“Harvard refuses Trump admin demands to curtail antisemitism on campus — and loses over $2B in federal grants, contracts”

NEW YORK POST
Harvard may be free to target Jews — but not on the taxpayers’ dime
Post Editorial Board
April 14, 2025

Harvard University is thumbing its nose at Team Trump and refusing to take steps to stamp out Jew-hatred and discrimination on its campus. Fine. Then, let it say good-bye to federal bucks — possibly as much as $9 billion a year’s worth — and start spending its own money instead. The school, which in 2023 also saw the Supreme Court slap down its discriminatory admissions policies, huffs that it won’t let government “dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” In truth, Trumpies essentially just want Harvard to comply with civil-rights laws and the top court’s 2023 ruling. READ MORE

THE HILL Obama touts Harvard’s rejection of Trump’s ‘ham-handed’ demands. Former President Obama on Monday touted Harvard University’s rejection of what he called “ham-handed” demands from President Trump’s administration. “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom…”

HARVARD CRIMSON IRS Making Plans To Revoke Harvard’s Tax-Exempt Status, CNN Reports The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status after the University rejected federal demands on Monday, CNN reported Wednesday afternoon…If Harvard lost its tax-exempt status, it would be required to pay federal income taxes, including on its endowment income and contributions from donors.

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“Douglas Murray points out that “apartheid” better describes the living conditions of the remaining Jews in Arab countries than it does those of Israeli Arabs”

HUDSON INSTITUTE
Douglas Murray on a Matter of Life vs. Death
Mike Watson
April 11, 2025

Russian Jewish novelist Vasily Grosman, who was the first journalist to see the Nazi death camp Treblinka, once wrote, “Anti-Semitism is … a mirror for the failings of individuals, social structures and State systems. Tell me what you accuse the Jews of — I’ll tell you what you’re guilty of.” In On Democracies and Death Cults, Douglas Murray’s new book on the stakes and strategy of the conflict that began with the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Murray notes that this applies neatly to the terrorists, whose leaders accuse Israel of targeting Palestinian children in one breath and in the next say, “Children are tools to be used against Israel. We will sacrifice them for the political support of the world.” READ MORE

YOUTUBE Hudson Institute: On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization Douglas Murray examines the historical and ideological motivations that underpin the latest global wave of antisemitic violence. Using accounts of both survivors and perpetrators of the October 7 massacre, he pieces together the true story of those atrocities and their aftermath. He draws a clear distinction between Israel’s commitment to individual rights and democracy and Hamas’s glorification of death over life. In doing so, Murray demonstrates how misplaced Western sympathy for terror groups could undermine the liberal values these activists claim to support.

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“During a visit to Al Jazeera’s Doha headquarters last year, I was told by its executives that Al Jazeera Media Institute has trained some 80,000 foreign journalists from over a dozen countries since 2009”

JERUSALEM STRATEGIC TRIBUNE
The Middle East As Informational Battlefield
Ilan Berman
April 2025

…Russian media has been largely shut out of Western media markets following the invasion of Ukraine, but remains accessible in the Middle East, helping to shift the narrative in favor of Moscow. So pervasive is this outreach that it has been likened to a “disinformation war” by Western scholars. Its objectives are clear: to turn Middle Eastern audiences against the West, and to expand sympathy for Russia’s worldview. China is another. Through the Arabic service of state broadcaster China Global Television Network (CGTN), Beijing’s official messaging now reaches millions across the Middle East and North Africa. READ MORE

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A woman walked into a Staples in L.A. to print postcards celebrating Jewish joy—and was denied service by staff who claimed the message was “racist”

JEWISH JOURNAL
LA Staples Employee Denies Service to Black Jewish Woman Over Her Zionist Postcards
Aaron Bandler
April 9, 2025

An employee at a Los Angeles Staples on Wilshire Boulevard refused to print a Black Jewish woman’s postcards with phrases “Black Jewish Zionist Squad” and “Jewish Joy” on April 7, according to video posted to social media that has gone viral. The video shows an employee, wearing a name badge that says “Ryatt,” saying that “we are not able to print anything that has any racist messages,” specifying that he found the “Zionist” postcard to be racist. The woman, Elisheva Rishon, who recorded and posted video of the April 7 encounter on Instagram in a story titled “staples incident,” countered that Zionism is not racism and that she is Black. READ MORE

WATCH THE VIDEO OF WHAT HAPPENED AT STAPLES

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“Yale University has quietly adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism”

ALGEMEINER
Yale Adopts IHRA Definition, Brown Launches New Training Program Amid Trump Campus Antisemitism Crackdown
Dion J. Pierre
April 10, 2025

IHRA — an intergovernmental organization comprising dozens of countries including the US — adopted a “working definition” of antisemitism in 2016. Since then, the definition has been widely accepted by Jewish groups and lawmakers across the political spectrum as a reference tool which helps policymakers determine what constitutes an incident of antisemitism, and it is now used by hundreds of governing institutions, including the US State Department, European Union, and United Nations…Yale University apparently enacted the policy change following the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, the News said, noting that an archived webpage containing the section of the disciplinary code to which the definition was added shows a revision date of March 28. READ MORE

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“It is appropriate for the government to expel non-Americans who are pro-Hamas, antisemitic agitators”

NATIONAL REVIEW
Immigration Court Gets It Right on Mahmoud Khalil Deportation Call
Andrew McCarthy
April 12, 2025

An immigration judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration may deport Mahmoud Khalil, the legal alien who became a fixture in the pro-Hamas campus agitation at Columbia University. This is just the first step in the removal process, though an important one. There will now be an appeal in the immigration tribunal, and challenges in the judicial courts…Khalil carried himself as a senior associate of Columbia University Apartheid Divest. As the New York Times reports, CUAD expressly backs “armed resistance” by Hamas and recently rescinded an apology it had offered after one of its members said Columbia should be “grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.” READ MORE

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“What new solutions has Witkoff come up with? The Obama ones. Negotiate with terrorists. Pretend they’re reasonable. Give them what they want. Act confused when it doesn’t work out”

GATESTONE
Witkoff In His Own Words
Daniel Greenfield
April 17, 2025

Steve Witkoff, the real estate tycoon turned international negotiator, has become the subject of controversy with some conservatives attacking him and others rushing out to defend him…What new solutions has Witkoff come up with? The Obama ones. Negotiate with terrorists. Pretend they’re reasonable. Give them what they want. Act confused when it doesn’t work out…Whatever Witkoff’s agendas are, he’s in over his head, and he outsourced his negotiations to everyone from the Biden team to the Islamic terror state of Qatar, with whom he’s done business and whose terrorist leaders he has repeatedly praised. Knowing nothing about the Middle East hasn’t given him a fresh perspective: it just made him an easy dupe for everyone who does. READ MORE

THE HILL Iran hawks warn Trump’s nuclear talks risk ‘Obama 2.0′ Hawkish national security experts are slamming President Trump’s opening bid for nuclear talks with Iran as little more than a rehash of the Obama-era nuclear deal, leading his top negotiator to backtrack on his previous position. Trump’s point person for talks with Iran, Steve Witkoff, said Monday night that the Islamic Republic could maintain a program enriching uranium up to 3.67 percent, the limit included in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration.

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Civil-rights laws have always been a weapon—it’s just that conservatives have finally decided to wield them.

CITY JOURNAL
The Right Is Winning the Battle over Higher Education
Christopher F. Rufo
April 15, 2025

…Many Ivy League presidents see themselves as heirs to the civil-rights movement. In fact, they are among the most active practitioners of racial discrimination, stereotyping, and segregation in America today. Shielded by a virtuous public image, elite universities have institutionalized discrimination against disfavored racial groups, implemented DEI policies based on racial rewards and penalties, hired and promoted faculty according to skin color rather than merit, and overseen racially segregated student programs, dormitories, and graduation ceremonies. The Trump administration has ruptured this illusion. In a series of letters to Ivy League presidents, it has threatened to withhold billions in federal funding, citing violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other nondiscrimination policies. READ MORE

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Israeli officials convinced that Iran’s willingness to enter direct talks with Trump is a direct result of US threats

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Significant gaps ahead of US-Iran talks: Tehran demands sanctions freeze during negotiations
Danny Zaken
April 9, 2025

Three days before the scheduled start of talks between the Iranian regime and representatives of US President Donald Trump in Oman, the gaps between the two sides regarding both the format of the talks and the subjects to be discussed appear especially wide…Another major dispute concerns the agenda for the talks. Iran firmly rejects any discussion of its missile program, particularly in light of reports that Israel is pressing the US to include this issue in the negotiations. Javan, a conservative Iranian newspaper aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, wrote in an editorial that any attempt to bring the missile issue to the table would result in the immediate termination of the talks. READ MORE

FDD ‘The Ball Is in America’s Court’: Iran Insists Against Trump That Forthcoming Nuclear Talks Will Be ‘Indirect Iranian officials have confirmed that negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program will be held on April 12. However, in contrast to President Donald Trump’s statement during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the talks would be held face to face, the Iranians said the negotiations would be “indirect.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on X that “Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks. It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The Ball is in America’s court.”

AXIOS Trump envoy Witkoff to lead high-stakes nuclear negotiations with Iran One prominent Iran hawk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was in the Oval Office when Trump announced the Iran talks. Israeli officials say Netanyahu was briefed ahead of time. Still, the situation was embarrassing for a prime minister who has strongly criticized past administrations for their Iran outreach.

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“For Christians, the Passover seder is a deep part of our Easter celebration”

UNPACKED
Why are Christians celebrating Passover and hosting non-Jewish Seders?
Sara Himeles
April 8, 2025

Celebrating Passover is extremely common with 70% of American Jews attending  Passover seders. In many ways, Passover is the ultimate Jewish holiday that recalls the Jewish people’s miraculous exodus from Egypt. But did you know some Christians are starting to celebrate the holiday as well, and even host their version of a Passover seder?…[Pastor Tom] Holladay explained that participating in the Passover seder “reminds us of how tied we are to our Jewish roots,” noting that Jesus and his disciples were Jewish. He said that the ritual helps Christians become more familiar with Judaism and promotes understanding between the two religions. READ MORE

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