Mideast War blowback

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Pro-Palestine protesters demonstrated outside the home of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee president, lighting smoke bombs and accusing him of killing babies.

AIPAC spends tens of millions to control pro-genocide congress members," protest organizers wrote of Tuchin and AIPAC.

"F--- your holiday baby killer!" the group added.

The demonstration was organized by People's City Council, a local leftist organization that describes itself as an "abolitionist, anti-capitalist & anti-imperialist collective amplifying the voice of the people through direct action, public ed + community space."

Smoke bombs were lit outside the residence, filling the area outside Tuchin's residence with a gray haze, according to video shared on X by the account Stop Antisemitism.

Protesters also spilled red paint around the area, symbolically accusing Tuchin of having "blood" on his hands.

AIPAC endorsed scores of Jan 6th insurrectionists. They are no friend to American democracy," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Halloween this year.

Anti-Israel protesters rallied across the country Friday in an attempt to disrupt Black Friday shoppers, with some calling for a Palestinian uprising in the Middle East.

The protests took place in heavily trafficked areas across multiple cities, including New York City, Los Angeles and Boston despite the ongoing cease-fire between Israel and Hamas terrorists that saw an exchange of hostages being held in Gaza.

"There is only one solution: Intifada revolution!" protesters gathered in Lower Manhattan's Washington Square Park chanted.

Multiple reports said the protest consisted of about 2,000 people, and that another 1,000-2,000 protesters also gathered near Macy's flagship store just 16 blocks north on 34th street.

Protesters in Los Angeles converged on The Grove, a popular shopping district just south of Hollywood, to, according to one report, "make it clear that there will be no business as usual until Palestine is free." Police monitored the protesters as they marched through the area and disrupted traffic.

In Boston, dozens of protesters gathered outside the Puma flagship store in a popular shopping area to criticize the company's ties to Israel, according to local NPR station WGBH. The outlet cited the company in stating that it provides Israel's national soccer teams with branded equipment for international competitions.

I don't understand what these folks think they are accomplishing by annoying shoppers.

And shouting things like "There is only one solution: Intifada revolution!" -- here in the U.S.A. -- would seem to me to be today's equivalent of "carrying pictures of Chairman Mao" in the 1968 Beatles song "Revolution 1."

I mean I don't like how Israel is handling the Palestine issue. But doing anti-semetic acts is also gross and wrong, like the government in Israel is doing wrong in my opinion, but that's got nothing to do with jews in general, so it's disgusting some people are using the conflict to justify that crap.

These protests are very unlike the two protests against Islamophobia that I participated in back around 2010 or so.

Back then, a bunch of anti-Muslim bigots were protesting against the construction of an Islamic cultural center in downtown Manhattan, about two blocks away from the World Trade Center site. Opponents called it the "Ground Zero Mosque" (even though it was neither a mosque nor located within Ground Zero itself).

I participated in two counter-protests against these anti-"mosque" protests.

The first counterprotest was organized by an interfaith dialogue group. We carried American flags, to represent that we were standing up for the American value of religious tolerance as enshrined in the First Amendment.

The second counterprotest was a rally organized by a Marxist/Trotskyist group. Nevertheless, this rally stayed on the topic of opposing Islamophobia, with signs pointing out, for example, that there have been Muslims living peacefully in the U.S.A. for hundreds of years. I don't remember exactly what slogans we chanted, except that one of them ended with "Muslims are welcome here!" None of our slogans, if I recall correctly, would have been off-putting to most New Yorkers. This counterprotest, which took place during Ramadan, ended with an iftar for the Muslims who participated in our rally, followed by a dinner for the rest of us too.

In neither of these two counterprotests did we try to physically interfere with the anti-"mosque"' protesters. We stayed on our side of the police barricades. Our aim was just to make it clear that the Islamophobes did not represent NYC. (Indeed, most of the Islamophobes did not even appear to be from NYC at all.)

Hundreds of “radicalized” kids rampaged through the halls of a Queens high school this week for nearly two hours after they discovered a teacher had attended a pro-Israel rally — forcing the terrified educator to hide in a locked office as the teen mob tried to push its way into her classroom, The Post has learned.

The mayhem at Hillcrest High School in Jamaica unfolded shortly after 11 a.m. Monday in what students called a pre-planned protest over the teacher’s Facebook profile photo showing her at a pro-Israel rally on Queens Oct. 9 holding a poster saying, “I stand with Israel.”

“The teacher was seen holding a sign of Israel, like supporting it,” a senior told The Post this week.

“A bunch of kids decided to make a group chat, expose her, talk about it, and then talk about starting a riot.”

Hundreds of kids flooded into hallways and ran amok, chanting, jumping, shouting, and waving Palestinian flags or banners.

Many tried to barge into the teacher’s classroom despite school staffers blocking their entry.

“Everyone was yelling ‘Free Palestine!’” a senior said.

“Everyone was screaming ‘(The teacher) needs to go!’” a ninth-grader said.

School administrators and the NYPD, which responded to the school at about 11:20 am, got wind of their plans just in time to rush the teacher into an office and lock the door, another educator said.

Students recorded the commotion, posting multiple videos, some set to pulsing Arabian music, on TikTok.

Most comments posted on the videos applauded the kids and jeered the teacher, one calling her a “cracker ass b—-.”

Clips showed a water fountain ripped out in the hallway and shattered tiles in the second floor boys’ bathroom, which students admitted they vandalized.

The NYPD not only sent a couple dozen cops to restore order, but tapped its counterterrorism bureau to investigate a possible threat against the school, according to City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Queens), citing officials.

Gennaro, whose district includes the school, said the Israel-Gaza war gave kids “a convenient excuse” to act out.

“It went from a teacher just changing a photograph on her social profile to this contagion of hate being released in the halls of Hillcrest High School,” Gennaro said.

“It’s a sad commentary on the rancid hate that exists within the hearts of students — for Jews.”

Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) called it shocking that high school kids “would gang up on a teacher and harass her.”

“I don’t know why these students are so misinformed, so intolerant and so radicalized. They don’t even know the history of the Middle East. They haven’t been taught that,” he said.

Several students agreed.

“I doubt half of them know how to spell Palestine,” a senior said.

“They just wanted to make drama about it,” a sophomore said of the teacher’s pro-Israel stance.

“Just, like, chaos. They thought of it as fun.”

Students said rumors spread that the teacher “was abusing Muslims” and had taught “it was okay that children were being killed in Palestine.” Another teacher called the accusations “100% false.”

At least three students who organized the riot face superintendent’s suspensions, the most severe punishment, said a source familiar with the incident.

Milczewski said the law forbids him to discuss any consequences for students, but that the DOE “has a discipline code and I promise you that has been followed.”

The three victims have been identified by family as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ahmed. Awartani is a student at Brown University, Abdalhamid is a student at Haverford College, and Ahmed is a student at Trinity College.

Two of the victims were wearing keffiyehs, police said, and they were speaking Arabic, according to the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee.

The suspect was described by Burlington police as a white man with a handgun who didn't say a word before firing at least four times.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters blocked traffic Sunday on the Manhattan Bridge.

The demonstration demanding a cease-fire in Israel's war on Hamas militants in Gaza came on one of the busiest travel days of the year. The city urged drivers to avoid the bridge.

The protesters sat in the roadway at Canal Street in Manhattan at 2 p.m. Many wore shirts reading "ceasefire now" and laid a banner on the pavement reading "the whole world is watching."

Among the organizers was Jewish Voice for Peace, which has called Israel an apartheid state.

Jay Saper, a member of the group, said they timed the demonstration to draw maximum attention to their call for a lasting cease-fire.

Dozens of police officers were on the scene and a drone flew overhead. A community affairs officer told Gothamist there were no immediate plans for arrests, though Department of Correction buses were parked nearby. Protesters vowed to not leave the roadway.

An NYPD spokesperson had no further information.

An estimated 50,000 demonstrators against antisemitism marched in London on Sunday to protest against a rise in hate crimes against Jews since the attack by Hamas militants on Israel in October and Israel's subsequent bombardment of Gaza.

Protestors carried placards bearing the messages "Shoulder to shoulder with British Jews" and "Zero tolerance for antisemites." Others showed the faces of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Some people sang in Hebrew while others chanted "Bring them home" in reference to the hostages.

Police arrested a far-right activist, Tommy Robinson, at the start of Sunday's march after he refused to leave the area at the request of police officers.

Organisers of the demonstration had asked Robinson not to attend because of the distress his presence was likely to cause.

Police also arrested a man who they said was heard to make antisemitic comments.

Sunday's march took place a day after a latest demonstration in the British capital by pro-Palestinian protestors calling for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Police estimated 45,000 people marched in the demonstration on Saturday while it said 50,000 took part in Sunday's protest.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism, which focuses on the concerns of Jewish people in Britain, said the gathering was the biggest of its kind since the so-called Battle of Cable Street in 1936 when British fascists clashed with opponents in an area of east London where many Jews lived at the time.

Police arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with Saturday night’s shooting of three U.S. students of Palestinian descent, as the FBI began an investigation and pressure grew to focus on the possibility of a hate motive.

Relatives identified the victims, and their colleges gave updates on their medical status — all three are being treated in the hospital.

Hisham Awartani is a junior at Brown University who, according to Brown's president, Christina H. Paxson, is being treated at a hospital and is expected to survive.

Kinnan Abdalhamid is a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. Administrators said he was recovering from a gunshot wound in the hospital.

Tahseen Ahmed is a student at Connecticut's Trinity College, which said he was in a stable condition in a hospital.

The suspect, Jason J. Eaton was detained Sunday afternoon near the scene of the shooting. Police said in a statement that a search of his property “gave investigators and prosecutors probable cause to believe that Mr. Eaton perpetrated the shooting.”

A 20-year-old junior at Brown University, Hisham Awartani, is starting to come to terms with the “very long road he has in front of him” after he and two longtime friends from the Israeli-occupied West Bank were shot while strolling through Burlington on Saturday, his mother, Elizabeth Price, said.

Awartani has an “incomplete spinal injury,” meaning he can feel his legs but can’t move them, Price told CNN’s Poppy Harlow from Amman, Jordan, Tuesday morning. She said she is working to travel to the US to be with her son and hopes to arrive in about 24 hours.

“The last I knew, he was still in the ICU, immobilized, to try and get the swelling down on his back,” Price said.

Awartani’s clavicle is also broken and he has a fractured thumb, Price said. And because of the spinal injury, he has difficulty regulating his body temperature. He is expected to have between one and four weeks in spinal trauma care, followed by months in physical therapy, Price said.

King Abdullah II of Jordan has offered his support, Price said.

“The king’s personal physician has reached out to me to convey his majesty’s concern for Hisham and the other boys, and is hoping to send a specialist to meet Hisham and identify what kind of support Hisham needs,” she told CNN.

The suspect in the attack, 48-year-old Jason J. Eaton, was arrested Sunday and charged with three counts of attempted murder, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Authorities say they haven’t determined a motive in the attack but have said they are investigating whether the incident was motivated by hate.

But police and prosecutors said Monday that they have yet to uncover sufficient evidence to establish Eaton’s motive.

“This absolutely was a hateful act,” Murad told CNN Monday. “But whether or not we can cross the legal threshold in order to determine that it is a hate crime is a different matter.”

In addition to Awartani’s life-altering spinal injury, the two other men were shot in the upper torso and lower extremities and hospitalized in the ICU, according to police. One of the victims was released from the hospital Monday, a source close to the victims’ families told CNN.

The students were visiting Burlington for the Thanksgiving holiday and were staying with Awartani’s uncle, Rich Price, the uncle told CNN. They had attended a birthday party for the uncle’s 8-year-old twin sons just hours before they were attacked, he said.

“We had just come back from the birthday party, and they decided to take a stroll around the block to get some fresh air,” Rich Price said. “They were just walking, talking amongst themselves. They were wearing their keffiyehs, which are traditional Palestinian scarves, and this gentleman stepped out of the dark, pulled out a handgun and fired four times.”

Awartani told his mother he “suddenly found himself on the ground” when the shooting began, she said.

Awartani recalled one of his friends “screaming with pain” from a chest wound, Elizabeth Price said. The third victim, who thought his friends had been killed, tried to escape to get help, she said.

The shooter hovered over them for a short time and Awartani thought he would “continue to shoot them and kill them,” the mother said. Once the shooter fled, Awartani was able to call 911.

Rich Price noted the three students grew up in Ramallah before coming to the US for college. “They grew up under military occupation and who would imagine that they would come to a place like this to celebrate Thanksgiving and this is when their lives would be at risk.”

Electronic evidence may shed light on motive, police say
A search of Eaton’s apartment, which is next to the scene of the shooting, uncovered a pistol and ammunition that were connected to bullet casings found at the scene, according to Murad, the police chief.

But while investigators say they have found enough evidence to connect Eaton to the attack, they are still searching for a motive.

The presidents of Harvard University, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania are scheduled to testify before Congress next week at a hearing on antisemitism on campus, lawmakers announced Tuesday.

The hearing, set for December 5, will be held by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, who chairs the committee, is vowing to hold university leaders accountable for antisemitism in the wake of Hamas attack and amid the Israel-Hamas war.

“College administrators have largely stood by, allowing horrific rhetoric to fester and grow,” Foxx said in a statement. “College and university presidents have a responsibility to foster and uphold a safe learning environment for their students and staff. Now is not a time for indecision or milquetoast statements.”

According to the House committee, the hearing will include testimony from Harvard President Claudine Gay, MIT President Sally Kornbluth and Penn President Liz Magill.

Jewish groups are suing the University of California system, UC Berkeley and its leaders over what they are calling a “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism.”

The 36-page lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the Brandeis Center and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education, argues that Berkeley and its law school’s “inaction” on discrimination against Jewish students has led to a spread of antisemitism, and violence and harassment against them. Demonstrations and incidents on campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel serve as examples of the discrimination, according to the complaint.

Jewish groups are suing over policies enacted by at least 23 Berkeley Law student groups that exclude students from joining or bar guest speakers from presenting if they do not agree to disavow Israel or if they identify as Zionists. They argue that anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism and say that the policies violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, the First Amendment right to freedom of religion, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and more.

“Conditioning a Jew’s ability to participate in a student group on his or her renunciation of a core component of Jewish identity is no less pernicious than demanding the renunciation of some other core element of a student’s identity — whether based on race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual identity,” the lawsuit said. “No such imposition is required — or would be remotely tolerated — of other students.”

Additionally, the groups say that the university has failed to address antisemitic incidents on campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. They said students’ celebrations of the Hamas attacks resulted in violence against Jewish students. A Jewish student draped in an Israeli flag was attacked by protesters who hit him in the head with a metal water bottle, according to the complaint, and some Jews have received “hate e-mails calling for their gassing and murder.” Jewish students have also said they are afraid to attend class because of the protests.

“Students stated that the school does so little to protect Jewish students, it feels as if the school were condoning anti-Semitism,” the complaint said. “They added that officials at the university display a ‘general disregard’ for Jewish students. … They have little confidence that UC will protect them from anti-Semitic mobs.”