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Washington Post Columnist Lambastes US for Supporting Israel’s War Against Hamas
Yahya Sinwar, head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City on April 14, 2023. Photo: Yousef Masoud / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
In a recent opinion piece for The Washington Post (“Biden’s Gaza policy is the latest major U.S. foreign affairs blunder,” December 13), columnist Perry Bacon Jr. questioned both the morality and integrity of the United States’ foreign policy over the last two months, as it continues to support Israel both militarily and diplomatically in its fight against Hamas.
For Bacon Jr., the support by US President Joe Biden and his administration for the Jewish state’s war against a genocidal terrorist enemy is a blunder that is “blotting out positive memories of Biden’s foreign policies — perhaps permanently.”
However, in making his case against the US administration’s steadfast support for Israel’s war in Gaza, Bacon Jr. makes it clear that he has a faulty and simplistic understanding of Israel, Hamas, and both the purpose of the war in Gaza as well as the nature of the intense urban warfare currently taking place in the coastal enclave.
The U.S. wants to lead the world on global policy issues. But the past two months are the latest illustration of why people and nations across the world are so skeptical of American foreign policy and global leadership. https://t.co/skxnVUX0Mq
— Perry Bacon Jr. (@perrybaconjr) December 13, 2023
According to Bacon Jr., Israel is currently engaged in the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians as well as the “bombing [of] everything in Gaza,” ultimately intent on destroying the entire area. To support his claims, he points to Israeli strikes on hospitals and schools as well as the mass displacement of Gazan civilians.
However, the key factor missing from Bacon Jr.’s analysis is the role that Hamas plays in this war. Nowhere in this 17-paragraph piece is it mentioned that Hamas, an internationally recognized terror organization, embeds itself within the general population, using the cover of civilian infrastructure to conceal its gunmen, rocket launchers, elaborate tunnel system, and ruthless terrorist leadership.
Thus, Hamas’ use of these locations takes away their civilian protection and turns them into legitimate military targets. Similarly, Israel encouraged the movement of civilians from northern Gaza to the south in order to shield them from the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists.
This is in sharp contrast to the conduct of the Russian military in its invasion of Ukraine, with its indiscriminate attacks against civilians and non-military targets, which Perry Bacon, Jr., incorrectly compares Israel to a number of times.
Footage published by the IDF shows Hamas operatives opening fire at troops from an UNRWA school in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, and a strike in response. pic.twitter.com/eNpNsTsJJ4
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 9, 2023
Not only is Hamas’ cynical manipulation of Gaza’s civilian population and infrastructure not mentioned once in the piece, but the terror group and its barbaric actions on October 7 only warrant a couple of passing references.
For anyone unacquainted with the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, this piece will leave them with the false impression that the Jewish state is the aggressor in Gaza, without any context or reasoning given for why it has been conducting a large military operation over the past two months, and why there has been so much fighting in supposedly civilian areas.
But it’s not only Israel’s conduct in Gaza that Perry Bacon, Jr., has a problem with — it’s Israel itself.
Citing the US administration’s support for Israel as a democracy in a region that is no stranger to autocracies, monarchies, and dictatorships, Bacon, Jr., seeks to undercut this impression of the Jewish state by questioning its democratic bona fides.
The claims put forward against Israel’s democratic character include the assertion by certain human rights organizations that Israel is practicing apartheid, that Israel has been targeting journalists throughout the war, and that Israel is stifling expressions of criticism of the war in Gaza.
The charge of apartheid has been thoroughly debunked on numerous occasions, including by HonestReporting, as a legal fiction that has been concocted by opponents of the Jewish state and is not grounded in reality.
Concerning the second charge, Bacon, Jr., writes “Over the past two months, dozens of journalists have been killed in Gaza, with credible accusations that the Israeli military has intentionally targeted journalists.”
However, this analysis is belied by the fact that most killed journalists in Gaza did not fall in the line of duty and that the source for the claim that Israel is “targeting” journalists is a single quote by Lebanon’s Minister of Information Ziad Makary. The IDF has also continually asserted that it does not intentionally target journalists.
The third charge against Israel’s democratic character is described by Bacon, Jr., as “a member of Israel’s Knesset was suspended after criticizing the bombing in Gaza.”
However, a look at the source provided for this claim, an article from the Israeli daily Haaretz, proves that it is not as straightforward as he would have us believe.
In mid-October 2023, an extreme-left Jewish parliamentarian, Ofer Cassif, was suspended by the Knesset Ethics Committee for implicitly comparing Israel’s conduct in Gaza to the Holocaust. According to the findings of the Committee, Cassif’s statement was inappropriate to “his status as a Member of Knesset and severely harms the Knesset’s standing and the public’s trust in the Knesset.”
This is a far cry from a blanket suspension of an MK solely for “criticizing the bombing in Gaza.” In fact, there have been expressions of opposition to certain aspects of Israel’s conduct in the war in the Israeli public sphere without reprisal by the government.
From this piece, it is clear that Perry Bacon, Jr., has a superficial understanding of the current war in Gaza, with no nuance or complexity to temper his denigration of Israel and its military activities.
He even admits as much when he writes, “I don’t follow foreign affairs as closely as I probably should.”
This has not stopped him, however, from penning a one-sided critique of the United States’ courageous support for Israel as it combats an immoral terror group bent on the Jewish state’s destruction.
The post Washington Post Columnist Lambastes US for Supporting Israel’s War Against Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
The post Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
The post Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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