International

The debate is growing about whether student protests in the US are anti-Semitic or anti-war

Protests over the war in Gaza in dozens of universities in the United States continue this Tuesday to show their rejection of US policy towards Israel, while the rhetorical controversy grows over whether such demonstrations promote anti-Semitism or are simply anti-war and include Jewish students.

The president of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, called on Tuesday “anti-American” that the current US president, Joe Biden, “is incapable or does not want to” condemn what is happening in some American universities and pointed to a lack of leadership at a “critical moment.”

“It’s not about freedom of expression,” the Republican added at a press conference about the pro-Palestinian protests, and opined that the country “desperately” needs a clear moral authority in the face of what it considers an increase in anti-Semitism.

Conservative Senator Tom Cotton has gone so far as to call the protesters “pro-terrorist tword” and has asked for more tough hand against the students from the police.

The governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbot, considered last week that students participating in the pro-Palestinian peaceful protests in that southern state should go to jail for promoting hatred and anti-Semitism.

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The White House has also stressed on several occasions that President Biden supports the right to “peaceful protest,” but that he is against “any violent rhetoric, threats of hatred (…) and anti-Semitism,” something that some students have denounced, but it is not being widespread and from the beginning it has allowed the participation of Jewish students opposed to the war.

Apart from criticizing US support for Israel during the Gaza War, another common denominator among these demonstrations is the demand of students to their educational centers to cease their investments in the Israeli private sector and promote greater transparency about those relations and their possible involvement with the military industry.

Progressive Jewish senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rejected the parallel drawn by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, between the protests of these days and those that occurred during Nazi Germany against the Jews.

“Anti-Semitism is a vile and despicable form of intolerance, but please do not insult the intelligence of Americans, trying to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of their extremist and racist government,” Sanders said in an interview.

“The vast majority of people who protest (…) are tired and disgusted by this war,” said the senator.

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Omer Bartov, a Jewish professor and expert on the Holocaust and Genocide at Brown University, has warned that the accusations of anti-Semitism against university protests in the United States, in which he has participated by leading assemblies and debates at the University of Pennsylvania, are dangerous because they are used as a weapon.

“There is politics and there are prejudices. And if we do not make a distinction between the two, then what we are really doing is imposing a silence on the policies of the Israeli government that have now culminated in the total destruction of Gaza,” Bartov said in a radio interview on Tuesday.

The College Democrats of America, the student organization of the Democratic Party, supported in a statement the protests on U.S. campuses for “seeing this war as what it is: destructive, genocidal and unjust,” while condemning police actions to evict the camps.

International

Zelenski urges global action after russian ballistic missile strike

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski called on the international community Thursday to “respond” to Russia’s ballistic missile strike on Ukraine, which he said has heightened the “escalation and brutality” of the conflict.

“The world must react. So far, there has been no strong response,” Zelenski lamented in a social media statement.

“We must act. We must pressure. We must push Russia towards real peace, which is only achievable through strength,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed Thursday that Russia had launched a new type of hypersonic ballistic missile against Ukraine in its “non-nuclear configuration.”

International

Elon Musk plans sweeping cuts to U.S. bureaucracy and spending

Elon Musk has pledged massive cuts to government programs, subsidies, and bureaucracy in his anticipated role as a “State Efficiency” leader, according to an article published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal.

The billionaire entrepreneur plans to target hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending, including funds for public broadcasting and Planned Parenthood. Musk called government bureaucracy an “existential threat” to American democracy.

Teaming up with fellow businessman and Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk aims to streamline federal regulations and implement significant administrative and cost reductions.

“We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as external volunteers, not federal officials or employees,” Musk and Ramaswamy stated in the article.

International

Putin warns of escalation, suggests strikes on western weapon suppliers

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the conflict in Ukraine is taking on the characteristics of a “global war,” warning that Russia might target Western nations supplying Ukraine with weapons used in attacks on Russian territory.

These remarks come after a day of heightened tensions, during which Russia launched a state-of-the-art medium-range missile designed to carry a nuclear warhead. However, this particular missile was loaded with conventional explosives.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the missile strike, calling it the action of a “deranged neighbor” using Ukraine as a “military testing ground.”

Earlier, Ukraine accused Russia of attacking the central-eastern city of Dnipro with a missile exhibiting “all the characteristics” of an intercontinental missile, an unprecedented development in the ongoing conflict.