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The West Must Stop Excusing Hamas
Palestinian terrorists and members of the Red Cross gather near vehicles on the day Hamas hands over deceased hostages Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas, seized during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, to the Red Cross, as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
There should be no confusion about Hamas. Its October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians — through murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping — was not a tragedy of war. It was a celebration of cruelty. The terrorists filmed themselves committing atrocities because they wanted the world to see.
And yet, in much of the West, the instinct was not outrage but doubt.
“Maybe Israel exaggerated.” “Maybe it was fabricated.” Some even dared to claim that Israel itself was guilty. This denial is not born of facts; it is a failure of imagination. Western societies, built on compromise and empathy, cannot accept that an enemy could openly glorify barbarism.
Israelis do not have this illusion. They have lived beside it for decades.
The Power of Propaganda
Hamas has long known it cannot defeat Israel on the battlefield. But it has mastered a different weapon: the manipulation of Western emotions.
The phenomenon often called Pallywood, uses staged funerals, dramatized footage, and unverified accusations to shape international opinion.
In 2000, the Muhammad al-Durrah case was broadcast as proof of Israeli brutality. Later investigations revealed manipulation, but the lie stuck. In 2023, when the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza was struck, Hamas instantly accused Israel. Western outlets repeated the claim without evidence. Hours later, US and European intelligence confirmed it was a Palestinian rocket misfire. By then, riots had spread worldwide.
Israel, meanwhile, produces meticulous evidence; satellite images, forensic reports, verified video. These are brushed aside as “public relations,” while shaky Hamas cellphone clips dominate headlines. This is not journalism. It is collaboration.
Two Moral Universes
This problem runs deeper than propaganda. It is a clash of civilizations.
In Hamas’ world, honor is measured in violence. Compromise is weakness. Martyrdom is glorified. Civilians are not protected, they are weaponized. Hamas has never hidden this. Its leaders openly admit it.
Hamas official Fathi Hammad once declared: “We desire death as you desire life.”
The same Hammad bragged on Al-Aqsa TV: “For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry … This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly. This is something we take great pride in.”
This is not misinterpretation. It is confession.
Israel operates in an entirely different moral universe. Rooted in Jewish values such as tikkun olam — “repairing the world” — it values life even while forced to fight.
Israel warns civilians to evacuate, drops leaflets, places phone calls, and risks its own soldiers to reduce civilian harm.
There is no equivalence here. One side clings to life. The other exalts death.
October 7 Proved the Point
On October 7, Hamas carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Approximately 1,200 civilians were slaughtered. More than 360 young people were gunned down at a music festival. Women were raped beside the bodies of their murdered friends. Parents were executed in front of their children. Infants and Holocaust survivors alike were dragged into Gaza as hostages.
When Israel reported these crimes, many in the West scoffed, until Hamas’ own videos surfaced. The terrorists had documented their sadism because, to them, it was a victory to celebrate.
The evidence was irrefutable. Hamas’ cruelty was not incidental. It was the point.
Why Arab States Stay Silent
Even Arab governments understand this truth. Egypt closed its Rafah border, fearing infiltration. Jordan’s King Abdullah bluntly declared, “No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt.”
Saudi Arabia and the UAE, while publicly critical of Israel, privately admitted Hamas had dragged Gaza into disaster.
They know Hamas’ history: destabilizing Jordan in the 1960s and 70s, smuggling weapons into Egypt, serving as Iran’s proxy. That is why Arab states avoid embracing Hamas, even while Western activists romanticize it.
So who bears responsibility for the cruelty? Not Israel, which agonizes over civilian casualties. Not the Jewish people, who mourn every innocent life lost, even those of their enemies. The accountability lies squarely with Hamas and with the culture of death it has cultivated for decades.
The West must stop projecting its own values onto this conflict. Israel does not exaggerate the threats it faces. It confronts them daily, with courage and moral clarity. Hamas kills because it chooses to.
Every time the Western media parrots Hamas’s accusations, every time academics describe terrorists as “resistance,” every time protesters chant for intifada, they are not defending human rights, they are enabling cruelty.
It is no longer enough to speak in generalities. Major Western institutions must be held to account. When The New York Times rushed to blame Israel for the Al-Ahli Hospital blast, it spread a blood libel that fueled riots. When the BBC repeated Hamas’ claims without evidence, it legitimized lies. When the United Nations Human Rights Council condemns Israel more than every other country on earth combined, it signals to Hamas that the world will always look the other way.
This is not impartiality. It is complicity.
It is time for the West to accept reality: Israel fights to survive. Hamas fights to kill. That is the only moral distinction that matters.
Sabine Sterk is the CEO of Time To Stand Up For Israel.
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US Rep. Ro Khanna Blasts AIPAC at Anti-Israel Conference Where Speakers Defend Hamas, Oct. 7 Attack
US Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) speaks as House members hold a press conference in Washington, DC, on Sept. 3, 2025. Photo: Josh Morgan-USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
US Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat widely reported to be considering a 2028 presidential bid, accused pro-Israel advocates of distorting Democratic Party priorities at a major Arab-American gathering known as ArabCon 2025 in Dearborn, Michigan late last week.
The remarks came amid a string of fiery statements from conference panelists opposing Israel and defending the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas which drew cheers from the crowd and criticism from outside observers.
Speaking on Saturday alongside “The Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur, Khanna was asked why many Democrats in the US Congress “hate their own voters” and shy away from allegedly popular policies.
“It’s money,” Khanna responded, before targeting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a prominent lobbying group that seeks to foster bipartisan support for a strong US-Israel alliance.
“You know, every other week, I get AIPAC attacking me, it’s like someone hasn’t cued them in that every time they attack me, my popularity goes up,” the lawmaker said. He also suggested that Democrats fear headlines labeling them as standing with “pro-terror radicals” for attending events like ArabCon.
“You can be true and consistent in either standing with people and standing with human rights and convictions, or you can do the bidding of interest groups and people in power,” Khanna said.
Though Khanna identifies as an ally of Israel, he has become increasingly critical of the Jewish state amid the war in Gaza in recent months, accusing the Israeli military of recklessly killing Palestinians while pushing for US recognition of a Palestinian state.
ArabCon only grew more heated as other panelists spoke over the course of the weekend. For example, Zahra Billoo, executive director of the San Francisco chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), praised the shuttered Holy Land Foundation, once the largest Muslim charity in the United States and later convicted of funneling money to Hamas.
“One of the most seminal cases of that era that I think we should all know about is the Holy Land Foundation, and what happened to the five co-founders of that incredible charity,” Billoo said. She described its founders as “incredible, generous, kind, beautiful men.”
The Algemeiner reported earlier this year that Billoo used the news of former US President Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis as an opportunity to warn the former commander-in-chief of the eternal punishment tied to his administration’s support for the Jewish state during the conflict in Gaza. Months earlier, she shared a post on social media that read in part, “Hamas deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.”
Billoo accused Israel of “genocide” on social media in 2021 and, last year, seemingly issued public support for Hamas, wishing for “the resistance be victorious.” That same year, she also condemned those who fundraise for the Israel Defense Force, writing on X, “Could you make the same fundraising effort for Palestinian resistance fighters without being ostracized, suspended, or fired?”
CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with Hamas.
Another panel drew headlines when Detroit activist Amer Zahr jokingly asked San Francisco State University professor Rabab Abdulhadi whether she condemned Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and rampage across southern Israel. Palestinian terrorists from Gaza murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during the onslaught, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Despite the atrocities, the ArabCon audience erupted in laughter as Abdulhadi replied, “I condemn Israel and the United States, and all oppression and imperial wars. And I never ever condemn Palestinian resistance.” She argued that Palestinians were “returning to their villages” on Oct. 7, denied that kibbutzim had been targeted, and insisted the operation was aimed at liberating prisoners. Abdulhadi added that Palestinian society has long debated whether tactics such as plane hijackings are legitimate.
Said Arikat, a journalist for Al-Quds newspaper who shared the stage, praised Abdulhadi’s response, calling it “an easy answer.”
Zahr, a board member of Dearborn Public Schools, posted a photo on social media honoring Hassan Nasrallah, the deceased leader of the Hezbollah terrorist group. In a 2021 blog post Zahr condemned “normalization” of Zionism and drew parallels between Zionism and Jim Crow laws targeting Black Americans in the US South.
The comments highlighted the tension surrounding ArabCon, which drew thousands to Dearborn from Sept. 26–28. Organizers billed the convention as a gathering to amplify Arab-American voices in politics.
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Denmark’s National Broadcaster: We Will Not Vote to Ban Israel From 2026 Eurovision Song Contest
Israel’s representative to the Eurovision Song Contest, Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the deadly Oct. 7 2023, attack by Hamas on the Nova festival in Israel’s south, holds an Israeli flag in this handout photo obtained by Reuters on Jan. 23, 2025. Photo: “The Rising Star,” Channel Keshet 12/Handout via REUTERS
Denmark’s national broadcaster DR said on Tuesday it will not vote against Israel when the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) holds a special vote in November to decide if the Jewish state should be excluded from the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) because of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
“DR supports the ESC as a cultural European event that has brought nations together through music since 1956. As such, we will not vote for any EBU member to be expelled from the competition, as long as they comply with the rules and regulations,” Gustav Lützhøft – head of culture, debate, and music at DR – said in a released statement. He added that DR’s participation in the Eurovision next year “remains conditional on there being a strong international community, control over security, and an apolitical framework around the competition.”
The EBU, which organizes the Eurovision, announced last week that the EBU’s General Assembly will hold an “extraordinary meeting” online in early November during which its members will vote on whether the Israeli public broadcaster KAN will be allowed to participate in the 2026 Eurovision held in Vienna, Austria. Kan released a statement in response to the EBU’s announcement, saying that it hopes the Eurovision “will continue to maintain its cultural and political character.”
“The removal of Israel’s public broadcasting body – one of the veteran, popular, and successful competitors throughout the decades of the competition – and especially on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Eurovision, which stood as a symbol of cooperation, kindness, and brotherhood, could be a step with significant consequences,” KAN added. “We are convinced that the European Broadcasting Union will continue to maintain the apolitical, professional, and cultural nature of the competition, especially on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Eurovision.”
Lützhøft previously stated that Denmark does not plan on withdrawing from the 2026 Eurovision if Israel participates. Meanwhile, several other countries have threatened to pull out of the competition if Israel is not banned, including Spain, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland, and Ireland.
Austria, the host country of the 2026 competition, has not publicly commented on demands to ban Israel from the Eurovision, but Austrian singer JJ, who won this year’s Eurovision, has also called for Israel’s exclusion from next year’s contest.
The 2026 Eurovision will take place in Vienna on May 16, with the semifinals airing on May 12 and 14. KAN announced on Monday that the singer who will represent Israel in the 2026 Eurovision will be selected again this year through the reality show “The Next Star,” which is set to air in Israel in the coming weeks.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said in an interview with KAN Reshet Bet radio on Monday that it is important for Israel to participate in the 2026 Eurovision competition. “I have seen dangerous processes that begin with Eurovision and end in other places,” Herzog said. “The delegitimization of Israel and the attempt to exclude us from every possible arena are moves designed to weaken us. It starts with Eurovision but reaches matters that are vital to us. Every arena is important.”
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Reebok Demands Israel’s National Soccer Team Removes Logo From Jerseys Following BDS Threats
Fans display a Palestinian flag and an Israel flag during the France v Israel soccer match at Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France on Nov. 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
The American footwear and apparel company Reebok has demanded that Israel’s national soccer team remove its logo from team uniforms due to threats from supporters of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
Reebok only began outfitting the national team last summer and even launched a campaign featuring the new uniforms designed by Israeli former soccer player Tal Shetach. The Boston-based company is said to have asked its local equipment supplier in Israel, MGS Group, to remove the Reebok logo from the kits and uniforms for Israel’s national soccer team, Israel’s N12 reported on Tuesday.
The Israel Football Association confirmed the news, adding that its emblem and the Israeli flag “will continue to be proudly displayed on all national team uniforms.” The association said it never had a formal deal with Reebok and that the global brand “seemingly gave in to embarrassing boycott threats that were completely irrelevant.”
“The association entered into an agreement with a local equipment supplier and took into account that the new uniforms could feature various sponsors, certainly more courageous than Reebok International,” it explained. “We are convinced that in the near future there will be sponsors who will see great privilege in these days to be part of the national uniforms.”
One Israeli soccer team in the Premier League that is also linked to MGS and Reebok, Hapoel Haifa, has not received similar demands from Reebok, according to N12.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which is Europe’s governing body of soccer, is preparing to hold an emergency vote this week on suspending Israeli teams from international soccer competitions, including next year’s World Cup, because of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Norwegian Football Federation President Lise Klaveness called for Israel to be suspended from international soccer competitions. Last week, Turkish Football Federation President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu wrote to FIFA, UEFA, and national soccer association chiefs urging them to impose a ban on Israel.
Israel’s men’s soccer team is set to play against Norway in Oslo on Oct. 11 in a qualifier for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and they have another qualifier game scheduled against Italy for Oct. 14.
The Norwegian Football Federation already said profits from the Oct. 11 match in Oslo will go to the international NGO Doctors Without Borders to support humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Klaveness, who also serves on UEFA’s 20-member executive committee, did not advocate for a boycott of the match, but said she believes sanctions should be placed on Israel.
“I work on the issue from a principled standpoint, but we will not boycott on our own. A boycott would only result in Israel going to the World Cup instead of us,” Klaveness said on Norwegian podcast “Pop and Politics.”
She added, “In general, we are now working for Israel to be sanctioned. We believe that they should be, and this is about upholding the rules. Personally, I believe that since Russia is out, Israel should also be out. As a football president you can have personal opinions, and I certainly have mine.”