The Saudi 'plan B' would seem to belie the optimism theguardian.com/world/2024/may…

'Negotiations have sped up in recent weeks and many officials are optimistic that Washington and Riyadh could reach a deal within weeks'

This strikes me as overly optimistic, but we shall see!

Columbia President Shafik’s letter to the NYPD tonight.

She requests continuing police presence on campus until May 17th.

“If you do not identify yourself upon leaving and sign the form now, you will not be eligible to sign and complete the semester in good standing. If you do not leave by 2 p.m., you will be suspended pending further investigation”

Will @columbia follow through?

Blinken: “the Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement … I think it is is potentially close to completion”

The key word here being the qualifier “potentially” arabnews.com/node/2501261/m…

Deal-making in full force in Riyadh. Saudi saying it’s ‘very, very close’ to security pact with US that would guarantee path to Palestinian statehood. Hamas taking its time but extremely critical week ahead for all involved al-monitor.com/originals/2024…

I am pleased to share the conversation I had with Cole Bunzel. We talk all about #wahhabism , #islam , and the impact on our world today. Hope everyone enjoys!

😳

At Princeton University, Hezbollah flags.

“The students of today are the leaders of tomorrow,” says senior Hamas official Izzat Al-Risheq in comment praising college protestors in U.S. who he says are “on the right side of history”; predicts the Biden administration will pay “a heavy electoral price” for its stance

In New York Times Opinion

Calling the Columbia protests peaceful “stretches the use of the word rather implausibly. It’s an odd kind of peace,” John McWhorter writes, “when the angry chanting becomes so constant that you almost start not to hear it.” nyti.ms/3w6awPn

Join us tomorrow, April 23 at 10 am ET!

Our Senior Fellow, Sergio Altuna Sergio Altuna will moderate the discussion between Wassim Nassir Wassim Nasr, Andrew Lebovich @tweetsintheme, and Dahane Ahmed Mahmoud.
extremism.gwu.edu/jihadist-milit…

If you argue that Columbia ought to allow you the freedom to be on the quad, because protest rights are sacrosanct... then what does it say about you and your views about equality if you organize to prevent fellow students who disagree with you from moving about the quad?

Three universities—Columbia, USC, and now Yale—find themselves in quagmires rooted in their unprincipled and shortsighted embrace of identity politics. The drama now centers around the rights of Jewish and pro-Palestinian students. Both groups feel let down, even discriminated…

This isn’t cult-like behavior at all

This is unambiguous praise & support for Hamas & Oct. 7 at Columbia University. If most of the protestors don’t share these views, they sure aren’t doing much to distance themselves from them

“[The April 13 attack was] not intended to constitute an unambiguous and deliberate shift by Iran from the proxy warfare field to that of open confrontation … Tehran likes the strategy of web-spinning and slow bleeding of enemies” - Jonathan Spyer jpost.com/international/…