officer for the UN, spoke in the webinar titled “UNRWA after the ban law and the arrival of Trump,” which aired on the Facebook page of the European Palestinian Information Center. UNRWA media adviser Adnan Abu Hasna also spoke at the livestream event, claiming, “At the end of the day, we at UNRWA were one of the victims of what happened on October 7,” Jewish Insider quoted.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) reacted to Abdeljaber’s participation in the webinar, “It’s outrageous that yet another Rutgers faculty member, Hamid Abdeljaber, spoke on an antisemitic webinar tied to Hamas, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization. Not only did Hamid defend Hamas as part of a so-called ‘resistance,’ but he also celebrated its actions while promoting harmful antisemitic tropes and false narratives," he said in a released statement.

He continued, "This is just the latest example of rampant antisemitism on campus that threatens the safety of Jewish students. It follows a Faculty Union December 2024 vote to approve an antisemitic BDS resolution. Last year, a university-funded center openly promoted antisemitic, anti-Israel propaganda. Jewish students at Rutgers deserve to feel safe and welcome on campus and in the classroom."

Link

Fifth Column

Rutgers SJP staged a protest outside of the Chabad House on campus, chanting “globalize the intifada.”…and more

2025-01-12

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Rutgers SJP staged a protest outside of the Chabad House on campus, chanting “globalize the intifada.”

Our universities have devolved into cesspools of extremism. pic.twitter.com/Y4lZvbSXvM
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) January 11, 2025

The university-Hamas nexus 1/5/2025-1/11

A selection of stories I happened across as I wandered the internet, this list is most certainly not anywhere close to complete.

Columbia University law professor retires as probe finds she discriminated against Israelis
Katherine Franke leaves school after investigation says she violated university discrimination policy when saying Israeli students harass Palestinians on campus. Franke is a longtime pro-Palestinian activist and supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel. She has described herself as an “activist academic” focused on issues including queer theory, gender justice, racial justice and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Protests surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict plunged Columbia University into turmoil last year, culminating in an unsanctioned protest encampment on campus property, protesters’ forcible takeover of a campus building and dozens of arrests. Israeli and Jewish students have said the protests and rhetoric, including from faculty, created a hostile and unsafe environment for them on campus.

The university administration struggled to tamp down tensions and implemented some counter-measures, including a task force on antisemitism.

Protests have not been as disruptive this year, although student activists have escalated their rhetoric, including by issuing open calls for violence, which the university has condemned.

American Historical Association resolution condemns Israel’s ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza
[IsraelTimes] The American Historical Association on Sunday passed a resolution that condemns Israel’s “scholasticide”

…I’m pretty sure that is not an actual word…

in Gaza, accusing it of intentionally destroying the Palestinian enclave’s education system amid the 15-month war against Hamas.The resolution, which was approved 428-88 at the AHA’s annual conference, said Israel’s campaign “has effectively obliterated Gaza’s education system.” It will now go to the AHA Council, which will need to decide whether to approve it, veto it or declare nonconcurrence.

Some of the AHA leadership expressed opposition to the resolution, including its president-elect Suzanne Marchand.

Kent State Prof says "The Children of Israel will be so Humiliated" by The Arab World
[ToniAraksinen] An Akron Ohio Imam who described the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel as a “miracle” and claimed Israelis “shall be defeated” is slated to teach multiple classes at Kent State University next semester.

The professor, Imam Nader Taha, delivered a sermon at the Islamic Society of Akron and Kent (ISAK) on December 13, 2024, where he made inflammatory and antisemitic statements about Israel and Jewish people. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported on the remarks on January 2, 2025. During his sermon, Imam Taha referred to the October 7 attack—what he called the “Al-Aqsa Flood”—in which Hamas killed over 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped over 250 civilians. Taha praised the assault, calling it a “miracle” and a victory for Palestinians.

In response to the controversy, Kent State University issued a statement condemning Taha’s remarks. The statement also called for unity in the face of violence.

Despite widespread outrage over the remarks, Imam Taha remains employed at Kent State and is scheduled to teach four mathematics courses in Spring 2025: Pre-Algebra, Basic Algebra I, Basic Algebra II, and Modeling Algebra. A total of 31 students are enrolled in these classes, which begin on January 13.

Imam Taha remains an active religious leader at ISAK, where he delivers weekly sermons and leads prayers. ISAK confirmed in an interview that he continues to preach regularly, including sharing his views regarding Jewish people and the October 7 attack.

US Department of Education opens antisemitism probe at Sarah Lawrence College
Move comes following rare complaint by campus Hillel chapter that school fostered a hostile environment for Jewish students; college says reviewing request for data on incidents.

Rutgers likely operated ‘hostile environment’ for Jewish students, federal investigation finds.

Yale Students Would Rather Divest From Israel Than Russia, Iran, and China, Survey Finds: Eight percent of students also believe that Oct. 7 was justified resistance.

US settles with Johns Hopkins over rise in antisemitic, anti-Arab incidents
The US Education Department notes concerns about discrimination against people of Jewish and Arab ancestry at Johns Hopkins University and reaches a settlement with the institution to resolve the complaints. The university has agreed to review its anti-harassment policies and to provide training to staff and students on addressing discrimination and harassment based on ancestry and ethnicity, according to the settlement posted online by the Education Department.

Amcha Initiative released list of American universities with most anti-Zionist faculty

Seen on Facebook on the Mothers Against College Antisemitism (M.A.C.A.) page:

ANTI-ZIONIST FACULTY BAROMETER - TOP 10 EXTREME SCHOOLS
New York University (NYU)
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Columbia University/Barnard College
University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC)
CUNY The Graduate Center
University of Washington
Georgetown University
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
University of California Irvine (UCI)
Rutgers University - New Brunswick
The AZF Barometer ranks over 700 colleges and university from 0 (negligible) to 5 (extreme) using publicly available data on faculty academic boycotters, department anti-Zionist statements, FJP chapter presence, and FJP events or statements.

A bunch from Legal Insurrection:

CAMERA Report: Ivy League Propaganda – How Brown University Radicalized Students After October 7
“radical members of faculty turned a prestigious institution of higher learning into a center for ideological indoctrination”

Consider just one fact: throughout the dozens of hours of recordings of these events, CAMERA could not find a single mention of the Israeli civilians, including children, taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists on October 7, 2023. Given that the plight of the hostages is the single most important factor preventing an end to the current war, it defies any reasonable, non-ideological explanation for that aspect of the conflict to be outright omitted from the conversations.

San Francisco State Changes Investment Policy to Appease Anti-Israel Protesters
“a move that anti-Israel protesters celebrated”

Rutgers Is Latest University To Settle Dept. Of Education Antisemitism Investigation, Promises Changes After Investigation of Campus Antisemitism
“It’s a good thing that the university is acknowledging that since Oct. 7 it’s been a tremendously difficult experience for Jews on campus”

UCLA loses multi-million-dollar gift over handling of campus anti-Israel protests
“We as donors have amended our Living Trust by removing UCLA as a financial recipient.”

Indiana University president reported to her own bias team - twice
Legal group Speech First challenging the bias reporting system in federal court said there have been consequences for even vague accusations.

In past five years - Young Progressives are Embracing Antisemitism Based on Lies
“To oppose Israel was to oppose racism, young progressives told themselves.”

U. Texas at Austin President Leaving School After Failing to Implement a More Conservative Vision
“Hartzell’s tenure has been marred with tense political battles on campus that pitted faculty and students against the administration.”

Rutgers Law School Published Paper With Multiple False Anti-Israel Talking Points
“Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine–Israel Discourse”

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

The View co-host Sunny Hostin's surgeon husband Emmanuel accused of insurance fraud in bombshell lawsuit

2025-01-08

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The long-time husband of The View co-host Sunny Hostin is starting the New Year under a cloud after being accused of federal insurance fraud.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Emmanuel ’Manny’ Hostin is among nearly 200 defendants named in one of the largest RICO cases ever filed in New York.

He and many of the others are accused or getting kickbacks by performing surgery and fraudulently billing a company that insures taxi companies and Uber and Lyft drivers.

’Hostin knowingly provided fraudulent medical and other healthcare services including arthroscopic surgeries,’ the lawsuit, filed on December 17, claims.

The insurance firm American Transit was then billed ’in exchange for kickbacks and/or other compensation which were disguised as dividends or other cash distributions.’

Hostin's attorney Daniel Thwaites told DailyMail.com his client 'denies each and every allegation' and called the lawsuit a 'blanket, scattershot, meritless lawsuit by a near-bankrupt insurance carrier'.

The lawsuit, obtained by DailyMail.com, identifies Dr. Hostin as owner of Hostin Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, located in midtown Manhattan

The lawsuit, obtained by DailyMail.com, identifies Dr. Hostin as owner of Hostin Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, located in midtown Manhattan

The couple has been married since 1998 and currently live in a 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom estate in Purchase, New York. They have a 22-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter

’It is meant to intimidate and harass doctors from collecting for care given to American Transit insureds and their passengers,’ Thwaites said.

He said Hostin has an ’impeccable’ record, adding: ’American Transit has rushed into the lawsuit without ever conducting an examination of Dr. Hostin or expressing any concerns to his lawyers.

’The real story here is about an insurance carrier abusing the legal system to limit and restrict health care benefits to its insureds and their passengers, and write off its proper obligations,’ Thwaites said.

They met at a church in Maryland, where he graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1996.

Sunny, a lawyer and former prosecutor, is senior legal correspondent and analyst for ABC News as well as co-host of The View.

Link

Science & Technology

Scientists move step closer to solving mystery of America's 'cancer alley' - an 80-mile stretch where death and disease is rampant

2024-06-14

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Scientists investigating a cancer hotspot in Louisiana have made a key finding that may partially explain the high rates of disease.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found extremely high levels of a carcinogen in the air across 85 miles along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, which has been dubbed 'cancer alley.'

Tests carried out last year found residents are breathing in a colorless, flammable gas known as ethylene oxide up to 20 times higher from January 31 through February 26 than what was previously thought - and about 1,000 times more than the safe level.

There are over 200 local fossil fuel factories and chemical plants in cancer alley, where some counties have recorded that toxic air pollution causes 85 cancer cases per year.

Link

Fifth Column

About 30 students stage walkout at Duke commencement over Seinfeld speech

2024-05-13

It looks like not many agree with the vicious idiots who’ve been causing so much trouble.

[IsraelTimes] Jewish comedian, who visited Israel in solidarity following October 7, receives honorary degree at graduation event attended by some 7,000 people

Some 30 students walked out of Duke University’s commencement ceremony on Sunday while some chanted "Free Paleostine" to protest its guest speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, for supporting Israel throughout the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, according to videos of the event posted on social media.

Other graduates shouted "Jerry! Jerry!" as the Jewish actor received an honorary degree, and Seinfeld delivered his speech to an audience of around 7,000 people without major interruptions.

Seinfeld opened his speech by joking that his invitation to speak at the ceremony brought the prestigious "Duke experience down a couple of notches."

Amidst a joke-filled speech, Seinfeld gave the graduates his three bits of advice for life: "Bust your ass, pay attention, and fall in love."

He then encouraged the students to use their privilege well.

"I grew up a Jewish boy from New York. That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian," he quipped.

He also seemingly referred to the protests on US college campuses when mentioning the Harvard-educated writing staff on his ’90s show, "Seinfeld."

"I’m not talking about Harvard now, I’m talking about the way it used to be," he said. "You’re never going to believe this, but Harvard used to be a great place to go to school. Now it’s Duke."

Seinfeld visited Israel and has vocally supported it since October 7 when terrorist group Hamas
Hamas

..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
invaded the country with thousands of terrorists, killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 252 others.

The walkout was the latest manifestation of protests that have roiled US campuses, as students call for universities to divest from arms suppliers and other companies profiting from the war, and amnesty for students and faculty members who have been disciplined or fired for protesting.

At the end of April, students in some universities took over and occupied buildings on campus and were eventually cleared out by police.

Some universities, like Columbia, where the first encampment was set up last month, canceled their main commencement events because of the protests. The New York university held smaller school-based graduation events instead.

While pro-Paleostinian protests were held at Duke over the last seven months, no encampment was erected on campus.

Johns Hopkins protesters pack up, but graduation demonstrations persist elsewhere

[IsraelTimes] Pro-Paleostinian protests at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have dismantled a tent encampment, joining other demonstrators in decamping the campsites as campuses empty out for summer break. In a statement Sunday, the Hopkins Justice Collective said it had agreed to take down the protest enclosure as part of a deal in which the school agreed to expedite hearings over the possibility of divestment from Israel, and to grant all protesters amnesty.

Up the seaboard in Boston, Emerson College’s graduation Sunday night was beset with repeated pro-Paleostinian protests, including chants that interrupted several speakers’ addresses, video shows. Some displayed messages for a camera situated on stage, but the livestream quickly shifted to a different view, preventing them from being seen for long. Chants during some of the speeches were difficult to decipher.

Link

Fifth Column

Israeli PhD student at Johns Hopkins says she was attacked by protester for talking about Oct. 7

2024-05-03

[IsraelTimes] An Israeli PhD student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, says she was attacked by an anti-Israel protester on the university campus after speaking about the plight of the hostages held by Hamas
Hamas

...one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
Recounting the incident on X, formerly Twitter, Noga Mudrik writes that she was "hit by a girl holding a Paleostinian flag, right at the campus entrance."

"She shouted at me to go back to Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and hurled insults at me and Israelis," she writes. "This happened right after I spoke to TV journalists about the hostages and Oct. 7."

Mudrik adds that when she moved to the US for her PhD two and a half years ago, she "never imagined I’d have to defend my safety or my right to exist as an Israeli," but says that since then, the "right of free speech turned into violence."

"I came here to do research, and I want to do the research I love. I did not come to defend my safety, nor my right, or the rights of my family, friends, and millions of others in Israel—Jews, Arabs, and others of different religions—to exist," she adds.

She attaches images of some of the signs she came across on the John Hopkins campus, including one declaring that "Zionism upholds Nazi ideology and white supremacy
...the pernicious doctrine that laws were intended to be obeyed, that society works better when people don't pour shreiking from their places of worship every Friday for a weekend of rioting over insults real or imagined; and that cannibalism, beastiality, incest, murder, theft, rape, and similar activities are bad. A Dead White European (which invalidates his opinion) philosopher once opined that societies thrive when a person's word can be relied upon, and that a society which puts individual happiness first will invariably fail. Strangely enough, other successful societies, such as China, Japan, Korea, and those kinds of places could also be lumped with white supremacist societies, since they push the same values...

Link

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