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‘This s— is not a game’: On CNN, Jake Tapper tells Marjorie Taylor Greene not to use antisemitism to score ‘political points’
(JTA) — Speaking in front of a view of the Tel Aviv skyline, CNN anchor Jake Tapper issued a plea to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: don’t fake concern about antisemitism to score political points.
Tapper was hosting his Sunday “State of the Nation” program from Tel Aviv, where he is helping to cover Israel’s war on Hamas, launched after the terror group invaded Israel, killing and wounding thousands and taking hundreds captive. He took the last five minutes of the show to talk about a motion of censure Greene, the hardline right-wing Georgia Republican, had initiated against Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the progressive Michigan Democrat who is Palestinian-American.
“Antisemitism is not a cudgel to be used against people for political points, nor is Islamophobia or racism or anti-gay behavior or misogyny or any other kind of bigotry,” Tapper said.
“Just over three weeks ago, 1,400 people, mostly Jews, mostly civilians, were slaughtered here in some of the cruelest and most unimaginable ways, in the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” he said. “This shit is not a game.”
Last week, Greene introduced the motion of censure against Tlaib for “antisemitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organizations, and leading an insurrection at the United States Capitol Complex.”
Greene, who has championed those jailed for the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 riot took aim at Tlaib’s address to protesters at a Jewish-led pro-Palestinian rally in which demonstrators filled the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. The motion said those protesters “put Members of Congress, their staffs, and Capitol visitors in danger by shutting down elevators, stairwells, and points of egress, while obstructing official business.”
Tapper said that the day of nonviolent protest, a fairly routine occurrence at the Capitol, was not the same as the Jan. 6 riot, often referred to as an insurrection, which sought to overturn the elections, and which ended with at least five deaths and hundreds of jail sentences.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene describes this act of civil disobedience from a bunch of left-wing Jewish groups that are critical of Israel’s government, this act, as an insurrection,” he said. “This is not an insurrection.”
He said Tlaib may deserve criticism, most recently because she waited days to walk back her statements blaming Israel for a blast at a Gaza hospital after a series of assessments attributed the incident to a failed Palestinian rocket launch. But he said House Republicans including Greene, who is close to former President Donald Trump, are not “really in a position to censure Tlaib.”
Trump and Greene, he said, had both associated with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, while Greene had likened President Joe Biden to Hitler.
“Donald Trump posted a screed accusing liberal Jews of quote voting to destroy America and Israel last Rosh Hashanah, to nary a peep from any House Republican leaders,” he said.
Tapper has made his Jewish identity a central part of his news-gathering persona, and took a leading role among anchors in decrying the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
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The post ‘This s— is not a game’: On CNN, Jake Tapper tells Marjorie Taylor Greene not to use antisemitism to score ‘political points’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.