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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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Israel Readies for a Nationwide Strike on Sunday
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are calling on for a general strike to be held on Sunday in an effort to compel the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal with Hamas for the release of their loved ones and a ceasefire. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
The October 7 Council and other groups representing bereaved families of hostages and soldiers who fell since the start of the war declared they were “shutting down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages.”
While many businesses said they would join the strike, Israel’s largest labor federation, the Histadrut, has declined to participate.
Some of the country’s top educational institutions, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, declared their support for the strike.
“We, the members of the university’s leadership, deans, and department heads, hereby announce that on Sunday, each and every one of us will participate in a personal strike as a profound expression of solidarity with the hostage families,” the Hebrew University’s deal wrote to students.
The day will begin at 6:29 AM, to commemorate the start of the October 7 attack, with the first installation at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Further demonstrations are planned at dozens of traffic intersections.
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Netanyahu ‘Has Become a Problem,’Says Danish PM as She Calls for Russia-Style Sanctions Against Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said Saturday, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war.
“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen told Danish media, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far” and lashing out at the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and announced new homes in the West Bank.
“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said, specifying she referred to “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole.”
“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect.”
The devastating war in Gaza began almost two years ago, with an incursion into Israel of thousands of Palestinian armed jihadists, who perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
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As Alaska Summit Ends With No Apparent Progress, Zelensky to Meet Trump on Monday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – After US President Donald Trump hailed the “great progress” made during a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was set to meet Trump on Monday at the White House.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump told reporters during a joint press conference after the meeting.
Many observers noted, however, that the subsequent press conference was a relatively muted affair compared to the pomp and circumstance of the red carpet welcome, and the summit produced no tangible progress.
Trump and Putin spoke briefly, with neither taking questions, and offered general statements about an “understanding” and “progress.”
Putin, who spoke first, agreed with Trump’s long-repeated assertion that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Trump been president instead of Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump said “many points were agreed to” and that “just a very few” issues were left to resolve, offering no specifics and making no reference to the ceasefire he’s been seeking.