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Terror Group’s News Outlet Deletes Article About PFLP-Tied Journalist Criticized for Emmy Nomination
Palestinian PFLP supporters seen during a rally marking the 52nd anniversary of its founding, in the West Bank city of Nablus, on Dec. 14, 2019. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90.
A Gaza-based news outlet established by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) deleted an article that praised Gaza journalist Bisan Owda amid controversy about her receiving an Emmy nomination because of her connection to the US-designated terrorist organization.
The Arabic-language publication Al-Hadaf, which serves as the mouthpiece for the PFLP, deleted an article titled “Journalism in the Crosshairs of Politics… how Bisan Owda became a symbol of resistance journalism” that was published on Thursday, according to The Jerusalem Post. The move came after more than 150 members of the entertainment industry called on the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) last week to rescind Owda’s Emmy nomination due to her support for the PFLP.
The Gaza-based Palestinian journalist and filmmaker was nominated for her documentary series “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive” in the 2024 Emmy Awards for News & Documentary in the category of outstanding hard news feature story: short form. In the docuseries, Owda reports from Gaza and documents the daily life of Palestinians during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The docuseries was a collaboration with the digital media outlet AJ+ which is based in the US and is a subsidiary of the Qatari-owned media outlet Al Jazeera. In 2020, the US Department of Justice ordered AJ+ to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The Justice Department declared that the outlet, which is backed by the royal family of Qatar, engages in “political activities” on behalf of Qatar’s government and is “designed to influence American perceptions of a domestic policy issue or a foreign nation’s activities or its leadership.” However, the outlet has refused to follow the department’s orders.
Owda’s longstanding ties to PFLP – which is designated as a terrorist organization in US, Israel, European Union and Canada — was exposed shortly after her Emmy nomination was announced in mid-July. She attended and spoke at PFLP rallies, hosted events honoring Palestinians fighting Israeli soldiers, and the PFLP referred to her in 2018 as a member of its Progressive Youth Union. She also regularly makes anti-Zionist comments on social media while reporting from Gaza about the Israel-Hamas war.
More than 150 entertainment industry figures said in an open letter to NATAS that Owda’s Emmy nomination is in violation of the Academy’s code of ethical conduct, and is also “deeply troubling, given the creator’s history of promoting dangerous falsehoods, spreading antisemitism, and condoning violence.” The letter was spearheaded by the nonprofit organization Creative Community for Peace.
In response to the open letter, NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp sent a letter to CCFP President Ari Ingel defending Owda’s nomination.
“NATAS is aware of reports, cited in your letter and initially surfaced by a communications consultant in the region, that appear to show a then-teenaged Bisan Owda speaking at various PFLP-associated events between six and nine years ago. NATAS has been unable to corroborate these reports, nor has it been able, to date, to surface any evidence of more contemporary or active involvement by Owda with the PFLP organization,” Sharp wrote.
He explained that Owda’s docuseries “was reviewed by two successive panels of independent judges, including senior editorial leadership from each significant US broadcast news network.” The panels concluded that “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive” was “consistent with competition rules and NATAS policies.”
“Accordingly, NATAS has found no grounds, to date, upon which to overturn the editorial judgment of the independent journalists who reviewed the material,” he added. Sharp also told Ingel that some Emmy nominations “have been controversial, giving a platform to voices that certain viewers may find objectionable or even abhorrent. But all have been in the service of the journalistic mission to capture every facet of the story.”
The post Terror Group’s News Outlet Deletes Article About PFLP-Tied Journalist Criticized for Emmy Nomination first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Did Not Help Israel Shoot Down Incoming Rockets, Drones From Hezbollah, Pentagon Says
Lebanese side of the border with Israel, seen from Tyre, Aug. 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher
The US did not assist Israel in intercepting incoming rockets or drones fired by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah from southern Lebanon over the weekend, according to the Pentagon.
Though the US did not play a role in shooting down the projectiles, Pentagon officials said on Monday that America furnished Israeli agencies with intelligence. The Pentagon stated that direct US intervention was “not required” to neutralize the threat to Israel’s security.
“The US is prepared, as we’ve demonstrated in the past, to use force in order to support the defense of Israel,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters. “In this particular situation, given the threat that was launched from Lebanese Hezbollah, there was no requirement for the US to employ any of our munitions or capabilities to help defend.”
“In other words,” Ryder continued, “Israel was able to do that with its own organic capabilities and systems.”
Israeli fighter jets early on Sunday destroyed thousands of drones and rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, after detecting an imminent attack on the Jewish state.
Hezbollah, which is Iran’s chief proxy force in the Middle East, subsequently fired some 300 projectiles into Israel.
Several reports have confirmed Israeli claims that Hezbollah was preparing to target Israel with a major barrage.
The Pentagon claimed that it provided Israel with information regarding Hezbollah’s planned attack but added that it did not give Israel guidance on its preemptive strike against the Lebanese terrorist group.
“That was an Israeli decision to conduct those preemptive strikes based on information that they clearly had,” Ryder said, clarifying that the US was “not part of” those discussions.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated on Sunday that the terrorist group carried out its strikes in retaliation for the killing of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon late last month. Israel claimed responsibility for Shukr’s death.
Hezbollah has pummeled northern Israeli communities almost daily with barrages of drones, rockets, and missiles since the start of the Gaza conflict in October.
About 80,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate Israel’s north during that time due to the unrelenting attacks. Most of them have spent the past 10 months living in hotels in other areas of Israel.
“What happened today is not the end of the story,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the preemptive strikes. [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah in Beirut and [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north and returning our residents securely to their homes.”
On Monday, Ryder said the US will continue to assist Israel in thwarting potential attacks from neighboring countries in an effort to prevent the Middle East from becoming enveloped in a regional war.
“We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack,” Ryder continued, “and we again remain well postured to be able to support Israel’s defense.”
In April, when Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israeli soil, the US and other allied countries helped Israel shoot down nearly all of the some 300 missiles and drones fired at the Jewish state.
The post US Did Not Help Israel Shoot Down Incoming Rockets, Drones From Hezbollah, Pentagon Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Omar, Ocasio-Cortez Swipe at Biden Admin Over Israel Support, Demand Arms Embargo to Stop ‘Genocide’
US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) participates in a news conference, outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, April 10, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Jim Bourg
US Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) continued to castigate Israel’s military operations against Hamas over the past week, calling for the Biden administration to change its approach to what they described as a so-called “genocide” in Gaza.
While speaking to progressive journalist Mehdi Hasan at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) last week, Omar, one of the most vocal anti-Israel lawmakers in Congress, suggested that the White House should force a ceasefire between the Jewish state and Hamas by blocking further arms shipments to the former.
“You said at a protest this week that saying you’re relentlessly working on a ceasefire is not really a thing,” said Hasan, an outspoken critic of Israel himself, in reference to the Biden administration’s efforts to achieve a truce in Gaza.
“Right, because we actually are like the ones who control these weapons,” said Omar, a member of the so-called “Squad” of anti-Israel, far-left lawmakers in the US House of Representatives.
Hasan noted that fellow “Squad” member Ocasio-Cortez praised the White House for “relentlessly” working on a ceasefire while addressing the audience on the mainstage at the 2024 DNC in Chicago. Hasan claimed that Ocasio-Cortez’s comments incited backlash from the so-called “anti-war movement.”
Omar argued that “no one should fall for” the “narrative” that US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, are doing everything within their power to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.
“It’s not a rhetoric that makes any sense, right? Because, if you are working tirelessly to end this war, you would start stopping sending them weapons,” Omar said. “And to me, the no more bombs sentiment makes more sense in the pursuit of a ceasefire than saying we are working everyday to guarantee a ceasefire.”
During last week’s DNC, Omar engaged in a sit-in protest with members of the Uncommitted Movement — an initiative which encourages Democratic voters not to support Harris until she adopts anti-Israel policies. The protest was held in response to the DNC for allegedly refusing to give a Palestinian American speaking time during the convention.
Amid blistering criticism from progressives over her defense of the Biden administration’s ceasefire negotiations, Ocasio-Cortez reiterated her unsubstantiated position that Israel has committed “genocide” in Gaza. Chatting with New York City Council Member Chi Osse at the DNC, she argued that though neither major political party “is good on Palestine,” the Republican Party would be unambiguously worse.
“Neither party’s official platform in my opinion is good on Palestine. I don’t think either party right now is doing justice to Palestinians,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That doesn’t mean that they’re the same. I think that a Donald Trump presidency would be absolutely catastrophic. I mean, he’s coming out here saying finish the job of a genocide.”
Ocasio-Cortez continued, suggesting that the Biden administration has worsened the humanitarian situation in Gaza by “continuing to provide weapons to Israel that have been dropping on innocent Gazans.”
During the DNC, Ocasio-Cortez posed for a photo with the father of Itay Chen, an American hostage in Gaza. The photo sparked swift backlash among the anti-Israel political left and caused some observers to speculate that the progressive firebrand had moderated her position on Israel.
Since being elected to Congress in 2018, both Omar and Ocasio-Cortez have emerged as harsh critics of Israel. They have accused the Jewish state of committing “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and erecting an “apartheid” government in the West Bank. The lawmakers have also expressed support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS), an initiative which seeks to turn the Jewish state into an international pariah as a first step to its eventual destruction.
Omar and Ocasio-Cortez were among the first members of Congress to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, arguing that the Jewish state’s military operations “indiscriminately” killed Palestinian civilians.
The post Omar, Ocasio-Cortez Swipe at Biden Admin Over Israel Support, Demand Arms Embargo to Stop ‘Genocide’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Read about why JNF Canada lost charitable status after a decade of problems
Canada Revenue Agency cited repeated and serious non-compliance in its detailed documenation.
The post Read about why JNF Canada lost charitable status after a decade of problems appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.