The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they unfold.
Columbia failed to meet accreditation standards by not protecting Jewish students — US government
The US Department of Education says it has notified a university accreditation body that it believes Columbia University had violated federal anti-discrimination laws by its alleged failure to protect Jewish students on its campus.
The alleged violation means that Columbia has not met the standards of accreditation set by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the department says.
“Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid. They determine which institutions are eligible for federal student loans and Pell Grants,” US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says in a statement.
A spokesperson for Columbia, which has been under pressure from the Trump administration for months, says in a statement that the school addressed the department’s concerns directly with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and is continuing to work with the federal government to address antisemitism.
It is not clear how the Middle States Commission, which, like other accrediting agencies, is independent, will respond to the notification.
A spokesperson for Middle States declines to comment but confirms that the organization received a letter from the Department of Education about the matter.
While the federal government does not directly accredit US universities, it has a role in overseeing the mostly private organizations that do. Trump has often complained that accreditors approve institutions that fail to provide quality education.
Columbia has been the epicenter of a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel student protest movement that has roiled US campuses over the last year and a half as Israel’s war in Gaza raged.
Turkish prosecutors probe opposition party leader — state TV
Turkish prosecutors have launched a probe against the leader of the country’s main opposition party for allegedly insulting a senior ally of the government, state television reports.
The case against Ozgur Ozel, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is the latest development in a tense struggle between allies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his opponents that has sparked mass protests.
Prosecutors opened an investigation into claims that Ozel threatened and insulted Istanbul’s chief prosecutor Akin Gurlek, state television channel TRT reports, citing a statement from his office.
Ozel is accused of launching a verbal attack against Gurlek at a rally in Istanbul on Wednesday evening.
A former deputy justice minister, Gurlek has been accused by opponents of going after Erdogan’s rivals through a series of cases launched since he was appointed to the post in October.
Man shot dead in his home in Kafr Qasim in central Israel
A 38-year-old was shot dead in his home in Kafr Qasim tonight, police and paramedics say. He is named by local Arabic-language outlets as Issa Frej.
Paramedics found Frej unconscious at around 10 p.m. after receiving a report of a shooting. They declared him dead at the scene of the crime.
Police’s Central District Commander Yair Hetzroni arrived in the city shortly after the fatal shooting to conduct a situational assessment. Officers have opened an investigation into the incident and have yet to arrest any suspects, a spokesman says.
♦️ רצח בכפר קאסם
לפני זמן קצר, ליד כיכר ראבעה בעיר כפר קאסם נורה ונרצח צעיר בשנות השלושים, מותו נקבע במקום.
נשים שהיו בקרבת הועברו לבית החולים עקב הלם וחרדה.???? הנרצח הוא הצעיר עיסר פריג'. pic.twitter.com/NPmxiOMpLm
— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) June 4, 2025
Last Friday night in Kafr Qasim, two men were killed in a shooting outside a restaurant in the city.
The two victims were named as cousins Uday Shaaban, 28, and Said Shaaban, 29, from Lod. Police believed the shooting came amid a feud between two families in the city.
As of tonight, 104 Arab Israelis have been killed in violent incidents since the start of 2025, per the Abraham Initiatives watchdog group, in an unrelenting crime wave that has significantly worsened over the past two years.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose portfolio includes the police, saw murder rates in the Arab community soar to their highest ever during his first year in office in 2023, and roughly double what they had been the previous year.