Earlier this year, Dillon was traded to the Eagles from the Green Bay Packers, where he played since he was drafted in 2020. The athlete has been very vocal in the past about his Jewish upbringing and identity, and tried to break down stereotypes about Jews in a 2021 TikTok video that went viral. The New London, Connecticut, native shared in a YouTube interview three years ago that he went to Hebrew school before shifting focus to his football career. “All my life up to that point had been Hebrew school, had been Judaism. My entire family, on that side of the family, is all Jewish and practicing and all, observed every holiday and everything,” he said.
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Why Is CNN Downplaying UNRWA’s Scandals?
CNN logo. Photo: Josh Hallett / Flickr
In a January 29 CNN article entitled “What we know about Israel’s allegations against UN staffers in Gaza,” the network got it wrong when it comes to definitions of Palestinian “refugees.” While CNN later corrected that error after media criticism, the authors (Sophie Tanno, Hira Humayun, Richard Roth, Heather Chen, and Alex Marquardt) also failed to capture the extent of the scandals plaguing UNRWA, the refugee agency for Palestinians.
Beginning with the definitional error, the article originally stated:
The organization characterizes Palestinian refugees as any “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 War.” Those who fit that definition now number 5.9 million, made up largely of the descendants of original refugees.
This statement is not true, since the definition says nothing of descendants, who would clearly not fit that definition provided.
The figure of 5.9 million instead reflects the UNRWA definition of “refugees” as changed over the years to automatically include all descendants of “Palestine refugee males.” UNRWA’s website itself acknowledges this, albeit quietly. Worth noting, this is unique to Palestinians. No other group on earth is allowed to have their descendants automatically given “refugee” status.
The real number of Palestinians who would fit the definition, according to a post by then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo following a State Department study, is less than 200,000, not 5.9 million.
After CAMERA informed CNN that the original UNRWA definition of a refugee, which was quoted in the article, had been expanded in subsequent years to automatically include descendants of Palestinian refugees, the network updated the language to clarify the definition and the numbers the article had assigned to that definition.
The network published the following correction:
This article has been updated to clarify the definition of who qualifies for UNRWA aid.
The language now reads:
The organization characterizes Palestinian refugees as any “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 War.” Those who fit that definition and their descendants now number 5.9 million, all of whom are considered eligible for UNRWA support.
We commend CNN for the correction.
But CNN’s article is also misleading in another way. It fails to capture the extent of the scandals plaguing UNRWA. The authors commendably report the most recent development, namely the revelation that at least 12 UNRWA staffers were involved in the October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
They omit, however, an even more important revelation: that approximately 10% of the agency’s 12,000-plus employees are linked with internationally-designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Similarly, CNN’s website appears devoid of any mention of the UNRWA staff Telegram channel, documented and exposed by UN Watch, which is rife with incitement and glorification of terrorism by UNRWA employees, including celebrating the October 7 massacre. Notably, rather than take the issue seriously, the United Nations responded by trying to insult the organization that produced the evidence.
Nor does CNN mention the many documented instances in which terrorist infrastructure and weaponry have been found inside or underneath UNRWA institutions, a fact which the United Nations has lied about as recently as earlier this month.
There is no mention of the fact that a former UNRWA union head was fired only after it was publicly exposed that he was a Hamas political leader, and that the former UNRWA Gaza director was removed from his position simply because he admitted Israeli strikes were precise during the May 2021 Israel-Hamas war. During the current war, there have also been documented instances of terrorists firing from UNRWA facilities.
The long, documented history of UNRWA schools teaching content that incites terrorism and hatred is also omitted.
This history is important context for CNN’s audience. It would inform them that this is not an isolated incident of bad behavior at UNRWA. It explains why so many countries are now suspending aid to the agency, given its long record of bad behavior.
Instead, CNN’s Newsroom resorted to bringing in former UNRWA Director-General Christopher Gunness, who oversaw many of these scandals, to whitewash the agency’s bad behavior. Rather than acknowledge the seriousness of the issue, Gunness implied the revelations were a “political attack” timed with the International Court of Justice proceedings, presumably to take attention away.
Given CNN’s fondness for investigations, one is left to wonder: why isn’t CNN devoting any substantial effort to holding UNRWA to account by asking the hard questions of the agency?
David M. Litman is a Research Analyst at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Why Is CNN Downplaying UNRWA’s Scandals? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Philadelphia Eagles Running Back AJ Dillon Discusses How to Balance Jewish Identity, NFL Career
Tampa Bay, Florida, USA, Sept. 28, 2025, Philadelphia Eagles player AJ Dillon #29 at Raymond James Stadium. Photo: Marty Jean-Louis/Sipa USA
Philadelphia Eagles running back AJ Dillon talked to students at the University of Pennsylvania about the struggles of balancing his Jewish faith with the grueling schedule of his NFL career during an event hosted by Penn Hillel on Monday.
“I think there’s no perfect answer,” Dillon, 27, said during the event, as reported by the student-led newspaper The Daily Pennsylvanian. “The schedule can get hectic, but I think it’s trial and error with trying to figure out what works, and that might change in a couple months or a year as the season goes on.”
Dillon noted on Monday that his Jewish journey “wasn’t necessarily linear.”
“My mom’s side of my family is Jewish, and we did all the traditions and everything growing up. But once I started to get more into sports … [the] schedule gets a little busier,” he explained. He added that while “balancing faith” and his NFL career can be “challenging,” he tries to “be mindful of the things that are important.”
Monday’s event was moderated by Hillel co-[resident Ethan Farber and Wharton sophomore Orly Sedransk. The event was part of Penn Hillel’s new Jackie Reses Speaker Series, which will feature a conversation with Jewish writer and director Jesse Eisenberg on Nov. 20.
After Monday’s event, Dillon talked to The Daily Pennsylvanian and urged Jewish students to harness their Jewish faith and community to help them succeed.
“The great thing about being part of the Jewish community is you have a sense of belonging,” he said. “The reality is there’s not as many Jewish athletes. It’s always great when you are able to do something, no matter how big or how small, and have a platform.”
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FIFA Council Takes No Action Against Israel, Calls for Peace and Unity Amid Pressure to Suspend Israeli Teams
FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the FIFA Football Conference in Milan, Italy, Sept. 22, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Thursday called on the governing body of soccer to promote peace and unity as it faces mounting pressure to suspend Israel from international competitions because of the country’s military actions against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
The FIFA Council convened in Zurich on Thursday to discuss a series of topics, including soccer governance and competitions. The topic of Israel was not formally listed on the agenda for the meeting. However, in his opening remarks, Infantino spoke to the 37-member council about the role of soccer in encouraging peace and unity, “particularly in the context of the ongoing situation in Gaza,” according to a FIFA media release that did not mention Israel by name. He also stressed that FIFA could not solve political issues.
“At FIFA, we are committed to using the power of football to bring people together in a divided world. Our thoughts are with those who are suffering in the many conflicts that exist around the world today, and the most important message that football can convey right now is one of peace and unity,” said Infantino, who added that he has had repeated conversations with confederation presidents on the matter.
“FIFA cannot solve geopolitical problems, but it can and must promote football around the world by harnessing its unifying, educational, cultural, and humanitarian values,” the FIFA president noted.
Qualifying games for the 2026 World Cup resume next week. Israel’s men’s soccer team is scheduled to compete against Norway in a qualifier on Oct. 11 in Oslo and then Italy on Oct. 14 in Udine. Israel and Italy are currently tied in Group I on nine points each, only six points behind Norway. Israel is currently playing home games in Hungary.
Several soccer federations in Europe, including in Norway and Turkey, have urged UEFA to ban Israeli teams from international competitions because of Israel’s military campaign targeting Hamas terrorists in Gaza who orchestrated the deadly invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Palestinian Football Association who has repeatedly called for FIFA to suspend Israel from international matches, was also in Switzerland this week and met on Thursday with International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry, according to The Associated Press.
FIFA Vice President Victor Montagliani said on Wednesday that any decision regarding Israel’s suspension from international soccer should be made by European soccer’s governing body UEFA. “That issue is the jurisdiction of UEFA, first and foremost,” he told Sky News on the sidelines of the Leaders sports business conference in London.
“It’s their member and they have a process … so we need to respect that,” he added. “And so, I think it’s important that we respect that it’s UEFA’s decision. Obviously, UEFA and FIFA will be having whatever discussions they need to, no different than any other confederation would on any other member. And obviously it’s an issue that changes from a geopolitics standpoint almost on a daily basis, as we saw with the last proposal of a peace plan. And so, there’s a lot of moving parts.”
“No different than if I have to deal with a member in my region for whatever reason, it’s a decision by UEFA,” Montagliani – who is also the president of the CONCACAF region covering North and Central America and the Caribbean – additionally told reporters at the Leaders conference.
The former head of the former Canadian Soccer Association added that the Palestine Football Association’s request to ban Israel was still being considered by two FIFA committees.
Montagliani made the comments on the same day that UK-based human rights group Amnesty International wrote to FIFA and UEFA, calling on the organizations to suspend Israeli teams from their tournaments because of what it claimed is a “genocide” taking place in Gaza.
“As Israel’s national football team gears up for World Cup qualifiers against Norway and Italy, Israel continues to perpetrate genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” wrote Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard. He also accused Israel of engaging in a “deliberate campaign of wholesale devastation, forced displacement, and starvation of civilians.”
“At the same time, Israel is brutally expanding its illegal settlements and legitimizing illegal outposts in the West Bank as part of its unlawful occupation of Palestinian Territory,” Callamard claimed. “It is nothing short of a disgrace that the IFA [Israeli Football Association] is still allowing clubs from these settlements to keep playing in its leagues, after multiple warnings for more than a decade.”
The FIFA Council on Thursday also appointed Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan as joint hosts of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2027 and confirmed London, England, as host for the final phase of the inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup next year, which will be comprised of four matches to be played from Jan. 28- Feb. 1.
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British Authorities Allowed Antisemitism to Fester. Now Two Jews Are Dead in Manchester.
People react near the scene, after an attack in which a car was driven at pedestrians and stabbings were reported at a synagogue in north Manchester, Britain, on Yom Kippur, Oct. 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Phil Noble
As Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, draws to its close, we Jews plead: “Open the gates for us, even as they close.” It is the cry of a people who know that time is short, that chances to change are finite. And as I joined in that call myself, surrounded by those I’ve known my whole life at synagogue in London, I thought how Britain too should act before it is too late — to repent, to rectify, to make good — before the closing of the gate. For Britain has had a decade or more of warnings about jihadist terror and rising antisemitism.
And yet, on the morning of Yom Kippur on Thursday, two Jews were killed outside their synagogue in Manchester, and the gates are fast closing on illusion and denial.
A decade ago, in the aftermath of the Hypercacher supermarket massacre in Paris, I said what should have been obvious: the ideology that sent Amedy Coulibaly to murder Jews in cold blood would not remain contained to France. I warned then, in a Sky News interview, that Islamic extremists who had returned from Syria with training, weapons, and a genocidal worldview posed a direct and specific threat to Jewish communities in Britain. That warning was not cryptic, nor was it speculative. It was grounded in fact and in history. But it was dismissed.
Now, in Manchester, it has come to pass again.
On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, worshippers at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation were attacked in a manner grimly familiar to anyone who has studied Islamist terror. At 9:31 in the morning, a man rammed his vehicle into congregants before attacking with a knife. Two men, Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were killed. Three others remain in hospital with serious injuries. The suspect, named by police as Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, was shot dead by armed officers.
We should dwell on the symbolism. A synagogue targeted on Yom Kippur. British Jews once again forced to barricade their sanctuary. A suspect literally named Jihad, when only a year ago Londoners watched Hizb ut-Tahrir demonstrators chanting that very word in open calls for holy war. Then, the Metropolitan Police reassured us that “jihad has a number of meanings.” Today, two Jews lie dead.
This was foreseeable. British Jews have lived under extraordinary security for years. Synagogues, schools, and communal centers rely on cameras, fences, guards, and the vigilance of CST volunteers. Families tell their children not to wear uniforms on buses, not to speak Hebrew in public, not to appear recognizably Jewish. We knew something like this would happen. The only surprise is that it has taken until 2025 for such a day to arrive in Britain.
And yet, the official response has been one of ritual platitudes. The Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has spoken of deploying more police to synagogues and expressed his horror that Jews were attacked at prayer. Words are necessary, but words cannot obscure reality. His government, like its predecessors, has chosen to ignore warning after warning. It emboldened extremism with the hasty recognition of a Palestinian state, long before any credible peace plan existed. It indulged weekly marches in central London where chants about the “army of Muhammad” killing Jews were not fringe but center-stage. It failed to act against hate preachers, failed to prosecute violent demonstrators, failed to confront the hostility to Jews that has bled into British institutions and media.
The BBC and other broadcasters have, for years, twisted their reporting on Israel to such an extent that Jewish safety in Britain has become collateral damage in the narrative war. When synagogues were daubed with “Free Gaza” graffiti, when schoolgirls were struck with bottles, when buildings in Golders Green were smeared with feces, when radical clerics called for Jews to be killed, the media’s instinct was to frame Jewish alarm as a lobbying effort, as if security itself were a political demand.
But this is not political. It is existential. And it is not only a Jewish problem. Britain has already bled from the hands of Islamist terrorism at Westminster Bridge, at London Bridge, in the Tube, in Manchester Arena. MPs have been murdered, commuters blown apart, children incinerated at a concert. The ideology is not selective. It does not merely menace Jews, though Jews remain its perennial and symbolic target. It menaces the fabric of our entire civic life.
That is why the protests that followed the Manchester killings were so grotesque. Hours after two Jews were murdered outside their synagogue, thousands gathered in central London waving Palestinian flags, clashing with police, chanting slogans, some dismissing the attack altogether. One campaigner told a journalist she did not “care about the Jewish community.” This is the climate we have allowed to fester. When hatred marches so brazenly, it ceases to be protest and becomes license.
The historical parallels are not abstract. England was the cradle of the first blood libel in Norwich in 1144, where Jews were accused of murdering a Christian boy for ritual purposes. By 1290, Edward I expelled the entire Jewish population. Centuries later, Kristallnacht in Germany turned synagogues into smouldering ruins. Each time, antisemitism was permitted to grow, ignored by authorities, rationalized by elites, until violence erupted. What happened in Manchester is not the same in scale, but it is the same in kind.
Two men from Crumpsall are now dead. Their synagogue, where generations have gathered in faith, is a crime scene. Rabbi Daniel Walker had to barricade his congregants inside and continue leading Yom Kippur prayers in bloodstained robes. This is Britain in 2025.
The lesson is not complicated. Where Jew-hatred is tolerated, civilization is corroded. A society that cannot keep its synagogues safe cannot keep itself safe. The victims are Jewish today, but the target is Britain itself.
On Yom Kippur, Jews confess: “For the sin we have committed by silence … by cowardice … by hardening the heart.” These are not only our sins; they are Britain’s. For years, leaders silenced themselves in the face of hate, institutions cowered before extremists, and the media hardened its heart against Jewish suffering. Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz are dead at least in part because this nation’s guardians chose inaction when it could have chosen to prevent the climate of Jew-hatred from growing. If Britain does not confront this hatred with justice and resolve, then it is complicit in its return.
Editor’s note: British police said on Friday they may have accidentally shot a victim who died in the Manchester attack, as well as one of the survivors, as they attempted to stop the perpetrator. Greater Manchester Police chief constable Steve Watson said in a statement that one of those killed suffered a gunshot wound but that the assailant, shot dead by officers at the scene, was not carrying a firearm.
Jonathan Sacerdoti, a writer and broadcaster, is now a contributor to The Algemeiner.