POLITICO NIGHTLY: Welcome to tepid vax summer

View in browser   BY JOANNE KENEN With help from Tyler Weyant People walk past a Covid testing site in New York City. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY — Entering our third pandemic summer, it’s easy to get frustrated with the vaccines. They aren’t as effective against variants and subvariants that keep taunting us. They aren’t preventing ongoing transmission of infection — and reinfection. They didn’t restore our pre-pandemic normal (partly because too many people refused a vaccine, often for ideological reasons). And we keep needing more boosters. But the vaccines are a victim of their own success. We complain about them because we have such high expectations for them — because they’ve worked so well. Heading into June 2022, it’s easy to forget where we were in October 2020. Back then, we were hoping for a vaccine — one vaccine — that would be at least 50 percent effective. Instead the world has numerous vaccines — and more in the pipeline. The ones used here in the U.S. — Pfizer, Moderna and, to a lesser extent because of the clotting risk, Johnson & Johnson — are way more than 50 percent effective at protecting us against serious disease and death. Hundreds of people are still dying from Covid-19 every day. But not thousands. Whatever their shortcomings, the coronavirus vaccines are extraordinary. They’ve saved millions of lives, Harvard epidemiologist William Hanage reminded Nightly. The pandemic has put horrific pressures on health care systems and health care workers. But everything would have been even worse without the shots. “Remember back in 2020, you had only one way to get immunity — to get infected. To be sick. And that was extremely high risk, for older people in particular,” Hanage said. But that was then. Our expectations — and our pandemic fatigue — are higher now. The question for vaccines now is what’s next. The answer could come in one of several forms. The government is now emphasizing both vaccination and treatment. White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said the other day that public health officials are “making sure that we have a new generation of vaccines that are being worked on right now, that we have availability of treatments and testing and we have the resources.” The FDA and its advisory board are considering whether and how the vaccines should be modified to better protect against variants. The shots we get now were a response to the original or “wild” or “ancestral” version of the virus that spread throughout the world in early 2020. We’ve been through two-thirds of the Greek alphabet since then. More data about a reformulated version should come within a few weeks, an administration official told Nightly. But even if the shots are updated to better target the virus as it exists today — or to make the protective response more enduring — it wouldn’t guarantee that a newer vaccine would protect us as effectively against yet another mutation should one arise. But broader protection should help. The holy grail is a pan-coronavirus vaccine, one that would protect us against all variants and subtypes. The science is within reach — but so far, the money isn’t, Eric Topol, a cardiologist, med school professor and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, told Nightly. Congressional Republicans have snubbed even the scaled-down pandemic spending bill President Joe Biden has requested. Nor has any international consortium, of other nations or philanthropies, stepped up to fund what is basically an Operation Warp Speed Part 2. That lack of urgency — and financing — worries Topol. “The cracks (in protection) against serious, severe disease haven’t been adequately acknowledged,” Topol said. “We’ve got chinks in the armor.” Another path is to develop a nasal (or possibly an oral) vaccine. That would give us “mucosal immunity” — meaning it would target our noses so the virus couldn’t get in. We’d be less likely to get breakthrough infections and less likely to spread the coronavirus to others. A few are already in clinical trials. Emily Landon, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago Medicine, said the antibodies produced by a traditional injection are like “the bouncers of the immune system,” kicking viruses out of our cells before they harm us. A nasal vaccine would create “the bouncer’s bouncer” — an outer perimeter of protection. Plus a nose spray would probably have fewer side effects, Topol said. And there are no needles, which is a bonus because needle phobia is one reason some people have shunned vaccination so far. “Heterologous” immunity — scientists’ polysyllabic term for “mix and match” vaccines — is another potential tool. So someone who had an mRNA shot might get a booster of a more traditional kind of vaccine. It’s being studied — but it’s difficult, partly because there are so many possible combinations of vaccines and doses and intervals. (Plus, vaccine makers don’t have an incentive to do expensive studies that hand a portion of their market to a competitor). A final pathway — and it’s not the one most of us want to hear — is that we (or at least the high risk among us) may in fact need shots twice a year for some time to come, Landon said. We get flu shots (or we are advised to) every year — but the flu circulates for only a few months at a time. At the moment, Covid is a year-round phenomenon, rolling from one region or hot spot to another and back around, so a once a year shot isn’t enough. Plus, she said: ”Our immunity to respiratory viruses just doesn’t last very long. It never has.” Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Tyler here. I’ll have more to say below, but I wanted to thank all of our readers. Your time and trust in us means more than you know. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author on Twitter at @JoanneKenen.   DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED:  Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today.     WHAT'D I MISS? — Michael Sussmann acquitted on charge brought by special counsel Durham: The first courtroom test for Special Counsel John Durham ended in defeat today as a federal jury found a Democratic attorney not guilty of making a false statement to the FBI about allegations of computer links between Donald Trump and Russia. The jury deliberated for about six hours before acquitting Sussmann, 57, on the single felony charge he faced: that he lied when he allegedly denied he was acting on behalf of any client in alerting the FBI to claims that a secret server linked Trump and a Moscow bank with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. — Supreme Court declines to block Texas law on social media ‘censorship’: The Supreme Court blocked enforcement of a Texas law banning online platforms from restricting users’ posts based on their political views , representing a major win for social media companies. Tech industry groups had said the statute would violate the companies’ First Amendment rights and force them to carry “the vilest speech imaginable — such as white supremacist manifestos, Nazi screeds, Russian-state propaganda, Holocaust denial, and terrorist-organization recruitment.” Heat rises from a street under high tension electrical lines in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles. | AP Photo/Richard Vogel — Spiking temperatures could cause more blackouts this summer: Texas, the West and Midwest are bracing for potentially dangerous and costly blackouts this summer due to extreme weather and volatile gas prices — but regulators are split on how to keep the power on now and in summers to come. In the Midwest, early coal plant retirements and a lack of replacement power threaten to create a precarious gap between supply and demand as temperatures rise going into June. And aging coal and gas-fired plants across the West risk being forced to reduce their output or shut down entirely as extreme heat and drought conditions threaten their access to water and disrupt required maintenance. — Boris Johnson could have broken ministerial code with Partygate, his standards adviser says: Boris Johnson’s standards adviser has suggested the British prime minister may have broken the ministerial code when he was fined by police for disobeying coronavirus lockdown rules. Christopher Geidt — Johnson’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests — wrote today that there was a “legitimate question” over whether Johnson had broken the code governing ministers’ behavior, in reference to the Partygate scandal concerning multiple lockdown parties in Downing Street. AROUND THE WORLD EU TO AFRICA: BEWARE RUSSIA’S FOOD MESSAGE — European leaders appealed today to African countries not to fall for a Kremlin-led propaganda campaign that paints an impending global food crisis as the result of Western sanctions against Russia, Giorgio Leali and Jacopo Barigazzi write. Africa and the Middle East risk being severely affected by Ukraine’s inability to ship its massive grain harvests out of the Black Sea, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly accused the West of being responsible for the disruption to global supply of grains and fertilizers. He reiterated his message last Saturday, when he told French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that ruptures in food networks should be blamed on Western countries, rather than on his invasion of Ukraine. At a European Council summit in Brussels today, EU leaders rejected that allegation and insisted that Moscow is to blame for the blockage of grains in the port of Odessa.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     NIGHTLY NUMBER At least 21 The number of Black staffers who have left the White House since late last year or are planning to leave soon . Some of those who remain describe a work environment with little support from their superiors and fewer chances for promotion. The departures have been so pronounced that, according to one current and one former White House official, some Black aides have adopted a term for them: “Blaxit.” PARTING WORDS STUCK — Nightly’s Tyler Weyant emails: “We’re in a rut.” It’s a phrase I doubt has been written in Nightly before, but it’s one we say to one another all the time, at least once every couple of months of covering the pandemic, the beat that started it all for Nightly. Occasionally, we look across the landscape of pandemic issues, and have trouble figuring out what hasn’t been said yet, what we haven’t said before. Well, I am in my last rut at Nightly. After today, I start a new role at POLITICO, working with our exceptional Congress team. And after hundreds of editions, doing basically every job you can have at this newsletter, I am in a rut as to what to say. I have written nine different versions of this item in the last week and a half. A few sounded like bleak graduation speeches, one that said “I’m tired of being sad and sad about being tired” multiple times. In five of the previous editions, I used the phrase “I’m not a guy who will literally write a farewell column before going to therapy.” Cringe isn’t a strong enough word. I tried to get out of the rut by doing things in my personal life. I went on walks. I watched Maryland win a lacrosse national championship. I rode a mechanical bull. I bought copious amounts of fudge on vacation. But in the end, I got out of the rut the way we get out of it so often while reporting on the pandemic and other matters: I leaned into it. I wrote the rut. What I wrote the day of the Uvalde shooting, “Mass shootings have become America’s copy and paste tragedy.” That is another rut. We are stuck in a cycle of something awful and someone needs to plainly say it. It seems we need all the time in our current politics to clearly explain the rut. Most political issues in the country seem to be mosquitos stuck in amber, and despite eccentric billionaires’ efforts to extract their DNA and perhaps make monsters, they are still quite stuck. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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Florida judge BLOCKS voter suppression bill

 

We fund voter protection

This is good news:

Judge Mark Walker just BLOCKED most of Florida's new voter suppression bill, SB 90.

What’s more, he explicitly called out the Supreme Court of the United States for putting the right to vote "under siege" by "gutting" the Voting Rights Act.

Judge Walker recognized what we all know to be true: “Florida has repeatedly sought to make voting tougher for Black voters.”

Judge Walker went on to say, "Federal courts would not countenance a law denying Christians their sacred right to prayer, and they should not countenance a law denying Floridians their sacred right to vote."

We couldn’t agree more.

Voting rights are under attack on every level of our government, and these attacks are designed to disenfranchise voters of color. We must do everything in our power to defend those sacred rights.

We are grateful to judges like Judge Walker who recognize the importance of preserving voting rights, and we’re standing up to do our part for democracy – by making sustained investments in year-round voter protection programs in key states..

Right now, we’re humbly asking for your help. Will you please donate any amount to Power the Vote right now and support our efforts to protect the vote in key states across the country? We rely on grassroots contributions from folks like you:

Thank you for your support,

Power the Vote

 

We Fund Voter Protection In 2020, we ran the Democratic Party’s Voter Protection Program in Georgia, when the state flipped blue for the first time in nearly 30 years. We pioneered a new model of voter protection, built on sustained investments and long-lasting relationships. Now, we’re building on that success and adapting the Georgia model to fight voter suppression in other states. CHIP IN »

 

 

 

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Rand Paul is urging Congress to pass a nationwide ban on abortion

 

It’s shameful.

Rand Paul sent an email pushing for a nationwide ban on abortion. Take a look yourself:

The “Life at Conception Act” is the next step for dangerous anti-women legislators – a total and unequivocal nationwide ban on abortion, without exception for rape or incest. This law is so extreme, 80 percent of the country does not support it. 

if you think this legislation is as dangerous as we do, will you chip in $10 right now to our people-powered campaign so we can send Charles Booker to the U.S. Senate?

This is a blatant affront to human rights. Period. 

What’s happening right now — from Rand’s support for a nationwide abortion ban, to the Supreme Court deciding to repeal Roe v. Wade — is an urgent warning of what’s to come if we don’t take action now. 

We must abolish the filibuster. We must pass the Women’s Health Protection Act. We must keep organizing to make sure everyone has quality healthcare, including abortion coverage. We must expand the Supreme Court. 

But to make this a reality, we must replace anti-abortion Senators like Rand Paul and expand our majority so we can pass the policies we need. 

We need your help to make this happen. Will you chip in $10 right now to show Rand Paul that this movement is rising up to end his political career?

Let’s do this,

Team Booker

 

Donate

Email us: info@charlesbooker.org

Contributions to Booker for Kentucky are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. To contribute via check, please address to PO Box 4369, Louisville, KY 40204.

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Re: The NRA Convention

 

I wanted to make sure you saw this note from Renée before the NRA’s convention ends tonight. Unsurprisingly, NRA leaders and politicians like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have spent the weekend blaming the tragedy in Uvalde, TX on mental health, video games, the decline in church attendance, or bullying. Anything except easy access to weapons of war. I hope you’ll join us in recommitting to the fight to take on the gun lobby by taking action and donating. – Maureen (she/her)

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: The Alliance for Gun Responsibility Date: Fri, May 27, 2022 at 10:25 AM Subject: The NRA Convention

Hi — Right now, the NRA is holding its annual convention in Houston, just a short drive from Uvalde, TX where 19 children and two teachers were murdered in what should have been the safe haven of their classroom. I wanted to share the full statement below, which I sent to the press today, because it sums up my anger and my resolve. We are not doomed to repeat this cycle again and again. We can choose a safer, more just future. And we must.

DEMAND A FEDERAL ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN

Thank you for fighting alongside us. – Renée (she/her) PS - We've created an Emergency Action Fund to take down the gun lobby once and for all. Please fund our fight. *** “Today, the NRA is holding its annual meeting just a few hundred miles from Robb Elementary School, where 19 young children and two teachers were gunned down in their classroom on Tuesday. This glaring juxtaposition is horrifyingly fitting. In the last two weeks, we have been forced to confront, in the most devastating ways, the country that the NRA and cowardly elected officials have created. A country where children are murdered in their classrooms, where parents, grandparents, friends, and neighbors are killed by a white supremacist at their local grocery store, where churchgoers are shot during a service because of their ethnicity. The gun lobby has spent decades fomenting racism, hate, and fear in its pursuit of profit and power. But it has not created this grim reality alone. Every elected leader, Republican and Democrat alike, who has refused to stand up to the gun lobby and act has blood on their hands too. In Washington state, we’ve proven that the NRA’s stranglehold can be broken. We have beat them at the ballot box and in the legislature, passing dozens of lifesaving bills and electing gun responsibility majorities. We’ve beat them here and we will beat them in the other Washington too. We refuse to allow our country to be held hostage by the gun lobby any longer. We refuse to accept empty platitudes and political excuses. We refuse to keep burying our children.”

PAID FOR BY ALLIANCE FOR GUN RESPONSIBILITY P.O. Box 4187 Seattle, WA 98194

major victory against the criminal insurrectionists

 

Across the nation, our members are defending democracy by filing legal complaints against criminal insurrectionists — like Majorie Taylor Greene — to stop them from running for office ever again. Now, a Federal appeals court judge has ruled that the Constitution is on our side — the 14th Amendment disqualifies insurrectionists who broke their oath of office from running for office. Period. As Congress gets ready to hold hearings on the January 6th insurrection plot, we’re proving that regular people can stand up to defend our democracy – and win! In solidarity, Our Revolution Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Website | Sign Up Our Revolution is the largest entirely grassroots funded progressive group in America. Last year alone, we elected 74% of our 450 endorsed progressive candidates by mobilizing on the ground AND in the halls of power.

PAID FOR BY OUR REVOLUTION PO Box 66208 WASHINGTON, DC, 20035 Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee. Our Revolution is a 501(c)(4) organization. Donations to Our Revolution are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes. All donations are made to support Our Revolution’s general mission and are not designated for any specific activity.

These are the ultra-wealthy donors pouring money into the recall battle JUNE 7 ELECTION

 

Money from ultra-wealthy political donors, many who’ve made their fortunes in the tech industry, is pouring into the battle to recall me from office. To date, just 8 days away from the June 7 election, the recall camp has a huge financial advantage, having generated more than $6 million in donations -- mostly from just a few major donors -- versus just over $1 million for our campaign. I hate to ask, but this is urgent: Will you donate $25 or more to help my campaign fight back against the donors who are trying to execute a covert Republican coup in our city? DONATE NOW » One of the major donors is David Sacks, a Tucker Carlson fan-boy and former PayPal executive. Another supporter is Ron Conway, a tech executive and early investor in DoorDash. Here's the bottom line: I always knew that the “tech bros” in Silicon Valley would try to buy this office back from the people of our city. But I thought they’d at least let me finish my first term. We are facing an unprecedented onslaught of negative ads and false campaigning -- exacerbated by a massive fundraising disadvantage. So I need your help to fight back. Please, donate what you can today. And let’s send a message that our city isn’t for sale -- not to the tech industry or to anyone else. Thanks for your support,  Chesa Boudin District Attorney, San Francisco Chesa Boudin was elected District Attorney of San Francisco in 2019 to reform our criminal justice system. Now, right-wingers  want to reverse our progress and return our city to a time when innocent people were locked away and police acted with impunity. Please chip in today to keep up the fight to reform San Francisco's criminal justice system. DONATE NOW » 20 Galli Drive Ste A Novato, CA 94949 Friend of Chesa Boudin Opposing the Recall 20 Galli Drive Ste A Novato, CA 94949-5731 United States

 

Ad paid for by No on H, Friends of Chesa Boudin Opposing the Recall, FPPC #1437058, Financial Disclosures available at SFethics.org Committee major funding from: 1. Dignity CA SEIU Local 2015 ($125,000)  2. Service Employees International Union Local 1021 candidate PAC ($115,000) 3. Christian Larsen ($115,000)

They stabbed this mama dolphin and left her for dead

 

Authorities must find the perpetrator and prevent future crimes!

A Dolphin Had Recently Given Birth to a New Baby. Then Someone Stabbed Her to Death, and the Killer Is Still at Large!

Sign Now

In March of this year, authorities found a bottlenose dolphin dead on a beach in Fort Myers, Florida — and she appears to have been violently stabbed to death. Even more disturbingly, this murdered dolphin was a lactating mother, meaning her young, vulnerable calf is now an orphan. Now that it has no source of food, care, or protection, it will likely not survive on its own. This is not an uncommon occurrence. In fact, in less than two decades, more than 30 dolphins have been intentionally stabbed or shot in the Gulf of Mexico alone. Clearly, authorities need to do something to cut down on these horrific deaths.   Officials have offered a $5,000 reward to anyone who helps them find and arrest the perpetrator. While this is a good start, it is not enough. In Florida, there are no laws preventing whoever did this from owning a pet or other helpless animal — even if they are found and convicted. Research shows that when a person commits an act like this to one animal, they're likely to do it again to another in the future. Florida authorities must first find the perpetrator of this heinous crime. Once they do, officials must ban the individual from ever owning or living with an animal, and revoke their boating license to reduce the likelihood of repeated crimes. Sign the petition now if you agree!

Thank you, Miranda Care2 Petitions Team

P.S. Dolphins are smart and social creatures, with unique names and tight family attachments. That makes losing a new mama dolphin in this way even more heartbreaking. Sign the petition.

RSN: FOCUS | Cornel West: US Media Is Complicit in the Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh

 

 

31 May 22

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FOCUS | Cornel West: US Media Is Complicit in the Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh
Azad Essa, Middle East Eye
Essa writes: "In a scathing rebuke of the distorted media coverage of Abu Akleh's murder, West told Middle East Eye that it was the complicity of the larger American establishment, including academia, media and elected officials which allowed Israel to behave with the belief that it could get away with just about anything."

American philosopher tells Middle East Eye that Israel acts with impunity because it still has support from the media, academia and US lawmakers

US media should consider themselves complicit in the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Cornel West has said.

In a scathing rebuke of the distorted media coverage of Abu Akleh's murder, West told Middle East Eye that it was the complicity of the larger American establishment, including academia, media and elected officials which allowed Israel to behave with the belief that it could get away with just about anything.

"The propaganda machine that comes out of Israel when it comes to the precious humanity of Palestinians is just sad. But it has so much to do with mass complicity. It has to do with The New York Times and The Washington Post, and CNN and MSNBC, and others, not wanting to be truthful about themselves," said West, who is considered one of America's foremost public intellectuals.

"The Israeli government has such an assumption of impunity. It can do anything and get away with it and have the complicity of the media in the United States and in the West. The complicity of American politicians, the complicity of too many American intellectuals, the complicity of American elected officials."

"It is as much the cowardly complicity that we axe at as well as the mendacity and the criminality of the Israeli occupation," West added.

Parroting Israeli PR

West's comments come as the call for justice and accountability for the murder of Abu Akleh appear to be headed into a cul-de-sac.

Though several US lawmakers have urged the FBI to conduct an investigation into the incident, authorities have shown little interest in doing so.

Israel has already indicated that it will not be pursuing the matter.

On Wednesday, two weeks after Abu Akleh was killed, CNN released a report in which it concluded that the journalist's death had come from a targeted attack by Israeli troops in Jenin.

Whereas several Palestinian journalists said at the time of the shooting that the veteran Al Jazeera journalist had been shot by Israeli forces, outlets like the New York Times, the Associated Press, The Guardian and the BBC parroted disinformation released by the Israeli government that deflected responsibility away from the Israeli military.

According to a tally by Middle East Eye, 61 Palestinians, including four Palestinian citizens of Israel, have been killed in 2022 alone.

Since 2018, at least 144 Palestinian journalists have been wounded by Israeli forces in the occupied territories. Three journalists, including Abu Akleh, were killed within the same period.

"When it comes to issues of Palestinian dignity [and] rights, we get layers of lies that hide crimes. We get layers of mendacity that hide criminality," West said.

West said the public still had certain expectations from mainstream outlets like MSNBC or CNN who claim to be progressive and objective.

"You can see how that is a myth. You can see how that shattered when it comes to dealing with Palestinian plight and their predicament in the Middle East."

"And when there is a claim of concern, it is posing, it's posturing, it's acting as if it's concerned," the New York-based philosopher and academic said.

West also added to the chorus of condemnation of the double standards of the American establishment when it came to the negative portrayal of Palestinian resistance in comparison to its valorisation of Ukrainian defiance in the face of the ongoing Russian invasion.

Whereas several US states have criminalised Palestinian calls to exert boycotts and sanctions on Israel, the US is at the forefront of efforts to isolate Russia. And whereas tech giants continue to support efforts to sanction Russia, Palestinians are suspended or censored for speaking out on social media against Israeli atrocities.

"We have been sitting and watching, day after day, about the heroism of the Ukrainian in the face of a very ugly Russian imperial invasion and occupation. But yet when it comes to Palestinian heroic resistance to vicious Israeli occupation and domination, it is the exact opposite," West said.

The old guard in the US seems to be suffering from inertia in its approach to Israel-Palestine despite a significant shift in young Americans' attitudes," he added.

"So you can see the depth and the scope and the breath of the lies that hide the crimes and the mendacity that hides the criminality behind the Israeli occupation. Its a sign of desperation when you have to reach the point that you can actually murder and execute a highly prominent, highly respected, highly acclaimed Palestinian journalist and get away with it.

"The impunity has been on steroids for a long time in terms of the Israeli government feeling as if it can say anything, get away with it, and do anything and get away with it. But thats precisely how unnacountable elites behave."

West said that the Israelis were demonstrating a level of callousness and indifference to the suffering of Palestinians, an act he described as "criminal in itself".

American media has been periodically criticised for their poor coverage of the Middle East, be it the Israeli occupation or the wars in Yemen or Syria.

In a key note address in 2018, American academic Marc Lamont Hill described coverage as fundamentally racist. "The Middle East continues to be constructed in ways that define it as the moral, ethical, intellectual opposite of the West," Hill, professor of media studies at Philadelphia's Temple University, said.

In 2021, West attributed Harvard's decision to deny him tenure at the university over his pro-Palestine activism, a charge the university has denied.

"The problem is that [talking about the Israeli occupation of Palestine] is a taboo issue among certain circles in high places. It is hard to have a robust, respectful conversation about the Israeli occupation because you are immediately viewed as an anti-Jewish hater or [having] anti-Jewish prejudices," West said at the time.

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Special Coverage: Ukraine, A Historic Resistance
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