On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was openly questioned regarding post-war plans for the Gaza Strip by his own Defense Chief, who vowed to resist Israel's long-term military rule over the wrecked Palestinian enclave. Watch to know more.

Israel war: Netanyahu fends off criticism at home and abroad

A split had been festering in Israel's war cabinet. Now it has burst out into the open. Defence minister Yoav Gallant has challenged Prime Minister Netanyahu to come up with a post war plan for Gaza.

Gravitas | Split in Israel's war cabinet: Gallant challenges PM Netanyahu

The military has completed its floating Pier along the Gaza Coast. US officials say the pier would be operational within days and start receiving humanitarian aid for civilians through a sea route.

Israel-Hamas War: How will the US set up the pier?

Israel war: Questions over lack of post-war Gaza plan

Israel Defence Minister Gallant questions PM Netanyahu over lack post-war Gaza plan

US' Blinken says Israel needs clear plan for post-war Gaza, Israel Defence Min questions Netanyahu

Israeli forces are pressing from both the north and south as the Rafah operation continues. From the north, they intend to retake a territory from Hamas.

Israel War: Agencies warn of Gaza being on the brink of famine

When Eugene O'Neill said, "There is no present or future - only the past, happening over and over again - now," and when Karl Marx said, "History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce," were they speaking of Palestinians and their 'Nakba'?

On Wednesday (May 15), Palestinians commemorated the 1948 "Nakba" (catastrophe), marking the time when hundreds and thousands of them had their homes wrenched from them as the state of Israel was born. The 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba was marked even as fighting rages on in Gaza, rendering hundreds of thousands homeless.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/pro-palestinian-protest-uc-irvine-protests-lead-to-police-action-721923">Pro-Palestinian protest: University Irvine demonstration leads to police action, several arrested</a>

<h2>"Keys" from the past, and present</h2>

According to reports, as a symbol of their loss, displaced Palestinians are holding onto the keys to their damaged or destroyed homes, a tradition dating back to the mass displacement of 1948.

Most people in Gaza, as per Reuters, are descendants of the Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes by the "nakba" of 1948.&nbsp;

The keys to their homes have been handed down generation to generations, a symbol of what they consider their right to return to their homes. Now, keys to homes bombarded in the ongoing Gaza war are also taking on a similar symbolic meaning.

"There is no catastrophe worse than this one," an 80-year-old Palestinian woman Umm Mohammed told the news agency.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/israeli-defence-min-opposes-bibi-endorses-non-hostile-palestinian-governing-alternative-for-gaza-post-war-721912">Israeli defence min opposes Bibi, endorses 'non-hostile Palestinian governing alternative' for Gaza post-war</a>

Umm is a survivor of the original Nakba, which happened when she was only a child in the southern town of Beersheba. Surviving that catastrophe, she had come to Gaza, where she has spent most of her life and where she now lives in a tent in the southern city of Rafah.

"I've been here for about 80 years and a catastrophe like this, I have not seen. Our homes have gone, our children have gone, our property has gone, our gold has gone, our incomes have gone - nothing is left. What is left for us to cry over?" she asked.

Another displaced Palestinian, 58-year-old Faridah Abu Artema currently residing in a tent encampment near Rafah said, "My mother and father told me about the Nakba, the first one, but this Nakba here is worse."

This is destruction. They've destroyed us - what we have seen, no one else has seen. This is a tragedy."

Seven months into the war, the conflict in Gaza has already claimed the lives of over 35,000 Palestinians and has displaced almost 800,000 more.

(With inputs from agencies)

When Eugene O'Neill said, "There is no present or future - only the past, happening over and over again - now," and when Karl Marx said, "History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce," were they speaking of Palestinians and their 'Nakba'?

When Eugene O'Neill said, "There is no present or future - only the past, happening over and over again - now," and when Karl Marx said, "History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce," were they speaking of Palestinians and their 'Nakba'? On Wednesday (May 15), Palestinians commemorated the 1948 "Nakba" (catastrophe), marking the time when hundreds and thousands of them had their homes wrenched from them as the state of Israel was born. The 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba was marked even as fighting rages on in Gaza, rendering hundreds of thousands homeless. Also read | Pro-Palestinian protest: University Irvine demonstration leads to police action, several arrested "Keys" from the past, and present According to reports, as a symbol of their loss, displaced Palestinians are holding onto the keys to their damaged or destroyed homes, a tradition dating back to the mass displacement of 1948. Most people in Gaza, as per Reuters, are descendants of the Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes by the "nakba" of 1948. The keys to their homes have been handed down generation to generations, a symbol of what they consider their right to return to their homes. Now, keys to homes bombarded in the ongoing Gaza war are also taking on a similar symbolic meaning. "There is no catastrophe worse than this one," an 80-year-old Palestinian woman Umm Mohammed told the news agency. Also read | Israeli defence min opposes Bibi, endorses 'non-hostile Palestinian governing alternative' for Gaza post-war Umm is a survivor of the original Nakba, which happened when she was only a child in the southern town of Beersheba. Surviving that catastrophe, she had come to Gaza, where she has spent most of her life and where she now lives in a tent in the southern city of Rafah. "I've been here for about 80 years and a catastrophe like this, I have not seen. Our homes have gone, our children have gone, our property has gone, our gold has gone, our incomes have gone - nothing is left. What is left for us to cry over?" she asked. Another displaced Palestinian, 58-year-old Faridah Abu Artema currently residing in a tent encampment near Rafah said, "My mother and father told me about the Nakba, the first one, but this Nakba here is worse." This is destruction. They've destroyed us - what we have seen, no one else has seen. This is a tragedy." Seven months into the war, the conflict in Gaza has already claimed the lives of over 35,000 Palestinians and has displaced almost 800,000 more. (With inputs from agencies)

'Keys' become a symbol of Palestinian plight amid war in Gaza: 'This Nakba here is worse'

As the conflict between Israel and Hamas enters its seventh month a concerning shift in tactics by the Palestinian militant group has raised the spectre of prolonged and intractable conflict.

Israel war: Palestinian militant group adapts to survive Israeli offensive

Watch top headlines of the hour: - US announces $2 bn new aid to Kyiv - Ukrainians angry over Blinken's jam session - Biden ready to debate Trump - Ireland to recognise Palestinian statehood - Two dead, riots sweep New Caledonia

Ireland to recognise Palestinian statehood | Biden ready to debate Trump

Talks over a ceasefire in Gaza have reached a stalemate due to Israel's operations in Rafah, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on Tuesday. Watch in for more details!

Israel troops press further into eastern Rafah | Egypt, Israel trade blame over Gaza aid

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim met Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar. Anwar said he met a Hamas delegation in “line with Malaysia’s stance and commitment to continue to play a role in stopping attacks and violence in Gaza and Rafah.”

Israel-Hamas War: Malaysia PM Ibrahim meets Hamas leaders in Qatar

Dozens of pro-Palestine demonstrators protested outside Google's annual conference on Tuesday in California. They blocked an entrance to the amphitheater where thousands gathered to hear the company's latest plans with artificial intelligence. Watch in for more details!

Pro-Palestine protests disrupt Google conference in Mountain View

Israeli military forces are once again pushing into Gaza's north and south leaving thousands of Palestinian civilians scrambling to find safety amid the shelling. Qatar says that Israel's action in Rafah has set ceasefire talks backwards, even as US Clings to denying that Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide.

Israel war: Israeli forces press offensive in Gaza's north and south

Hamas Military Wing released a video showing its fighters said to be firing weapons at Israeli forces in Jabalia in northern Gaza. The video shows Hamas members hiding in buildings and firing at Israeli troops. Israeli troops were back fighting in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Israel War | Hamas latest video: Hamas attacking IDF soldiers

After Israel questioned a shift in the numbers, the World Health Organisation affirmed complete confidence in the death toll data released by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry on Tuesday, claiming they were actually getting closer to establishing the extent of deaths.

About 25,000 of the approximately 35,000 fatalities that have occurred since October 7 have been properly identified, with over half of them being women and children, according to an update provided by Gaza's health ministry last week.

Israeli officials accused the Palestinian authorities of being inaccurate when they had earlier stated that women and children made up over 70% of those killed. According to the source, UN authorities have republished the Palestinian death toll, which has recently gone up to 35,000.

When asked about the toll, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier responded at a Geneva news briefing, "Nothing wrong with the data, the overall data (more than 35,000) are still the same." 
 
"The fact we now have 25,000 identified people is a step forward," he stated.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://wionews.com/world/gaza-sudan-wars-take-number-of-internally-displaced-people-to-76-million-globally-721190" hreflang="en">Gaza, Sudan wars take number of internally displaced people to record 76 million globally</a>

Although many dead buried beneath debris were likely to be recognised as women or children, he stated that about 60% of casualties were women and children based on his own extrapolation of the most recent Palestinian data.

He continued by saying it was "normal" for death figures to fluctuate during battles, citing Israel's revision of its own dead toll from the Hamas strikes on October 7 to 1,200 following checks.

"We're basically talking about 35,000 people who are dead, and really every life matters, doesn't it? And we know that many and many of those are women and children and there are 1,000s missing under the rubble," Liz Throssel, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said at the same briefing

Nearly 450,000 Palestinians have been forced to leave Rafah since Israel started issuing evacuation orders for the south of Gaza city eight days ago, according to information released on Tuesday by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

UNRWA stated on X, previously Twitter, "UNRWA estimates that nearly 450,000 people have been forcibly displaced from Rafah since May 6," without mentioning the location of their escape.

(With inputs from agencies)

After Israel questioned a shift in the numbers, the World Health Organisation affirmed complete confidence in the death toll data released by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry on Tuesday, claiming they were actually getting closer to establishing the extent of deaths.

After Israel questioned a shift in the numbers, the World Health Organisation affirmed complete confidence in the death toll data released by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry on Tuesday, claiming they were actually getting closer to establishing the extent of deaths. About 25,000 of the approximately 35,000 fatalities that have occurred since October 7 have been properly identified, with over half of them being women and children, according to an update provided by Gaza's health ministry last week. Israeli officials accused the Palestinian authorities of being inaccurate when they had earlier stated that women and children made up over 70% of those killed. According to the source, UN authorities have republished the Palestinian death toll, which has recently gone up to 35,000. When asked about the toll, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier responded at a Geneva news briefing, "Nothing wrong with the data, the overall data (more than 35,000) are still the same." "The fact we now have 25,000 identified people is a step forward," he stated. Also read: Gaza, Sudan wars take number of internally displaced people to record 76 million globally Although many dead buried beneath debris were likely to be recognised as women or children, he stated that about 60% of casualties were women and children based on his own extrapolation of the most recent Palestinian data. He continued by saying it was "normal" for death figures to fluctuate during battles, citing Israel's revision of its own dead toll from the Hamas strikes on October 7 to 1,200 following checks. "We're basically talking about 35,000 people who are dead, and really every life matters, doesn't it? And we know that many and many of those are women and children and there are 1,000s missing under the rubble," Liz Throssel, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said at the same briefing Nearly 450,000 Palestinians have been forced to leave Rafah since Israel started issuing evacuation orders for the south of Gaza city eight days ago, according to information released on Tuesday by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA stated on X, previously Twitter, "UNRWA estimates that nearly 450,000 people have been forcibly displaced from Rafah since May 6," without mentioning the location of their escape. (With inputs from agencies)

WHO stands firm on Gaza death toll data despite Israeli criticism; Over 35,000 dead; 60% women and children

An Indian personnel working with the United Nations lost his life in Gaza after his vehicle was targeted in an attack in Rafah, making it the “first international" casualty for the organisation since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Watch in for more details!

Israel war: Israeli forces press Gaza offensive from North & South

Amid the ever-escalating war in West Asia, Hamas is potentially looking to open up a new front. A report by the Times UK claims it has 'seen documents' indicating Hamas is trying to establish a secret base in Turkey.

Israel-Hamas War: Israeli forces claim to find key Hamas military document

Israel-Hamas War: Hamas trying to set up secret base in Turkiye?

Israel war: First international UN staff member killed in Gaza attack

Hezbollah has stepped up attacks against Israel launching a new heavy rocket called 'Jihad Mugniyeh' as a war in West Asia spills over.

Israel war: Hezbollah targets Israeli posts with drones, missiles & rocket

The worst fears of Gazans are coming true Israel is pounding the southern end of the Gaza Strip which it considers the last stronghold of Hamas. Fighting is going on in Northern and Central Gaza. Hamas says the death toll has risen to over 35,000 and over 57 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours.

Israel-Hamas war: Fighting rages in North and South of Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended a decision to pause a delivery to Israel of 3,500 bombs over concerns they could be used in the Gazan city of Rafah, saying Israel lacked a “credible plan” to protect civilians sheltering there. Watch in for more details!

Israel war: Cracks emerge in US-Israel alliance

Israel war: Hezbollah targets Israeli soldiers in Zibdine with new rockets

Israel war: Egypt to back South Africa's ICJ case against Israel

Israel war: Israel ups military pressure On Rafah

Israel war: Biden administration's changing rhetoric on Israel

Israel war: US' strongest public criticism of Israel, Blinken defends arms pause

Israel has ordered more evacuations in Gaza's southern city of Rafah forcing tens of thousands of people to move out of the city. Some 100,000 people have already left over the last 24 hours or so. It indicates that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah.

Israel-Hamas war: Intense fighting continues in Northern Gaza

Weeks after attending a pro-Palestinian demonstration, Egyptian-American student Layla Sayed received a text message from a friend drawing her attention to a website dedicated to exposing people it says promote hatred of Jews and Israel.

"I think they found you from the protest," the friend wrote.

When Sayed visited the site, called Canary Mission, she found a photo from the Oct. 16 rally at the University of Pennsylvania with red arrows pointing to her among the demonstrators. The post included her name, the two cities she lives in, details about her studies and links to her social media accounts.

Canary Mission later posted a photo of her on its X and Instagram accounts labeled "Hamas War Crimes Apologist," a reference to the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which around 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

In response to that raid, Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Comments about Sayed from social media users poured in.

"No future for that c.nt," one X user wrote. "Candidate for deportation to Gaza," wrote another.

Although Sayed has long supported Palestinian causes, she said it was the first time she had participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Penn, and Canary Mission did not flag any other activities.

"My initial reaction was just absolute shock," Sayed, a 20-year-old sophomore, told Reuters. "I wasn't there to say I supported Hamas. I wasn't there to say I hated Israel. I was there to say what's happening in Palestine is wrong."

She said she did not realize at the time that a chant Canary Mission took issue with, "When people are occupied, resistance is justified," is considered by some as an expression of support for Hamas' killings. She joined in the chants, she said, to show support for demonstrations.

Responding to an inquiry submitted via its website, Canary Mission said it has been "working around the clock" to combat a "wave of antisemitism" on college campuses since Oct. 7, including by exposing people who endorse Hamas.

Canary Mission did not respond to questions about Sayed's profile or the online abuse directed against its targets, according to the comments from the site provided by a spokesperson from a Tel Aviv-based public relations firm, Gova10.

While Canary Mission relies on tips, it said it verifies what it publishes, drawing from publicly available sources. Canary Mission’s profiles include links to its targets' social media posts, public speeches and interviews with journalists.

Penn officials did not respond to questions about Sayed's case.

"Penn is focused on the well-being of all members of the community," a university spokesperson, Steve Silverman, told Reuters, adding that staff reach out to offer support when aware of concerning situations.

Canary Mission is one of the oldest and most prominent of several digital advocacy groups that have intensified campaigns to expose Israel's critics since the war broke out, often leading to harassment such as Sayed experienced. The people behind the site have kept their identities, location and funding sources hidden.

Reuters reviewed online attacks and abusive messages directed at scores of people targeted by Canary Mission since Oct. 7.

The site has accused over 250 U.S. students and academics of supporting terrorism or spreading antisemitism and hatred of Israel since the start of the latest Gaza conflict, according to the Reuters review of its posts. Some are leading members of Palestinian rights groups or were arrested for offenses such as blocking traffic and punching a Jewish student. Others, like Sayed, said they had just stepped into campus activism and were not charged with any crimes.

Reuters spoke to 17 students and one research fellow from six U.S. universities featured on Canary Mission since Oct. 7. They include other students who chanted slogans during protests, leaders of groups that backed statements saying Israel bears sole responsibility for the violence and people who argued in social media posts that armed resistance by Palestinians is justified. All but one said they had received hate messages or seen vitriolic comments posted about them online.

Messages reviewed by Reuters called for their deportation or expulsion from school or suggested they should be raped or killed. 

Several pro-Palestinian groups that use similar tactics to call out Israel's defenders have emerged in recent months. They include an X account called StopZionistHate and Raven Mission, a website launched in December that emulates Canary Mission by spotlighting people it accuses of Islamophobia or helping perpetuate atrocities against Palestinians.

Raven Mission did not respond to requests for comment. StopZionistHate said it wanted to "ensure that the American public is aware of the threat posed by Zionist extremism."

ACCUSATIONS OF CYBERBULLYING

Some critics accuse sites on both sides of cyberbullying or doxxing, which they note can have a chilling effect on free expression.

Tensions have been mounting on U.S. college campuses, where Israel's war in Gaza has unleashed an outpouring of student activism. Some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been met with counter-protesters accusing them of fomenting anti-Jewish hatred and intimidating Jewish students on campus. Both camps have clashed with police.

The U.S. Department of Education has opened investigations into dozens of colleges since Oct. 7, noting an "alarming nationwide rise" in reports of antisemitic, anti-Muslim and other forms of discrimination and harassment. It declined to provide details about these investigations, including whether any concern Canary Mission, Raven Mission or StopZionistHate, or incidents these groups have highlighted. &nbsp;

Across the U.S., pro-Palestinian student groups are advising followers to wear masks at protests, to avoid drawing unwelcome attention.

Canary Mission and its defenders argue that those who promote hatred and bigotry should be held to account. On its site, Canary Mission provides academic and employer details for the people it profiles, calling on its tens of thousands of followers to ensure "today's radicals are not tomorrow's employees." 

Ten of the students interviewed by Reuters feared that appearing on the site could derail their careers. Canary Mission is often at the top of its targets' Google search results, and its social media posts can draw hundreds of comments.

For those targeted, there are few options to seek redress, lawyers and advocacy groups say. Much of what Canary Mission publishes is protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment on free speech, three lawyers told Reuters.

It generally isn't illegal to publish information about someone without consent when the information is accurate and was acquired lawfully from the public domain, said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The legal standard for defamation is high, with the burden on claimants to prove the site made false statements about them, added Dylan Saba, an attorney at Palestine Legal, which represents pro-Palestinian activists. He could recall only a handful of cases where students succeeded in getting Canary Mission profiles changed or removed by threatening defamation suits.

The low profile of Canary Mission's principals poses an additional hurdle.

"If you're going to sue somebody, you have to know where you're serving them," Saba said.

Canary Mission says on its site that it will remove profiles of people who "recognize their earlier mistakes" and reject what it describes as "latent anti-Semitism" in groups that campaign for boycotts against Israel over its policies in the Palestinian territories. It publishes what it says are their apologies on an "ex-canary" page but does not identify the individuals.

Canary Mission told Reuters the site was established in 2015 to counter rising antisemitism on college campuses. It  did not answer questions about its leadership and funding.

LINKS TO ISRAELI NON-PROFIT&nbsp;

A 2016 tax filing by a prominent Jewish American philanthropic organization, the Helen Diller Family Foundation, revealed a financial link between Canary Mission and an Israeli non-profit called Megamot Shalom. That year, the Diller foundation gave $100,000 to the Central Fund of Israel earmarked "Canary Mission for Megamot Shalom," according to the document, which was first reported by the U.S. Jewish news outlet the Forward and reviewed by Reuters.

The Central Fund is a U.S.-based group that acts as a conduit for Americans to make tax-deductible donations to Israeli charities. Its president, Jay Marcus, told Reuters his organization only supports registered charities but would not confirm whether Megamot Shalom or Canary Mission were among them, citing the privacy of its donors and recipients.

Despite several attempts, Reuters could not reach a representative of the Diller foundation.&nbsp;

The organization that oversees the Diller foundation's giving, the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund of San Francisco, referred Reuters to a 2018 statement confirming the donation was to support the work of Canary Mission and saying neither group would fund the site further. The statement said the federation had determined that the Central Fund did not comply with its giving guidelines but did not respond to requests to elaborate.

Canary Mission did not respond to questions about Megamot Shalom or its connection to the nonprofit.

Megamot Shalom was founded in 2016 "to preserve and ensure the national strength and image of the State of Israel" through media initiatives, according to documents obtained from Israel's corporations registry.

As of 2022, the most recent year for which records are available, it employed 11 people, including four content writers. The only donor identified in the registry documents is the Central Fund, from which it received 13.2 million shekels ($3.5 million) between 2019 and 2022, the records show.

Reuters was unable to reach Megamot Shalom's founder, Jonathan Bash, or any other listed employees. When Reuters visited the group's registered address in Beit Shemesh, a city 23 km (15 miles) southwest of Jerusalem, it found a locked one-story building with no sign of activity.

"A TARGET ON MY BACK"

Canary Mission has targeted at least 30 Penn students and academics since Oct. 7.

The university is one of several elite campuses that have been at the center of unrest over the Gaza war. Its former president, Liz Magill, resigned in December after coming under fire for her handling of accusations of antisemitism on campus.

On Friday, police dismantled an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian encampment on Penn's main lawn and arrested about 33 people following accusations of harassing and threatening behavior by protesters and the defacement of campus landmarks.

After finding her profile on Canary Mission, Sayed consulted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group. Ahmet Tekelioglu, executive director of CAIR's Philadelphia branch, said the group offered her help to remove information from the internet but advised that it would be hard to take legal action against a group that isn't registered in the U.S.&nbsp;

Despite the "blatant negative framing," Canary Mission's comments were presented as quotes or opinions, which typically cannot be the subject of a defamation claim, Tekelioglu told Reuters.

Fearful for her safety, Sayed said she removed the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf she had tied to her backpack, which she said felt like "a target on my back." She avoided walking alone on campus and put her LinkedIn profile in hibernation. 

Canary Mission also profiled seven Georgetown University School of Medicine students after they were featured in a Dec. 21 article by the conservative Washington Free Beacon news site headlined, "At Georgetown Med, the Doctors of Tomorrow Aren't Hiding Their Support for Terrorism."

One of them, Yusra Rafeeqi, 22, said the websites published a screenshot of a post she said she had shared privately with her Instagram followers showing a man atop an Israeli tank waving a Palestinian flag on the day Hamas militants broke through the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The image was captioned, "No more condemning Palestinian resistance. Radical change requires radical moves."

"Fire her immediately," an X user commented on a Canary Mission post that tagged her school and a clinic where she volunteers.

Rafeeqi told Reuters she reposted the image to support resistance to what she described as Israel's "violent occupational forces" and noted she did not comment on Hamas' killing of Israelis.

A Georgetown representative referred Reuters to a statement issued by Edward Healton, the medical school's executive dean, calling the leaking of students' private information and reports of retribution against those believed responsible "unacceptable." Healton said the school condemns antisemitism and Islamophobia, and encouraged students to report potential threats.

Rafeeqi said she has had "massive anxiety" about how this might affect her ability to pursue a career in medicine and continue advocating for Palestinians.

"I no longer feel safe in this country I once called home," said Rafeeqi, whose parents immigrated from Pakistan.

Canary Mission and the Washington Free Beacon did not respond to questions about Rafeeqi's case.

Weeks after attending a pro-Palestinian demonstration, Egyptian-American student Layla Sayed received a text message from a friend drawing her attention to a website dedicated to exposing people it says promote hatred of Jews and Israel.

Weeks after attending a pro-Palestinian demonstration, Egyptian-American student Layla Sayed received a text message from a friend drawing her attention to a website dedicated to exposing people it says promote hatred of Jews and Israel. "I think they found you from the protest," the friend wrote. When Sayed visited the site, called Canary Mission, she found a photo from the Oct. 16 rally at the University of Pennsylvania with red arrows pointing to her among the demonstrators. The post included her name, the two cities she lives in, details about her studies and links to her social media accounts. Canary Mission later posted a photo of her on its X and Instagram accounts labeled "Hamas War Crimes Apologist," a reference to the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which around 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. In response to that raid, Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Comments about Sayed from social media users poured in. "No future for that c.nt," one X user wrote. "Candidate for deportation to Gaza," wrote another. Although Sayed has long supported Palestinian causes, she said it was the first time she had participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Penn, and Canary Mission did not flag any other activities. "My initial reaction was just absolute shock," Sayed, a 20-year-old sophomore, told Reuters. "I wasn't there to say I supported Hamas. I wasn't there to say I hated Israel. I was there to say what's happening in Palestine is wrong." She said she did not realize at the time that a chant Canary Mission took issue with, "When people are occupied, resistance is justified," is considered by some as an expression of support for Hamas' killings. She joined in the chants, she said, to show support for demonstrations. Responding to an inquiry submitted via its website, Canary Mission said it has been "working around the clock" to combat a "wave of antisemitism" on college campuses since Oct. 7, including by exposing people who endorse Hamas. Canary Mission did not respond to questions about Sayed's profile or the online abuse directed against its targets, according to the comments from the site provided by a spokesperson from a Tel Aviv-based public relations firm, Gova10. While Canary Mission relies on tips, it said it verifies what it publishes, drawing from publicly available sources. Canary Mission’s profiles include links to its targets' social media posts, public speeches and interviews with journalists. Penn officials did not respond to questions about Sayed's case. "Penn is focused on the well-being of all members of the community," a university spokesperson, Steve Silverman, told Reuters, adding that staff reach out to offer support when aware of concerning situations. Canary Mission is one of the oldest and most prominent of several digital advocacy groups that have intensified campaigns to expose Israel's critics since the war broke out, often leading to harassment such as Sayed experienced. The people behind the site have kept their identities, location and funding sources hidden. Reuters reviewed online attacks and abusive messages directed at scores of people targeted by Canary Mission since Oct. 7. The site has accused over 250 U.S. students and academics of supporting terrorism or spreading antisemitism and hatred of Israel since the start of the latest Gaza conflict, according to the Reuters review of its posts. Some are leading members of Palestinian rights groups or were arrested for offenses such as blocking traffic and punching a Jewish student. Others, like Sayed, said they had just stepped into campus activism and were not charged with any crimes. Reuters spoke to 17 students and one research fellow from six U.S. universities featured on Canary Mission since Oct. 7. They include other students who chanted slogans during protests, leaders of groups that backed statements saying Israel bears sole responsibility for the violence and people who argued in social media posts that armed resistance by Palestinians is justified. All but one said they had received hate messages or seen vitriolic comments posted about them online. Messages reviewed by Reuters called for their deportation or expulsion from school or suggested they should be raped or killed.  Several pro-Palestinian groups that use similar tactics to call out Israel's defenders have emerged in recent months. They include an X account called StopZionistHate and Raven Mission, a website launched in December that emulates Canary Mission by spotlighting people it accuses of Islamophobia or helping perpetuate atrocities against Palestinians. Raven Mission did not respond to requests for comment. StopZionistHate said it wanted to "ensure that the American public is aware of the threat posed by Zionist extremism." ACCUSATIONS OF CYBERBULLYING Some critics accuse sites on both sides of cyberbullying or doxxing, which they note can have a chilling effect on free expression. Tensions have been mounting on U.S. college campuses, where Israel's war in Gaza has unleashed an outpouring of student activism. Some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been met with counter-protesters accusing them of fomenting anti-Jewish hatred and intimidating Jewish students on campus. Both camps have clashed with police. The U.S. Department of Education has opened investigations into dozens of colleges since Oct. 7, noting an "alarming nationwide rise" in reports of antisemitic, anti-Muslim and other forms of discrimination and harassment. It declined to provide details about these investigations, including whether any concern Canary Mission, Raven Mission or StopZionistHate, or incidents these groups have highlighted. Across the U.S., pro-Palestinian student groups are advising followers to wear masks at protests, to avoid drawing unwelcome attention. Canary Mission and its defenders argue that those who promote hatred and bigotry should be held to account. On its site, Canary Mission provides academic and employer details for the people it profiles, calling on its tens of thousands of followers to ensure "today's radicals are not tomorrow's employees."  Ten of the students interviewed by Reuters feared that appearing on the site could derail their careers. Canary Mission is often at the top of its targets' Google search results, and its social media posts can draw hundreds of comments. For those targeted, there are few options to seek redress, lawyers and advocacy groups say. Much of what Canary Mission publishes is protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment on free speech, three lawyers told Reuters. It generally isn't illegal to publish information about someone without consent when the information is accurate and was acquired lawfully from the public domain, said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. The legal standard for defamation is high, with the burden on claimants to prove the site made false statements about them, added Dylan Saba, an attorney at Palestine Legal, which represents pro-Palestinian activists. He could recall only a handful of cases where students succeeded in getting Canary Mission profiles changed or removed by threatening defamation suits. The low profile of Canary Mission's principals poses an additional hurdle. "If you're going to sue somebody, you have to know where you're serving them," Saba said. Canary Mission says on its site that it will remove profiles of people who "recognize their earlier mistakes" and reject what it describes as "latent anti-Semitism" in groups that campaign for boycotts against Israel over its policies in the Palestinian territories. It publishes what it says are their apologies on an "ex-canary" page but does not identify the individuals. Canary Mission told Reuters the site was established in 2015 to counter rising antisemitism on college campuses. It  did not answer questions about its leadership and funding. LINKS TO ISRAELI NON-PROFIT A 2016 tax filing by a prominent Jewish American philanthropic organization, the Helen Diller Family Foundation, revealed a financial link between Canary Mission and an Israeli non-profit called Megamot Shalom. That year, the Diller foundation gave $100,000 to the Central Fund of Israel earmarked "Canary Mission for Megamot Shalom," according to the document, which was first reported by the U.S. Jewish news outlet the Forward and reviewed by Reuters. The Central Fund is a U.S.-based group that acts as a conduit for Americans to make tax-deductible donations to Israeli charities. Its president, Jay Marcus, told Reuters his organization only supports registered charities but would not confirm whether Megamot Shalom or Canary Mission were among them, citing the privacy of its donors and recipients. Despite several attempts, Reuters could not reach a representative of the Diller foundation. The organization that oversees the Diller foundation's giving, the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund of San Francisco, referred Reuters to a 2018 statement confirming the donation was to support the work of Canary Mission and saying neither group would fund the site further. The statement said the federation had determined that the Central Fund did not comply with its giving guidelines but did not respond to requests to elaborate. Canary Mission did not respond to questions about Megamot Shalom or its connection to the nonprofit. Megamot Shalom was founded in 2016 "to preserve and ensure the national strength and image of the State of Israel" through media initiatives, according to documents obtained from Israel's corporations registry. As of 2022, the most recent year for which records are available, it employed 11 people, including four content writers. The only donor identified in the registry documents is the Central Fund, from which it received 13.2 million shekels ($3.5 million) between 2019 and 2022, the records show. Reuters was unable to reach Megamot Shalom's founder, Jonathan Bash, or any other listed employees. When Reuters visited the group's registered address in Beit Shemesh, a city 23 km (15 miles) southwest of Jerusalem, it found a locked one-story building with no sign of activity. "A TARGET ON MY BACK" Canary Mission has targeted at least 30 Penn students and academics since Oct. 7. The university is one of several elite campuses that have been at the center of unrest over the Gaza war. Its former president, Liz Magill, resigned in December after coming under fire for her handling of accusations of antisemitism on campus. On Friday, police dismantled an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian encampment on Penn's main lawn and arrested about 33 people following accusations of harassing and threatening behavior by protesters and the defacement of campus landmarks. After finding her profile on Canary Mission, Sayed consulted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group. Ahmet Tekelioglu, executive director of CAIR's Philadelphia branch, said the group offered her help to remove information from the internet but advised that it would be hard to take legal action against a group that isn't registered in the U.S. Despite the "blatant negative framing," Canary Mission's comments were presented as quotes or opinions, which typically cannot be the subject of a defamation claim, Tekelioglu told Reuters. Fearful for her safety, Sayed said she removed the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf she had tied to her backpack, which she said felt like "a target on my back." She avoided walking alone on campus and put her LinkedIn profile in hibernation.  Canary Mission also profiled seven Georgetown University School of Medicine students after they were featured in a Dec. 21 article by the conservative Washington Free Beacon news site headlined, "At Georgetown Med, the Doctors of Tomorrow Aren't Hiding Their Support for Terrorism." One of them, Yusra Rafeeqi, 22, said the websites published a screenshot of a post she said she had shared privately with her Instagram followers showing a man atop an Israeli tank waving a Palestinian flag on the day Hamas militants broke through the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The image was captioned, "No more condemning Palestinian resistance. Radical change requires radical moves." "Fire her immediately," an X user commented on a Canary Mission post that tagged her school and a clinic where she volunteers. Rafeeqi told Reuters she reposted the image to support resistance to what she described as Israel's "violent occupational forces" and noted she did not comment on Hamas' killing of Israelis. A Georgetown representative referred Reuters to a statement issued by Edward Healton, the medical school's executive dean, calling the leaking of students' private information and reports of retribution against those believed responsible "unacceptable." Healton said the school condemns antisemitism and Islamophobia, and encouraged students to report potential threats. Rafeeqi said she has had "massive anxiety" about how this might affect her ability to pursue a career in medicine and continue advocating for Palestinians. "I no longer feel safe in this country I once called home," said Rafeeqi, whose parents immigrated from Pakistan. Canary Mission and the Washington Free Beacon did not respond to questions about Rafeeqi's case.

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