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Palestinian Athletes Promote Destruction of Israel: ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free’
Palestinian Olympic Committee President Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the Palestinian Football Association, holds a news conference to update the media about challenges facing Palestinian sports ahead of the Olympics in Paris, in Ramallah, in the West Bank, June 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is relentless in announcing its goal to eliminate the State of Israel, and create a state of Palestine that stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.
While training in Malaysia, the Palestinian national soccer team, which is a member of FIFA, posed for photos wearing scarves featuring the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” in the colors of the Palestinian flag.
To spell out the PA message, the text in English on the scarves was explicit:
From the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea Palestine will be free
Posted text: “The [Palestinian] ‘Fida’i’ [self-sacrificing fighter] national team reached Malaysia for training camp”
[Palestinian Football Association, Facebook page, Aug. 26, 2024]
The term “Fida’i,” literally self-sacrificing fighter, is the PA’s term for its terrorists.
The PA has promoted the goal of “river-to-sea-Palestine” for decades, and the slogan has been adopted by anti-Israel protesters around the world during Israel’s current war against Hamas.
The slogan is rightly criticized for what it is: A call for the destruction of Israel.
To combat this criticism, the PA recently tried to present the slogan as “a call for peace” — but Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) and others have demonstrated that this call has a long history of referring to the total elimination of the State of Israel.
The Palestinian Football Association is headed by top PA official Jibril Rajoub, who is known for his support of terror against Israel and denial of Israel’s right to exist, as documented by PMW.
During the current war with Hamas, Rajoub has whitewashed Hamas’ massacre and murder of 1,200 people on October 7, 2023, as a Palestinian “defense war,” and referred to Oct. 7 as an “epic” event that included “acts of heroism.”
In 2018, PMW complained to FIFA about Rajoub, and he was suspended by FIFA from all activities for a year. In response, Rajoub lashed out at PMW, calling its director “Goebbels of the 21st century.”
Rajoub also heads the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, which organizes summer camps for hundreds of Palestinian kids every year. Among the activities are always map drawing, where kids are taught that “Palestine” really does stretch “from the river to the sea”:
[PLO Supreme Council of Youth and Sports, Facebook page, July 22, 2024]
Rajoub’s PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports also distributes numerous plaques featuring the PA map of “Palestine” that includes the entire State of Israel.
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
The post Palestinian Athletes Promote Destruction of Israel: ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.