Israel Receives Remains of Hostage Held in Gaza
JERUSALEM – The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed Wednesday that the remains of one of the last four Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been recovered,according too statements released November 13. The identity of the hostage has not yet been publicly disclosed pending family notification.
The recovery comes amid ongoing international efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages, who were abducted during hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. Approximately 240 people were initially taken hostage, and over 100 have since been released as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement in late November.
The Collège de France initially announced on November 9 its decision to suspend a conference titled “Palestine and Europe: weight of the past and contemporary dynamics” due to “controversy” surrounding the event,according to the institution’s administrator. A Paris administrative court rejected appeals against the cancellation on November 12, finding no “serious and manifestly illegal attack on freedom of expression” as the conference was rescheduled for November 13 and 14 at a smaller venue. The conference will now be held at the Arab Centre for Research and Political Studies in Paris (Carep), accommodating 35 people, a significant reduction from the Collège de France’s 460-seat amphitheater.
Salam Kawakibi,political science researcher and director of Carep,described the cancellation as “an era of French McCarthyism,” to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on November 12,expressing outrage at the cancellation of a “high-level scientific conference,with specialists from all over the world,including Israelis.” A petition signed by nearly 2,200 researchers, teachers, and students is demanding the resignation of Minister of Higher Education and Research, Philippe Baptiste, asserting the cancellation represents “a serious attack on academic and scientific freedoms.”
