Israel-Hamas War

News, information and viewpoints on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the violence effecting the people in the region and its impact on our local community in Chicago.

Local News
Belal Muhammad ganó el campeonato del peso welter contra Leon Edwards el 27 de julio en un combate realizado en Manchester, Inglaterra. Muhammad creció en el lado suroeste y estudió en la Secundaria Bogan.
Belal Muhammad won the welterweight crown against Leon Edwards on July 27 in a fight in Manchester, England. Muhammad grew up on the Southwest Side and went to Bogan High School.
Their specific worries surround the March on the DNC, a multi-group effort with a broad platform of demands, including calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and for the U.S. to stop sending aid to Israel.
Khalil Abu Shaban survived a bombing in April. The 13-year-old, his sister and mom arrived at O’Hare, where a crowd was on hand to greet him and chant his name. He will undergo surgery at Shriner’s Hospital.
March organizers were denied a route mostly on Washington Boulevard. The city pitched a route on smaller streets near the United Center.
Two people who police say chained themselves to a fence around the race course on Sunday were arrested on suspicion of criminal trespass.
Baraa Hadi Abu Alroos, 7, will receive treatment at Shriners Children’s Chicago hospital on the West Side, where he will be fitted with a prosthetic limb and undergo surgeries for his injuries.
An amended lawsuit includes new details about alleged roles the wife and brother of Joseph Czuba played that led up to the Oct. 14 attack.
Graduates marched out of the United Center and held a ceremony outside for students killed in Gaza, saying the university was complicit in the war. Counterprotesters called those statements antisemitic.
Students delivered a petition calling for the reinstatement of Anne d’Aquino on Thursday morning. She was fired on May 8 after she offered an optional assignment, asking students to analyze the impact of “the genocide in Gaza on human health.”
National & International News
Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, parents of 23-year-old Hersh Polin-Goldberg, wore stickers with the number 320, drawing attention to the number of days their son has been held. “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive,” Goldberg said.
DNC protests again unites two communities who share similar freedom struggles and “common oppressors,” organizers say.
The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity in keeping with rules set by the White House, said the proposal currently on the table basically bridges every gap between Israel and Hamas.
Emhoff, husband of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, spoke at the West Loop home of Lee Rosenberg, a senior adviser to Gov. JB Pritzker.
The leaders called for less talk and more action about drawing the war in Gaza to a close — a war that’s killed tens of thousands in Gaza. And while some of them are more hopeful that Vice President Kamala Harris may be more forceful in pressing for a ceasefire, they are waiting to see actual action.
The university dismissed disciplinary cases against five students in recent weeks after telling the students in May it would withhold their degrees because of their involvement in a pro-Palestinian encampment.
The letter, signed by 45 doctors from across the country, called for a “bare minimum” potable water allocation of 20 liters per person per day, an immediate and permanent cease-fire, as well as unrestricted access for medical personnel and supplies into Gaza.
The four Northwestern educators are charged with obstructing police during the protest. Those arrested questioned the timing and the potential chilling effect on academic freedom.
In a lawsuit, Kinza Khan alleged she was “doxed” last November after she and some friends were filmed near where a man was taking down posters of Israeli hostages with the caption “Kidnapped by Hamas.” She said she was the victim of death threats and sexual harassment.
Nearly a dozen protesters were taken into custody about 2:41 p.m. Saturday after they allegedly held a demonstration on Franklin Street, police say. Earlier, vandals dropped red dye into Buckingham Fountain and painted pro-Palestinian messages there.
Viewpoints
Emotions are still running high about the Israel-Hamas war. Here’s guidance to help keep protests and rallies free of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
My Amee joined pro-Palestinian protesters at the DNC. So did Lily Greenberg Call, who left the White House over President Joe Biden’s lack of action to end the war in Gaza. Thousands of people are determined not to be silent about the bloodshed in Gaza.
Talking to protesters at Union Park — and the Israeli ambassador to the United States — about exactly what it is that Palestine should be free of.
More than 80% of Gaza’s population relies on humanitarian aid to survive, but restrictions on access because of the Israel-Hamas war have led to a humanitarian crisis, the co-founder of Chicago-based aid group MedGlobal writes.
Every morning during the Democratic National Convention, Richard Goldwasser, a Jewish attorney, and Anan Abu-Taleb, a former Oak Park mayor who was born in Gaza, are leading a run from Buckingham Fountain to call for “an end to the war and an end to the occupation” in the Middle East.
Practicing for his scheduled qualifying run before Saturday’s Xfinity Series Loop 110, Day totaled his ride when he crashed into Illinoisan Justin Allgaier’s stopped car.
Both Jewish and Arab students have been subjected to hateful rhetoric during protests, a Northwestern professor writes. Yet too many are so aware of the hate directed at them that they remain deaf to the slurs hurled at others.
This Memorial Day comes amid a difficult time: Americans trying to come to grips with a hot button presidential election, our country’s role in overseas conflict and war being questioned.
Targeting Israel for its military approach in Gaza, without targeting other countries that also engage in objectionable actions, fails any reasonable logical standard.
Gaza is now a humanitarian catastrophe, with madmen and murderers on every side.
A small but vocal contingent of delegates have withheld support for Kamala Harris unless she commits to cutting off U.S. weapon supplies to Israel, leading Illinois members of Congress to warn boycotting the polls could tip the scale toward Donald Trump.
During Monday’s march, dozens of protesters broke through the security perimeter fencing near Park 578, a designated protest site near the United Center. Police responded before the protesters could get any further, leading to a standoff. Eventually, the fencing was breached in five locations, and police detained several protesters.
Thomas Nides, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said the vice president has worked in lockstep with President Joe Biden since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel.
Hundreds of people rallying against the Israel-Hamas war and restrictions on reproductive rights kicked off the first protest of the Democratic National Convention on Sunday, but they were met by an even larger showing from Chicago police.
President Joe Biden became a target of satirical, manipulated videos before he dropped his reelection bid. And a deepfake photo after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was altered to make it appear Secret Service agents smiled as they encircled him — apparently an effort to make the shooting appear to be a hoax.
Pidieron menos palabras y más acción para poner fin a la guerra en Gaza, una guerra que ha matado a decenas de miles de personas en Gaza.
Conflicts over park permits and speaker slots outside the convention have also threatened to prolong the litigation. The convention begins Monday at the United Center and McCormick Place.
Demonstrations are planned outside the Democratic National Convention when Kamala Harris is expected to be confirmed as the party’s presidential candidate. Here’s who’s planning to be there and why they’re protesting.
Raid Ghanimah is accused of covering his name and star number on his uniform during a march last year. At the time, he was on a leave of absence from the police department, and he’s seeking full disability payments for an unrelated injury, records show.
Baraa Hadi Abu Alroos, de 7 años, recibirá tratamiento en el Hospital Shriners Children’s de Chicago, situado en el lado oeste, donde se le colocará una prótesis y se le someterá a operaciones para tratar sus heridas.
Out of 114 “hate incidents” reported from Jan. 1 through June 13, only 17 were deemed “bona fide,” 83 were “unfounded” and 14 were listed as “undetermined.” Ald. Debra Silverstein, who pushed to create the new category, said the low numbers show more public education is needed.
Reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ groups won a permit for a 1-mile march Aug. 18 past the Bean, Millennium Park and hotels where DNC delegates will be staying.
One person, who school officials said was not affiliated with the university, was arrested during a protest against the war in Gaza on Saturday during graduation ceremonies at the University of Chicago.
At a news conference Friday morning, Denis Hirschfeldt, a math professor at the university, said its disciplinary process had lost “all credibility.”
Youssef Hasweh’s degree is being withheld until disciplinary measures are ‘resolved.’ He says the ‘disproportionate response’ is aimed at deterring other student protesters.
President Michael Schill is one of three university leaders to face harsh questions and criticism from House Republicans today.
Johnson’s Communications Director Ronnie Reese is under fire for a 2010 tweet that said, “I brake for gay pride, reluctantly.” Meanwhile, Ald. Debra Silverstein called a recent Facebook post by Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez “an antisemitic dog whistle.”
District officials responded to a public outcry, saying a picture in the yearbook did not reflect ‘the values and beliefs of Bartlett High School and School District U-46.’ Members of the Muslim Student Association posted a picture of the image online.
Many students carried — and tore onstage — flyers with images of a crown, bullets and bombs, symbolizing the Crown family, benefactors to the Art Institute who students say invest in weapons manufacturers.