Switzerland releases, deports pro-Palestine American journalist
Press TV – January 28, 2025
Swiss officials have freed and deported prominent Palestinian American journalist Ali Abunimah, whom they arrested in the city of Zurich and held in police custody for three days, raising concerns about freedom of speech in the European country.
Abunimah, executive director of the online Electronic Intifada publication covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, confirmed his release in a post published on the X social media platform on Monday.
He said Swiss authorities detained him because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights.
“My ‘crime’? Being a journalist who speaks up for Palestine and against Israel’s genocide and settler-colonial savagery and those who aid and abet it,” the Palestinian American journalist wrote.
He was arrested in Zurich on Saturday before he was set to deliver a speech in the city. UN human rights experts and activists condemned the arrest.
The Reuters news agency, citing the Swiss police, said on Sunday that an entry ban and other measures under the country’s immigration law were the reason for Abunimah’s arrest.
The 53-year-old journalist said that when he was questioned by police officers, they accused him of “offending against Swiss law,” without providing specific charges.
He said he was “cut off from communication with the outside world, in a cell 24 hours a day”, adding that he was unable to contact his family. He added that he was only given back his phone at the gate of the plane that flew him to Istanbul.
Abunimah noted that during the period when he was taken to prison like a “dangerous criminal”, Switzerland welcomed Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“This ordeal lasted three days but that taste of prison was more than enough to leave me in even greater awe of the Palestinian heroes who endure months and years in the prisons of the genocidal oppressor,” Abunimah said.
“More than ever, I know that the debt we owe them is one we can never repay and all of them must be free and they must remain our focus.”
UN experts denounced Abunimah’s detention as an assault on free speech.
The UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, called the arrest “shocking news” and urged Switzerland to investigate and release him.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, also called for an investigation into the incident.
“The climate surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned,” Albanese wrote in a social media post.
The detention of Abunimah took place against the backdrop of intensified restrictions on pro-Palestinian advocates in Europe, amidst the catastrophic war on Gaza.
In April, Germany canceled a conference intended for advocates of Palestinian rights and barred British physician Ghassan Abu Sittah, who had provided medical assistance in Gaza, from entering the country.
Egypt’s Parliament rejects plans for Palestinian resettlement after Trump’s call
MEMO | January 27, 2025
Tens of thousands of Palestinians return to north Gaza after one year of displacement
(Photo credit: MEE/Ahmed Aziz)
The Cradle | January 27, 2025
Tens of thousands of Palestinians began returning to the northern Gaza Strip via the Netzarim corridor on 27 January after over a year of displacement and a genocidal Israeli war.
Video footage documented the first moments that the displaced civilians flooded through the Netzarim corridor to return to their homes in the north.
“Vehicles continue to enter via the Netzarim corridor through Salah al-Din Street after undergoing electronic inspection [in accordance with the ceasefire agreement],” Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported on 27 January.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are expected to return for the first time since being displaced at the start of the war in October 2023 and in the months that followed.
“The scenes of the return of the masses of our people to the areas from which they were forced to flee, despite their destroyed homes, confirm the greatness of our people and their steadfastness in their land, despite the depth of the pain and tragedy,” Hamas said in a statement.
Member of the Hamas political bureau Ezzat al-Rishq said the return of Palestinians to their homes “shatters all the dreams and illusions of the occupation in displacing [the Palestinian] people.”
Israel had been blocking the return of the displaced after the second round of prisoner exchanges took place on Saturday – demanding the return of a female Israeli soldier Arbel Yehud as part of the swap and accusing the resistance movement of obstructing the deal. Yehud is being held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement.
It was agreed over the weekend that she would be released on Thursday in exchange for Israel allowing the return of the displaced to northern Gaza, which, along with other areas in the enclave, was destroyed and ethnically cleansed throughout the war.
Israeli authorities released 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons on 25 January as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas. The resistance movement released four female Israeli soldiers as part of the deal earlier that day.
One hundred fourteen Palestinian prisoners were transferred from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank for release in Ramallah, 16 were returned to Gaza, and 70 were exiled outside Palestine, WAFA news agency reported. Egypt will host them for 48 hours before they are sent to Tunisia, Algeria, and Turkiye – which all agreed to receive them.
Donald Trump Is Protecting Free Speech
By Norman Singleton | The Libertarian Institute | January 27, 2025
Donald Trump wasted no time implementing his agenda by issuing a series of executive orders just hours after being sworn in as the 47th president. The orders covered subjects ranging from immigration, to energy production, to a freeze on both new federal regulations and hiring federal employees. One order that has not gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves is the one Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship. This order states that it is federal policy to “ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.” It also requires the government to “ensure that no taxpayer resources” are used to “violate the First Amendment rights of American citizens.”
In order to carry out these pro-free speech policies, the order states that “no federal department, agency, entity, officer, employee, or agent may act or use any Federal resources” to violate the First Amendment rights of any American citizen. It also directs the Attorney General to work with “the heads of other executive agencies and departments” to investigate “the activities of the Federal Government over the last 4 years that are inconsistent” with the First Amendment. The Attorney General must then prepare a report for President Trump and his Chief of Policy that contains recommendations for “remedial actions for any violations of the First Amendment taken by the prior Administration.”
The explicit prohibition on federal officials violating the First Amendment may seem redundant since federal employees already take an oath to uphold the Constitution; thus they swore not to violate American citizens’ constitutionally protected rights. However, Biden administration officials, including the big guy, routinely violated the free speech rights of American citizens. As federal Judge Terry A. Doughty wrote in a July 4, 2023 preliminary injunction forbidding government officials from having any contact with social media companies, “the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.”
Leaked emails between officials and employees of social media companies back up Judge Doughty’s statement. The communications went beyond mere suggestions, constitutng threats of retribution if the social media companies did not comply with the administration’s “requests” that they censor their customers. For example, then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy suggested that the administration may have to take “appropriate legal and regulatory” measures to stop the spread of COVID “misinformation.” Facebook creator and CEO of Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Whats App) Mark Zuckerberg, while appearing on the popular Joe Rogan Show described how Biden officials “would call up our team and, like, scream at them and curse.” Zuckerberg also told Joe Rogan that Biden administration officials brought up the possibility that the White House would support imposing new regulations on social media platforms, including modifying Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.
This is the section of federal law that protects those who run online platforms like Facebook and Twitter/X from being held liable for the posts their users make. Section 230 has been instrumental in the growth of social media. Repealing or weakening Section 230 would hurt the big companies but the main victims would be small and start up companies who would find it more difficult to attract investors if there were the possibility the company could be held liable for posts by the site’s users. Government employees threatening private companies and treating them like subordinates should be unacceptable in a free society—and should be criminalized if done to coerce the companies to violate their customers’ constitutionally protected rights.
Fortunately, at least one cabinet member, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, has pledged to cooperate in an investigation into the Biden administration’s assault on free speech. When government officials pressure private social media companies to take down or suspend posts they violate the First Amendment just as much as if they had directly blocked the posts. Therefore, all who value free speech should be grateful to President Trump for his executive order stopping government officials from violating the First Amendment and trying to discover the full truth about the Biden administration’s efforts to silence those using social media to post “unapproved” news and opinions. Hopefully, Congress will ensure no future administration can reverse President Trump’s executive order by passing legislation forbidding federal employees from “suggesting” that social media companies censor American citizens.
Israeli forces fatally shoot 2-year-old Palestinian girl in the head near Jenin
Laila Mohammad Ayman Khatib, two, was shot and killed by Israeli forces while she ate dinner with her family near Jenin on January 25. (Photo: Courtesy of the Khatib family)
Defense for Children Palestine | January 26, 2025
Ramallah — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian toddler near Jenin last night.
Laila Mohammad Ayman Khatib, two, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 8:30 p.m. on January 25 while she was in the living room in her family’s home in the Palestinian town of Muthallath Al-Shuhada, south of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine. Laila was having dinner with her mother, grandparents, and aunts when sudden Israeli gunfire erupted without warning. Israeli forces fired four bullets through the living room window, one of which struck Laila in the back of the head. Laila’s grandfather carried her out of the house and brought her to Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, where she received emergency surgery. Laila was pronounced dead around 10 p.m.
“Israeli forces regularly and routinely carry out military operations with complete contempt for Palestinian life,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Little Laila was having dinner with her family when Israeli forces, unprompted, fired live ammunition into their living room, killing her. It is outrageous that the Israeli military has been permitted by world leaders to kill Palestinian children with impunity in flagrant violations of international law.”
Laila’s mother and aunt sustained injuries from shrapnel during the attack, according to information collected by DCIP.
When Laila’s grandfather exited the house carrying her, he saw Israeli snipers stationed in a Palestinian home across the street from their house. No residents of Muthallath Al-Shuhada were aware of an Israeli military presence at the time of the attack, and later learned that Israeli special forces had infiltrated the Palestinian home. Israeli forces remained in the town until about 11 p.m.
Jenin, its refugee camp, and the surrounding villages have been under an ongoing Israeli military attack dubbed “Operation Iron Wall” since January 21, 2025.
Since the beginning of Operation Iron Wall, 16 Palestinians have been killed, including Laila and 16-year-old Motaz Abu Tabeekh. This operation has also been accompanied by Israeli drone strikes, widespread destruction of infrastructure and homes in the Jenin refugee camp, and the bulldozing of roads. Additionally, hundreds of Palestinians families have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to the continued military assault.
Israeli forces have killed eight Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Five children were killed by Israeli drone strikes and three children were shot and killed with live ammunition.
Trump calls for ethnic cleansing of Gaza’s population to Egypt, Jordan
The Cradle | January 26, 2025
While flying on Air Force One on 26 January, US President Donald Trump told reporters that the residents of Gaza should be “cleaned out” and ethnically cleansed to neighboring Arab countries after Israel’s US-backed bombing campaign turned the enclave into a “demolition site.”
“I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people. You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we can just clean out the whole thing,” Trump said.
“You know, over the centuries, it’s had many, many conflicts. And I don’t know, something has to happen. It’s literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished, and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” the president added.
“I said to [the Jordanian King], I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people … I’d like Egypt to take people [from Gaza],” Trump continued, saying he would discuss it with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement condemned the inflammatory comments in an official statement: “Trump’s statements are consistent with the worst of the agenda of the extreme Israeli right and a continuation of the denial of the existence of our people … We call on all countries, especially the Egyptian and Jordanian governments, to reject Trump’s plan, and we affirm that our people will thwart this scheme.”
The US president’s son-in-law and powerful businessman, Jared Kushner, has previously advocated developing new communities in Gaza due to its prime location and beaches on the Mediterranean Sea.
Israeli businessmen close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have advocated for the development of Gaza as a modern residential community and tax-free business and manufacturing zone, presumably to be built after all or most Palestinians have been expelled.
In the wake of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that took effect on 19 January, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are seeking to return to their homes, or what is left of them.
It is unclear whether the ceasefire will hold or whether Israel will seek to resume the war, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated he will.
Trump’s comments, including his claim that he wants to save Palestinian lives, echoed the recommendations of a leaked Israeli Ministry of Information report issued on 13 October 2023, just a week after Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the beginning of Israel’s massive bombing campaign that has now left Gaza largely uninhabitable.
The plan recommended the ethnic cleansing of Gaza using humanitarian justifications. The document recommends beginning a dedicated campaign that will “motivate” Gazans “to agree to the plan,” and make them give up their land.
Gazans should be convinced that “Allah made sure that you lost this land because of the leadership of Hamas – there is no choice but to move to another place with the help of Your Muslim brothers,” the document reads.
Further, the plan states the government must launch a public relations campaign that will promote the transfer of Palestinians to Arab and western states in a way that does not promote hostility to Israel or damage its reputation.
The deportation of the population from Gaza must be presented as a necessary humanitarian measure to receive international support. Such a deportation could be justified if it will lead to “fewer casualties among the civilian population compared to the expected number of casualties if they remain,” the document says.
The document also states that the US should be leveraged to pressure Egypt to take in the residents of Gaza and to encourage other European countries, and in particular Greece, Spain, and Canada, to help take in and settle the refugees who will be evacuated from Gaza.
Finally, the document claims that if the population of Gaza remains, there will be “many Arab deaths” during the expected occupation of Gaza by the Israeli army, and this will damage Israel’s international image even more than the deportation of the population. For all these reasons, the recommendation of the Ministry of Intelligence is to promote the transfer of all Palestinians in Gaza to the Sinai permanently.
Swiss police arrest director of Electronic Intifada news outlet
Al Mayadeen | January 26, 2025
Swiss authorities have detained Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian-American journalist and co-founder of the pro-Palestine news outlet The Electronic Intifada (EI).
Abunimah was reportedly questioned by Swiss police for an hour upon his arrival at Zurich airport on Friday before being granted entry into the city.
Reports suggest he was arrested the following day, ahead of a scheduled speaking event.
“Abunimah’s arrest appears to be part of a growing backlash from Western governments against expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the Electronic Intifada said.
The Chicago-based independent publication voiced its solidarity with Abunimah, stating, “Speaking out against injustice in Palestine is not a crime. Journalism is not a crime.”
In posts on his X account, the journalist condemned the Israeli genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip and expressed support for the Palestinian resistance against the occupation.
His latest article, published on The Electronic Intifada on January 18, was titled “How Gaza’s Resistance Defeated Israel.”
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) emphasized that Abunimah has been a consistent advocate against “Israel’s” injustices in Palestine, highlighting that his arrest appears to be a direct result of his outspoken activism.
“Abunimah’s arrest is a stark reminder of the increasing attempts to stifle voices calling for justice and accountability,” it pointed out.
Belgian-Lebanese activist Dyab Abou Jahjah, founder of the Hind Rajab Foundation, described Abunimah as a “political prisoner” and demanded his immediate release.
Last year, British police raided the home of Asa Winstanley, an associate editor with EI, and seized his computers and phones.
Who is Mohammed al-Tous, longest-serving Palestinian prisoner released by Israel?
Longest-serving Palestinian prisoner Mohammed al-Tous (Photo via social media)
Press TV – January 25, 2025
Israel has freed the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, Mohammed al-Tous, among the 200 inmates released as part of the second phase of a prisoner exchange deal with the Hamas resistance movement under the Gaza ceasefire.
In exchange for the prisoners, Hamas earlier on Saturday released four female Israeli soldiers, who were held in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Tous, who had been in detention for nearly four decades, is a member of the Fatah movement founded by late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
He joined Fatah in 1970 when he was only 14, and took part in several operations targeting Israeli forces and settlements between 1983 and 1985.
His activism led to multiple arrests, with his first imprisonment happening in 1970. After escaping from prison in 1975, he became a “wanted man” by Israel and was re-arrested four more times by 1985. An Israeli military court sentenced him to multiple life sentences.
Tous had been behind bars ever since.
While in prison, Tous emerged as a leader among inmates, advocating for the rights of Palestinian prisoners and participating in hunger strikes to protest against Israeli prison policies.
His resilience and commitment to the Palestinian cause have made him a symbol of resistance in the eyes of the Palestinian people.
Tous is also an accomplished author. His first book, Eye of the Mountain (2021), details his life, resistance activities, and perspectives on the Palestinian struggle. His latest work, Sweetness and Bitterness (2023), chronicles his ordeals in prison, offering insight into the challenges faced by Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli jails.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, the 69-year-old is recognized as the “dean” of prisoners in the occupied West Bank.
Tous was on the list of seventy detainees who were deported to Egypt on Saturday and who have not been able to meet their relatives in Gaza.
Several high-profile Palestinian fighters including Mohammad al-Ardah, who was part of a jailbreak in 2021, were also among them.
They are expected to be transferred from Egypt to countries such as Algeria, Tunisia, and Turkey.
Separately, a total of 114 inmates arrived in Ramallah and received a heroes’ welcome.
Masses of people congregated in the occupied West Bank city and celebrated the return of the released Palestinian prisoners.
The large crowd included people hoisting Palestinian flags, shouting slogans and documenting the scene with their phones. They surrounded a convoy of buses carrying the freed prisoners.
Moreover, sixteen freed Palestinian prisoners arrived in the Gaza Strip through the Karem Abu Salem crossing.
The released Palestinian prisoners were transferred to the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, which is situated in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has released a list of more than 700 Palestinian prisoners, who are to be released under the deal. More than 230 prisoners are serving life sentences and will be permanently sent to exile upon their release.
Hamas said in a statement on Saturday that Israel was forced to “open the doors of his cells to our heroic prisoners,” after more than 14 months of “unprecedented brutal aggression that targeted every inch of Gaza in its barbarity.”
Christian church to change name in bid to fight off EU state’s crackdown
RT | January 26, 2025
The Estonian Orthodox Church (EOC) will change its name in response to the pressure from the authorities to sever its historical ties with Russia.
The announcement comes after the Estonian government approved draft legislation requiring religious organizations to cut ties with foreign leaders and entities whose actions could be deemed a threat to national security. “There should be no connection to entities that support military aggression,” Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets said on Thursday.
The EOC is a self-governing church that has maintained canonical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. In a statement on Friday, EOC said that it will change its name to the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church.
“The government-approved bill violates the freedom of religion and is directed against our church,” Bishop Daniel of Tartu said, adding that, if made into law, the legislation could “significantly restrict the activities of our church.”
He argued that the new name would “further highlight the church’s local identity and demonstrate that we are acting in accordance with the law and, at the same time, we are respecting the church canons.”
Most Estonians are not religious. Around 16% of the population are Orthodox Christians, and 8% are Lutherans, according to the government statistics. Estonia was part of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991. Around 27% of the country’s population are Russian-speakers.
Earlier this week, Laanemets branded EOC “the most important instrument of influence for Russia and the Kremlin in Estonia.”
Last year, the minister threatened to shut down monasteries that refuse to cut ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and even threatened to classify the Russian Orthodox Church as a terrorist organization.
Moscow Patriarchate spokesman Vladimir Legoyda has slammed Laanemets’ comments as a “witch hunt,” suggesting that the Estonian government was using the crackdown on the church to distract the taxpayers from “real issues.”
In August 2024, the EOC revised its charter and removed the mention of the Moscow Patriarchate from its official name, although Laanemets has insisted that the measure was insufficient.
EU officials have criticized the Russian Orthodox Church for its support of the Russian troops in Ukraine. In 2022, the UK imposed sanctions on the church’s head, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.
Israel demands UNRWA end operations in Palestine by Jan. 30
Palestinian Information Center – January 25, 2025
Israel’s permanent representative to the UN Danny Danon has called on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to halt its operations in Occupied Jerusalem and evacuate its premises in the city “no later than January 30,” the day an Israeli ban on the organization is due to take effect.
As the date for the enforcement of the Israeli ban approaches, Danon told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday that UNRWA’s premises in Jerusalem must be vacated as stipulated by law.
The Israeli envoy claimed that the Israeli legislation came as a direct response to the acute national security risks posed by the widespread infiltration of UNRWA’s ranks by Hamas and other armed groups, and the agency’s persistent refusal to address the very grave and material concerns raised by Israel.
Most UN member states consider UNRWA, the largest aid agency for Palestinians, to be the irreplaceable backbone of humanitarian operations. However, few levers have been pulled to try to ensure the agency’s existence.
Asked by Arab News about this discrepancy between public statements of support and meaningful action, and whether it means Western countries are undermining the same multilateral values on which they were founded, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said: “The same question could be asked about the importance of international humanitarian law and the blatant and constant disregard of that law.”
“You can ask the same question about the disrespect for the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly. And you can ask the same question about the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal, and the court’s call for its withdrawal.”
“And so, it’s obviously frustrating,” Lazzarini added. “What we have witnessed is an extraordinary ‘crisis of impunity,’ to the extent that international humanitarian law is almost becoming irrelevant if no mechanism is put in place to address this impunity.”
Legislation blocking UNRWA from operating within the occupied Palestinian territories was approved overwhelmingly by the Knesset last October. The ban also prevents any Israeli authority from maintaining contact with the relief agency.
Delivery of aid to Gaza and the West Bank requires close coordination between UNRWA and the Israeli occupation authority. If the legislation is executed, Israel will no longer issue work or entry permits for the agency’s staff, while coordination with the Israeli occupation army that is essential for ensuring safe passage for aid deliveries will no longer be possible.
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has relentlessly condemned the aid agency and bombed its buildings and personnel. More than 260 of its staff have been killed, while a coordinated Israeli media campaign has attempted to discredit the agency by portraying it as a tool of Hamas.
Israel destroys only water desalination plant in northern Gaza
MEMO | January 25, 2025
The Palestinian Water Authority announced that the occupation army destroyed the water desalination plant during its recent ground operations in the northern Gaza Strip.
It issued a statement that for the sixth consecutive day, its technical crews have been working on assessing the damage in northern Gaza resulting from the Israeli aggression. Due to the massive destruction of residential areas, infrastructure, and roads, they have encountered significant difficulties in their access to water and sanitation facilities.
The Water Authority explained that its technical crews were able to reach the seawater desalination plant in northern Gaza and conduct an initial technical assessment of the extent of damage sustained. The assessment revealed serious technical malfunctions in the electrical and electromechanical components of all the plant’s operations stages and units. Moreover, the occupation completely destroyed some of the plant’s main components, which led to the destruction of five seawater supply wells, the plant’s intake pipeline, two power generators, a pump and a return water line, as well as the destruction of the external fences and output pumps.
The Water Authority confirmed that this plant is the only one serving northern Gaza and the Wadi Gaza area, providing clean water to the entire northwestern neighbourhoods of Gaza City with a production capacity of 10,000 cubic metres per day. There are no alternatives to cover this amount, and it is difficult to drill water wells due to the high salinity of the groundwater reservoir with seawater in the city’s western areas.
It also stressed that the damage to the desalination plants worsens the already dire water situation in Gaza, as it is the only safe and reliable source of drinking water for the population.
The Water Authority confirmed that, within the framework of the first phase of its emergency relief work, it will provide and install ten mobile desalination stations in the central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip. The production capacity of these stations will each reach 25 cubic metres per hour to produce 250 cubic metres for ten hours once operation begins.
It is noted that the mobile desalination station installations will provide emergency and urgent solutions to ensure the continuity of drinking water provision for all citizens.
Harvard blocks Gaza patient session as university adopts controversial anti-Semitism definition
MEMO | January 24, 2025
Harvard Medical School has cancelled a planned lecture and panel discussion featuring patients from Gaza, following complaints that the session would present only one side of the conflict, amid growing concerns about academic freedom after the university’s adoption of a highly controversial definition of anti-Semitism which conflates criticism of Israel and the political ideology of Zionism with anti-Jewish racism.
According to the Harvard Crimson, the medical school’s Dean, George Q Daley, cancelled the 21 January events just hours before they were scheduled, citing objections that students would hear from Gazans receiving care in Boston without also hearing from Israeli perspectives. The session was to include a lecture on wartime healthcare by Tufts Professor Barry S. Levy, followed by discussions with Gaza patients and their families.
HMS and HSDM Student Council President Anna RP Mulhern said she was “deeply disheartened” by the cancellation. “Respect for all patients and their stories is a fundamental tenet of the medical profession. This principle was not upheld yesterday,” she stated.
The cancellation came shortly after Harvard agreed to adopt the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism as part of settling a discrimination lawsuit brought by Jewish students who claimed harassment during pro-Palestine protests. IHRA is favoured by Israel and advocates of the apartheid state as it grants special privileges to the political ideology of Zionism and apartheid state. No other political ideology or state is granted protection from criticism in the same way.
HMS Professor David S Jones, who helped develop the course curriculum, reported receiving 50 emails from students questioning the cancellation. He noted that Arabic-speaking medical students who had served as interpreters for Gazan patients in Boston had requested the session.
Critics argue the decision reflects a broader assault on academic freedom and free speech rights. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, discussing Harvard’s adoption of the IHRA definition, warned it represents “an outright systemic assault on the Free Speech rights of American citizens on the academic freedom that is supposed to prevail in our institutions of higher learning.”
Greenwald highlighted how the IHRA definition prohibits various forms of criticism of Israel that would be perfectly acceptable if directed at other nations. He noted that under these new rules, Harvard students remain free to describe any country, including the US, as fundamentally racist – except Israel. “You can say that the United States and its existence is a racist endeavour, that you’re allowed to say… nobody tries to censor that,” Greenwald explained.
Pick any country in the entire world at Harvard and you are totally free to call the existence of that country a racist endeavour except one country where you fall into the crime of hate speech and that is the state of Israel.
The combination of event cancellations and adoption of the IHRA definition has raised concerns about the chilling effect on academic discourse. Critics argue that medical education, which relies on hearing directly from patients about their experiences, could be particularly impacted if geopolitical considerations begin to override educational ones.
“This is nothing more than an outright systemic assault on the Free Speech rights of American citizens on the academic freedom that is supposed to prevail in our institutions of Higher Learning,” Greenwald concluded, arguing that such restrictions serve “not to protect our own country, our own culture, our own government, the security of our own people but to protect this foreign country.”
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Major rabbi says non-Jews are donkeys, created to serve Jews
By Khalid Amayreh, in occupied East Jerusalem | The People’s Voice | October 18, 2010
A major Jewish religious figure in Israel has likened non-Jews to donkeys and beasts of burden, saying the main reason for their very existence is to serve Jews.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual mentor of the religious fundamentalist party, Shas, which represents Middle Eastern Jews, reportedly said during a Sabbath homily earlier this week that “the sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews.”
Yosef is considered a major religious leader in Israel who enjoys the allegiance of hundreds of thousands of followers. … continue
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