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A torched bicycle shop, an arrested singer: Arab-Israelis face precarious landscape during Gaza war
TAYIBE, Israel (JTA) – In the days following Hamas’ bloody invasion of Israel, singer and influencer Dalal Abu Amneh posted a Palestinian flag to social media along with the words “There is no victor but God.”
By Tuesday, the post was gone, and Abu Amneh, who is also a brain researcher, was in Israeli prison — arrested for voicing support for Hamas. The musical artist and influencer, who lives in the Arab-Israeli city of Nazareth, is one of a growing number of Arab-Israelis, also known as Palestinian-Israelis, to be arrested in recent days for appearing to support the massacre.
“They tried to strip me of my humanity, silence my voice, and humiliate me in every way,” Abu Amneh posted on Instagram on Wednesday, writing that she was placed in solitary confinement and went on a hunger strike. “They insulted me and handcuffed my hands and feet, but they made me more proud and dignified. My voice will remain a messenger of love, defending the truth in this world.”
Meanwhile, stories have also emerged of Arab-Israelis rushing to save Jewish victims and volunteering to help the stricken communities of southern Israel in the wake of the attacks. A bicycle-shop owner in this central Arab-Israeli city of Tayibe donated 50 children’s bicycles to evacuees from the south and, days later, his shop was burned down. A crowdfunding campaign on his behalf, conducted in Hebrew and English, has since raised more than $150,000.
Indeed, the vast majority of Israel’s approximately 2 million Arab citizens don’t support the attacks. A poll conducted by the Agam Institute in Israel found that 80% of Arab-Israelis opposed Hamas’ attack, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis, while just 5% supported it, reported the publication Ynet.
Arab-Israelis say the attack, and Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza, has placed their community in a precarious position. Many are mourning Hamas’ attack — which killed at least 15 Arab-Israelis, according to the Arab-Israeli nonprofit Mossawa — while also opposing Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza, where many have family and friends. Those strikes have killed more than 3,200 people, per the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
“The majority are against all the casualties, it doesn’t matter which side, because we are all against the killing of innocent women, children and elderly,” said Murad, an engineer from Tayibe. “If someone says something pro-Hamas all of the Arabs are attacked as ‘They are against us!’ But if 100 or even 1,000 people are against Hamas, nobody notices.”
Murad was sitting with friends on Tuesday in the city’s Two Brothers Cafe, discussing the ongoing war over coffee. Like his friends, Murad declined to give his last name, fearful of repercussions for openly sharing his opinion. Israeli-Arab politicians have also denounced the Hamas massacre, along with the killing of civilians in Gaza.
“We should say here and now that the murder of women and children and the elderly, and atrocities against civilians in the south, are worthy of unstinting denunciation,” Arab-Israeli lawmaker Ahmad Tibi said in a speech last week in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. “Human morality is not selective. There is no half-morality. Murder of children is murder of children.”
Previous Israeli wars in Gaza have seen friction, conflict and arrests in Arab-Israeli communities and so-called “mixed cities.” In 2021, Arab-Jewish cities in Israel saw fierce interethnic clashes before and during Israel’s conflict that year with Hamas. In 2014, the last time Israeli ground forces invaded Gaza, 1,500 Israeli-Arabs were arrested for protesting the military operation.
Figures provided by the Israel Police say 63 people have been arrested for supporting Hamas or the massacre, and 40 Arab-Israeli students have been suspended or expelled from universities, according to the Arab-Israeli legal nonprofit Adalah.
Shlomo Karhi, the Communication Minister, recently pushed for emergency legislation that would grant the police power to shut off the broadcasts and close the offices of media outlets that “significantly harm national security.” Karhi has taken aim specifically at the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network, which has a bureau in Israel and which he called a “terror-supporting station.”
“We are at war!” Karhi posted to social media on Monday along with a copy of the draft regulations. “Whoever wants can petition the Supreme Court afterward, but this station must close now!”
In light of that atmosphere, Murad said he had advised his adult son not to post anything about the conflict to social media.
“There is no space to protest,” he said. “I told my son, who is 27 and an engineer, ‘do not say anything, not even a humanitarian message.’”
Harel Chorev-Halewa, a historian of the Middle East at Tel Aviv University, said that protests have not broken out in Arab-Israeli or mixed cities during the current conflict due to a mix of fear from what will ensue and shock from Hamas’ massacre.
Groups that would foment unrest, Chorev-Halewa said, “know that nobody, including the security forces and the civilians, will wait around for any manifestation of force or things that we saw in May, 2021. People are openly saying, ‘If you will come to my house, if you will come to my street, I will shoot you.’”
Chorev-Halewa said Arab-Israeli repudiation of Hamas’ attack is also “a failure of Hamas’ strategy” to incite Arab-Israelis to rebel.
That calm atmosphere is present in Tayibe, said Abed, the barista at Two Brothers. He said locals are less personally affected by the war because “more than half of Gazans are from the coastal region of Jaffa, Ashkelon, Ramle and Lod,” rather than the center of Israel. Accordingly, life is unfolding relatively normally in the city, save for nationwide school closures, which have kept Tayibe’s children at home as well.
Arab-Israeli grievance toward the government is far from limited to the military operation in Gaza. This year, Arab-Israelis have protested a spike in murders in their communities, with more than 180 Arab citizens killed in violent incidents this year. Arab leaders and activists have long castigated the state for discriminating against Arab-Israelis in a variety of ways — from disparities in funding to policing.
“The Israeli press always asks the Israeli-Arab, ‘What side are you on?’” Murad said. “I ask, what side are you on when they kill 200 of our sons here and no criminal is arrested?” He added that he is also worried about an eruption of violence in the West Bank, where clashes have been escalating this year and where more than 50 Palestinians have been killed since the Oct. 7 invasion.
“It cannot work like that, when you see 700 to 800 babies killed in Gaza,” Murad said. “There are children on both the Israeli and Palestinian side that are both victims.”
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The post A torched bicycle shop, an arrested singer: Arab-Israelis face precarious landscape during Gaza war appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hamas Warns Against Cooperation with US Relief Efforts In Bid to Restore Grip on Gaza
Hamas terrorists carry grenade launchers at the funeral of Marwan Issa, a senior Hamas deputy military commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza has warned residents not to cooperate with the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as the terror group seeks to reassert its grip on the enclave amid mounting international pressure to accept a US-brokered ceasefire.
“It is strictly forbidden to deal with, work for, or provide any form of assistance or cover to the American organization (GHF) or its local or foreign agents,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
“Legal action will be taken against anyone proven to be involved in cooperation with this organization, including the imposition of the maximum penalties stipulated in the applicable national laws,” the statement warns.
The GHF released a statement in response to Hamas’ warnings, saying the organization has delivered millions of meals “safely and without interference.”
“This statement from the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry confirms what we’ve known all along: Hamas is losing control,” the GHF said.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
According to their reports, the organization has delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
Hamas’s latest threat comes amid growing international pressure to accept a US-backed ceasefire plan proposed by President Donald Trump, which sets a 60-day timeline to finalize the details leading to a full resolution of the conflict.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalize a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, though Israel has not confirmed this claim.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with Trump next week in Washington, DC — his third visit in less than six months — as they work to finalize the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Even though Trump hasn’t provided details on the proposed truce, he said Washington would “work with all parties to end the war” during the 60-day period.
“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he wrote in a social media post.
Since the start of the war, ceasefire talks between Jerusalem and Hamas have repeatedly failed to yield enduring results.
Israeli officials have previously said they will only agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms, and goes into exile — a demand the terror group has firmly rejected.
“I am telling you — there will be no Hamas,” Netanyahu said during a speech Wednesday.
For its part, Hamas has said it is willing to release the remaining 50 hostages — fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
While the terrorist group said it is “ready and serious” to reach a deal that would end the war, it has yet to accept this latest proposal.
In a statement, the group said it aims to reach an agreement that “guarantees an end to the aggression, the withdrawal [of Israeli forces], and urgent relief for our people in the Gaza Strip.”
According to media reports, the proposed 60-day ceasefire would include a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a surge in humanitarian aid, and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, with US and mediator assurances on advancing talks to end the war — though it remains unclear how many hostages would be freed.
For Israel, the key to any deal is the release of most, if not all, hostages still held in Gaza, as well as the disarmament of Hamas, while the terror group is seeking assurances to end the war as it tries to reassert control over the war-torn enclave.
The post Hamas Warns Against Cooperation with US Relief Efforts In Bid to Restore Grip on Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UK Lawmakers Move to Designate Palestine Action as Terrorist Group Following RAF Vandalism Protest
Police block a street as pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather to protest British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s plans to proscribe the “Palestine Action” group in the coming weeks, in London, Britain, June 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
British lawmakers voted Wednesday to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, following the group’s recent vandalizing of two military aircraft at a Royal Air Force base in protest of the government’s support for Israel.
Last month, members of the UK-based anti-Israel group Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, a county west of London, and vandalized two Voyager aircraft used for military transport and refueling — the latest in a series of destructive acts carried out by the organization.
Palestine Action has regularly targeted British sites connected to Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems as well as other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza in 2023.
Under British law, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has the authority to ban an organization if it is believed to commit, promote, or otherwise be involved in acts of terrorism.
Passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 385 to 26 in the lower chamber — the House of Commons — the measure is now set to be reviewed by the upper chamber, the House of Lords, on Thursday.
If approved, the ban would take effect within days, making it a crime to belong to or support Palestine Action and placing the group on the same legal footing as Al Qaeda, Hamas, and the Islamic State under UK law.
Palestine Action, which claims that Britain is an “active participant” in the Gaza conflict due to its military support for Israel, condemned the ban as “an unhinged reaction” and announced plans to challenge it in court — similar to the legal challenges currently being mounted by Hamas.
Under the Terrorism Act 2000, belonging to a proscribed group is a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison or a fine, while wearing clothing or displaying items supporting such a group can lead to up to six months in prison and/or a fine of up to £5,000.
Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the recent attack, in which two of its activists sprayed red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft and used crowbars to inflict additional damage.
According to the group, the red paint — also sprayed across the runway — was meant to symbolize “Palestinian bloodshed.” A Palestine Liberation Organization flag was also left at the scene.
On Thursday, local authorities arrested four members of the group, aged between 22 and 35, who were charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK, as well as conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
Palestine Action said this latest attack was carried out as a protest against the planes’ role in supporting what the group called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
At the time of the attack, Cooper condemned the group’s actions, stating that their behavior had grown increasingly aggressive and resulted in millions of pounds in damages.
“The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton … is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action,” Cooper said in a written statement.
“The UK’s defense enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk,” she continued.
The post UK Lawmakers Move to Designate Palestine Action as Terrorist Group Following RAF Vandalism Protest first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US-backed Gaza Relief NGO Vows ‘Legal Action’ Against AP Claim Group Fired on Palestinian Civilians
Palestinians collect aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed nonprofit operating aid distribution centers in the Gaza Strip, is pushing back forcefully against an Associated Press report alleging that its contractors opened fire on Palestinian civilians.
The GHF is accusing the AP of withholding key evidence and relying on a “disgruntled former contractor” as a central source.
“In response, we are pursuing legal action,” the organization said in a statement released Wednesday.
GHF said it conducted an “immediate investigation” after being contacted by the AP, reviewing time-stamped video footage and sworn witness testimony. The group concluded that the allegations were “categorically false,” stating that no civilians were fired upon at any of their distribution sites and that the gunfire heard in the AP’s video came from Israeli forces operating outside the vicinity.
“What is most troubling is that the AP refused to share the full video with us prior to publication, despite the seriousness of the allegations,” the statement read. “If they believed their own reporting, they should have provided us with the footage so we could take immediate and appropriate action.”
The nonprofit’s public rebuttal raises sharp questions about the AP’s reporting process, suggesting the outlet declined to engage with the organization in good faith and instead leaned on a source GHF describes as having been terminated “for misconduct” weeks prior. The group also claimed the AP’s recent coverage of its activities had begun to “echo narratives advanced by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health.”
The AP has not yet responded publicly to the GHF’s accusations or provided clarification about its decision not to share the video footage before publication. The original report alleged that American contractors employed by GHF had fired weapons near or toward civilians.
The GHF statement confirmed that a contractor seen shouting in the AP’s video had been removed from operations, though the group insisted this was unrelated to any violence and did not constitute evidence of wrongdoing.
GHF, which describes its mission as delivering food to Gaza “safely, directly, and without interference,” said it remains committed to transparency but would not allow its operations to be “derailed by misinformation.”
The dispute highlights the fraught information environment in Gaza, where limited access and competing narratives frequently complicate the verification of on-the-ground events.
The post US-backed Gaza Relief NGO Vows ‘Legal Action’ Against AP Claim Group Fired on Palestinian Civilians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.