Neha Madhira

Austin

Journalist at Freelance

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Articles

Betar’s threats to Palestine organizers send shockwaves through campuses

1 week ago | prismreports.org | Neha Madhira

Over the last few months, the Trump administration has been rounding up pro-Palestine students who it claims support terrorism, despite a lack of evidence to back up these assertions. A Zionist advocacy group, Betar US, has claimed to be helping identify anti-genocide protesters for Trump officials and local law enforcement to target. The group’s former executive director detailed that process to Prism in a wide-ranging interview.
Student ICE arrests evoke Israel detaining Palestinians: activists

2 months ago | prismreports.org | Neha Madhira

Half a dozen masked federal immigration agents in plainclothes ambushed a Tufts University international student from Turkey on March 25, according to a dramatic video shared by pro-Palestine and immigrant rights advocates. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and Ph.D. graduate worker, had just left her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, on her way to an iftar with friends, when the group of agents surrounded her and grabbed her phone as she screamed.
Trump’s targeting of student protesters opens new lines of attack

2 months ago | prismreports.org | Neha Madhira

After former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil was detained in a Louisiana Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on March 8, President Donald Trump vowed that his arrest would be the first of “many to come.” Khalil is a Palestinian-Syrian permanent U.S. resident and recent Columbia graduate who was active in last year’s Gaza encampment protests.
U.S.-based doctors in Gaza allowed to leave after Israeli blockade

Jan 27, 2025 | prismreports.org | Neha Madhira

Israeli authorities told 11 U.S.-based physicians and nurses on a medical mission in Gaza that they may leave the Gaza Strip on Jan. 28, after initially preventing them from leaving last week, the medical workers told Prism. On Monday, they began making their way from northern Gaza to the south. The team, whose medical workers are from California, Texas, Ohio, Florida, Colorado, and Arizona, served in Gaza from Jan. 9 to 23 through the international humanitarian organization Rahma Worldwide.
After Gaza ceasefire, organizing for a free Palestine continues

Jan 22, 2025 | prismreports.org | Neha Madhira

After more than a year of unrelenting bombardment on Gaza by Israeli forces, a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel went into effect on Jan. 19. However, tensions remain high, especially among Palestinian Americans and advocacy groups, as the first part of the negotiation, which includes a halt in all fighting, was broken Jan. 20 when an Israeli sniper killed a 15-year-old returning home in Rafah.
After Gaza ceasefire, organizing for a free Palestine continues

Jan 22, 2025 | asianamericans.einnews.com | Neha Madhira

Israel began its most recent genocidal campaign in Gaza with heavy support from the U.S. after Hamas’ Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on Oct. 7, 2023, which led to the killing of approximately 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. In response, Israeli forces have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, including approximately 18,000 children.
Lebanese Americans decide whether to evacuate family members

Oct 10, 2024 | prismreports.org | Neha Madhira

“Expulsion orders” and evacuation warnings have been issued for a quarter of Lebanon’s coastline as well as 26 towns in South Lebanon due to the Israeli military’s unrelenting bombardment and ground invasion. Around have been displaced across the country, and more than 2,000 people have been killed since the attacks began on Oct. 2.
One year of genocide backed by American tax dollars

Oct 7, 2024 | prismreports.org | Neha Madhira

The Israeli genocide and siege on Gaza killed 10 of Morad Amar’s family members in the past year, but the Arlington, Texas, resident said he does not have much time to grieve. “Any minute now, any day, at any moment in time, another tank could shoot at another tent or home and end up killing another 10 people,” Amar, an internal medicine resident, said.
UT-Austin students protesting genocide continue following arrests

May 8, 2024 | prismreports.org | Neha Madhira

Students across University of Texas System schools have joined campuses nationwide to protest the genocide of Palestinians and demand their university divest from companies funding Israel. The protests have received a harsh response from school administration and law enforcement in recent weeks as the movement builds momentum, but organizers insist they won’t back down.
The Total Solar Eclipse Through the Eyes of UT Students — drift magazine

Apr 12, 2024 | driftmagazine.org | Shivani Menon |Neha Madhira

“The next total solar eclipse that will be somewhere in the continental U.S. is in 2044,” said Keely Finkelstein, associate professor of instruction in UT’s Department of Astronomy. “That's not coming through Austin or Texas, so for most people, it's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”Isaac Prieto, a junior civil engineering major, walked excitedly to the UT Tower, accompanied by friends, to see the eclipse and hear the band play. “I felt amazed when I watched the eclipse,” Prieto said.