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US Sen. Tina Smith Defends Decision to Vote Against Israel Aid
US Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN). Photo: Reuters Connect
US Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) defended her recent vote to block US military aid to Israel, describing the Jewish state’s military operations against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza as “antithetical” to American values.
In an interview with anti-Israel news host Mehdi Hasan published over the weekend, Smith said that her vote in November to impose a partial arms embargo on Israel “was an opportunity to stand up for our values.” She argued that the United States should not be “complicit” in the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that Israel’s conduct during the ongoing war in Gaza is “antithetical” to American values and possibly in violation of US policy regarding use of military arms.
“I think it was [a] bad decision for people not to vote as I did,” Smith said.
In November, Smith was among the 17 Democratic senators who voted in favor of legislation spearheaded by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to implement a partial arms embargo on Israel. The legislation, S.J.Res.111, was a measure to ban the sale of tank cartridges to Israel, was defeated by a margin of 79 to 18. Other anti-Israel resolutions sponsored by Sanders, S.J. Res. 113 and S.J. Res. 115, which targeted sales of mortar rounds and precision-guided bombs, were rejected on the Senate floor by similar margins.
Hasan then lamented the supposed “pervasive anti-Palestinian racism” within American society, pointing out that US President Donald Trump has chided Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as being “a Palestinian.” Smith lambasted Trump’s insult to Schumer as “a disgusting thing to say,” before Hasan slammed former US President Joe Biden for “questioning the Palestinian death toll” and seeming “indifferent” to the mounting casualties in Gaza as a result of the Israel-Hamas war.
Researchers have shown that casualty figures published by Gaza’s Hamas-run health authorities have been inflated to defame Israel.
Hasan then asked Smith if she believed anti-Palestinian animus motivated the arrest of Columbia University campus agitator Mahmoud Khalil, who led riotous protests against Israel last academic year. The senator agreed, claiming that “at the very least, we should be able to come around the idea that everybody deserves due process in this country.” Smith then suggested that the Trump administration has utilized “authoritarian” tactics to demonize Palestinians and that “we have to stand up to that.”
Zeteo, the network founded by Hasan that published the interview, has positioned itself as a major source of anti-Israel content creation. Hasan, the network’s main host, has declared the ongoing war in Gaza a “genocide” and repeatedly pressured US lawmakers to implement an arms embargo against the Jewish state. Hosts on Zeteo have also downplayed Hamas’s attacks against Israel, oftentimes referring to the terrorist group as a “resistance.”
Moreover, Zeteo’s high production value and elaborate sets have raised questions surrounding its funding sources, with critics alleging it has received money from Qatar. In response, Hasan has denied receiving “any money from foreign governments or foreign citizens,” adding that “every investor in Z is an American citizen [who] has nothing to do with Qatar.”
The post US Sen. Tina Smith Defends Decision to Vote Against Israel Aid 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.