Israel-Hamas war: ‘Cancerous’ pro-Palestinian university protests ‘reminiscent of 1930s Germany’, Holocaust expert says
Protests on US university campuses are “cancerous” and reminiscent of 1930s Germany, the chairman of the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre has told Sky News.
Speaking from Yad Vashem, the memorial in the Jerusalem hills, Dani Dayan said that antisemitism is becoming acceptable in many institutions and leaders must make a stand.
Mr Dayan said: “I have no opposition to people protesting against Israel’s policies, including in Gaza. The problem is not that. The problem is that the calls are for the elimination of Israel irrespective of its policies, and that is antisemitic.
University protests latest: Riot police use rubber bullets at Los Angeles campus
“I will be the last person to oppose freedom of demonstration, freedom of opinion, but the genocidal calls are genocidal.
“Even if you don’t intend to kill all the Jews of Israel, just to remove them, just to deny them from their liberties, just to deny them from the right for self-determination, that is deeply antisemitic.
“What we are witnessing in the elite campuses, especially in the United States, is a cancerous process.
“The elimination of Israel is part now of the legitimate discourse. I would even say the prevalent discourse in many universities in America and in Europe, Columbia included.”
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Police make arrests at UCLA protest
Mr Dayan, previously Israel’s consul general in New York, recently wrote a letter to the president of Columbia University urging her to “lead with moral principles”. He is yet to receive a reply, he said.
Recalling events at Heidelberg University in Germany in the mid-1930s when the campus was purged of Jewish academia and students, Mr Dayan said that he sees comparisons with what is happening today.
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Police raid Columbia University
He said: “We are not on the eve of a Nazi regime, or anything like that, but the similarity I do see is that a bigoted ideology, a racist ideology is considered legitimate, promoted when thousands of faculty, staff and students in a university call for the abolition of the Jewish state and the elimination of Zionism. Something is deeply rotten and should be taken care of.”
By dawn on Thursday, the UCLA encampment in Los Angeles was over, with rubble and debris where the mini village of tents, gazebos and signs protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza once stood in the school’s Royce Quad.
Hundreds of California Highway Patrol officers wearing riot gear had entered the campus and demolished the encampment.
Videos were published of riot police using rubber bullets on demonstrators in fierce clashes that saw some protesters arrested and led away with their hands tied behind their backs.
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‘Order must prevail’ at protests
A hard core of demonstrators were still holding out against police and could be heard chanting slogans and repeated calls for the college to sever its financial ties with Israel.
More than 100 people were arrested when police in New York entered Columbia University on Tuesday night to clear protesters there.
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Across Europe there have been regular marches against Israel and in support of Palestinian people, attended by tens of thousands.
In the UK, the prime minister’s spokesman has said police will have Downing Street’s support if they are forced to break up demonstrations at universities.
Former US president Joe Biden has prostate cancer, his office has said.
The statement said Mr Biden, who left the White House in January, is reviewing options for treatment with his physicians.
It read: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.
“The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
File pic: Reuters
According to Cancer Research UK, a Gleason score of 9 means the cancerous cells “look very abnormal” and the disease is “likely to grow quickly”.
A source familiar with Mr Biden and his family’s thinking has told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that the former president is considering “multiple treatment options” – including hormone treatment for the cancer.
They added he is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and that as of now, it is unclear where the former president will be treated.
Mr Biden, 82, was the oldest person to ever serve as president, with concerns about his health raised regularly during his campaign for re-election last year.
After a poor debate against Donald Trump in June, he withdrew from the 2024 election and endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris.
In February 2023, he had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.
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A Mexican navy ship has hit the Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour in New York City.
The New York Fire Department said authorities were responding to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that at least three people were seriously injured in the incident.
The Mexican navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in the accident, which has prevented it from continuing its voyage.
Eyewitness video of the collision posted online showed the mast of the ship, which was flying a large Mexican flag, scraping the underneath of the bridge.
Pic: AP
The vessel then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
The Mexican navy said the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
The Cuauhtemoc is about 297ft long and 40ft wide, according to the Mexican navy. It sailed for the first time in 1982.
Pic: AP
Each year, it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training.
It left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on 6 April with 277 people onboard, the navy said at the time.
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One person has died in a bomb explosion near a reproductive health clinic in California, authorities have said.
The incident took place in Palm Springs, a city two hours east of Los Angeles, and is being investigated as a possible car explosion.
The city’s mayor Ron DeHarte said one person died in the blast, adding that the bomb was “either in or near” a vehicle. The deceased’s identity is not known, Palm Springs police said.
Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers clinic, told the Associated Press his facility was damaged but all staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the office space where the practice conducts patient consultations, but the IVF lab and stored embryos were unharmed, he added.
“I really have no clue what happened,” he said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”
Debris covers the ground after the explosion. Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
In a statement posted on Facebook the clinic said it was “heartbroken” to learn someone died in the explosion and added: “Our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.”
It continued: “Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is.
“In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope – because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.
The clinic will be fully operational on Monday, it added.
“This moment has shaken us – but it has not stopped us. We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world,” the statement concluded.
Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
The Palm Springs city government said in a post on Facebook that the explosion happened on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, before 11am local time (6pm GMT).
A burned-out car can be seen in a parking lot behind the building in aerial footage.
The blast caved in the clinic’s roof and blew debris across four lanes of the road.
Another person said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
Nima Tabrizi said: “The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke.”
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are travelling to the scene to help assess what happened.
California governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said.
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