RSS
Almost a Vice President — New Joe Lieberman Documentary Is Heartwarming and a Must-See
The official Senate portrait of Joe Lieberman.
In a world where politicians are not often trusted to do what they believe is right, Joe Lieberman was an exception.I once interviewed his mother and when I spoke with him in 2010 and asked about nearly becoming vice president, he said it was “all in God’s hands.”
The new documentary Centered: Joe Lieberman, includes the chaos of the 2000 election in which Republicans George W. Bush and Dick Cheney ran against Democratic Vice President Al Gore and Lieberman. The film includes that Gore called Bush to concede and retracted it. Ultimately, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to stop a recount of an election in which some Jewish voters in Palm Beach County, Florida, said they accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan while trying to vote for Gore. The Gore/Lieberman ticket won the popular vote, but with Florida going to Bush, he won the presidency.
The film traces Lieberman’s political beginnings – losing a bid for Congress in 1980, but then becoming Connecticut state attorney general and upsetting Republican Lowell Weicker to take a Senate seat in 1988.
Lieberman, who observed Shabbat, was critical of Democratic President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, in which Clinton first claimed he did not have relations with the White House intern – then admitted he lied. In the documentary, Lieberman explains why he stood true to his values and spoke out.
A strong supporter of Israel, the film includes Lieberman criticizing Democratic New York Senator Chuck Schumer for giving a speech which called for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lieberman was primaried and lambasted for supporting the Iraq war. In the documentary, Lieberman says that if he knew beforehand all the lives that would have been lost, he would have been against it.
“The fact that he acknowledged [that] was a pretty big deal for people who know Lieberman and his stance on the Iraq war” director Jonathan Gruber told me in an interview for this article in The Algemeiner. “When we watched a rough cut of it with him, he looked around the table and said, ‘I’ve never said that in public.’ Then he paused and said, ‘But I’m glad I said it.’”
The film also shows the backlash Lieberman faced for supporting Republican senator John McCain for president rather than Barack Obama.
Gruber said one of the challenges in making the documentary was getting Democrats to agree to be in it, because there was a lot of resentment.
“People were and still are upset at him,” Gruber said. “They feel betrayed.”
There are emotional moments of Lieberman’s funeral shown. He died at the age of 82 in March 2024, after complications from a fall.
“He did what he felt he had to do from a moral and ethical standpoint,” Gruber said. “There are a lot of politicians these days who know what they should do and they don’t.”
What was the main lesson Gruber learned from interviewing Lieberman and making the documentary?
“You should figure out how to disagree without being disagreeable,” Gruber said. “Discourse over discord, and that a person you don’t agree with is not your blood enemy. People on the extremes sticking to their beliefs, saying if you’re not with me 100 percent, forget it, is really simplistic and now we have extremes on both sides. Joe was one of the early cancel culture victims … because of his vote of the Iraq war. I didn’t agree with that vote. But he was excoriated for it.”
Lieberman lost in the 2006 Democratic primary for Senate but won as an independent. The film shows that one of the reasons Lieberman married his second wife Hadassah was they were at a similar religious level, and that the Secret Service would accompany him to the synagogue during the presidential campaign.
Centered also includes the fear of some Jews in 2000 who worried that if Gore/Lieberman won in 2000 and something terrible took place, Jews would be blamed.
Gruber said Lieberman told him that President Obama told Lieberman that his decision to run as an Orthodox Jewish vice-presidential candidate opened the door for him as an African-American presidential candidate.
Gruber, who directed the impressive Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story does great work again here, telling the story of a noble man who seemed at times too kind for politics, but was quite effective. Also touched upon was the No Labels Party, for which Lieberman was criticized, but ultimately, it did not put forth any presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Centered: Joe Lieberman is a well-crafted documentary that shows Lieberman’s humor, his guts, and his humility, and should be shown in Jewish schools where many students may not be familiar with the man who nearly became the first Jewish vice president.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post Almost a Vice President — New Joe Lieberman Documentary Is Heartwarming and a Must-See first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.