Civil rights officials probe four US medical schools over antisemitism at 2024 commencement ceremonies
The Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced investigations into four medical schools over alleged antisemitic incidents during their 2024 commencement ceremonies. While HHS did not identify the schools subjected to these investigations, the Wall Street Journal reported that Harvard, Columbia, Brown and Johns Hopkins medical schools were the targets. The investigations will come after a school year riddled with what critics have described as antisemitic incidents after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. “After October 7, we saw Jew-hatred explode not just on college campuses and city streets, but in the medical profession. This has caused a lot of concern that anti-Jewish bias in medicine endangers the lives of Jewish patients – and these concerns have not been conclusively addressed to date,” said Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at The Lawfare Project, which provides pro bono legal services to protect the civil rights of the Jewish community. “The investigations announced by HHS are a crucial first step towards addressing these concerns.” ISRAELI HARVARD STUDENT SPEAKS OUT ON ANTISEMITISM BEHIND LATEST SETTLEMENT Harvard’s 2024 commencement ceremony was ridiculed over the school’s decision to tap media CEO Maria Ressa as the school’s commencement speaker following a year of incidents that included an assault against an Israeli student by pro-Palestinian protesters, scores of alleged antisemitic displays and chants, including some that praised Hamas, and numerous civil rights allegations from Jewish students. In addition, Harvard was accused by its own students of turning a blind eye to antisemitism. Ressa, not long after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, penned an op-ed comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, and during her commencement address complained that she had been attacked over her pro-Palestinain advocacy “by power and money because they want power and money,” which people construed as promoting antisemitic stereotypes. Ressa was also accused of praising pro-Hamas demonstrations happening on campus during her address. JEWISH COMMUNITY RESPONDS TO TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER VOWING TO DEPORT PRO-HAMAS ACTIVISTS WITH STUDENT VISAS The commencement ceremony was allegedly so bad that a campus Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi felt compelled to confront Ressa during the event and subsequently walked offstage. According to media reports, Zarchi later described the ceremony as a “really vile program.” Harvard Medical School spokesperson Ekaterina Pesheva said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the school “condemns antisemitism and remains committed to combating all forms of discrimination and harassment.” Pesheva added that Harvard would “continue to advance our efforts to ensure that all community members feel they belong” and said the school is currently reviewing HHS’s civil rights request and will cooperate to address the agency’s questions regarding the 2024 commencement ceremony. Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Brown similarly faced a slew of complaints over alleged antisemitism on their campuses and the universities’ failure to address them. The environment at these schools was so hostile, reportedly, that some Jewish students who were admitted to these Ivy League schools decided to go somewhere else. A rabbi at Columbia went so far as to tell Jewish students to leave campus for their safety. President Donald Trump has moved quickly to challenge antisemitism in the U.S., with news of the investigations coming the same day the Trump administration’s Department of Justice announced the formation of a multi-agency task force to combat antisemitism. News of the probe also came after Trump signed an executive order several days after taking office seeking to combat antisemitism, particularly on college campuses. “HHS has been so quick to implement President Trump’s Executive Order is tacit recognition of the failure on the part of these universities to address antisemitism, despite several lawsuits and congressional investigations,” Filitti said. “The Biden Administration, for all its rhetoric, failed to do nearly as much as President Trump has in only one week to address Jew-hatred, and we now have a President clearly willing to use the power of the executive branch to take concrete action to stamp out antisemitism and protect the civil rights of Jewish Americans – and all Americans.” PATRIOTS OWNER ROBERT KRAFT LAUNCHING ‘NO REASON TO HATE’ SUPER BOWL AD, COMBATING ANTISEMITISM In addition to facing potential consequences over the school’s failure to address antisemitism on their campuses, Trump has also threatened to withhold millions of federal dollars in research grants if they do not comply with new orders quashing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “Antisemitism has no place in American society, least of all in medical schools,” said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of the nonprofit Do No Harm, which seeks to root out identity politics in medical education. “Medical schools, especially those who push a DEI agenda have become hotbeds of antisemitism, the department of Health and Human Services is right to raise concerns about blatantly antisemitic protests.” On Monday, the Department of Education also launched a slew of additional civil rights investigations into Columbia, Northwestern, the University of California – Berkeley, the University of Minnesota and Portland State universities. Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard, Columbia, Brown and Johns Hopkins for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
First 10 ‘high threat’ illegals to arrive to Guantanamo Bay are all Tren de Aragua members
The Department of Defense (DOD) confirmed the arrival of the first 10 “high threat” illegal migrant criminals to the U.S.’s most secure prison – the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp – in Cuba, all of whom are members of the violent Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua (TdA). TdA is an international criminal group that has been terrorizing U.S. communities from New York City to Colorado. As one of his first actions, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 instructing the State Department and other government agencies to move to designate TdA as a “foreign terrorist organization.” On Thursday, ICE and other federal law enforcement agencies conducted a series of raids in Aurora, Colorado, resulting in the arrest of over 100 TdA members. MEXICAN TROOPS BEGIN ARRIVING AT US-MEXICO BORDER FOLLOWING DEAL MADE TO PAUSE TRUMP-APPROVED TARIFFS The 10 high-threat migrants arrived at Guantánamo Bay on Thursday, the DOD confirmed in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also confirmed the migrants’ arrival and stated that all 10 are members of Tren de Aragua. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE The DOD stated that these migrant criminals are being housed in vacant detention facilities. The DOD said that is only a temporary arrangement being made to “ensure the safe and secure detention of these individuals until they can be transported to their country of origin or other appropriate destination.” DHS clarified that the Guantánamo Bay prison will be used to house only “the worst of the worst” criminals. TRUMP HAS BECOME ‘GAME-CHANGER’ IN CONFRONTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRISIS: TOM HOMAN Commenting on the arrests of the over 100 TdA members on Wednesday, Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society and an expert on TdA, told Fox News Digital that Trump’s latest moves are “tremendously significant” that shows that there is a “new attitude” against TdA in the U.S. “That’s what’s needed to be able to dismantle them and eventually deport them from the United States,” he said. “This is a foreign terrorist organization that has been spreading throughout the United States for the last couple of years and doing it so very rapidly, so I think the impetus is on the United States to use all the elements of our national security to be able to dismantle them from within.”
Trump DOJ slaps Illinois, Chicago with lawsuit over sanctuary laws
The Department of Justice on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago for allegedly interfering with federal immigration enforcement – the latest escalation in the battle between the Trump administration and Democrat-led cities and states on the administration’s mass deportation operation. The lawsuit filed in Illinois, against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and others, claimed that several state and local laws are “designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.” The lawsuit comes a day after Attorney General Pam Bondi signed a directive to limit funding to sanctuary cities. Sanctuary jurisdictions typically limit or forbid state and local law enforcement cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers – requests that illegal immigrants in custody be transferred to ICE. This is a breaking news alert; check back for updates.
Dems delay Patel committee vote, deride Trump FBI pick as danger to US security
Democrats succeeded Thursday in delaying a committee vote to advance the confirmation of FBI director nominee Kash Patel until next week at least. The vote, which was supposed to happen at 10:15 on Thursday, was pushed back after Senate Democrats demanded a second hearing from the Trump-aligned former Defense Department official. In a statement Tuesday night, Grassley said attempts by top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin, Ill., and others to force Patel to testify again were “basesless” as he’d already sat before the committee for more than five hours and disclosed “thousands of pages” of records to the panel, as well as nearly 150 pages of responses to lawmakers’ written questions. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
House Republicans push to reroute frozen USAID funding into deporting illegal immigrants
EXCLUSIVE: A group of House Republicans is pushing for Congress to reroute foreign aid funding frozen by President Donald Trump into enhanced deportation efforts of illegal immigrants in the U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., is unveiling his Restoring American Sovereignty Act on Thursday, backed by fellow House Freedom Caucus members Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Tom Tiffany, R-Wis. “Americans were put last at nearly every turn during the Biden administration. This was evidenced by the criminal crossing crisis at our southern border and the wasteful distribution of taxpayer dollars by agencies like USAID,” Ogles said. SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN He said his bill would “utilize the USAID funding paused by President Trump to deport illegal aliens from the United States.” Tiffany said the bill “ensures our tax dollars fund Americans’ security” and called the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) an “international money laundering scheme.” “America has spent billions of taxpayer dollars funding Democrats’ pet projects in countries that despise us and everything we stand for,” Biggs said. Trump paused most foreign aid for a period of 90 days to give his new administration time to evaluate what money going overseas aligns with his agenda. He and Secretary of State Marco Rubio included carve-outs for emergency needs. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiated a crackdown on USAID earlier this week. As of Friday, Feb. 7, nearly all of USAID’s overseas employees will be put on administrative leave. Republicans have argued that USAID has long been mismanaged and that it was sending U.S. taxpayer dollars to LGBTQ initiatives and other social causes overseas. They have also accused the agency of stonewalling GOP oversight efforts. Democrats have heavily criticized the rollback, attacking Musk as an un-elected bureaucrat whose businesses also rely on government contracts. They’ve also argued that freezing USAID funding imperils critical initiatives like cancer and HIV research in Africa. BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS Ogles’ bill is a brief two pages, stating that “funds paused pursuant to” Trump’s executive order on foreign aid “may be made available and used by the President to deport illegal aliens from the United States,” according to legislative text viewed by Fox News Digital. The Tennessee Republican is one of Trump’s most vocal allies in the House of Representatives. Last month, he introduced a bill to authorize Trump to buy Greenland and a constitutional amendment paving the way for him to have a third White House term.
Indian deportees recall traumatic conditions on military flight from US
[unable to retrieve full-text content] At least 104 Indian citizens were deported from the US and sent to India in shackles aboard a US Air Force plane.
Thousands in Gaza struggle in tents amid cold, stormy weather
Strong winds, rain and winter are adding to the suffering of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, with thousands of families living in worn-out tents after their homes were destroyed in Israel’s bombardment of the coastal enclave. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza since a ceasefire came into effect last month, pausing Israel’s 15-month assault on the territory. But most people found their homes destroyed or heavily damaged. Families have since struggled to find shelter amid mounds of debris and destruction across the besieged enclave. A spokesperson for the Gaza City municipality told Al Jazeera that the city did not have enough resources to help the displaced amid the storm, adding that sewage and rainwater entered hundreds of tents and shelters. Speaking to Al Jazeera from a makeshift encampment in the courtyard of a school in Gaza City, Mahmoud Riyad Khalil al-Fayoumi said he has been living in a tent alongside three other families. “The blankets are very wet,” said al-Fayoumi, explaining that he sent his two-month-old baby and his brother, who has a spinal cord injury, to stay with other people due to the harsh weather conditions. Advertisement “We don’t know what to do. We don’t know where to go. This is our situation here.” Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said heavy rain and wind had forced many Palestinians to leave a makeshift encampment in the western part of the city. Basic supplies such as warm clothing also are not widely available, worsening the situation. “People right now here are not only lacking shelter, but also the very essential supplies that provide them some warmth and protection from these terrible weather conditions,” Mahmoud said. In its latest update on Wednesday, the United Nations humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) said with more than 500,000 people returning to the Gaza and North Gaza governorates, “the need for food, water, tents and shelter materials in that area remains critical”. Despite increased deliveries of humanitarian aid since the ceasefire took hold on January 19, shelter assistance has been limited. Earlier this week, the Gaza Government Media Office accused Israel of restricting the flow of aid and shelters into the territory. “Securing shelters has become an urgent humanitarian need that cannot be delayed. It is the most pressing need at this moment,” it said in a statement earlier this week. Tess Ingram, a communications manager at UNICEF, the UN’s child rights agency, said Palestinians in Gaza are ill-equipped to withstand the cold weather because they have lost so much during the war. The situation is particularly dangerous for children, Ingram told Al Jazeera from Gaza City. Advertisement “For kids in these conditions, it’s not only frightening to be outside, exposed and in the cold, but it’s also very dangerous for their wellbeing,” she said. “We’ve had a number of children in Gaza die of hypothermia and it’s clear here when you meet with families that they don’t have what they need to protect them from that cold. Families are lacking warm clothes for their children. There’s many children without shoes.” Displaced Palestinians also continue to face harsh conditions in other parts of Gaza, as well. “The tent flew away and the people were in disarray,” Saqer Abdelal told Al Jazeera from Deir el-Balah in the central part of the enclave. “We’re now transporting our belongings to a man who agreed to host us until the winter ends.” “This is more difficult to us than displacement,” said Anwar Hellis, another Palestinian in Deir el-Balah. “We woke up at night and found our tents destroyed due to the wind. Our clothes and food were filled with sand.” In southern Gaza, the Rafah municipality has called for 40,000 additional tents and emergency shelter units for residents. The city is still hosting thousands of displaced people whose homes have been destroyed in other areas. The municipality also said it does not have enough heavy machinery, which is hindering the reopening of roads and the clearing of rubble. Adblock test (Why?)
Could Trump’s tariffs upend the world’s economic order?
US President Donald Trump’s tariffs against Mexico and Canada are on hold for now, but the trade dispute with China rumbles on. United States President Donald Trump has delayed imposing tariffs on his closest trading allies for a month after Canada and Mexico gave him guarantees on border security and fentanyl trafficking. Trump’s supporters say his strategy to leverage the US economy to force concessions from other nations has notched a win. China has hit back against Trump’s additional tariffs with its own measures due to take effect on Monday. That could give the world’s two largest economies some time to step back from an escalating trade dispute. India bets on its middle class to revive the economy. Plus, is China winning the AI race? Adblock test (Why?)
Prince Harry sees court setback on immigration records case in first hearing since Trump took office
A federal judge indicated that he is “likely” to release immigration files on Prince Harry after the first hearing in the royal’s high-profile case since President Donald Trump took office. U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols said Harry’s files should be released “to the maximum extent possible,” during Wednesday’s hearing in Washington, D.C., according to a report from the New York Post, with the judge reasoning that he is “required to make public everything that can be made public” but would take care not to violate any privacy laws. “I’m going to take this in stages,” Nichols said, noting that the government will have the ability to propose potential redactions. The Wednesday hearing marked the first in the case since the inauguration of Trump, who has been pressed in recent weeks to step in and unseal Harry’s immigration records. PRINCE HARRY, MEGHAN MARKLE SLAMMED BY JUSTINE BATEMAN FOR BEING ‘DISASTER TOURISTS’ AMID CALIFORNIA FIRES “I’ll be urging the president to release Prince Harry’s immigration records and the president does have that legal authority to do that,” Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank behind the lawsuit to unseal Harry’s records, told the New York Post. “It’s important because this is an issue of the rule of law, transparency and accountability. No one should be above the law,” Gardiner added. “Donald Trump is ushering in a new era of strict border control enforcement, and you know, Prince Harry should be held fully to account as he has admitted to extensive illegal drug use.” PRINCE HARRY, MEGHAN MARKLE, VISIT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TO SUPPORT WILDFIRE VICTIMS, RECOVERY EFFORTS At issue in the case is whether Harry lied on immigration forms or was provided with special treatment when he initially moved to the U.S. in 2020, a question that arose after the royal admitted to using illegal drugs in his memoir “Spare,” which was released in 2023. The admission by Harry sparked a lawsuit by the Heritage Foundation, which sued the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to have the royal’s immigration records released. For his part, Trump indicated on the campaign trail that he is open to deporting Harry and has in the past been critical of the royal’s move to the United States. “He has been so disrespectful to the country, and I think he’s an embarrassment,” Trump said in a 2022 interview with Piers Morgan.
Top Arizona lawmaker spotlights ‘adorable moment’ as Trump signed women’s sports executive order
EXCLUSIVE: Arizona’s Senate president, Republican Sen. Warren Petersen, spoke to Fox News Digital after attending President Donald Trump‘s signing of the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order, which Petersen called an “incredible” moment for female athletes nationwide. “I think the impact is huge,” Petersen told Fox News Digital shortly after witnessing Trump sign the highly anticipated executive order to keep biological males out of women’s sports, fulfilling one of his most prominent campaign promises. “We now have a multi-pronged approach to making sure that only girls play in girls sports and boys cannot play in girls sports,” Petersen said. “We’ve passed laws to do this. We’ve been litigating in the courts, and now we have the executive branch issuing an executive order saying that the way they’re interpreting Title IX is just boys and girls. Boys are boys and girls are girls. And if you violate this title, if you allow boys to play in girls sports, then you’re going to lose federal funding, and you’re going to be investigated. I think it’s great news.” Citing recent polling, Petersen pointed out that 70% of Americans “want to see girls’ sports protected.” RILEY GAINES: THE ALL-OUT WAR ON FEMALE ATHLETES ENDS NOW, THANKS TO PRESIDENT TRUMP “I think this is a perfect example of why you’re seeing Democrats with the 31% approval rating,” Petersen said. “I think this is a perfect example of what you saw in Arizona, that we increased our majorities, and we won virtually all of our competitive races. So I’m excited. I mean, President Trump is making girl sports great again and that’s good for America. That’s good for American girls. And girls can now pursue their dreams. It has been absolutely ridiculous that you’ve had girls work their whole lives, set goals, work hard only for some boy to come along and snatch their dreams away from them. In sports, it’s really been unthinkable that we have allowed this to happen to some of our girls and some of the women.” Petersen, who posted a photo at the event with former NCAA swimmer and girls sports activist Riley Gaines, spoke to Fox News Digital about the “disconnect” between the average American voter and Democrat politicians on the issue of girls’ sports. RILEY GAINES TEARS INTO WNBA STAR, WHO GAVE CAITLIN CLARK BLACK EYE, FOR WEARING ANTI-TRUMP SHIRT “They’re totally out of touch with their voters,” Petersen said. “They have this really loud, small faction that’s well-funded and well-organized, but it is by far out of touch with what the vast majority of Americans believe. And quite frankly, it’s out of touch with logic and science. The biggest gaslight that we have had to deal with over the last several years are the Democrats trying to convince the rest of America that boys are girls. I mean, that is total lunacy, totally insane. It flies in the face of just common logic and the voters sent a message loud and clear that they’re not going to have it.” As Trump was signing the executive order, dozens of young female athletes who were in the audience walked up to the table and surrounded Trump after he invited them over in a moment that Petersen called “incredible.” “I think it was just a feeling of relief, I can’t believe this battle is over,” Petersen told Fox News Digital. “The boys playing in girls sports, you know, stolen titles from our girls and women. That time is over. And I thought it was really an adorable moment. We’re you’re just extremely grateful for this president.” “I think this common sense move that he’s making is just, you know, the reason why his his polling is very high right now. And, you know, people are just so sick of politicians making promises saying they’re going to do things…and nobody can say that Trump is not fulfilling his promises because not only is Trump fulfilling his promises, but he’s doing it at a breakneck speed.” Petersen, who has filed paperwork to run for attorney general in Arizona, told Fox News Digital that he will continue to fight for the “right side” of this issue in his home state. “I’m the lead defendant in a case to protect the Save Women’s Sports Act in Arizona,” Petersen explained. “It’s sitting at the Supreme Court right now. We’re going to see that trial all the way through. We have an attorney general who’s completely out of touch with the rest of the Democrats. She wouldn’t defend the law. She thought it was okay for boys to play in girl sports. So I am defending that law. It’s in the Supreme Court. We are going to see that all the way through.”