The campaign called “Not My NUS” was sparked following rising tensions between student bodies over the NUS’s perceived lack of support for pro-Palestine activism and students being penalized over protest action.

A public letter to the NUS Board of Directors was published on July 11 which listed the many grievances of student groups against the NUS. The letter was undersigned by over 200 student officers, societies, and groups across at least 55 campuses.

The letter claims that the NUS has remained “neutral” amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza which is a “strategy” which “shields the oppressor.” The letter also details other issues such as the adoption of the controversial IHRA definition of anti-Semitism which equates criticism of Zionist and Israel to anti-Semitism.

The letter warns the NUS that if they fail to support pro-Palestine activism or implement a list of changes mentioned in the letter, that they face disaffiliation by student groups.

The letter has received backing from 10 legal, academic and human rights bodies, including ELSC, CAGE UK, BRISMES, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention.

The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) has informed 5Pillars that they are fully behind the campaign and have issued a call for other societies to abandon the NUS.

Source: 5Pillars

Since 7th October 2023, 46,707 Palestinians have been killed, and over 109,000 have been wounded. Nearly 70% of those killed are women and children. Approximately 1.9 million people in Gaza have been displaced multiple times, with widespread destruction of civilian property and infrastructure. Gaza’s water and sanitation systems have been severely damaged, leaving 97% of water unfit for human consumption.

Muslim Hands has been active in Gaza since 2007 and throughout the last 15 months of bombardment and hostilities. With the support of UN partners, including the World Food Program (WFP), nearly five million meals have been provided through a combination of hot cooked meals and food parcels. This effort has offered a lifeline to some of Gaza’s most vulnerable populations, including women, children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities.

Currently, Muslim Hands is working to establish three desalination plants at UN schools in Gaza. This large-scale £690,000 project, set to be completed within the next few months, will provide 30,000 people with a reliable daily supply of safe water. Unfortunately, the harsh winter weather has introduced new challenges, including the tragic loss of some babies to the cold. As part of the ongoing winter appeal, shelter and £500,000 worth of warm clothing are being distributed to 20,000 children.

Muslim Hands extends its deepest gratitude to supporters, whose donations—totaling nearly £9 million—have provided essential relief across multiple areas.

The journey to healing and rebuilding Gaza has only just begun. For many, the war has not only meant brutal bombing and violence but also the denial of basic rights, such as access to food, clean water, and medical care. The risk of famine and mass starvation remains a grave threat, with an estimated 2.2 million people facing acute food insecurity and receiving, on average, just three liters of water per person per day—far below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended minimum.

With the ceasefire now in place, 600 truckloads of vital aid are expected to enter Gaza daily, with half directed to the north, where the need is greatest. As part of the rebuilding process, Muslim Hands will continue providing hot meals and food parcels through its partner, the World Food Program, including throughout the holy month of Ramadan. This effort will help feed over a million people in the next three months. Donations will also support the provision of clean water and wheat flour to bakeries in Gaza, ensuring thousands of loaves of bread reach the most vulnerable.

Yasrab Shah, Muslim Hands Fundraising Director, stated: “We welcome the ceasefire and pray for lasting peace for the people of Gaza as they begin to rebuild their lives after 15 horrific months of pain and loss. We remain committed to facilitating our donors’ incredible generosity, which provides ongoing support to those in need. With our UN partners, our efforts on the ground will continue. We urge our supporters to keep donating—your contributions are a lifeline and, for many, the difference between life and death.”

Source: Muslim Hands Charity

Sheikh Qaradaghi said: “We must not leave Lebanon or Gaza easy prey for targeting and division, for the sake of a sectarian or political disagreement, as the enemy does not differentiate between Muslims in its genocide against them, as anyone who is not with them is against them.

“What is required by Shari’ah is to stand as one against the Zionist project and against the Zionist genocide in any country. What we are witnessing today in terms of attacks on Lebanon and Gaza is an attack on the dignity of our peoples and our lands, and we cannot allow it to continue.”

The International Union of Muslim Scholars was founded by Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradhawi and is headquartered in Qatar, but is comprised of leading scholars from around the globe.

Sheikh Qaradaghi is a renowned Kurdish scholar who is now based in Qatar.

Here is a translation of his statement from the original Arabic:

“In the name of God, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. What is happening in Lebanon today is a blatant aggression on land and people, the destruction of people’s homes, the killing of civilians including children and women, and part of the policy of Netanyahu and his extremist right-wing group to expand the State of Israel to include Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and parts of Lebanon and Jordan. The annexation of the Golan has actually been achieved.

“It is not just a disagreement with a political or partisan faction. Distinguishing between problems of a sectarian nature and issues that affect the Ummah as a whole is a duty upon all Muslims and free people of the world. We must not leave Lebanon or Gaza easy prey for targeting and division, for the sake of a sectarian or political disagreement, as the enemy does not differentiate between Muslims in its genocide against them, as anyone who is not with them is against them.

“What is required by Shari’ah is to stand as one against the Zionist project and against the Zionist genocide in any country. What we are witnessing today in terms of attacks on Lebanon and Gaza is an attack on the dignity of our peoples and our lands, and we cannot allow it to continue.

“Our disagreement with the partisan policies of some Lebanese or Palestinian parties does not give us the right to support any aggression targeting peoples. We must not rejoice when the Lebanese or Palestinian people are attacked under any pretext. This aggression is a blatant assault, and Muslims and their governments must work to prevent it.

“As the President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, I call upon our Islamic and Arab nation to do their duty in the face of the Zionist aggression and genocide, and I also urge that an urgent Arab-Islamic summit be held to discuss and stop this rampant Zionist madness that targets not only Gaza and Lebanon, but also extends to all Arab and Islamic capitals and countries.

“Our responsibility requires us to take immediate action to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, and to demand an end to the brutal bombing of Gaza. We also call for providing our people in Gaza with everything they need to confront the siege, whether on the military, food, or economic level, or any type of support necessary for their continued steadfastness.

“Arabs and Muslims have many cards, including announcing the cutting off of oil and gas until the aggression stops, as well as the political and economic boycott of the Zionist entity, and the severing of diplomatic relations. Our silence in the face of this aggression deepens the tragedies of our peoples, and we must work according to the jurisprudence of priorities and awareness of the present and realise the meaning of God’s saying: ‘And hold fast, all of you together, to the rope of God,’ and His saying: ‘And do not dispute and [thus] lose courage. God is the helper.’”

Source: 5Pillars 

– Increasing pressure on supporters of Palestinian cause is an ‘attempt to silence legitimate criticism … and get us to stop scrutinizing the actions of the Israeli state,’ says Brendan Ciaran Browne of Trinity College Dublin.

The growing pressure on pro-Palestine academics and students in the UK is part of a “wider witch hunt against Muslims” by Zionists, according to a leading British academic.

“There is a dramatic increase in pressure on academics and students in universities,” David Miller, a researcher and writer on Zionism, Islamophobia and propaganda, told Anadolu.

“This is a campaign by the Zionists to remove especially Muslims from public life … This is an attempt to drive Muslims out of public life because Muslims are much more likely to raise the question of Palestine.”

Miller also emphasized that academic censorship is “a global issue” that is not just limited to the UK.

“In particular we see what the Zionists want to do with academia in Palestine, where every single university in Gaza has been destroyed, razed to the ground … and they have selectively assassinated significant numbers of staff, including the people in charge of these universities,” he said.

According to the Scholars Against the War on Palestine (SAWP), a collective of academics from around the world, Israel has bombed all 11 of Gaza’s universities since last October, while also damaging or destroying nearly 390 schools.

Israeli attacks have also killed at least 333 educators and academics, with more than 700 others injured, SAWP data shows.

“We see what the Zionists want to do and we see that is the context for all of the attacks they’ve been making over many years in the West, and in of course, the UK,” said Miller.

Miller narrated how he was personally affected as the University of Bristol sacked him in 2021 for “some comments … about Zionist organizations.”

He challenged the decision and a tribunal ruled in February this year that the professor was wrongfully dismissed.

“So, this is a live issue, which is having a deeper effect in the UK, in terms of people’s jobs lost, students expelled, visas denied,” he said.

The situation has worsened since last October and there have been “tons of complaints” against doctors, lawyers and other professionals, he said.

“We need to see this not just in the context of ideas about censorship, but indeed in terms of a witch hunt against Muslims in public life, and a witch hunt against anyone who will talk about Palestinian rights,” Miller stressed.

“It will only get worse until and unless our society learns that you have to fight back against this kind of thing.”

‘Attempt to silence legitimate criticism’

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

It has killed more than 36,700 Palestinians in Gaza and injured over 83,500 others, most of them women and children, and stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

All of this, along with the mounting censorship and pressure, has made any work for Palestine and Palestinian liberation more important than ever before, according to Brendan Ciaran Browne, an assistant professor at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland’s oldest university.

“Lots of people are being attacked for their work on Palestine, lots of people are being smeared, and there are attempts to silence people for pointing out what has clearly been demonstrated to be a case of genocide against Palestinian people.”

Pro-Palestine voices have always been met with accusations of antisemitism for criticizing the state of Israel, he said.

“The conflation of the two is deeply problematic and we have seen in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, a rapid increase in the attempt to link the two together,” said Browne.

This is all, he asserted, part of an “attempt to silence legitimate criticism.”

“It’s an attempt to try and get us to stop scrutinizing the actions of the Israeli state, which as the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and lots of nation states around the world have clearly highlighted, is acting in a way that is contrary to international law,” he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

It’s hard to think of a writer more contentious than Salman Rushdie. From death threats to fatwas, insult to injury, the Indian-born British-American author has carved out a career from controversy, becoming a martyr in the process. The darkened lens over his right eye is now a symbol of sacrifice, lost in a life-changing and condemnable attack two years ago.

To some, he’s a liberal hero — the ultimate champion of secularism and free speech who becomes more revered the more he’s attacked. But to Muslims like me, Salman Rushdie is the embodiment of modern-day Islamophobia, a literary figure who masquerades as a ‘progressive free thinker’ and a by-product of a liberal atheist elite obsessed with Islam.

What’s more, Salman Rushdie’s recent comments on Palestine confirm what many of us had been saying about his brand of liberal atheism: that it is predicated upon, and comes full circle back to, thinly-veiled Islamophobia.

Salman Rushdie says the quiet part out loud

Speaking to a German podcast last week about the US campus protests, Salman Rushdie said that whilst he’d “argued for a Palestinian state for most of (his life) — right now, if there was a Palestinian state, it would be run by Hamas, and that would make it a Taliban-like state, and it would be a client state of Iran,” adding, “It’s very strange for young, progressive student politics to kind of support a fascist terrorist group.”

In this statement, the West’s poster child of free speech makes an ironically reductive statement about the intentions of pro-Palestine protesters by conflating the support for Palestine with support for Hamas. In doing so, Salman Rushdie peddles right-wing conspiracy theories linking Palestinian activism to terrorism and extremism.

We’ve seen this false equivalence of pro-Palestinian activism and extremism become commonplace in mainstream political discourse in recent months. It’s almost always weaponized against politically active Muslims advocating for causes against their government’s bloody, imperial aims.

Consider Rishi Sunak’s ominous and loaded reference in March 2024 to pro-Palestine protests as extremist “forces at home trying to tear us apart” or the media describing the UK university protests as “antisemitism on campus”. Just a few days ago, a teacher was charged with a hate crime for waving a placard showing Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts.

The conflation of support for Palestine with extremism is dangerous enough. But, in a way, Rushdie’s comments are even more menacing because his skin tone and Muslim-sounding name afford him a status that carries more weight.

Salman Rushdie’s entire career has been built on the facade that he is progressive, forward-thinking, and liberal so hearing him describe a future Palestinian state as a “Taliban-like” satellite state of Iran is even harder to dismiss as puerile politics.

Rushdie’s position has changed from purported criticism of a sacred text — although many of us believe that it was always rooted in Islamophobia — to the sort of outright Islamophobia that we usually see on the front of a tabloid paper. This trajectory is part and parcel of a wider campaign to demonize, ostracize and ultimately criminalize Muslimness in the Western world and often this is done under the guise of liberal, secular values.

Anything but Islam

The most outspoken atheists of today, like Richard Dawkins, have also revealed themselves to be nothing but elite white men with an unhealthy obsession with Islam and Muslims. Dawkins’ recent revelation that he is actually “culturally Christian” — despite making a name for himself on the premise that he is an atheist — because Christianity is fundamentally “decent” whereas Islam is “not”, and his specific reference to Islam’s “hostility to women” are all in the same vein as Rushdie’s comments.

The message is that Islam is inherently backwards, inferior, and violent and the opposite is always better because it has more proximity to superior Western values, whether that is Christianity, secularism or outright atheism.

I’ve always been somewhat bemused by the West’s veneration of Rushdie, and his status as part literary deity, part emblem of the West itself. But in his most recent comments, the facade of Rushdie has never been more transparent.

His appeal amongst the liberal elite is precisely because he is a walking-talking, career-long reminder of violence and intolerance that is supposedly exceptional to Islam and Muslims. His life in hiding, the fatwas issued against him, and now the physical injury of his blinded eye all send a constant, reverberating message that Muslims are illiberal and parochial and “we”, the west, are the very antithesis to this. And the West thrives on this opportunity to cast itself as superior, tolerant and progressive.

This was limiting enough for Muslims before. But now Rushdie’s comments have tipped into constituting a direct threat against the liberties of Muslims in Britain and beyond.

In a climate in which our political activism is already criminalized, in which our children are already hyper-policed in school, and our religious freedoms are being curbed by the day, the face of Western liberalism rendering opposition to genocide equal to terrorism should be something that worries us all.

Source: The New Arab

The victim, accompanied by three young American Muslims, was driving home after participating in a pro-Palestine protest when Bert James Baker, a white male on a bicycle, attempted to tear a flagpole adorned with a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf reading ‘Free Palestine’ off their car.

According to the victims, Baker repeatedly screamed the n-word and other obscenities, opened the passenger door, pulled one of the victims out of the car and stabbed him in the chest.

The Austin Police Department promptly arrested the attacker on the scene for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

“We strongly condemn this apparent act of hate, we applaud these young men for bravely defending themselves, and we call on state and federal law enforcement authorities to file appropriate charges against the suspect, including hate crime charges,” Mustafa Carroll, director of the Dallas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement.

“No one should be targeted and attacked because they put Palestinian-themed items on their vehicle. Anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Muslim bigotry have no place in Texas or anywhere else in our nation.”

CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell warned against the rising wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate.

“This apparent act of hate in Austin appears to be the latest incident of hate motivated by the rise in anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia,” he said.

“From the murder of six-year-old Wadea outside Chicago to the shooting of three college students in Burlington, Vermont, far too many incidents of violence against Muslims, Palestinians and others who support Palestinian human rights have occurred over the past several months. Those responsible for this violence must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and those fomenting the hate that leads to this violence must be condemned.”

The victim, who hasn’t been named, is the third Palestinian American to be targeted after the eruption of the Gaza war on October 7.

Last October, another Palestinian American was hospitalized after being hit by the driver of a dark SUV who shouted ‘Kill all Palestinians,’ ‘Long live Israel’.

Also in October, Palestinian American boy Wadea al-Fayoume was stabbed 26 times by a 71-year-old landlord who was allegedly upset about the Israel-Hamas war.

Source: AboutIslam

As Florida lawmakers continue their push for a commission for what they say is a rise in antisemitism in the wake of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, some organizers say a commission is needed to protect the state’s Palestinian and Muslim communities.

Between Oct. 7 and Nov. 4, the Council on American-Islamic Relations received 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias across the country, compared to 406 complaints within an average 29-day period in 2022. Anti-Muslim discrimination had already been on the rise in 2020 and 2021, which organizers attribute to increased volatility in domestic politics at the time, though reports decreased in 2022.

“This alleged violence and hate have absolutely no place in Florida,” said CAIR-Florida Media and Outreach Director Wilfredo Amr Ruiz in a public statement following an anti-Muslim hate crime in the state. “We will make sure to follow up on this and any other case to ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent to deter others from engaging in this criminal anti-social behavior targeting anyone, regardless of their race or religion.”

Florida has seen a major uptick in anti-Muslim incidents. “We’re getting calls faster than we can document,” said Omar Saleh, CAIR-Florida lead attorney. “Here in Florida, our rate of calls, which we might get about 45 per month prior to Oct. 7, has since doubled, and a majority of those calls involve bullying of students because they are either Palestinian or support Palestine anywhere from the elementary stage all the way to the university stage. We’re seeing it most in employment.”

Florida lawmakers have largely ignored the rise in Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian incidents, often stoking the racism themselves and conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

In December, federal lawmakers introduced House Resolution 6578, also known as Commission to Study Acts of Antisemitism in the United States Act with the aim of targeting critics of Israel. Civil rights groups and organizers worry that HR 6578 would usher in a new era of McCarthyism during a pivotal time of resistance and legitimate criticism of the apartheid state of Israel and its violent occupation of Palestinian territories.

The Florida House resolution was found favorable by the State Affairs Committee and was released to the House calendar for a second reading.

Source: Prism Reports

New York City will offer new curriculum materials on antisemitism and Islamophobia in its public schools and train principals and teachers on how to have difficult conversations about politically charged issues, officials said on Monday in response to criticism that the system has done too little to address the Israel-Hamas war.

In higher education, colleges like Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania have faced a backlash over their responses to the war. A speech announcing the new effort by the city’s schools chancellor, David C. Banks, illustrated how difficult it has been for K-12 leaders to stay out of the fray.

“The way through this moment is not to malign our students or to impose our own ideologies on them — or to bury our heads in the sand,” Mr. Banks said on Monday. “We must educate our students, and sometimes our staff.”

He added: “We cannot and will not have schools where students feel like they can do whatever they want without accountability for their actions.”

The chancellor’s message was among the most direct acknowledgments of continued fallout over the war from a major American public school district. It came two months after a raucous demonstration at Hillcrest High School in Queens — where officials said a pro-Israel teacher was targeted — became a major flashpoint for some Jewish families, who argued the system had not done enough to quell bias in schools.

Since October, local conflicts in New York and other districts have often erupted into animated controversies on the national stage. A number of parent leaders and educators who have vocally supported Palestinians have encountered online harassment. And this month, a Brooklyn grade school faced outrage after a resurfaced social media post showed a classroom map that did not include Israel but called the region Palestine.

On Monday, Mr. Banks said all middle and high school principals would receive mandatory training in March on “navigating difficult conversations” and would then be asked to bring the training to their school staff members.

In addition to expanding teaching materials on antisemitism and Islamophobia, he said the Education Department would offer anti-discrimination workshops to parent leaders. And the chancellor said he would also convene an “interfaith advisory council” to help shape his response.

Mr. Banks was seeking to respond to criticisms, but also said his goal was to provide a more uniform plan for tackling the impact of the war in Gaza in a system that is particularly diverse, with tens of thousands of Jewish, Muslim and Arab students.

New York City’s public schools, like many districts and universities, are under a federal civil rights investigation into reports of discrimination, and Mr. Banks said the system has been fast-tracking its own inquiries into complaints of antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Source: The New York Times

While many in the West grapple with an existential anxiety stemming from their belief in a creation without purpose, the unwavering faith of Gazans who have endured every conceivable misery has strongly resonated with those living with the perpetual angst of a meaningless universe.

Despite facing a barrage of bunker-busting missiles and being deprived of every material comfort, their ability to patiently bear calamities by showing gratitude for God’s blessings has galvanized millions of people to decry Israel’s genocide, express solidarity with Gazans and inquire deeper into the beliefs which foster such a mindset.

As a result, internet searches for the Quran have spiked and many non-Muslims have taken to online forums to parse through its passages on salvation and redemption to make sense of why Palestinians do not dread mortality and exude such optimism when their lives have been shattered.

Not only are Palestinians acknowledging the mental health benefits of faith in a transcendent reality which many implicitly desire, they are appreciating the intrinsic value of being God-conscious in a materialistic world and turning to Islam to anchor their psychological well-being.

Source: 5pillars

Hollywood talent agency, United Talent Agency (UTA), has dropped Susan Sarandon after remarks she made at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York. And actress Melissa Barrera was fired from the cast of the upcoming thriller Scream VII, in which she was slated to reprise her leading role in the franchise after sharing pro-Palestinian statements on social media.

A UTA spokesperson, cited by several US media outlets, confirmed that Sarandon was dropped but not did not elaborate on the decision.

The Oscar-winning actress attended several pro-Palestinian rallies and faced criticism for saying at a Nov. 17 rally in New York City: “There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country.”

She was among the Hollywood stars, including Joaquin Phoenix and Cate Blanchett, urging US President Joe Biden to demand a cease-fire in Israel’s war against Hamas.

During the rally, Sarandon also said criticizing Israel should not be considered antisemitic.

“There’s a terrible thing that’s happened where antisemitism has been confused with speaking up against Israel,” she said. “I am against antisemitism. I am against Islamophobia.”

Barrera, 33, was fired Tuesday from Scream VII by production company, Spyglass, according to a report in Variety.

The industry insider magazine cited company sources who said Barrera was removed due to her social media posts, including referring to Israel as a “colonized” land and for saying that Israel controls the media.

“I too come from a colonized country. Palestine will be free,” she wrote in an Instagram post which was viewed as “antisemitic.”

“Western media only shows the other (Israeli) side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself,” she wrote in a separate Instagram story.

“Censorship is very real. Palestinians know this, they know the world has been trying to make them invisible for decades. Keep sharing,” she said.

Spyglass released a statement on Barrea’s removal and said its stance is “unequivocally clear.”

“We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” it said in a statement quoted by several US media outlets.

Source: Anadolu Agency