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‘Honor His Last Demand’: Anti-Israel Groups Across US Mobilize in Support of Assassinated Terrorist Leaders
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, March 26, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Anti-Israel groups across the US have planned major protests in response to the assassinations of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, social media posts reveal.
This week, Israel killed Fuad Shukr, the No. 2 leader in the Hezbollah terrorist organization, in a targeted strike on a building in Lebanon. The assassination came as a response to a Hezbollah rocket attack on the Druze village of Majdal Shams, located in the Golan Heights, which hit a soccer field and killed 12 children.
Then, on Wednesday, the leader of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed when a bomb exploded in his hotel room while staying in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, for the inauguration of the country’s new president. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the attack.
In response to these high-profile assassinations of top terrorist leaders, anti-Israel groups in the West mobilized in support of the terrorists.
In New York City, the group Within Our Lifetime hailed the men as martyrs, chanting that the “martyr is loved by Allah” and that “Zionists are the enemy of Allah.” They also chanted, “From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada.”
Among the rallygoers, there were a number of Hamas and Hezbollah flags, signaling explicit support for the US-designated terrorist organizations.
Protesters in Times Square Rally Following Assassination of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hizbullah Military Leader Fuad Shukr, Wave Hamas, Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam, Hizbullah Flags, Chant: The Martyr Is Beloved by Allah! Israel Is the Enemy of Allah! pic.twitter.com/ZnyOxCbstR
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) August 1, 2024
A number of other groups are also planning protests on Saurday.
An organization called Montreal 4 Palestine is hosting a protest in order to “Honor his [Ismail Haniyeh’s] last demand,” which they claim was to mobilize across Israel, the Palestinian territories, and around the world to “support our people in the Gaza Strip and to free our prisoners in the occupation’s prisons.”
“You can’t kill a movement,” they wrote on X/Twitter.
Directly after the assassinations, the Boston chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement announced an “emergency rally” for their “martyrs.” The announcement was coupled with the claim that Israel is attempting to “create a bloody regional war.”
The Algemeiner reported on Wednesday that the American writer and activist Shaun King lionized Haniyeh in a post about his death. King admired that “he was working hard, day and night, on the ceasefire even though these genocidal monsters had murdered his own kids and grandchildren. I never understood how he had such strength to push forward. But he knew and said that he was no different than the average Palestinian who has lost so much.”
Additionally, Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote on X/Twitter that “tonight, we mourn Ismail himself but know his martyrdom is not in vain. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Haniyeh was placed on the US State Department’s Specially Designated Global Terrorists list in 2018.
“Haniyeh has close links with Hamas’ military wing and has been a proponent of armed struggle, including against civilians,” the department said at the time while announcing his terror designation. “He has reportedly been involved in terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. Hamas has been responsible for an estimated 17 American lives killed in terrorist attacks.”
Hamas and Hezbollah are both backed by Iran, which provides the Islamist terrorist groups with arms, funding, and training.
Many of the most prominent anti-Israel organizations in the West explicitly endorsed Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 hostages. These groups have regularly called for an “intifada” and other types of violence and terrorism at their rallies, along with flags of US-designated terrorist organizations.
Last week, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United States to give a speech to a joint session of Congress, pro-Hamas rioters vandalized statues — including with the phrase “Hamas is coming” — and assaulted police officers.
The post ‘Honor His Last Demand’: Anti-Israel Groups Across US Mobilize in Support of Assassinated Terrorist Leaders first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.
The post Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.
The post Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.
The post Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.