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Media Fall for Hamas Propaganda in Coverage of Israeli Hostage’s ‘Kiss’ to Captor
Families and supporters react as they celebrate the release of Omer Wenkert, a hostage who was held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, on the day of the release of six hostages from captivity in Gaza as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, in Gedera, Israel February 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Rami Shlush
Hamas’ despicable hostage release this weekend was widely covered. But foreign media outlets chose to highlight one particularly nauseating propaganda moment — when Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov kissed a Hamas terrorist onstage after being ordered to do so.
For Gaza photojournalist Ashraf Amra, who infiltrated into Israel on October 7 and was honored by Hamas leadership, it was literally the money shot — which was later sold to Getty Images and platformed by media outlets, including The Times of London and Daily Express.
For Sky News, it was a moment of “warmth.”
Getty Images, The Times, and Daily Express all failed to check the source of the photo.
Amra is a Hamas propagandist: He was fired from Reuters and AP after HonestReporting exposed that he was honored by former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and that he hosted an Instagram Live calling on Gazans to invade Israel during Hamas’ massacre on October 7, 2023.
Here’s Amra getting a kiss from Haniyeh in 2023 and receiving an honor from the unlamented Hamas leader in 2012. pic.twitter.com/VdWXN6wB32
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 23, 2025
These media outlets also know that Hamas is producing propaganda moments from their despicable staged hostage release ceremonies.
While they might be bound to cover these events, why should they also be helping to line the pockets of a friend of Hamas?
It’s even more problematic when the media seem to forget what Hamas’ staged spectacles are all about, which is exactly what happened to Sky News’ Diana Magnay.
In a live broadcast on Saturday, as Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen, and Omer Wenkert were humiliated by Hamas on stage, with one of the camera-wielding terrorists clearly instructing Shem Tov to kiss his captors, Magnay overflowed with emotion: “Some amazing scenes today … this is very unexpected to see that kind of reaction, that kind of warmth.”
Is @DiMagnaySky so naive that she honestly believes the “amazing scenes” she’s commenting on are a product of “warmth” between the hostages and the Hamas terrorists who held them for 504 days?@SkyNews, this is truly embarrassing. https://t.co/AkVNDEiGkf pic.twitter.com/OgpQ0cL3Ys
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 23, 2025
Even without the later clarification by Shem Tov’s father — who said it was all staged — Magnay, or any other journalist, should not have fallen for Hamas’ propaganda in such a painfully naive way.
Is it so difficult to cast doubt on a live show staged by terrorists who don’t even try to hide their propagandist goal?
The answer is that Hamas got what it wanted. Without the international media noticing, the world has gotten used to the spectacles; they have gotten used to the lies; and they have gotten used to the manipulation. They just want the money shot.
Hamas succeeded in normalizing its own evil.
And it is easily sold by Hamas-affiliated journalists to the gullible media, who celebrate it as “amazing scenes.”
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.
The post Media Fall for Hamas Propaganda in Coverage of Israeli Hostage’s ‘Kiss’ to Captor first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.
“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.
Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.
A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.
Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”
States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.
After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.
The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.
The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.
The post Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.
The post Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.
The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”
On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.
Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.
The post Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.