Former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman to cease donations to UPenn over school’s response to Hamas attack

Former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman slammed the University of Pennsylvania’s response to the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas, and pledged to stop giving money to the institution where he and his family have been prominent donors.

“To the outsider, it appears that Penn has become deeply adrift in ways that make it almost unrecognizable,” Huntsman, who graduated from the university in 1987, wrote to the school’s president, Liz Magill, according to an email obtained by the student newspaper The Daily Pennsylvanian.

The former Utah governor told Magill that the Huntsman Foundation “will close its checkbook on all future giving to Penn,” ending years of giving that, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian, has amounted to tens of millions of dollars.

Huntsman did not immediately respond to POLITICO's request for comment.

The controversy on campus began before the Oct. 7 Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel. In September, the school hosted the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, a multiday event that included some speakers who had a history of making antisemitic remarks. The event received pushback from prominent donors and trustees at the university, including billionaire Marc Rowan and “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf.

Administrators including Magill issued a statement condemning antisemitism ahead of the event.

“While the Festival will feature more than 100 speakers, many have raised deep concerns about several speakers who have a documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism by speaking and acting in ways that denigrate Jewish people. We unequivocally — and emphatically — condemn antisemitism as antithetical to our institutional values,” the administrators wrote at the time.

In the days following the Oct. 7 attack, Magill and Penn’s Provost John L. Jackson Jr. condemned the assault as “abhorrent.”

“Many members of our community are hurting right now. Our thoughts are especially with those grieving the loss of loved ones or facing grave uncertainty about the safety of their families and friends,” the pair wrote.

That didn’t stop Huntsman from criticizing what he said was the university’s “silence” on the issue.

“The University’s silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil against the people of Israel (when the only response should be outright condemnation) is a new low. Silence is antisemitism,” Huntsman wrote in the email.

In response to the backlash over the initial statement, and the resignation of one of the university's trustees, Vahan Gureghian — who said in his resignation that the school community had been "failed by an embrace of antisemitism," according to CNN — Magill followed up with an email addressed to members of the Penn community on Sunday morning that more explicitly condemned Hamas.

“The University has made public statements denouncing acts of antisemitism on our campus and the terrorist attacks in Israel,” Magill wrote. “I want to leave no doubt about where I stand. I, and this University, are horrified by and condemn Hamas’s terrorist assault on Israel and their violent atrocities against civilians. There is no justification—none—for these heinous attacks, which have consumed the region and are inciting violence in other parts of the world.”

The University of Pennsylvania is one of several elite universities across the country mired in controversy over leaders' responses to the current fighting in the Middle East. Students, alumni and supporters at Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford, among other schools, have been bitterly divided by the fighting.

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Scott’s super PAC cancels TV ad reservations as campaign sputters

The super PAC supporting Tim Scott’s presidential bid is canceling most of its remaining TV spending, reversing course after reserving $40 million in ads for him ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

The retreat from TV is the latest sign of how dire the primary has become for a candidate who once anticipated outside help from big donors — but who is now polling in low single digits and hasn’t yet qualified for the third debate.

In a memo to donors, Trust In the Mission PAC, also known as “TIM PAC,” announced it will cancel “all of our Fall media inventory,” according to a copy of the document obtained by POLITICO.

“We are doing what would be obvious in the business world but will mystify politicos — we aren’t going to waste our money when the electorate isn’t focused or ready for a Trump alternative,” wrote Rob Collins, co-chair of the super PAC, who said the “Never-Trump field” is going to be “wasting money this fall” trying to undermine Trump’s current lead.

“This electorate is locked up and money spent on mass media isn’t going to change minds until we get a lot closer to voting,” Collins continued.

The group will instead “fully fund” its current grassroots and door-knocking program, Collins told donors. “The field remains splintered, so we will be patient,” he said.

It’s unclear how much of the $40 million television ad program the super PAC is canceling. A person with knowledge of the plan, granted anonymity to speak freely, said some winter advertising scheduled closer to the Iowa caucuses will remain.

The super PAC’s reversal of strategy illustrates the continued difficulty anyone but Donald Trump has had gaining traction in the GOP primary. The pivot comes as the South Carolina senator is lagging in both early state and national polling, and as he has been eclipsed by his homestate rival, Nikki Haley. While Scott’s polling average remains around 6 percent in the first-caucus state of Iowa, his national standing is even lower, at 2 percent, with a recent Fox News poll showing him at 1 percent.

Collins wrote that the super PAC will host events for Scott, a strategy that for months has been employed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allied super PAC as the governor’s own campaign faced a cash crunch. Scott on Sunday reported raising $4.6 million in the third quarter, while burning through more than $12 million from July through September.

Scott was once seen by high-dollar GOP donors and some Republican consultants as one of the top alternatives to Trump, should DeSantis’ momentum fizzle out. DeSantis’ polling lead over his non-Trump rivals has indeed all but vanished, though Haley is now the one with the attention of top Republican financiers desperately trying to stop Trump from securing the nomination — a task that remains a longshot.

The pro-Scott super PAC, headed by Collins and former Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), in July touted its substantial $40 million fall television advertisement reservation, a series of ads that would run in the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina through January. To date, TIM PAC has run just over $10 million worth of television ads, a nearly equal amount to Scott’s campaign, according to AdImpact.

Scott in the past week has dismissed questions about whether he intends to drop out soon, including after conservative columnist George Will called on him to leave the race and endorse Haley.

Collins also cautioned against any movement to unite around Haley, writing that those at the super PAC “reject this advice” and slamming her as not being conservative enough to win the Republican nomination.

“No serious person thinks a moderate will win this primary no matter how many elite insiders champion their candidacies,” he said, while later saying “DeSantis and Haley have only traded vote share.”

In response to a request for comment on the super PAC’s change in strategy, Scott campaign spokesperson Matt Gorman said the campaign, from its launch, “was built for the long haul,” noting Scott’s early cash advantage and high favorability ratings.

“On issues ranging from foreign policy to abortion, he has been the clearest and strongest voice, leading while others have followed,” Gorman said in a statement. “We’re ready, as ever, to take our message into the early states and beyond.”

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Senator-turned-university-president disses fellow educators for silence

University of Florida President Ben Sasse, a former Nebraska senator, criticized other academic leaders around the nation for not publicly condemning the Hamas-led attack on Israel last week.

“You got so many universities around the country [who] speak about every topic under the sun, Halloween costumes and microaggressions. But somehow in a moment of the most grave grotesque attacks on Jewish people since the Holocaust, they all of a sudden say there’s too much complexity to say anything,” the former Republican senator said during an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

In Sasse’s own statement, addressed to Jewish students and alumni at the University of Florida, he forcefully condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and slammed those in “elite academia” inadvertently or explicitly expressing support for Hamas. Sasse also promised to “protect our students” in the event it becomes the site of any “anti-Israel” protests.

The current fighting between Israel and Hamas forces in Gaza has caused bitter division on numerous college campuses across the country.

At Harvard, a statement from student groups that blamed Israel for the Hamas-led attack spurred outrage from several prominent alumni, including members of Congress. Harvard issued its own statement, which was also the subject of fierce online backlash.

Following that response, Harvard University President Claudine Gay issued an independent statement on Tuesday condemning the “terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.”

Saying "it's easy to condemn evil as evil," Sasse told host Shannon Bream he didn't understand all the ambiguity from other educational leaders.

"We just did two basic things," Sasse said Sunday. "We announced that we’re going to protect our Jewish students, and we’re going to protect speech."

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In Hamas’ horrific killings, Israeli trauma over the Holocaust resurfaces

TEL AVIV, Israel — Women, children and older adults hiding in safe rooms gunned down mercilessly. Homes set ablaze with terrified residents still inside them. Children, some bound, forced into a room and slaughtered. Jews, helpless.

For many Israelis and Jews around the world, the horrors committed by Hamas militants during their stunning onslaught on southern Israeli communities is triggering painful memories of a calamity of a far greater scale: the Holocaust.

Long seen as a catastrophe so horrific nothing else should be compared to it, Israelis are now drawing direct parallels between the murder of 6 million Jews in Europe eight decades ago and their most recent tragedy, underscoring how traumatic the attack has been for a country that rose from the ashes of World War II and was created as a safe haven for Jews.

“I have been strict about not using the word ‘Shoah’ in any context other than the Holocaust,” political commentator Ben Caspit wrote in the daily Maariv, referring to the Holocaust by its Hebrew name. “When Jewish children hide in a protected room and their anguished parents pray that they won’t cry, so that the marauders won’t come in and set the house on fire, it’s a Shoah.”

Israel’s retaliation against Hamas in Gaza has also drawn comparisons to the Palestinians’ greatest national tragedy, the Nakba, when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced to flee following the 1948 war that led to Israel’s creation. Many Palestinians fear a repeat of that mass exodus after Israel ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza.

Just a few years ago, comparisons to the Holocaust would have been promptly denounced as cheapening its memory and diminishing the horror of the Nazi crimes.

That has begun to erode in recent years — with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluding to the Nazis when talking about Iran and its nuclear program and protesters on rival sides of the political aisle calling each other “Nazis.” Still, such incidents remain rare and often draw criticism.

But the horrors of the Oct. 7 Hamas assault, which killed at least 1,300 Israelis, have tapped into Israel’s deepest fears and revived memories of the Jews’ greatest trauma.

Hundreds of militants stormed across the border, catching the country and its vaunted military off guard on a major Jewish holiday. They attacked sleepy farming villages, slaughtering terrified residents.

The militants killed at least 260 revelers at a music festival, with survivors telling harrowing stories of methodical massacres.

Dozens were dragged away as hostages on motorcycles and golf carts. Some of the dead and captured were Holocaust survivors.

“This is a massacre. This is a pogrom,” said Maj. Gen. Itai Veruv, leader of forces that cleared one of the besieged villages, referring to historic massacres of European Jews.

In the Holocaust, Nazis led a campaign of genocide, rounding up and murdering many of Europe’s Jews, while sending others on trains to death or labor camps.

Israel made protecting Jews from similar atrocities part of its raison d’etre. Many Israelis see their country as a refuge, a nation with a strong army that could protect Jews despite regional threats. Many Jews in the diaspora share that feeling, seeing Israel as a safe haven should Jews be persecuted again.

While the Hamas attack did not nearly approach the Holocaust’s scale, it marked the deadliest day for Jews since then and its well-planned slaughter reopened a wound that remains fresh for many in Israel.

Netanyahu compared the festival killings to the Babi Yar massacre, one of the most infamous mass slaughters of World War II in which more than 33,000 Jews were killed. He has declared that Israel will “never forget,” a clear reflection of Israel’s vow to never let the Holocaust disappear from the world’s collective memory. Dany Cushmaro, an Israeli newscaster, began referring to the Hamas militants as “those Nazis.”

Israel’s allies abroad also have made the connection.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to his late father-in-law, a Holocaust survivor, during a visit to Israel and said the attacks had “harrowing echoes” of Nazi massacres. A reel posted to Instagram by the pro-Israel group Stand With Us shows a candle and the number 6 million slowly ticking up to include the 1,300 slain Israelis.

The memory of the mass murder of Jews looms large over Israel. It holds a memorial day, where Israelis stand still during a one-minute siren to remember the dead. The Holocaust is taught in depth in schools. Youth groups and soldiers visit the death camps in Europe. And visiting dignitaries are taken to the country’s Holocaust memorial.

Israeli historian Tom Segev said it was natural for Israelis to make the connection between the Hamas attack and the nation’s deeply embedded trauma. “This is the ultimate evil that the person in Israel recognizes,” he said.

But he said Israeli leaders across the political spectrum have for decades tried to exploit the memory of the Holocaust for political gain.

Israelis have, in some cases, become furious when comparisons are made.

In a 2016 speech marking Israel’s Holocaust memorial day, Yair Golan, then deputy military chief, said he was witnessing “nauseating processes” in Israeli society that reminded him of the fascism of Nazi-era Germany. The speech drew angry reactions from Israeli leaders and is widely believed to be the reason Golan was passed over for the army’s top job.

Prominent activists on rival sides of Israel’s recent judicial overhaul controversy sparked uproars over Holocaust-related comments.

Some critics of Israel, meanwhile, compare Israeli actions against the Palestinians to the Nazis, which Israel condemns as antisemitism.

Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the Holocaust is being used by Israel and its allies to build legitimacy for its strikes against Hamas, which have killed at least 2,200 Palestinians, and to appeal to Jews in the diaspora.

She said the comparisons could also have dangerous consequences for the way the war plays out.

“When you invoke the Holocaust, it’s the worst of the worst,” Zonszein said, adding that Israel’s response could be severe.

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Biden speaks with Netanyahu, Abbas

President Joe Biden reiterated U.S. efforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from escalating into a regional war and to safeguard civilians’ access to vital resources, according to readouts of separate calls with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Saturday.

Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that all countries must “condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization that does not represent the aspirations of the Palestinian people,” while reiterating U.S. support for Israel.

Biden’s call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was the first between the two since Hamas’ attack last week, while his conversation with Netanyahu was their fifth such call.

“President Biden condemned Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel and reiterated that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination,” said the White House readout of the call with Abbas, adding that Biden offered Abbas and the Palestinian Authority his full support for humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

The president spoke to both leaders about coordination with the United Nations, Egypt, Jordan and other countries in the region to ensure access to water, food and medical care for all civilians.

In both calls, Biden emphasized the need to prevent the conflict from expanding, reflecting widespread concern that other parties such as Iran, which has backed Hamas, or Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group also backed by Iran, might jump into the war.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who visited Israel on Friday, also spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Saturday to discuss humanitarian concerns and the possibility of the conflict widening, according to a readout of their call.

Austin raised the “importance of adhering to the law of war” and abiding by civilian protection obligations, and noted the need to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The defense secretary also told Gallant that “posture increases in the region are intended to make clear his commitment to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war.”

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FBI director warns of increase in domestic threats related to Middle East conflict

FBI director Christopher Wray on Saturday said reported domestic threats have surged as conflict in Israel escalates.

Wray acknowledged the increase in threats due to the “heightened environment,” calling for increased vigilance and requesting that police continue to share intelligence and observations.

“History has been witness to antisemitic and other forms of violent extremism for far too long. Whether that be from foreign terrorist organizations, or those inspired by them, or domestic violent extremists motivated by their own racial animus, the targeting of a community because of their faith is completely unacceptable,” Wray said in his prepared remarks at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in San Diego.

“We remain committed to continue confronting those threats — both here in the United States and overseas,” he said.

“I want to take a moment to offer my heartfelt condolences to the people of Israel, and share the outrage I know we all feel at the sheer brutality and disregard for innocent lives there,” Wray added.

The FBI does not have “specific and credible intelligence indicating a threat to the United States stemming from the Hamas attacks in Israel,” but continues to monitor events as they unfold, the agency said in a statement issued on Monday.

No further efforts by Wray or the agency have been made public as of yet, although the release noted that FBI personnel was involved in efforts to locate affected Americans.

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DeSantis: U.S. should not accept Gaza refugees

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on Saturday said the U.S. should not accept Gaza refugees as conflict in the Middle East escalates.

“If you look at how [people in Gaza] behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all anti-Semitic,” the Florida governor said at a campaign event in Iowa.

Israel is expected to move forward with a ground invasion of northern Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ attacks last weekend. Palestinians in Gaza have struggled to follow an evacuation order, which covers an area with over 1.1 million residents — about half of the territory’s population — and demands that they cram into the southern half of the 25-mile strip.

“We cannot accept people from Gaza into this country as refugees,” DeSantis told the audience.

Instead, he said “the Arab states” should take them in. “You don’t fly people and import them into the United States of America,” he added.

DeSantis, a longtime supporter of Israel, called for a “swift and lethal response” following Hamas’ attack last week.

The Florida governor signed an executive order Thursday directing the state to arrange charter flights for Americans out of Israel — in addition to those already ordered by the Biden administration.

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