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Why Did the Head of the Olympic Committee Meet with an October 7 Supporter?
Palestinian Football Association head Jibril Rajoub, and chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, speaks during a press conference regarding the cancellation of the soccer match between Argentina and Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, June 6, 2018. Photo: Flash90.
Jibril Rajoub, the chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, is a very vocal supporter of Hamas’ October 7 massacre and atrocities.
Just six weeks after those events — in which Gazans tortured, raped, and brutally murdered over 1,100 Israelis while wounding over 5,000 and abducting approximately 251 people into the Gaza Strip — Rajoub said: “What happened on October 7 was an earthquake … full of epics and acts of heroism” [Al-Anba, Kuwaiti news website, Nov. 26, 2023].
That statement alone should have been enough to disqualify him from meetings with any Western leader.
Nevertheless, earlier this month, Rajoub was greeted warmly at a meeting in Geneva with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, and Rajoub thanked Bach for his cooperation:
Rajoub thanked Mr. Bach for the cooperation of the International Olympic Committee with the Palestine Olympic Committee by implementing joint plans to promote Palestinian athletes … Rajoub also met with several senior employees at the International Olympic Committee. He briefed them on the Israeli violations against Palestinian sport and their consequences on sport in Palestine.
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 6, 2025]
During the same trip to Switzerland, at an international press conference, Rajoub compared Israeli policy to Nazi atrocities, saying in English that Israel was doing to Palestinians what the Nazis had done to the Jews:
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “We are recognized by 149 [states] all over the world from the international community as a state, except Israel, America, and those who are suffering from the inferiority complex of what happened somewhere last century. We should not be a scapegoat for the Holocaust. I don’t think that it’s fair for the grandchildren of the victims of the Holocaust to practice, to exercise, the same against the Palestinians.”
[Jibril Rajoub, Facebook page, March 7, 2025]
This is overt antisemitism, according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. Yet, the International Olympic Committee did not issue a condemnation of Rajoub’s libel, nor did it condemn his support of October 7.
This is also not the first time this year that Rajoub made such antisemitic statements. In January, he said similarly in Arabic:
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “The Israelis built their lie based on the Holocaust. What is happening in the Gaza Strip? That’s a holocaust … Same formula and same means …The grandchildren of the victims of the Holocaust are the ones who are perpetrating a holocaust in Gaza.”
[Jibril Rajoub, Facebook page, Jan. 31, 2025]
In February, Rajoub also insulted President Donald Trump as being “biased in favor of the fascist neo-Nazis who rule Israel” and he equated Netanyahu to Joseph Goebbels:
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “Today it’s clear that Trump and his policy has been exposed, and he is 100% biased in favor of the fascist neo-Nazis who rule Israel … [Trump] announced what he announced alongside Netanyahu, who is a [Nazi propaganda minister] Goebbels and the last shout in the world of fascism of the 21st century.”
[Jibril Rajoub, Facebook page, Feb. 5, 2025]
The libel of Israel as being like the Nazis or worse is not exclusive to Rajoub. Rather, it has become a leading component of Palestinian antisemitism. It is echoed by many senior PA officials, such as this one on official PA TV this month, who said that Israel was “committing things uglier and more violent than what was committed in the Holocaust”:
Palestinian MP and National Library President Issa Karake: “This occupation [i.e., Israel] has been claiming for a long time that it is the victim of the Holocaust. It is committing things uglier and more violent than what was committed in the Holocaust.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, March 12, 2025]
All of this odious Palestinian hate speech should be categorically condemned rather than meriting indifference at best and acceptance at worst by major international figures, such as the president of the IOC.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is the Founder and Director of PMW, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Why Did the Head of the Olympic Committee Meet with an October 7 Supporter? 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.