Hamas

In this press kit, you will find a selection of the European Parliament’s press releases reflecting MEPs’ priorities for topics on the summit agenda. Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

• Two of them resigned shortly thereafter.
• Here, Lynn Greenky, a scholar of communication and rhetoric, gives her take on how Shafik handled being in the same hot seat as her colleagues.

How did today’s hearing differ from the one on Dec. 5?

• Of course, they had the benefit of being able to first see what happens when you don’t.
• Shipman in particular made it clear that Columbia is suffering a “moral crisis” on its campus.
• They even thanked the committee for the investigation and asked for the committee’s help to address antisemitism on campus.

What did committee members say about faculty?

• Several members of the Congressional committee singled out Massad, who on Oct. 8, 2023, described the Hamas attack on Israel as “awesome” and “innovative” in an online article, for particular scorn.
• The committee’s chairperson, Virginia Foxx, a Republican from West Virginia, warned that radical faculty remain a huge problem at Columbia.
• If not, she says, Columbia will be brought before the committee again.

Was there any conflict over what is hate speech?

• Shafik seemed reluctant to label students or faculty as engaging in hate and harassment.
• She tried very hard, sometimes unsuccessfully, to assert the need to balance constitutionally protected speech with the educational mission of the university.
• Still, Shafik frequently testified that the policies and structures in place at Columbia prior to the Oct. 7 attack were inadequate.

What action did Shafik and her colleagues say they would take?

• They said they are working on revising policies and practices that will promote vigorous debate while protecting student safety.
• As a result of some of the preliminary recommendations of Columbia’s Task Force on Antisemitism, the university has updated the reporting and response process regarding harassment and discrimination.

How will all this affect free speech on campus?

• Certainly, a college or university has a compelling interest in protecting its students, faculty and staff’s freedom, safety and integrity.
• Often, when colleges and universities undertake the task, I believe it is the freedom to speak one’s mind that suffers.

Lynn Greenky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The IDF says it has been working on information gleaned from questioning Palestinian fighters captured in the fighting.
• According to a report in the Jerusalem Post on April 17, the Palestinian fighters were hiding out in schools in the area.
• The investigation, by online Israeli magazines +927 and Local Call examined the use of an AI programme called “Lavender”.

• It’s important to note that the IDF is not the only military to be working with AI in this way.
• But one function of the way the IDF is harnessing Lavender in this current conflict is its use alongside other systems.
• Read more:
  Israel accused of using AI to target thousands in Gaza, as killer algorithms outpace international law

The Iranian dimension

• Away from the charnel house that is the Gaza Strip, the focus has been on the aftermath of Israel’s strike on the Iranian embassy in Baghdad on April 1.
• As is his wont, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed revenge, declaring: “The Zionist regime will be punished by the hands of our brave men.
• And this was very much how it was to turn out when Iran’s drones and missiles flew last weekend.
• Read more:
  Could Israel's strike against the Iranian embassy in Damascus escalate into a wider regional war?
• Read more:
  Why Iran's failed attack on Israel may well turn out to be a strategic success

The nuclear option?

One of the possibilities being widely canvassed is that Israel could mount some kind of attack on Iran’s nuclear weapons programme. This has been revitalised in the years since Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.

• He walks us through the history of Iran’s nuclear programme, a story littered with the bodies of Iranian nuclear scientists and the wreckage of its nuclear facilities thanks to fiendish cyberattacks such as the Stuxnet virus developed by Israel and the US that was launched against Iran in 2010.
• Since Trump quit the nuclear deal, Iran has gone full-steam ahead in ramping up its nuclear weapons programme, while reportedly hiding its key installations in deep underground bunkers that are thought impossible to destroy from the air.

• Carrar , a provider of battery modules and thermal management systems for electric vehicles (EVs), today announced the closing of its $5.3 million Series A funding round to deliver commercial automotive-grade battery modules for electric vehicles with novel internal thermal management based on two-phase immersion technology.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240409037388/en/
  Carrar commercial electric vehicle battery module (Photo: Carrar)
  The round included new investors Salida B.V., OurCrowd, and NextGear, and current investors Gentherm, Next Leap Ventures, Dive Digital, and others.
• Carrar is transforming e-mobility with battery modules and thermal management systems that dissipate twice the amount of heat of existing solutions, increasing battery lifespan three-fold.
• Carrar also improves EV safety by preventing the temperature spirals caused by battery exothermic processes, which lead to thermal runaway and battery fire.