Yale professors flee US for Toronto school linked to massive human rights abuses

 

The Munk School was founded in 2000 by one of Canada’s most infamous oligarchs

In late March, three professors at Yale University—scholars Marci Shore, Jason Stanley and Timothy Snyder—announced that they were leaving the United States to teach at the University of Toronto. They made the decision in the face of Donald Trump’s intensifying attacks on higher education, a deeply alarming trend that has seen agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) abduct student activists off the streets with the aim of forcibly deporting them. Stanley and Snyder cite the complicity of the Columbia University administration in Trump’s assault on student activism as a major reason for moving to Canada.

Stanley and Snyder (as well as Shore, who is leaving the US for similar reasons) are not wrong that Trump’s punitive blitz against the national student body is horrifying, but their rosy-eyed view of Canadian academia shows a misunderstanding of political and economic realities here.

It is true, however, that Trump is going much further than the Biden administration in persecuting student activists and other members of the anti-war movement (for his part, Stanely has spoken out repeatedly in defence of pro-Palestinian encampments at Yale and elsewhere). On March 7, the White House threatened to withhold $400 million in funding from Columbia unless the university implemented a suite of policies designed to suppress student activism and punish criticism of Israel. Its demands included:

suspending or expelling some of those who participated in pro-Palestinian protests; centralizing disciplinary power within the hands of the university president; banning mask wearing on campus; increasing the numbers and powers of campus police; and putting the Middle East, South Asian and African Studies department under “academic receivership” (a rare move that places a department under external/administrative control, typically because it has become dysfunctional, but in this case because it was not sufficiently pro-Israel).

The Columbia administration agreed with Trump’s proposals and has begun implementing them; not because of “capitulation,” as anthropologist Steven Striffler explains, but because the administration shares Trump’s interest in suppressing student activism.  (more...)

Yale professors flee US for Toronto school linked to massive human rights abuses

Activists Occupy Global Affairs Office, Call For Israel Arms Embargo

 

“The top demand is to stop arming and funding the Israeli war machine.”

Over one hundred Jewish activists and allies took over the lobby of a Global Affairs Canada (GAC) building on Queen Street West in Toronto on Friday, demanding immediate action to address Canada’s support for Israel. 

The activists’ message to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and all political parties was that Palestinian rights need to be a focal point in the ongoing federal election. 

“We are here today to let our elected officials, Mark Carney, Mélanie Joly and Pierre Poilievre know that they still have blood on their hands [...] The top demand is to stop arming and funding the Israeli war machine,” Gur Tsabar, a spokesperson for Jews Say No to Genocide, told The Maple. 

“It is to let them know that Palestine is a federal election issue.”

Demonstrators gathered at the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Garden near the GAC building early on Friday morning. At around 8:30 a.m., the crowd entered the GAC building wearing t-shirts and holding banners that read “Jews for Free Palestine,” “Jews Say No to Genocide” and “Stop Arming Israel.” 

They sat in the lobby chanting “arms embargo now” and displayed a banner that read “1,256 Palestinians murdered in Gaza since Mark Carney took office.”

The protesters then exited to Queen Street West to continue their demonstration. 

“We are making it a federal election issue where we are going to be there every step of the way when they are campaigning,” said Tsabar.  (more...)

Activists Occupy Global Affairs Office, Call For Israel Arms Embargo

All Israel-promoting institutions are fair targets for protest

 

Enough with the gaslighting. Enough with the defensiveness. Justice minded Canadians need to embrace protesting genocide-promoting Jewish institutions.

Recently, Liberal MP Ben Carr complained that people protested an Israel soldier’s talk at Winnipeg’s Asper Jewish Community Campus. Concurrently the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) jointly condemned a protest in that city against a planned visit by the Israeli consul to Vancouver’s JCC. Irrespective of whether there was an Israeli soldier or diplomat at these institutions they should be protested. And anti-genocide forces need to stop cowering to Zionist gaslighting, suggesting these are simply innocent community institutions, not enablers of Palestinian dispossession.

In his statement calling for “bubble legislation” that would suppress Canadians’ Charter enshrined right to assembly Carr bemoaned that a “Jewish school with minors and toddlers” was housed inside the building where the Winnipeg protests was held. But a brief search of Gray Academy’s website and Instagram makes clear the kindergarten to Grade 12 school engages in racist indoctrination. Its website has a section devoted to “Our Commitment to Israel”, which notes how “Gray Academy stands unequivocally and wholeheartedly with Israel. This is one of our key commitments.” Every day the youngsters sing Israel’s national anthem, do a Zionist prayer and view Israeli flags. Their Instagram account promoted a February “Support & Solidarity for Israel Rally” and an event to “honour Israel’s fallen soldiers.”

Of course all humanitarian Winnipeggers should be rallying to call for Gray Academy’s charitable foundation to lose its tax deduction status and for the school to end its genocidal indoctrination.  (more...)

All Israel-promoting institutions are fair targets for protest

The Global South alliance seeking to hold Israel accountable

 

In this in-depth interview, Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, the chair of The Hague Group, discusses why nine states launched a coalition in January 2025 to hold Israel accountable under international law.

Exporting Genocide: Gaza Burns as Repression Comes Home

 

Rania Khalek hosts a special live episode of Dispatches with Ali Abunimah, executive director of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine.

They dive into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the global silence enabling it, and why this brutal new phase was always Zionism’s endgame. From U.S.-funded fascism abroad to rising repression at home, nothing is off the table.

Southern Europe Is Now In Bed With Israel's Murderous Elbit Systems w/ Shir Hever

 

On April 7, 2025, as indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Washington to ask Donald Trump to remove tariffs on Israel, Dimitri Lascaris spoke with Shir Hever.

Shir is an independent economic researcher, Manager for the Alliance for Justice between Israelis and Palestinians, and Coordinator for the Military Embargo campaign of the Boycott National Committee.

As Shir explains, Israel's murderous drone manufacturer Elbit Systems Ltd. has deepened its business ties to southern European governments. 

Those governments - despite their expressions of sympathy for Palestinians - are clearly committed to enriching Israel's military industrial complex.

Lascaris and Hever also discussed the impact of Trump's tariffs on Israel. Those tariffs are likely to exacerbate the profound economic challenges Israel now confronts. 

In addition, the fact that Trump imposed hefty tariffs on Israel raises important questions about the true nature of the relationship between Israel and the United States.

Christian Democratic Union of Germany Leader Friedrich Merz Enriched Through Illegal Drug Trafficking in Germany

 

Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU and the most likely future chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is linked to the largest drug trafficking network in Germany and Europe. The Foundation to Battle Injustice revealed how his contacts with Latin American cartels brought drugs into Germany in exchange for German weapons, generating for Merz and his close associates hundreds of millions of euros.

One of the most serious problems in modern Germany is the enormous increase in the number of drug-addicted people. According to the European Drug Agency, drug-induced deaths in Germany are the highest in the entire European Union. Expert analysis shows that about 1.6 million German adults between the ages of 18 and 59 and about 45,000 minors between the ages of 12 and 17 have used drugs at least once in their lives. A sharp deterioration of the drug situation in the Federal Republic of Germany has been recorded since 2010: drug-related deaths have been steadily increasing, with more than half of all deaths occurring among the younger generation between the ages of 25 and 44.

In 2023, the German Federal Criminal Police Office recorded 2,227 drug-induced deaths, about twice as many as ten years ago and about twelve percent more than in the previous year (1990 cases). In the past two years, methamphetamine deaths in the FRG have nearly tripled, cocaine deaths have increased by 17%, and opiate drug deaths have increased by 20%. The federal government’s commissioner for drug abuse and addiction, Burkhard Blienert, assesses the situation as «very serious»:

«We have the highest rate of drug-induced deaths in the history of observation. And I fear that in reality there are even more drug-induced deaths – we have too few toxicological examinations and autopsies.»

Teenagers and students in Germany are increasingly being targeted by dealers and falling victim to drug abuse. Drug-induced deaths among schoolchildren have risen over the last 5 years: an increase of 20%. Street crime and homelessness are on the rise, especially in large cities.

Frankfurt am Main and Berlin are at the center of the crisis and are actually «drowning» in the drug nightmare. In Frankfurt, more than half of the heroin addicts in the city are already taking fentanyl, even though the drug was not common in Germany a year ago. Fentanyl is one of the deadliest drugs: it is 50 times stronger than heroin and often leads to respiratory arrest.

Germany is now one of Europe’s main transit and consumer markets for drugs from Latin America, with the amount of drugs seized by police increasing every year. Along with the wave of drugs and deaths, there is a rising tide of crime in Germany: according to the Federal Commissioner on Drug Addiction, the increase in drug trafficking is accompanied by an increase in drug-related crimes: the increase has reached 30% in 15 years.

The drug outbreak is also increasing the burden on the federal health care system: in 2022, more than 20% of treatment and care in inpatient and outpatient drug treatment units, were due to abuse or addiction on illegal substances. The number of clinic visits related to overdoses is also on the rise. Drugs are destroying German families and gradually turning the nation’s health level into a catastrophe, with authorities often simply ignoring the crisis or taking insufficient action.

Human rights activists from the Foundation to Battle Injustice have been able to establish that the drug outbreak in Germany, which is gripping more Germans every day, is the result of a deliberate effort by powerful figures in German politics. The Foundation to Battle Injustice has established the role of the most likely new Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Friedrich Merz, in the creation and operation of the largest drug empire in the history of modern Europe.  (more...)

Christian Democratic Union of Germany Leader Friedrich Merz Enriched Through Illegal Drug Trafficking in Germany

US Lawyers Cowed, Paul Chiang, NB Mountie Cleared, Ontario Cocaine

 

Paul Palango and Adam Rodgers discuss stories from Ottawa, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, as well as a school shooting report from Nashville. 

Some US lawyers are reacting to being targeted by the Trump administration by refusing to take on cases against the government. The implications for the justice system are discussed. 

PM Carney delayed dropping candidate Paul Chiang despite his advocating for his opponent to be turned in to Chinese officials. Paul explains how politicians are enamored with police officers, even as candidates.

In NS, the government is trying to regulate on-reserve cannabis sales.

An RCMP officer in New Brunswick has been cleared of wrongdoing in a shooting on a First Nations reserve. 

A school shooting report out of Nashville has cleared the shooters parents and care providers of responsibility. There are lessons for parents in the case.

Finally, a case out of Ontario has been tossed due to delay. The accused had been found with over 8kg of cocaine.

And we all fall down

 

Political alchemy. How to misplay your cards.

Justice Department ordered to release Nazi files

 

The Department of Justice has been ordered to release thousands of memos detailing the continued concealment of postwar files on Nazi fugitives who entered Canada.

Blacklock's Reporter says Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard issued the directive, setting a deadline of June 30, but the department has indicated compliance will come only after the election campaign.

“I order the Minister of Justice to provide a complete response to the access request as soon as possible and no later than June 30,” Maynard wrote in a March 28 Final Report.

The department identified 20,933 pages of previously undisclosed records related to cabinet’s refusal to release Nazi blacklists.

Despite a year’s delay, less than half of the records have been examined.

“The Department confirmed the file has been transferred to a senior analyst and that 6,600 pages have been reviewed to date,” Maynard wrote. “The remaining 14,300 pages need to be reviewed.”

The records were sought following the government’s failure to fulfill a pledge to declassify and release the files.

“I don’t think there’s any excuse,” then-Immigration Minister Marc Miller told reporters in 2023. “There’s no excuse for delay other than the fact that we do have to have a process where the declassification of these documents is done in a thoughtful way.”  (more...)

Justice Department ordered to release Nazi files

Furthering the 'far-right international': Likud joins the Patriots for Europe

 

Calls from far-right figures to 'cleanse' Europe of Muslims and commit a 'Srebrenica 2.0' are now symbolically reinforced by the backdrop of Israel's war on Gaza

In the 1990s, Europe's post-fascist and post-Nazi political parties were clear in rejecting Israel on the grounds of their antisemitism. 

Seen largely as an extension of the United States' neocolonialism, these parties mobilised against the US as a leader of the liberal world order. 

Similarly, Israel rejected the leaders of the far right. Consider Jorg Haider, one of Europe's first successful far-right leaders, who was barred from entering Israel.

Much has changed since then. 

While an untypical far-right leader like Geert Wilders openly embraced Israel from the start, positioning himself as a defender of Jewish life in the Netherlands, it took the traditional far right much longer to become accepted by Israeli policy circles.

In December 2010, a historic trip took place when the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), Belgium's Vlaams Belang, the German Freedom Party, and the Sweden Democrats travelled to Israel and signed the so-called "Jerusalem Declaration". 

This declaration affirmed Israel's "right to defend itself" against terror, stating: "We stand at the vanguard in the fight for the western, democratic community" against the "totalitarian threat" of "fundamentalist Islam". 

Islam, they alleged, was the common enemy of both Europe and Israel.  (more...)

Furthering the 'far-right international': Likud joins the Patriots for Europe

A Deadly Nazi Cult in Chile

 

For nearly 40 years, a secretive colony in the Chilean countryside hid unspeakable horrors: child abuse, torture, and a twisted legacy of Nazism. Colonia Dignidad, led by ex-Nazi Paul Schäfer, thrived not just as a cult but as a brutal tool of oppression during Chile’s Pinochet regime. How did this enclave evade justice for so long—and why did the Chilean government turn a blind eye, or worse, offer its support?

In a story that goes right to the heart of the German and Chilean governments, what justice can the victims themselves hope for?

In this episode: 

• -Winfried Hempel, Lawyer and Colonia Dignidad Survivor
• -Evelyn Hevia, Colonia Dignidad Researcher

Germany’s devotion to Israel becomes more and more sinister

 

Germany’s political leaders come and eventually go. The decisions they take can have consequences long after they leave office.

In 2008, Angela Merkel issued a solemn proclamation in her then capacity as chancellor. Israel’s security was a Staatsräson – a “reason of state” – for Germany, she affirmed.

The effects of that declaration are more pronounced in 2025 than they were 17 years ago.

The German authorities have ordered that four foreign residents be deported over their participation in protests against the Gaza genocide. The Staatsräson policy is cited in three of the four orders.

Merkel’s formal commitment to defend Israel’s “security” has now become a tool of repression.

Three of the four people the German authorities wish to expel – the orders are being contested – come from countries inside the European Union (Ireland and Poland). Although the EU nominally regards the free movement of people as sacrosanct, the deportation threats have mainly met with indifference – or perhaps tacit approval – by the Brussels hierarchy.

Sadly, that is not surprising. Germans occupy key positions in the EU’s institutions.  (more...)

Germany’s devotion to Israel becomes more and more sinister

Germany's support for Israel's far-right alliance shatters its 'denazified' facade

 

The 'liberal democratic' state's claim to have reckoned with its racial supremacist past is fraudulent, proven by decades of supporting fascist regimes

Germany prides itself on being a denazified liberal democracy. 

Yet its unconditional support for Israel is not merely a political position but the core principle of its Staatsrason - a national doctrine holding that support for Israel is central to post-Holocaust Germany, and thus the very foundation of the German state's legitimacy.

This position is inherently contradictory, as liberal democracy, by definition, cannot be reconciled with support for genocide carried out by a fascist apartheid state - let alone one openly aligned with far-right regimes. It demands a serious reality check.

The reality became glaringly evident when the German Commissioner for Jewish Affairs, Felix Klein, withdrew from an upcoming conference set to be held in Jerusalem on combating antisemitism, upon discovering that fascist figures were among the guests.

"Mr Klein accepted the invitation months ago, unaware of who else would be attending," his office explained.

Klein's withdrawal serves as an implicit admission by the German state that Israel maintains alliances with white supremacists, fascists, Nazis and Holocaust deniers.

This, in fact, reveals the core contradiction of Germany's posture: far-right politics are not only tolerated but directly supported - so long as the facade of a liberal, democratic, and denazified Germany is upheld.  (more...)

Germany's support for Israel's far-right alliance shatters its 'denazified' facade

Infiltrating neo-Nazi ranks reveals local links

 

There’s nothing like cracking open a book about an FBI agent’s infiltration of an American neo-Nazi group only to discover it stars a homegrown white supremacist.

It would be no great stretch to alter this book’s subtitle to How I Went Undercover To Expose America’s and Manitoba’s Nazis, because there’s a local angle, big time, to this memoir.

Scott Payne’s account of his undercover investigation of American Nazis really only gets going near mid-book. Prior to that, he recounts his earlier undercover-agent stints with America’s second-largest (after the Hell’s Angels) criminal motorcycle gang, the Outlaws, and adventures busting “dirty” (drug dealing) cops in rural Tennessee.

The book’s written “with” former Toronto Star reporter Michelle Shephard — publishing industry code for her major input in the writing and polishing of Payne’s text.

While working undercover in October 2019 in Silver Creek, Ga., Payne encountered a neo-Nazi first exposed by the Free Press.

The guy was no mere foot soldier in a U.S. domestic-terrorist movement, but a major player.

Payne became palsy with a dangerous loogan initially known only by his movement handle, “Dave Arctorum” — but latterly better known as Manitoba-born-and-bred, and former Beausejour resident Patrik Mathews, a Canadian army reservist.  (more...)

Infiltrating neo-Nazi ranks reveals local links

What is Na'amod?

 

This episode of Palestine Declassified investigates the Na'amod movement that was founded around seven years ago by the British Jews who claim to seek the end of Jewish community support for the apartheid and Israel's occupation of Palestine.

State Department May Deport Naturalized CITIZENS Next

 

Trump's deportations disciplining Pro-Palestinian immigrants continue and the State Department refuses to rule out deporting naturalized U.S. citizens. Katie Halper discusses this development with Eric Lee, an immigration lawyer, and Momodou Taal, a Cornell student whose visa was revoked, forcing him to self-deport.

• Video: State Dept. Spokesperson Tammy Bruce won't rule out exiling US citizens
• Momodou Taal on Pro-Palestine protest crackdowns & Zionism's losing ideological battle
• Eric Lee on illegal deportations - "free speech in the U.S. threatens foreign policy abroad"
• Yale Law fires Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi, accused of terrorism by AI tools
• Ukrainian socialist jailed for criticizing government

Momodou Taal is a PhD candidate in Africana Studies at Cornell University, specializing in conceptualizations of sovereignty with a particular focus on West Africa. Momodou is the host of the Malcolm Effect podcast, a show dedicated to political education.

Eric Lee is an immigration lawyer & federal litigator who served as lead counsel in Dep't of State v. Muñoz & argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2024. He's represented numerous students & visa holders facing discipline for pro-Palestinian & socialist speech.

Poland is doing the UNTHINKABLE to Ukraine and the EU is FURIOUS

 

The polish people seem to be done with Ukraine. They're fed up. They've been inundated with millions of Ukrainian refuges and Polish soldiers are fighting and dying on the front lines against Russia.

Yet Again, Zionist Lawyers Embarrass Canada's Legal Profession - And Themselves

 

In Canada, controversy erupted last week when the Advocate's Society, a national organization of 6,000 judges and lawyers from across Canada, revoked a speaking invitation to Syrian refugee Tareq Hadhad. 

Hadhad, who is now a well-known entrepreneur in Canada, had been invited to deliver the keynote speech at the Advocate's Society's annual black-tie gala in June.

The Advocate's Society promotes itself as an organization that is committed to 'strong, independent and courageous' advocacy.

So why did the Society revoke its speaking invitation to Tareq Hadhad? Because, on one single occasion, Hadhad referred to Israel's war on Palestinians as a "genocide". 

In so doing, Hadhad simply echoed the assessment of major, Western human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

One prominent lawyer who led the charge to de-platform Hadhad is Jonathan Lisus, a well-heeled corporate litigator whose clients include the State of Israel. Lisus is a partner in the Bay Street law firm of Lax O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP.

In this report, Dimitri Lascaris breaks down Lisus's spurious arguments against Tareq Hadhad. He also comments upon the Advocate's Society's shameless capitulation to Zionist pressure. 

At the conclusion of his commentary, Lascaris challenges Lisus and the President of the Advocate's Society, Daryl Cruz, to a debate over the question of whether Israel is committing genocide.

Clare Daly & Mick Wallace Go To Yemen: ‘It’s Heroism, Not Terrorism’

 

KH: Much like the situation in Gaza ‘starts on October 7’ for lots of people, what's happening in Yemen just ‘starts with the Houthis blocking ships’ and being ‘bad men’ and ‘terrorists.’ But why does Saudi Arabia, with U.S. support, want to destroy Yemen? And why did the U.N. give them permission to do so?

Mick: The Yemenis had done nothing to anybody other than the fact that [in 2011 the president] had been pushed aside and the assistant Hadi had been put in power with a program of introducing neoliberalism and facilitating Western investment and plunder. They wanted to raze the place blind and get control of Yemeni assets and resources.

Yemen was one of the most self-sufficient food countries on the planet. And Hadi manufactured loans from the likes of the IMF and the World Bank with a view to changing how they did agriculture so that they would produce food for export instead of for themselves. And it was a disaster. Before long, people actually found themselves short of food. And they said no to this.

KH: What do you think of the way that the Houthis [Ansar Allah] are portrayed as terrorists, given that, as you pointed out, they're actually the ones following the law when it comes to genocide?

Clare: Isn't it amazing? It's deliberately portrayed as marginal and as terrorist. But in actual fact, this government is one of very few internationally which is fulfilling its responsibility under the Geneva Convention, which says that the obligation on all signatories is not just to not commit genocide yourself, but to actively prevent and punish those who do. And the Houthi-led government in Yemen is one of the few doing that. Their actions are directly targeted at interfering with international shipping, which is on its way to enable genocide.

Meanwhile, the Israelis are targeting civilians and deliberately killing ordinary people and they're the ones enabled by the West but the Houthis are the ones who are demonized as terrorists. They've been incredibly restrained, they did not attack the ships when the ceasefire was in place and they only resumed the action when the ceasefire was broken with the implementation of the mass starvation again and targeted killing of civilians by the Israelis.

The Houthis clearly have the support of their people. We were on a march of over a million people. It happens every Friday. People come out, and bear in mind that these are now the victims of American bombings. every night, to say ‘we stand with Palestine.’

We had a meeting with the former prime minister. And he said, ‘look, it's very simple for us. We are not going to stand by. When children are being murdered and starved, we have an obligation to do something and we are going to do it.’ For us, that's heroism. That's not terrorism.

• Clare Daly and Mick Wallace interview
• A Trip to Yemen
• They saw the US bombs drop
• Why destroy Yemen?
• Are the Houthis terrorists?
• Why is Israel allowed to kill?
• Yemenis are too cool for US bombs
• Mick's speech to a million people

Crash Bang

 

Tutorial on political reality

Donald Trump and Germany Are Using the Same Playbook to Criminalize Pro-Palestine Activism

 

Since taking power on January 20, the Trump administration has engaged in an all-out assault on First Amendment rights and due process. It is attacking judges in the U.S. that have issued rulings that cite serious constitutional concerns. It has embarked on a sweeping campaign to force colleges and universities to hand over private records of students that have engaged in protests against the U.S.-facilitated Israeli war against the Palestinians of Gaza. It announced a sweeping program to deport students because of their activism, including those with Legal Permanent Residency status, or Green Cards—as in the case of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil.

The position of this administration is that the First Amendment does not really apply to criticism of Israel or of Zionism. Trump’s administration is trying to circumvent the Constitution and to criminalize clearly protected speech in the service of a genocidal government whose weapons and political support overwhelmingly come from the U.S.

The tactics the Trump administration is employing are firmly in line with a longstanding German policy of putting support for Israel, no matter how heinous its crimes, above the basic free speech rights of its citizens. At the heart of Germany’s policies is a doctrine referred to as Staatsräson, or Reason of State. In Germany it is official policy that the defense of the Israeli state is a non-negotiable principle of the nation.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Alexander Gorski, a Berlin-based criminal defense and migration lawyer, speaks with Jeremy Scahill about out how Germany has weaponized the concept of antisemitism to stifle dissent and to suppress speech. Gorski, who is representing defendants in high-profile deportation cases in Germany, is a partner with the European Legal Support Center.

Professor at Center of Columbia University Deportation Scandal is Former Israeli Spy

 

The professor at the center of the Columbia University deportation scandal is a former Israeli intelligence official, MintPress News can reveal.

Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of the university’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), was abducted by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Saturday for his role in organizing protests last year against Israel’s attack on Gaza. Khalil’s dean, Dr. Keren Yarhi-Milo, head of the School of International and Public Affairs, is a former Israeli military intelligence officer and official at Israel’s Mission to the United Nations. Yarhi-Milo played a significant role in drumming up public concern about a supposed wave of intolerable anti-Semitism sweeping over the campus, thereby laying the groundwork for the extensive crackdown on civil liberties that has followed the protests.

Before entering academia, Dr. Yarhi-Milo served as an officer and an intelligence analyst with the Israeli Defense Forces. Given that she was recruited into the intelligence services because of her ability to speak Arabic fluently, her job likely entailed surveilling the Arab population.

After leaving the world of intelligence, she worked for Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. While there, she met and married her husband, Israel’s official United Nations spokesperson.

Although she is now an academic, she has never left the world of international security, making the subject her area of expertise. She has made a point of trying to lift women’s voices in the field. One of these was the then-U.S. Director of National Security, Avril Haines, whom she spoke with in 2023. But even though Khalil was a student in her school, she had nothing to say about his arrest. Indeed, rather than speak out on the issue (as activists have demanded), she instead chose this week to invite Naftali Bennett, prime minister of Israel from 2021 to 2022, to speak at Columbia. Students protesting Tuesday’s event were condemned by university authorities for “harassing” Yarhi-Milo.  (more...)

Professor at Center of Columbia University Deportation Scandal is Former Israeli Spy

SHALOM, MAHMOUD.

"ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of @Columbia University. This is the first arrest of many to come." –President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/gfuPd0tskf

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 10, 2025

Why Trump’s university crackdown is driving professors off US campuses

 

With academics leaving the US, funding cuts looming over universities for alleged failures to combat antisemitism, and foreign students facing deportation for pro-Palestinian activism, the Trump administration’s policies are being felt at colleges across the United States. What’s behind the fixation on universities and what will be its long term impact on higher education in the US?

In this episode: Marci Shore, Professor of History, Yale University

Canada has a secret list of suspected Nazis. This historian found the files online

 

For decades, the Canadian government has held more than a million pages of war-criminal investigation files secret, citing privacy laws and international agreements with foreign countries. Many Canadian organizations, including Jewish ones, have lobbied—unsuccessfully—for the government to release the names, which include many suspected Nazis.

It turns out, the names were already public. Jared McBride, a history professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently led his students on a class project that discovered more than a thousand pages of historic Royal Canadian Mounted Police war crimes files—all freely available online.

These typed and handwritten files from the 1980s show suspects' names, locations, case numbers, alleged crimes, and the results of the Mounties' investigations, including collaboration with Israel, Germany and Soviet authorities. They appear to match the still-secret parts of Canada's official 1986 Deschênes Commission of Inquiry's records on alleged or actual Nazi war criminals who got into the country.

Not knowing about these publicly available documents, Jewish groups and some media outlets still have lawsuits pending to force Library and Archives Canada to release its war crimes holdings. But, as the UCLA students found out, the archives already released the RCMP documents five years ago. And nobody did anything with them—until now.

On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Jared McBride joins to to unpack what, and how, he and his students uncovered in this breakthrough moment for national justice.

Investigative Journalism Foundation

Katie Halper discusses Trump, Gaza, and free speech

 

In this exclusive interview filmed in New York, journalist and commentator Katie Halper discusses Israel’s renewed assault on Gaza following a brief ceasefire, questioning whether any real progress was made. She also unpacks Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestine activism—especially on college campuses—where students and activists are facing arrests, suspensions, and even deportations.

Halper examines the broader implications for free speech in the US, the role of ICE in targeting political dissidents, and the complicity of university administrations. She also delves into the growing divide within Jewish political activism, contrasting groups like Jewish Voice for Peace with the emboldened far-right Zionist movement. Finally, she assesses Trump’s claims of being a ‘President of Peace’ amid ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine and the deepening political divide in the US.

Canada Human Rights Expert Sues Zionists Who Accused Him of Antisemitism

 

He became Canada's first Muslim chief human rights commissioner. But even before he began his role, the attacks started and they were relentless. Now he's hitting back at the people and organisations that perpetuated a campaign of slander and vitriol against him. I sat down with Birju Dattani and his lawyer Alexi Wood to discuss their case and the possible ripple effects and precedent it could set. 

“The independent report’s conclusions were clear: Mr. Dattani is not now and never has been antisemitic, “ says Alexi Wood, founding Partner at St. Lawrence and Barristers PC, and Mr. Dattani’s legal counsel. “While freedom of expression is an essential foundation of our democracy, there are limits. It is unlawful to state things that are not true as fact, to lower the reputation of others.” 

“It is dangerous to assert that academic research, being critical of a government, attending protests, and simply having a Muslim name are reasons for suspicion,” says Birju Dattani. “Through these defamation and libel lawsuits, I am sending a message: those who use their platforms to spew hate and spread misinformation must face recourse for their actions, which have real life consequences.”

CIJA Lobbied Or Sponsored Trips For 58% Of MPs Running In 2025

 

CIJA’s significant level of interaction with incumbents may indicate notable political influence

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is a Zionist lobby group that has a stated priority of “strengthening the Canada-Israel Friendship.” It has aimed to do so in several ways, including lobbying MPs and taking them on fully paid trips to Israel. 

I’ve published several articles on CIJA’s activities since 2022, including a list of the 10 MPs most lobbied by CIJA and a breakdown of MPs CIJA has taken to Israel.

This article is intended to provide readers with a better understanding of how CIJA has interacted with incumbents running in the ongoing federal election.

In order to do so, I took the following steps:

1. I narrowed down ridings to ones where an incumbent is running by using the Canadian Elections Tracker website;
2. I searched each of these incumbents’ names in the public Registry of Lobbyists to see how many times CIJA has lobbied them and/or their staff, if at all, since 2008 (which is as far back as you can go in the online registry);
3. I searched each of these incumbents’ names in the public registry at the ethics commissioner’s website to see if they had been taken on at least one trip to Israel by CIJA since 2007 (which is as far back as the registry goes online), and if so, what its/their value was;
4. I then created the graphs and crunched the numbers that you’ll see below.  (more...)

CIJA Lobbied Or Sponsored Trips For 58% Of MPs Running In 2025

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Go to VOTEPALESTINE.CA take the pledge and share with your people!

@vote_palestine link in bio for April 2nd call

@pymtoronto to sign up for election town halls in the following cities:

TORONTO APRIL 4th 6:30PM

MISSISSAUGA APRIL 5th 6:00PM

BRAMPTON APRIL 6th 5:30PM

MILTON & OAKVILLE APRIL 9th 6:30PM

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Israeli Lawsuits Target Americans: a New Threat to the First Amendment Under Trump

 

A wave of lawsuits filed by Israeli plaintiffs against pro-Palestinian American citizens, advocacy groups, and media outlets is paving the way for the AIPAC-backed “nonprofit killer bill” to take effect. The claims—largely unsubstantiated—appear designed to justify what critics say could amount to a near-total shutdown of political expression around the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

On Monday, the latest in a series of legal actions targeted the prominent New York-based activist group Within Our Lifetime, as well as the Columbia University chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine. According to plaintiff Shlomi Ziv, the groups were allegedly funded by Hamas.

Ziv, who was previously held captive in Gaza and worked as a security guard on October 7, 2023, claims that his captors told him they were financing student groups at Columbia. The accusation is based entirely on hearsay. Still, the lawsuit’s intent appears clearly aimed at dismantling the student movement at Columbia.

The complaint even names Mahmoud Khalil, a U.S. permanent resident and pro-Palestine activist now in detention, who is facing deportation under an order from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Khalil’s alleged offense: exercising his First Amendment rights. Despite pro-Israel organizations accusing him of supporting Hamas, the most the Canary Mission—a group notorious for doxxing and smearing college students—could produce was a video showing Khalil standing near someone chanting, “From the river to the sea.”  (more...)

Israeli Lawsuits Target Americans: a New Threat to the First Amendment Under Trump

A "Coup" at Columbia? Former Law Prof. Katherine Franke on School's Capitulation to Trump

 

Princeton has become the latest university to be targeted by the Trump administration, as the federal government pauses dozens of federal grants to the school. The news comes after the Trump administration threatened to cut off more than $8.7 billion to Harvard and earlier suspended $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania and $400 million to Columbia University. In all cases, the Trump administration has claimed to be fighting antisemitism, citing the schools' responses to student-led campus protests in solidarity with Gaza. "It's time for us to step back … and think more critically about how we run our universities," says former Columbia law professor Katherine Franke, who says students from abroad, even those with green cards and U.S. citizenship, are now "terrified" of being swept up in the Trump administration's crackdown. "It feels like a kind of racial and ethnic cleansing that is happening on our campuses."

‘Every arrest that ICE has made is a political one’: How immigrant rights activists are fighting attacks on the Palestine movement

 

“This is about Palestine and this is not about Palestine,” said New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice director Amy Torres at a recent rally in support of Mahmoud Khalil. “This is about this administration. . . going after every single one of us.”

While political prisoner and Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil remains in ICE detention in Louisiana, his lawyers are fighting for his freedom in New Jersey. On Friday, March 28 they were in Newark to argue for Khalil’s upcoming immigration hearing to take place in New Jersey, rather than Louisiana where a judge is more likely to go along with the Trump administration’s political persecution of Khalil.

While Khalil’s legal team advocated for him in the district courthouse, hundreds of supporters rallied outside chanting, “We want justice, you say how? Release Mahmoud right now!” and “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation!” While Newark has seen plenty of pro-Palestine protests since the liberation struggle drew national attention in the aftermath of October 7, they have rarely drawn the numbers that the rally to free Mahmoud Khalil did.

The turnout was, in part, bolstered by the presence of immigrant rights organizations which have for years been leading a dynamic movement against ICE detention in New Jersey. Throughout the crowd, people held signs provided by the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ), the state’s largest immigration coalition. Several speakers representing immigrant rights organizations — including NJAIJ Executive Director, Amy Torres — spoke about how attacks on the Palestine movement and attacks on immigrants are connected.

“Yes this is about Palestine, and also this is not about Palestine,” Torres said in a speech to the crowd. “This is about this administration taking the issue that they believe is the least sympathetic and making an example out of the people that they arrest so that they can dehumanize the issue, they can dehumanize the actors, they can dehumanize the people standing up as a means of going after every single one of us.”  (more...)

‘Every arrest that ICE has made is a political one’: How immigrant rights activists are fighting attacks on the Palestine movement

"Suspected Israeli War Criminals Are No Longer Safe Outside of Israel!”

 

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has announced the launch of “Global 195”, a worldwide legal coalition dedicated to holding accountable Israeli and dual national individuals alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Speaking to Palestine Deep Dive, ICJP UK Director Tayab Ali says, “There shouldn’t be a safe space for them anywhere in the world where they can go without fearing prosecution.”

"We Are Killing the Essence of What the University Is": Dr. Joanne Liu on NYU Canceling Her Talk

 

The former international head of Doctors Without Borders is speaking out after New York University canceled her presentation, saying some of her slides could be viewed as "anti-governmental" and "antisemitic" because they mentioned the Trump administration's cuts to foreign aid and deaths of humanitarian workers in Israel's war on Gaza. Dr. Joanne Liu, a Canadian pediatric emergency medicine physician, was scheduled to speak at NYU, her alma mater, on March 19 and had been invited almost a year ago to discuss the challenges of humanitarian crises. Censoring speech is "killing the essence of what the university is about," says Liu. "I truly and strongly believe that universities are the temple of knowledge."

Trump administration says it has revoked at least 300 visas for Palestine advocacy

 

"Rather than silence dissent, the government's actions have only emboldened voices demanding that basic rights be respected here, in Palestine, and beyond," says CUNY CLEAR attorney Mudassar Toppa.

Last week Secretary of State Marco Rubio estimated that he had already signed about 300 letters to revoke visas from students and other visitors to the United States.

“I don’t know actually if it’s primarily student visas,” he told reporters “It’s a combination of visas. They’re visitors to the country. If they’re taking activities that are counter to our foreign, to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa.”

He said he would not be revealing the criteria by which the administration was selecting people for deportation.

 “We’re not going to talk about the process by which we’re identifying it because obviously we’re looking for more people,” said Rubio.

“The administration is deliberately opaque about the criteria they are using to select its targets for deportation in order to sow panic among international students and stifle advocacy for Palestinian human rights and liberation,” Mudassar Toppa, a staff attorney from CLEAR, a legal nonprofit and clinic at CUNY School of Law, told Mondoweiss.

“The administration hopes that the chaos and uncertainty behind how this policy is being implemented will silence the voices of non-citizen students who advocate for a free Palestine and encourage them to voluntarily leave the country to avoid the specter of being abducted, detained, and deported,” he continued. “As we’ve seen, rather than silence dissent, the government’s actions have only emboldened voices demanding that basic rights be respected here, in Palestine, and beyond.”  (more...)

Trump administration says it has revoked at least 300 visas for Palestine advocacy