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World News |
US Justice Department launches task force aimed at combating campus antisemitism |
The US Justice Department on Monday announced a task force to combat antisemitism at schools and colleges, the latest move by the Trump administration to crack down on anti-Jewish discrimination on campuses. The task force will include officials from the Department of Justice, Department of Education, and Department of Health and Human Services, the Justice Department said in a statement. “The task force’s first priority will be to root out antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses,” the statement said. The group will be led by Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights. “Antisemitism in any environment is repugnant to this nation’s ideals,” Terrell said in a statement. “The department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found.” The statement did not include specifics on the task force’s plans. The task force is the first step in US President Donald Trump’s push to combat antisemitism in schools announced in an executive order last week. A fact sheet accompanying that order included a pledge to deport non-citizen college students and others who “joined in the pro-jihadist protests” on campuses. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” the statement said. The fact sheet also pledged immediate action to prosecute “terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews” and marshal federal resources to “combat the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and in our streets since October 7, 2023.” The deportation order drew pushback from rights groups and legal scholars, and some Jewish groups. The order, called “Additional measures to combat antisemitism,” reaffirmed an executive order Trump signed during his first term in 2019, and advanced the previous measure in light of the campus turmoil sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. “Jewish students have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination,” the order said, citing students’ denied access to campus areas, intimidation, harassment, threats and assaults. “This failure is unacceptable and ends today,” the order said, vowing to use “all available and appropriate legal tools” to combat anti-Jewish discrimination. The fact sheet took aim specifically at “leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.” The order will require agency and department leaders to provide the White House with recommendations within 60 days on all criminal and civil actions that could be used to fight antisemitism, according to the fact sheet. |
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Israel News |
Hamas says Russian national Maxim Herkin to be prioritized in deal’s 2nd stage |
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Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said on Monday that Maxim Herkin, kidnapped by Gazan terrorists from the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, will be released as a priority in the second stage of the deal. Abu Marzouk was in Moscow along with a senior Hamas delegation for negotiations at the Russian foreign ministry. He also told Russian outlet Sputnik that hostage Alexander “Sasha” Trufanov, a dual Russian-Israeli national, will be released imminently. “One of them, Trufanov, will definitely be released in the near future. He will be released despite the fact that he is a serviceperson, but it was decided to release him at the first stage of the deal,” Abu Marzouk said. Trufanov is a civilian and was abducted from his home, but Hamas classifies all male hostages under 50 as members of the military. “This is our response to Russia’s position on the Palestinian issue,” Abu Marzouk said, referencing Moscow’s warm relations with Hamas and recognition of a Palestinian state. Russia has ties to all key players in the Middle East, including Israel, Iran, and Lebanon, as well as the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Trufanov, 28, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. His father was murdered. The rest of his family was released under a previous ceasefire deal in November 2023. He is on the list of the first 33 so-called “humanitarian hostages” to be released in the ongoing 42-day first stage of the current hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Herkin, 35 when he was taken hostage, has a 3-year-old daughter and is the primary provider for his mother and 11-year-old brother. The second phase of the deal is expected to include the return of all the remaining living hostages — including men under the age of 50 and male soldiers — held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for a yet-to-be-determined number of Palestinian security prisoners and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip. |
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As Netanyahu arrives in Washington, Trump anticipates ‘big meetings’ |
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US President Donald Trump said Sunday that discussions with Israel were advancing, previewing upcoming talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other “big meetings” as the Israeli leader landed in Washington. “The discussions on the Middle East with Israel and various and sundry other countries are progressing,” Trump told reporters over the whine of a jet engine on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. He did not offer details, but the comment came as indirect talks are slated to resume between Israel and Hamas on a second stage of the three-phase Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. “Bibi Netanyahu’s coming on Tuesday, and I think we have some very big meetings scheduled,” Trump added using the Israeli leader’s nickname. Though the schedule is subject to change, Netanyahu is to meet with Trump on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. local time. The meeting will include dinner, likely at 9 p.m. The two might also host a press conference and meet with hostage families on Tuesday, officials said. The ceasefire discussions in Washington are expected to also cover concessions Netanyahu must accept to revive normalization efforts with Saudi Arabia. Riyadh froze discussions early in the Gaza war and hardened its stance, insisting on a resolution to the Palestinian issue before making any deal. But Netanyahu faces intense pressure from within his cabinet to resume the war, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatening to quit and strip the prime minister of his Knesset majority. Hamas, which has reasserted control over Gaza since the ceasefire began last month, has said it will not release hostages in the second phase without an end to the war and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal. Netanyahu has said Israel is committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages captured in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Trump has been a staunch supporter of Israel, but has also pledged to end wars in the Middle East and took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire agreement. The deal has led to the release of 13 hostages held by terror groups in Gaza — five Thai nationals abducted in the same attack were also freed from Gaza in a separate deal — in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian security inmates from Israeli prisons. Tuesday’s meeting with Netanyahu will be the US president’s first meeting with a foreign leader since returning to the White House in January, a prioritization Netanyahu called “telling.” “I think it’s a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance,” he said before boarding his flight from Israel. |
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