Alice Speri

Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead Every name on a list compiled by health authorities in Gaza of the child victims of Israel’s offensive

The list does not include the thousands still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, as well as the war’s many indirect victims.

The 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead.

www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Judge issues blistering opinion against Trump policy to deport pro-Palestinian students Judge rules non-citizens have the same free speech rights as US citizens under the first amendment

"Blistering opinion" is absolutely right. But this principled, outraged ruling is an entirely appropriate response to Trump's effort to imprison and deport people for their constitutionally protected speech. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The chilling effect of Title VI investigations: the professors accused of antisemitism Exclusive: Andrea Brower quits Gonzaga University after the Civil Rights Act is used to challenge her pro-Gaza activism

New from me: I spoke to some of the dozens of university professors facing Title VI investigations over their pro-Palestinian advocacy.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘Everyone is coming into fire’: students return to US campuses bruised and changed by Trump’s assault The effects of a rightwing campaign to remake American higher education are fueling fear and anxiety, but advocates say they have plans to fight back

"We’re going to need to politicize this fight".

My latest, on what's ahead for US universities.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Shadow of Gaza conflict hangs over education - Index on Censorship Schools and universities in the war zone have been destroyed. Attempts to write about it have been silenced

More than 115 scholars have condemned the cancellation of an academic journal dedicated to Palestine by a Harvard University publisher as “censorship”. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

We too condemned it.

Read Index CEO @jemimahsteinfeld.bsky.social: www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/07/shad...

Recognising Palestinian state must not distract from ending Gaza mass deaths, UN expert says Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the occupied territories, calls for practical actions and warns against distracting ‘attention from where it should be: the genocide’

“Millions taking to streets, asking an end to genocide, beaten, arrested, held on counts of terrorism, while those wanted by ICC for war crimes are received, allowed to fly over European & western space. This is absurd. This is the end of the rule of law.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Recognising Palestinian state must not distract from ending Gaza mass deaths, UN expert says Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the occupied territories, calls for practical actions and warns against distracting ‘attention from where it should be: the genocide’

“The power is not just with the prime ministers or with the governments. The power is with us, and we can start choosing through our wallet.”

My interview with Francesca Albanese.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Israel has killed nearly 200 Palestinian journalists in Gaza The latest killings were targeted attacks on reporters covering the war in Gaza, according to the news network that employed them.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Revealed: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication As Harvard’s feud with Trump escalated, so did tensions over an ‘education and Palestine’ issue of a prestigious journal. Scholars blame the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom

Exclusive: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication.

My latest.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Jewish organizers are increasingly confronting Trump: ‘The repression is growing, but so is the resistance’ As the administration continues to exploit antisemitism to arrest protesters and curb academic freedoms, more American Jews are saying ‘not in my name’

My latest, for @us.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

BREAKING: ICE and private prison contractor GEO Group are refusing to allow Mahmoud Khalil to hold his newborn son for the first time, even after his wife flew them over 1,000 miles to visit.

We just asked a federal court to order ICE to grant Mahmoud's request for a contact visit with his family.

In an email to staff, Khan wrote he has been "fully cooperating" with the investigation, and that his decision is driven to his "commitment to the credibility" of the office.

"As I have often said: the victims are the true owners of our work. Our responsibility is to them."

In a statement, the court said "the Prosecutor communicated his decision to take leave until the end of the OIOS (UN Office of Internal Oversight Services) process".

My sources said he was forced to step down.

“Hiding Behind Atrocities” As Prosecutor Karim Khan seeks a flurry of arrest warrants, ICC staff accuse him of using court cases to dodge sexual abuse allegations.

Breaking: ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan was placed on administrative leave following reports of sexual abuse and retaliation by @dropsitenews.com and WSJ.

Earlier this week, the President of ASP, which oversees the court, called on Khan to resign, but he declined.

www.dropsitenews.com/p/karim-khan...

“Hiding Behind Atrocities” As Prosecutor Karim Khan seeks a flurry of arrest warrants, ICC staff accuse him of using court cases to dodge sexual abuse allegations.

Breaking: ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan was placed on administrative leave following reports of sexual abuse and retaliation by @dropsitenews.com and WSJ.

Earlier this week, the President of ASP, which oversees the court, called on Khan to resign, but he declined.

Read our story here ⬇️

“Hiding Behind Atrocities” As Prosecutor Karim Khan seeks a flurry of arrest warrants, ICC staff accuse him of using court cases to dodge sexual abuse allegations.

“Hiding Behind Atrocities”

The ICC prosecutor's handling of serious sexual abuse allegations has plunged the court into a deep crisis at one of the most vulnerable moments in its history.

My investigation, for
@dropsitenews.com

‘We’re like sitting ducks’: the right’s ‘war on woke’ has a well-tested playbook to take down academics The campaign against Claudine Gay, Harvard’s first Black president, has become a blueprint increasingly wielded against women and scholars of color

Must read by @alicesperi.bsky.social @theguardian.com about organized attacks on faculty research. @bletiecq.bsky.social quoted: “We are totally under attack...we’re like sitting ducks.” We need strength and solidarity. Keep doing the good work, and fight back. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Afghans evacuated by US in chaos of withdrawal are languishing in foreign camps, documents reveal Exclusive: records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’

Exclusive: Afghans evacuated by US in chaos of withdrawal are languishing in foreign camps, documents reveal.

New from me, for @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

My take on all the Trump genuflection:

Once you have convinced yourself you can stay silent on a genocide unfolding live on your phone, you can stay silent/make peace with pretty much anything.

Israel has blown a massive hole in our moral universe and now pretty anything can drive through it.

Defining genocide: how a rift over Gaza sparked a crisis among scholars New reports by human rights groups use the term to describe Israel’s offensive. The debate has fueled a brutal division among those who study mass violence

A pair of reports published this month mark a significant contribution to the raging debate over how to characterize a war that has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and decimated Gaza.

But the reports are unlikely to quell deep divisions in the academic field of Holocaust and genocide studies.

Defining genocide: how a rift over Gaza sparked a crisis among scholars New reports by human rights groups use the term to describe Israel’s offensive. The debate has fueled a brutal division among those who study mass violence

What is genocide studies for?

Or as a student put it, "Do you only study genocide or do you also want to prevent it?"

My latest for The Guardian, on a field in crisis.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Defining genocide: how a rift over Gaza sparked a crisis among scholars New reports by human rights groups use the term to describe Israel’s offensive. The debate has fueled a brutal division among those who study mass violence

“For a lot of colleagues it's very difficult to accept that a nation of victims could commit genocide,” says @uungor.bsky.social. “But now that Israel is doing the killing, all of a sudden we’re not supposed to apply everything we learned about violence?”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Defining genocide: how a rift over Gaza sparked a crisis among scholars New reports by human rights groups use the term to describe Israel’s offensive. The debate has fueled a brutal division among those who study mass violence

For @theguardian.com I wrote about how Gaza has split the academic field of genocide studies.

As one scholar put it, “Where can the field stand if scholars from within and around it are unwilling to call the behaviour out?”

My latest.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Trump promises a crackdown on diversity initiatives. Fearful institutions are dialing them back already As the president-elect and his allies plan a multi-pronged attack on DEI policies, companies and campuses are complying with threats even though they don’t have to

In The Guardian, @alicesperi.bsky.social reports on Trump's planned attack on DEI policies.

Fear of future repercussions has prompted some campus leaders to cut back on DEI initiatives—even where no laws have been passed, notes @jeremycyoung.bsky.social.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

What's a life worth? On the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson

“Where life is precious, life is precious.” - Ruth Wilson Gilmore

And where it’s not, it’s not. The for-profit health care industry profits off denying care. Across the industry 1 in 7 claims are denied.

Our job isn’t to debate a murder, it’s to create a system where life is precious.

My latest:

Trump promises a crackdown on diversity initiatives. Fearful institutions are dialing them back already As the president-elect and his allies plan a multi-pronged attack on DEI policies, companies and campuses are complying with threats even though they don’t have to

“A university that doesn’t have a new building is still a university, it’s just a poor university. A university that has lawmakers banning ideas and restricting the actions of the administration is really not a university at all.”

@jeremycyoung.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Trump promises a crackdown on diversity initiatives. Fearful institutions are dialing them back already As the president-elect and his allies plan a multi-pronged attack on DEI policies, companies and campuses are complying with threats even though they don’t have to

"What [college presidents] need to do is find a backbone, and I say that with a lot of understanding and empathy for the situation they’re in." I talk to @alicesperi.bsky.social @theguardian.com re: colleges voluntarily closing DEI offices to appease politicians. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Trump promises a crackdown on diversity initiatives. Fearful institutions are dialing them back already As the president-elect and his allies plan a multi-pronged attack on DEI policies, companies and campuses are complying with threats even though they don’t have to

Trump promises a crackdown on diversity initiatives. Fearful institutions are dialing them back already.

My latest @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

US universities brace for education policies overhaul under Trump School initiatives focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion are likely to be first on the chopping block.

“It is a very scary time for universities. But universities have to continue to preserve academic freedom and the right to learn – those are critical to them fulfilling their mission.”

My latest @al-jazeera-english.bsky.social

www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11...

Trump likely to use antisemitism claims to launch crackdown on US universities Schools brace for cuts and investigations as the president-elect and his advisers make them a prime target of their ‘anti-woke’ crusade

Free speech advocates expect the IHRA definition of antisemitism to be “used as a sledgehammer” in the incoming administration’s attacks on pro-Palestine activism.

New from me.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...