RSS
Biden Says Anti-Israel Protesters ‘Have a Point’ in Democratic National Convention Speech
US President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US President Joe Biden stressed the necessity of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and suggested protesters against the Jewish state “have a point” during his speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Monday night.
“We’ll keep working to bring hostages home and end the war in Gaza and bring peace and security to the Middle East,” Biden said in Chicago, where the convention to nominate the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate began earlier in the day.
Biden then referenced anti-Israel protesters who gathered outside the DNC to oppose US support for the Jewish state. “Those folks down the street have a point: a lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides,” he said.
The comments echoed those of US Vice President Kamala Harris, who in a recent interview said that young anti-Israel protesters are showing “exactly what the human emotion should be” as a response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
On Monday night, Biden emphasized that he has been working furiously to stop the “civilian suffering” in Gaza, the enclave bordering Israel to the south that is ruled by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Biden added that he and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are “working around the clock” to “prevent a wider war” in the Middle East.
On Monday, anti-Israel protesters flooded the streets outside of the DNC in Chicago, condemning the Democratic Party for issuing support to Israel’s ongoing war efforts against Hamas. The demonstrators bellowed chants such as “Biden, Biden you can’t hide — we charge you with genocide.” The demonstrators similarly targeted US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to be formally named the Democratic presidential nominee later this week.
Police established a security perimeter around the DNC, which was held in the United Center, to prevent agitators from disrupting the event. Some protesters successfully broke through the security perimeter, prompting law enforcement to engage in force to subdue them.
A large coalition of anti-Israel organizations such as the Palestinian Youth Movement and US Palestinian Community Network urged their supporters to join a protest against the DNC to demand the Biden administration end its “unconditional diplomatic and material support to Israel as it commits a genocide against the Palestinian people.” Protesters demanded that the US government achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and end all aid to Israel.
Biden’s suggestion that anti-Israel protesters “have a point” was met with widespread criticism online.
“Those protesters outside have zero point other than to support terror,” wrote Eyal Yakoby, a Jewish recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, on X/Twitter.
“Pro-Hamas radicals tore through a fence around the DNC secure perimeter and assaulted law enforcement. But Joe Biden thinks they ‘have a point’ and Kamala Harris continues to appease them. A total disgrace,” the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) posted on social media.
In the months following Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of 1,200 people throughout southern Israel, the Biden administration has scrambled, so far unsuccessfully, to secure a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
On Monday, Blinken revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted a “bridging proposal” presented by the US designed to close disagreements to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to do the same. Blinken warned that the current ceasefire proposal might be “probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity” to achieve an end to the fighting.
Hamas accused Israel of placing “new conditions” on the ceasefire deal.
The post Biden Says Anti-Israel Protesters ‘Have a Point’ in Democratic National Convention Speech first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
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.”
RSS
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.
RSS
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.