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A Doctor Spewed Vile and Defamatory Claims That Israel Intentionally Kills Children; CBS and CNN Aired Them
A boy holds a placard as Palestinian Hamas supporters attend a rally against visits by Israelis to the Al-Aqsa mosque, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, May 26, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Alongside the war in Gaza, Hamas is also waging a propaganda campaign to demonize Israel and Jews in the international arena.
That campaign aims to project Hamas’ genocidal identity and image onto its intended victims: Israel and the Jewish people. The campaign is being executed with the engagement of bad actors and willing dupes from outside Gaza.
The Medical Profession’s Bad Actors
Some of the most dangerous actors engaged in Hamas’ cynical propaganda campaign come from the ranks of medical professionals who have entered the Gaza war zone to care for the injured and sick. No doubt, some are motivated by humanitarian concerns and are disturbed by the medical emergencies, tragedies, and devastation that they witness. They report on the injuries, deaths, and difficulties in delivering medical care in a war zone, but do not go beyond that.
At the same time, however, there are too many bad actors who are motivated by anti-Zionist animus. Beyond reporting on the medical situation in the hospitals they’ve visited, these activists willingly participate in Hamas’ propaganda war, spreading misinformation and falsehoods to demonize the Jewish State and foment hatred of its supporters.
Take, for example, Mark Perlmutter, a physician who travelled to Gaza on a Palestinian American Medical Association mission in April, and who has since been actively engaged in Hamas’ propaganda war. Upon his return to the US, Perlmutter teamed up with Feroze Sidhwa, another participant in the mission, whose anti-Israel activities long predate his becoming a physician.
Perlmutter and Sidhwa did not merely report about humanitarian suffering in Gaza. They launched a media campaign to defame the Jewish State with a salvo of accusations: Israel is guilty of genocide; Israel has committed crimes against humanity; Israel is responsible for the worst cruelty imaginable; the US is complicit in Israel’s crimes. In fact, the only party they did not blame for the situation in Gaza is the party that is responsible for it — Hamas and its affiliated terrorist operatives.
Perlmutter uses his Jewish connection — a Jewish father and surname — to feign expertise on Judaism and endorse tropes that are generally associated with the most vicious, antisemitic circles.
For example, he equates Zionism, which is the idea of Jewish self-determination and an integral part of Judaism, with Nazism. From his X account:
Honesty and truth are cast aside as he spews his extremist, anti-Zionist bile.
For example, to support his false claim that Israel deliberately targets innocent children as part of a genocide, Perlmutter minimizes the number of Hamas combatants, leaders and operatives in Gaza to a preposterous degree, declaring those affiliated with Hamas account for only 0.01% of the Gazan population — i.e. ~200 people:
He falsely casts the war against Hamas as the deadliest conflict for medical workers and journalists that has ever been recorded in history.
But even were one to accept propagandistic casualty counts from pro-Hamas groups at face value, they are still far less than the numbers of medical professionals who were killed in other conflicts such as the Syrian civil war, among others:
What is clear is that Perlmutter is unburdened by the obligation to be truthful; his primary goal is to disseminate anti-Israel propaganda.
The Mainstream Media’s Willing Dupes
Perlmutter would not be able to spread his animus against Israel and Zionists without the willing dupes in the mainstream media who have abdicated their journalistic responsibility to vet pro-Hamas and anti-Zionist propagandists before offering them a platform as authorities on the war. These are the journalists and producers who offer Perlmutter and his ilk a platform to spread false propaganda about an Israeli genocide.
Take, for example the CBS producers who created an entire segment promoting Perlmutter’s claims, or the producers of CNN International’s Amanpour show who, a week and a half later, presented Perlmutter with another platform to increase his audience.
Perlmutter’s Questionable Allegations:
The casualties in Gaza are “almost exclusively children.” (CBS, Sunday Morning, July 21, 2024)
The “focus” is on innocent children, as well as healthcare workers and journalists, who are “specifically targeted.” (CNN’s Amanpour, July 30, 2024)
Even the UN’s OCHA casualty count, which is dependent on Hamas’ debated numbers, show that children account for less than a third of casualties.
Here are some more false claims:
Israel engages “the world’s best snipers” to target Palestinian “toddlers” [as part of its genocidal war]. (CBS, Sunday Morning, July 21, 2024)
“Children were specifically targeted by high velocity rifle bullet wounds.” (CNN’s Amanpour, July 30, 2024)
Perlmutter goes way beyond what’s ascertainable from a medical standpoint. In the absence of any actual evidence, he presents himself as an expert able to determine who the perpetrators are and what their motive is.
According to him, the perpetrators are expert Israeli snipers whose motive is to murder Palestinian children and toddlers.
When asked by a credulous Smith to verify that it is indeed snipers who are shooting children, Perlmutter assertively exclaimed, “Definitively!”
As to his evidence, he declared:
I have children that were shot twice … I have two children that I have photographs of that were shot so perfectly in the chest, I couldn’t put my stethoscope over their heart more accurately. And directly on the side of the head in the same child. No toddler gets shot twice by mistake by the world’s best sniper. And they are dead center shots. (CBS Sunday Morning, July 21, 2024)
His CNN testimony repeats the same evidence, adding several additional embellishments:
We found children … that had high velocity bullet wounds, sniper bullet wounds, rifle wounds that were dead center in the chest. I mentioned to other reporters that I couldn’t put my stethoscope more dead center over a heart than the entrance bullet hole was. There was no back to these children. The bullet had removed their entire torso. There was similar bullet hole in two of the children’s temples. So, they were shot twice. Once was certainly a kill shot. The second one was when they were on the ground. And so, no sniper hits a child, and I’m talking toddlers twice by mistake. (CNN’s Amanpour, July 30, 2024)
Beyond his muddled story — how many children and toddlers with two bullet holes were there? — Perlmutter’s testimony raises multiple questions regarding its veracity.
Perlmutter only saw the children in the hospital after their deaths. How was he able to ascertain the identity of the shooters, the circumstances of the shootings, and the victims’ position when they were shot, based only on the size and location of bullet holes in the body?
Why would a professional army engaged in active combat squander their top military assets — trained snipers and ammunition — to target “children” and “toddlers” instead of adult combatants?
Why would “the world’s best snipers” capable of “dead center shots” require additional shots to confirm their victims’ deaths?
If expert snipers aimed so “perfectly” and “dead center” over the heart, why would they need to adjust their angle or squander extra bullets in targeting a separate part of the body?
If victims were found with shots to different areas of their body, wouldn’t a far more likely scenario be that they were caught in crossfire in a combat zone?
CBS reporter Tracy Smith not only readily accepted Perlmutter’s accusations as truth, but tried to validate them, by invoking other doctors in Gaza who also mentioned “gunshot wounds to children,” as if that was proof enough for the outrageous claim that expert snipers were deliberately targeting toddlers.
That civilians in war zones — either adults or children — may sustain gunshot wounds does not indicate who shot them (Palestinian gunmen or Israeli soldiers) and certainly does not indicate deliberate targeting.
To be fair, CNN’s Senior Global Affairs Analyst Bianna Golodryga, sitting in for Christiane Amanpour, was more circumspect in her interview, noting that it is “quite an extreme allegation to make that these civilians were indeed targeted” and citing the IDF ‘s refutation of the allegations that were also made in the CBS News interview. However, this does not absolve CNN producers for having given Perlmutter a platform to air his outrageous claims.
Ricki Hollander is a senior analyst at CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, where a version of this article was first published.
The post A Doctor Spewed Vile and Defamatory Claims That Israel Intentionally Kills Children; CBS and CNN Aired Them first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jewish Synagogue, Holocaust Memorial Vandalized in Poland After Politician Denies Holocaust
An antisemitic slur spray-painted on the ruins of a former synagogue in Dukla, Poland. Photo: World Jewish Restitution Organization
Two Jewish sites in Dukla, Poland, were vandalized over the weekend mere days after Polish member of the European Parliament (MEP) Grzegorz Braun claimed gas chambers at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp were fake and repeated an antisemitic blood libel in a live radio interview.
Vandals spray-painted the word “F–k” followed by a Star of David on the ruins of a former synagogue that was destroyed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, and a memorial commemorating Holocaust victims located at the entrance of the Jewish cemetery in Dukla was defaced with a swastika and the word “Palestine,” according to the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO). The memorial honors Jews of Dukla and the surrounding areas who were murdered by Nazis during the Holocaust.
The two Jewish sites in Dukla are cared for by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ), which was established in 2002 by the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland and the WJRO to protect and commemorate Poland’s Jewish heritage sites.
“These hateful acts are not only antisemitic, but they are also attempts to erase Jewish history and desecrate memory,” said WJRO President Gideon Taylor in a released statement on Tuesday. “Polish authorities must take swift and serious action to identify the perpetrators and ensure the protection of Jewish heritage sites in Dukla and across the country.”
“The vandalism of Jewish sites in Dukla—with swastikas and anti-Israel slurs—is not an isolated act,” insisted Jack Simony, director general of the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation (AJCF), in a statement to The Algemeiner. The nonprofit focuses on preserving the memory of the Jewish community in Oświęcim (Auschwitz) and maintains the Auschwitz Jewish Center, the last remaining synagogue in town.
“While we cannot say definitively that it [the vandalism] was sparked by Grzegorz Braun’s Holocaust denial, his rhetoric contributes to an atmosphere where hatred is emboldened and truth is under assault,” added Simony. “Braun’s lies are not harmless — they are dangerous. Holocaust denial fuels antisemitism and, too often, violence. This is why Holocaust education matters … because when we fail to confront lies, we invite their consequences. Memory must be defended, not only for the sake of the past, but for the safety of our future.”
On July 10, a ceremony was held commemorating the 84th anniversary of the 1941 Jedwabne massacre, when hundreds of Polish Jews were massacred – mostly by their neighbors – in the northeastern town in German-occupied Poland. The ceremony was attended by dignitaries and faith leaders including Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and Israeli Deputy Ambassador Bosmat Baruch. Groups of anti-Israel and far-right activists — including MEP Braun and his supporters – tried to disrupt the event by holding banners with antisemitic slogans and blocking the vehicles of the attendees, according to Polish radio.
Hours later, during a live radio broadcast, Braun falsely claimed the Auschwitz gas chambers were “a lie” and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum was promoting “pseudo-history.” He also claimed that Jewish “ritual murder is a fact.” Polish prosecutors launched an investigation into Braun’s comments, they announced that same day. Under Article 55 of the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Holocaust denial is a criminal offense in Poland.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum issued a swift condemnation of Braun’s remarks and said it intents to pursue legal action. The Institute of National Remembrance — which is the largest research, educational and archival institution in Poland – also denounced Braun’s remarks, saying there is “well-documented” evidence supporting the existence of gas chambers. His comments were also condemned by the Embassy of Israel in Poland, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and the US Embassy in Warsaw, which said that his actions “distort history, desecrate memory, or spread antisemitism.” AJCF called on the European Parliament to consider disciplinary measures against Braun, including potential censure or expulsion.
Auschwitz Jewish Center Director Tomek Kuncewicz said Braun’s comments are “an act of violence against truth, against survivors, and against the legacy of our shared humanity.” AJCF Chairman Simon Bergson called the politician’s remarks “blatant and baseless lies,” while Simony described them as “a calculated act of antisemitic incitement” that “must be met with legal consequences and universal moral condemnation.”
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Coalition of 400 Jewish Orgs and Synagogues Urge Teachers Union to Reverse Decision Cutting Ties with ADL
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. Photo Credit: ADL.
Following a vote by the National Education Association (NEA) on July 6 to end its relationship with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), 400 Jewish communal groups, education organizations, and religious institutions have come together to call for the influential teachers union to change course.
“We are writing to express our deep concerns about the growing level of antisemitic activity within teachers’ unions, particularly since the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023,” the letter to NEA President Becky Pringle stated. “Passage of New Business Item (NBI) 39 at the National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly this past weekend, which shockingly calls for the boycott of the Anti-Defamation League, is just the latest example of open hostility toward Jewish educators, students and families coming from national and local teachers’ unions and their members.”
In addition to the ADL, signatories of the letter included American Jewish Committee (AJC), Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Federations of North America, #EndJewHatred, American Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith International, CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting & Analysis), Combat Antisemitism Movement, Democratic Majority for Israel, StandWithUs, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Zioness Movement, and Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).
The group told Pringle that “we have heard directly from NEA members who have shared their experiences ranging from explicit and implicit antisemitism within the union to a broader pattern of insensitivity toward legitimate concerns of Jewish members – including at the recently concluded Representative Assembly. We are also deeply troubled by a broader pattern of union activity over the past 20 months that has targeted or alienated Jewish members and the wider Jewish community.”
The letter to Pringle included an addendum providing examples of objectionable rhetoric. These named such incidents as the Oakland Education Association (OEA) putting out a statement calling for “an end to the occupation of Palestine” and the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) accusing Israel of genocide.
The coalition of 400 organizations urged the NEA to “take immediate action” and suggested such steps as rejecting NBI 39, issuing a “strong condemnation” of antisemitism within the union, drafting a plan to counter ongoing antisemitism in affiliate chapters, and opposing “any effort to use an educator’s support for the existence of Israel as a means to attack their identity.”
ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on X that “Excluding @ADL’s educational resources from schools is not just an attack on our org, but on the entire Jewish community. We urge the @NEAToday Executive Committee to reverse this biased, fringe effort and reaffirm its commitment to supporting all Jewish students and educators.”
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Zohran Mamdani Won’t Condemn Calls for Violence Against Jews; Why Are Jewish Leaders Supporting Him?
Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
In the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s surge in New York City politics, a disturbing trend has emerged: prominent Jewish leaders are being urged to join “Jews for Zohran,” a newly formed effort to legitimize a candidate whose record and rhetoric are alarmingly out of step with Jewish communal values.
In a city that’s home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel — and where antisemitic incidents are on the rise — this is a profound mistake.
Mamdani has refused to explicitly condemn the slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” which has been widely understood as a call to violence against Jews. His defenders insist it’s a symbolic plea for Palestinian rights. But nuance offers little comfort when the phrase glorifies violent uprisings, and is routinely chanted alongside calls for Israel’s destruction.
Institutions such as the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and watchdogs like StopAntisemitism.org have made it clear: attempts to sanitize violent language must be firmly rejected.
Mamdani’s vocal support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is equally troubling. BDS does not merely critique Israeli policy; it seeks to economically isolate and politically delegitimize the Jewish state. When a candidate stands against the most visible symbol of Jewish survival — Israel — while brushing off violent slogans as misunderstood metaphors, we must ask what message this sends to our communities.
The answer should be clear. Jewish New Yorkers were the targets of over half the city’s reported hate crimes last year. From Crown Heights to Midtown, visible Jews have been harassed, assaulted, and mocked. Mamdani was flagged by national antisemitism monitors in December for promoting material that mocked Hanukkah. This is not abstract. This is personal, present, and dangerous.
Yes, Mamdani has pledged to increase hate crime funding from $3 million to $26 million. But that’s not enough. The Jewish community — especially now — needs more than budgetary gestures. We require moral clarity, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel powerfully stated: “Morally speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings, that indifference to evil is worse than evil itself….”
Moral clarity demands more than financial promises, it requires principled rejection of rhetoric that endangers Jews. Belonging isn’t forged by slogans; it’s proven through sustained empathy, shared responsibility, and unwavering commitment to safety.
Calls for Jewish leaders to publicly support Mamdani, including those made to officials like Brad Lander and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), aim to provide political cover for a candidate whose worldview clashes with core Jewish values. These aren’t harmless endorsements. They’re symbols. And symbols matter.
Endorsing Mamdani sends a troubling signal: that political convenience or progressive branding outweighs communal safety and historical memory. When Jewish leaders align with someone who flirts with the delegitimization of Jewish statehood and refuses to condemn slogans rooted in violence, they are telling our adversaries that our moral lines are negotiable.
New York’s Jewish community has long been a moral compass in American politics. What happens here echoes across the nation. If our leaders can be cajoled into supporting a candidate like Mamdani, what message does that send to Jews in swing districts, smaller cities, and across college campuses? It normalizes equivocation. It emboldens the fringe. It tells the next generation that Jewish dignity is up for debate.
This is about more than Mamdani. It’s about whether Jewish pride and Jewish safety remain non-negotiable pillars of our political participation. Some have argued that this is simply politics as usual — that strategic alliances are part of coalition-building. But the Jewish people know better than most that what begins as a small compromise can metastasize into a much greater danger.
Former Democratic Councilman Rory Lancman said it best: “If ever there was a time to put principle over party, this is it.” He’s right. And that’s why this moment requires Jewish leaders to speak not just as political actors, but as moral stewards.
Jewish leaders are free to engage with any candidate they choose. But engagement is not endorsement. One can listen, challenge, and debate without aligning oneself publicly with a candidate whose positions cross communal red lines. Outreach does not require complicity.
If Jewish political figures join “Jews for Zohran,” they risk helping mainstream dangerous ideologies. They risk fracturing communal unity even further at a time when Jewish communal unity is our best defense. They risk allowing today’s ambiguity to become tomorrow’s regret.
Jewish history teaches us the cost of silence, of appeasement, and of looking away. We cannot afford those mistakes again — not in this city, not in this era; history is beginning to repeat itself and we cannot allow that to happen.
To every Jewish leader now weighing their public stance: choose principle. Choose safety. Choose the kind of moral leadership our tradition demands; reject the logic of “Jews for Zohran.” The stakes are too high — and the message matters.
Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
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