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PEN America Lists Palestinian Terrorists as ‘Writers’ in Annual Freedom Index
A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters / Carlo Allegri / File.
Shortly after PEN America published its annual Freedom to Write Index last Wednesday, The New York Times rushed out a story quoting the organization’s “director of writers at risk,” Karin Karlekar, who described the worsening threats against writers worldwide.
“Russia and Israel entered the list of the Top 10 biggest jailers, as Karlekar noted that countries with conflict or war crackdown on dissent,” The New York Times reported in the piece, which also detailed how the Israel-Hamas war had “roiled PEN America itself” when it was forced to cancel its 2024 literary awards ceremony amid a boycott by prize nominees who insisted PEN America is overly sympathetic to the Jewish State.
While the Times is happy to lump Israel alongside authoritarian regimes like Russia, it failed to name any of the writers whose allegedly unjust jailing has led to Israel’s ignominious inclusion on PEN America’s list. If these writers had been named, it would’ve immediately become clear to readers why Israel has no business being listed alongside countries like Russia, China, and Iran.
.@nytimes reports Israel has entered @PENamerica‘s top 10 list of countries with the most imprisoned writers, in the company of states including Iran, China, Saudi Arabia & Russia.
Let’s take a look at some of those “dissenters” on the Israeli list. https://t.co/zPbZ4Hhji4
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 2, 2024
Palestinian Terrorists Listed as “Writers”
Among the first names on the list is none other than Khalida Jarrar, a self-confessed senior leader in the terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who has served time in prison for multiple terrorism offenses.
Also listed is Ahed Tamimi, whose inclusion is absurdly based on the fact she has a memoir that was ghost-written for her, a 23-year-old Palestinian provocateur who, in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas massacre, wrote online: “We will slaughter you & you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke. We will drink your blood & eat your skull. Come on, we are waiting for you.”
Tamimi was arrested on suspicion of incitement and later freed as part of the hostage-prisoner exchange with Hamas.
Rasem Obaidat, who, unlike most of the other “writers” on the list, has actually published a few things, has been jailed a total of five times and is a member of the PFLP, according to an Israeli security source. Of course, you wouldn’t know this from PEN America’s sanitized description of Obaidat, which claims he was arrested for merely “sharing his critical views of Israel.”
PEN America also included Radwan Qatanani, describing him as an “online commentator posting primarily on Twitter,” without detailing any of the posts that likely led to Qatanani’s detention, such as his October 8 message that praised Hamas’ “beautiful” terrorists and lauded their “wonderful captures.”
Nawef Al-Amer and Musab Khamees Qafeisha are both on the list and identified as a social media commentator and a freelance reporter. Wisely, PEN America opted not to reveal where their work most frequently appears, which is the Sanad News Agency, a propaganda website that lavishes praise on Hamas and the “heroic” Palestinians who murder Israeli civilians.
However, the most disturbing entry on the list is that of Mirvat Al-Azzeh, whom PEN America acknowledges was fired by NBC News over a series of posts made shortly after October 7, including one in which she mocked Israeli hostages.
In another post, she wrote: “Sirens all the time, the Jews are hiding and the Arabs are out drinking coffee on their balconies” and said the Hamas attacks were like “watching a movie where the director is Palestinian and the protagonists are from Gaza.”
Finally, a salient fact completely overlooked by both PEN America and The New York Times in its cursory coverage of the Index is that many of the arrested “writers” were later released. Unlike the other countries on PEN America’s list, Israel practices the rule of law: it arrests individuals on suspicion of breaking the law and releases them if no grounds for continued detention are found.
PEN America’s list is a farce — an A to Z of terrorists and Jew-haters. Nothing more, nothing less.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
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 – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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