BLOOMINGTON, IN -- Universities in Indiana are working to support Afghan students and scholars; both those still in Afghanistan and those arriving to the Hoosier State.

Indiana University is a host partner for the Scholar Rescue Fund and is part of the Scholars At Risk Network, which both aim to coordinate and fund fellowships or temporary teaching and research positions for displaced scholars at other higher-education institutions across the world.

John Wilkerson, interim associate vice president for International Services at Indiana University in Bloomington, said they are working to connect with students who currently are in Camp Atterbury, after fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"There are a host of challenges that face these students," Wilkerson explained. "It can run the gamut, all the way to missing credentials to access to financial aid. How do they access state and federal financial aid?"

More than 6,000 refugees from Afghanistan are at Camp Atterbury, awaiting resettlement. As colder weather approaches, officials at the base are asking Hoosiers to consider donating clothing, especially long-sleeved t-shirts, underwear, pants and jackets.

Wilkerson pointed out it is so important for different sectors of the community to work together, to make sure entire families are able to thrive, from younger students to adults looking for job opportunities. He added if health and safety are not taken care of, it's much harder to seek an education.

"It's important as they weave themselves into the fabric of our state," Wilkerson contended. "It's important for us to ensure that they have every opportunity to succeed here, to find a home and to be great contributors to the state, culturally, economically and socially."

Groups have created a resource toolkit for universities looking to support Afghan refugees. They include determining if hosting students and scholars is right for your institution, assessing capacity and the resources that can be made available, determining a start date and connecting with community organizations and businesses.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

On Monday, Arizonans gathered at the State Capitol to honor the dead in the war between Israel and Hamas, and demand a halt to the killing.

Liz Hourican, one of the protest organizers, said the event was intended to call on Congress and policymakers to support a ceasefire, enable greater humanitarian access to Gaza and stop the use of American tax dollars for Israel to buy weapons that have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, including over 4,500 children.

Hourican said it's time to question what she calls the United States' "blind support of Israel."

"The 'security state' that we the taxpayer have long been paying for - and they have a special exemption, with regards to weapons and military funding, etc," she said. "We have to take a look at this, that we are all with blood on our hands as taxpayers."

The Biden administration supports a humanitarian pause in the conflict, but has not yet called for a ceasefire. Some lawmakers in Congress have sponsored efforts to put an end to hostilities in the region and send humanitarian aid to Gaza, but these have gained little traction. This comes as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk last week accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes.

Hourican argued it is unacceptable to think the four-hour daily "humanitarian pauses" Israel recently agreed to in northern Gaza are enough. The protesters said hospitals as well as places of worship shouldn't be caught in the cross-hairs of the conflict. Hourican added they don't think Congress should be funding efforts that put innocent lives in harm's way.

"We cannot pay for an outpost in the Middle East to harm Palestinians. They deserve respect and human rights. One word sums it up - 'equality' - but 'ceasefire' today," she said.

Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have increased across the U.S. since the war erupted. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy organization, received nearly 1,300 requests for help and reports of bias between early October and early November. In an average month last year, the group saw just over 400 complaints.

One of the nation's largest labor unions has become the latest organization to demand a ceasefire in Gaza as Israel's war with Hamas plays out.

The American Postal Workers Union announced on Wednesday that its members are "shocked and saddened by the tragic and ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine." The statement condemned the Hamas violence of Oct. 7 but also said Israel's response "has made the prospects for peace more remote."

APWU Detroit local president Keith Combs said an estimated 4,000 children are among more than 10,000 deaths in the conflict so far.

"Israel has shut off the flow of food, water, fuel and medical supplies to the Gaza Strip, a war crime," he said. "A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding every day in Gaza. Thousands more innocent civilians stand to die - wholly preventable deaths."

The White House announced Thursday that Israel has agreed to a daily four-hour "humanitarian pause" from bombing Gaza to allow civilians to flee, but there's no word on whether those who leave will be allowed back in at a later date. The push for a longer pause came as part of President Joe Biden's renewed diplomatic push to free hostages taken by Hamas.

Combs said the union's position is that anything less than an immediate ceasefire, release of hostages and massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza will not be enough.

"We call on our government - which is the primary foreign benefactor of the Israeli government - to use all its power to protect innocent lives," he said, "and to help bring about peace in the region, and not use our tax dollars for more war."

Other unions have also made statements regarding the violence in Gaza, including Starbucks Workers United, which posted a message of solidarity with Palestine on X, formerly Twitter, on Oct. 9. Starbucks executives sued the union in federal court to stop using the company's name and logo, as trademark infringement. The union has filed its own countersuit.


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Protests have heightened in New York as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joins the United Nations General Assembly today.

Sonya Meyerson-Knox, communications director for Jewish Voice for Peace, said it is important for protesters to not limit their objection to Netanyahu's far-right government, but also to what she calls "the apartheid."

"There is no place for the way that the Israeli state has been behaving," Meyerson-Knox asserted. "This is not how we want to see Palestinians treated, this is not how we want to see anyone treated. It's not one bad apple, it is not merely Netanyahu. It's this entire system of apartheid. Supremacy anywhere is a threat to everyone. And so, the way that the Israeli state has been enacting Jewish supremacy is, therefore, a problem."

Protests are ongoing in New York surrounding the U.N. General Assembly. There are also several protests in Israel.

Rabbi Josh Weinberg, vice president for Israel and Reform Zionism for the Union for Reform Judaism, said he has other reasons for protesting. He pointed out Israel's hard-right judicial overhaul has caused high-tech firms to pull their investments from the country. Weinberg added it has caused senior officers and pilots to question their commitment to be reserve officers because they do not trust the government.

"It's weakening Israel standing around the world, caused great instability," Weinberg contended. "And those who are in, for instance, the Boycott Divestment Sanctions Movement are seeing this as open fodder for them on Israel. Those who are accusing Israel of being an apartheid state, which I strongly contradict, will be hard to defend if certain members of Netanyahu's government get their way."

Guy Horowitz, an activist with UnXeptable, a pro-democracy American Israeli group opposing Israel's judicial overhaul, started planning the protests around Netanyahu's visit. Horowitz said it is important for the leadership in Israel to become less polarized.

"I'm pretty sure that every Palestinian understands that Israel is more risky and dangerous to the Palestinians well-being when 'haters' are at the helm," Horowitz argued. "There are talks about a potential accord with Saudi Arabia. Does Netanyahu have the mandate to sign, from the right side or from the left side?"

Horowitz is referring to Netanyahu's meeting Wednesday with President Joe Biden, after which they announced efforts to work together to cement diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.