Morehouse College, get on the right side of history, rescind your invitation to President Biden

"Faculty members are calling on Morehouse College to rescind its invitation to Joe Biden to speak at its 2024 commencement: "Any college or university that gives its commencement stage to President Biden in this moment is endorsing genocide."

"This is not the Morehouse College that history has known and that we have come to treasure. Over the years, Morehouse commencement speakers have amplified the school’s powerful moral legacy, often doing so by quoting the school’s former president, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays: “it will not be sufficient for Morehouse College, for any college, for that matter, to produce clever graduates,” but rather honest graduates “who are sensitive to the wrongs, the sufferings, and the injustices of society and who are willing to accept responsibility for correcting the ills.” 

Note: The College President has responded that the invitation will not be rescinded.

George Washington University poised for showdown with pro-Palestinian protesters in nation’s capital

"Protesters at the unsanctioned encampment blew through a 7 p.m. curfew on Thursday, where the university requested those involved to remove themselves and their tents from University Yard. However, the school appears to be taking a more hard-line approach today, telling the Washington Examiner the remaining students in the camp “are trespassing on private property and violating university regulations.”

At ‘Seder in the Streets,’ protesters in Brooklyn denounce US support to Israel

"As the Senate voted on an aid package for Israel, participants of a ‘Seder in the Streets’ denounced the death and devastation in Gaza and urged Congress to end military support for the war."

"On Tuesday (April 23), the second night of the weeklong Passover holiday, thousands of New Yorkers filled Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn for a mass Seder dinner organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

The sit-down protest, called “Seder in the Streets,” came as the U.S. Senate was preparing to pass a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after the House passed a series of parallel aid bills on Saturday." 

Brandeis invites Jewish students to transfer in response to campus protests

‘Students elsewhere should know we welcome all — Jews and students from every background — who seek an excellent undergraduate education and an environment striving to be free of harassment and Jew-hatred to apply,’ Brandeis President Ron Liebowitz said.

“We’ve been fortunate here, in terms of what the atmosphere has been like on campus for the majority of our students,” Liebowitz told Religion News Service. “And so we thought, wouldn’t it be a good idea to offer others the opportunity, who want a more peaceful atmosphere, a normal atmosphere, for them to continue their studies and also to live their co-curricular lives.”

Named for America’s first Jewish Supreme Court justice, Brandeis was founded in 1948 in response to antisemitism and quotas for Jews at American universities. But despite its history, Brandeis is a nondenominational and fully secular school, and today only 35% of its student body is Jewish."

Israeli settlers ‘expelled’ from Gaza in 2005 say it’s time to return

"On the sofa nearby sat Avishai Bar Yehuda, 67, a retired administrator and entrepreneur who lives in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon after being forcibly evicted from a settlement in Gaza two decades ago. “After they expelled me from my home,” he said gruffly, “I knew we would return someday. The war in Gaza has given the privilege to return to Gaza, and so we must. We must restore the sanctity and security of the Jewish people.”

Ediger and Bar Yehuda, with their spouses, have signed declarations of intent to move to the Gaza Strip. Altogether, more than 600 families have vowed to establish at least five new settlements, including an urban settlement in Gaza City, according to Nachala, a movement dedicated to promoting the project."

Will the Freedom Flotilla Sail to Gaza?

"The non-violence training to join the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s ships to Gaza has been intense. As hundreds of us from 32 countries gathered in Istanbul, we were briefed about what we might encounter on this voyage. “We have to be ready for every possibility,” our trainers insisted.

The best scenario, they said, is that our three ships–one carrying 5,500 tons of humanitarian aid and two carrying the passengers–will reach Gaza and accomplish our mission. Another scenario would be that the Turkish government might cave to pressure from Israel, the United States and Germany, and prevent the boats from even leaving Istanbul."

An Update on the Flotilla to Gaza

US sanctions Israeli settler and anti-miscegenation leader

Also sanctioned were two fundraising groups, Mount Hebron Fund and Shlom Asiraich, which had attempted to raise funds for two other settler leaders who were sanctioned earlier this year.

“Lehava’s basic message is that Arabs are enemies of Israel and that contact with them will lead to disaster and to the kidnapping of Jewish girls to Arab villages,” according to a primer on hate groups published in 2014 by the Israel Religious Action Center. “The organization runs media campaigns designed to disseminate its ideology, including the distribution of flyers, newsletters, video clips, and media interviews.” 

Israel Tied With Iran Among Top Jailers of Journalists in 2023, Report Finds

The Committee to Protect Journalists says 2023 saw the highest number of arrests of Palestinian journalists since 1992.

"For the first time, Israel has joined the rank of China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia Vietnam, and Iran as the leading countries jailing journalists. According to CPJ, Israel has detained more than 20 journalists since October 7. Relatives of the detained journalists told CPJ that many were allegedly imprisoned due to their activity on social media platforms."

This Bill Would Give the Treasury Nearly Unlimited Power To Destroy Nonprofits

"It supposedly bans financing terrorism, but that's already illegal. It's really a power grab for the secretary of the treasury."

"A bipartisan bill would give the secretary of the treasury unilateral power to classify any charity as a terrorist-supporting organization, automatically stripping away its nonprofit status. The bill, H.R. 6408, already passed the House of Representatives in November, and a companion bill, S. 4136, was introduced to the Senate by Sens. John Cornyn (R–Texas) and Angus King (I–Maine) last week.

In theory, the bill is a measure to fight terrorism financing. At least, that's what sponsor Rep. David Kustoff (R–Tenn.) claimed. "I urge the swift passage of this legislation that will significantly diminish the ability of Hamas and other terrorist groups to finance their operations and carry out future attacks," he said in a November statement."

Upcoming Actions and Events

Make Plans to Attend the FOR-USA National Conference

"Forging Peace in a Violent World"

October 4-6, 2024

Atlanta, Georgia

"The Fellowship of Reconciliation: Beating Guns into Plowshares and Creating Beloved Community Since 1915"



Consider Joining The Fellowship of Reconciliation USA.

I am The Senior Advisor, and Ms. Ariel Gold is our Executive Director. FOR-USA is the oldest Peace and Justice, Interfaith Organization in the country founded in 1915.