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Did the Media Coverage of October 7 and the Hamas War Lead to Increased Antisemitism?
Since Hamas’ brutal invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents in the United States and around the world have risen exponentially.
These incidents include acts of violence, harassment, vandalism, and glorification of anti-Israel terrorism.
As this rise in antisemitism can be tied to the October 7 attack and its aftermath, the question needs to be asked: Have the media played a role in this surge of antisemitism?
Throughout the war, both mainstream media organizations and alternative news sources on social media have parroted Hamas propaganda, spread unsubstantiated claims about Israel’s conduct, and concocted narratives that besmirch Israel’s reputation in the international arena.
While there is no definitive way of determining the extent to which the media’s portrayal of Israel has affected this rise in antisemitism, there is an interesting correlation between certain months where antisemitic incidents peaked and the media trends that existed during that month.
The following is a look at those months where antisemitic incidents rose (in comparison to the previous month) and the media stories that may have influenced this dangerous rise in anti-Jewish bigotry.
October 2023
Between September 2023 and October 2023, antisemitic incidents rose by 253%.
Here are some major stories and trends that appeared in the media’s coverage during October that may have contributed to this rise:
Even in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack, some news organizations were already creating an anti-Israel narrative by parroting Hamas’ justification for its attack, creating an equivalence between Israeli and Hamas casualties, or turning their focus to Israel’s response and away from the atrocities themselves.
After an explosion occurred at Al-Ahli Hospital, the media rushed to publish the Hamas Ministry of Health’s claim that an Israeli airstrike on the hospital had killed 500 people who were sheltering on the grounds. It was only later that these same outlets were forced to backtrack, recognizing that it was not an Israeli attack that had caused the explosion and that the number of casualties was much lower than initially reported.
In preparation for its ground operation into Gaza, the IDF issued an order for Palestinians living in northern Gaza to move south for their own safety. However, several news outlets misrepresented this order and Israel’s actions to protect innocent Palestinians. Both Reuters and The Telegraph misrepresented the order as saying that the IDF would treat anyone remaining in northern Gaza as a terrorist while the British Medical Journal published a piece which termed this order as being akin to “expulsion.”
At the same time as Palestinians were evacuating to southern Gaza, several mainstream media organizations uncritically shared the Hamas-run Ministry of Health’s claim that 70 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli strike while fleeing to the south. Despite the lack of hard evidence for this claim (and the IDF’s denial that it was operating in the area at the time), it was shared widely as fact by such outlets as MSNBC, Sky News, and The Washington Post.
Near the end of October, a variety of esteemed media organizations published similarly worded pieces wherein they justified their reliance on casualty statistics released by the Gaza Health Ministry, thus legitimizing the use of Hamas propaganda.
SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND THIS CONTENT DISTRESSING.
Early this morning, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel.
Men, women, and children have been murdered and abducted. 22 communities are overrun with terrorists. 40,000 reservists are called up for duty.
Here’s everything… pic.twitter.com/xBlCoY9IK8
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 7, 2023
December 2023
After a slight drop in November (possibly due to the ceasefire and hostage-prisoner swap held between Israel and Hamas at the end of the month), antisemitic incidents rose once again in December 2023.
Here are some major stories and trends that appeared in the media coverage that may have contributed to this rise that month:
At the beginning of December, several news organizations presented a skewed portrait of the end of the ceasefire, either downplaying the fact that Hamas broke the ceasefire with a barrage of rockets, or only focusing on Israel’s resumption of military activities and Hamas’ aggression.
As Israeli forces moved further into Gaza, images began to emerge of male detainees stripped to their underwear and blindfolded. While this is proper procedure when dealing with suspected terrorists who may or may not be armed/wearing a suicide vest, various conspiracy theories began to emerge online about these images portraying Palestinians taken hostage by Israel or even being lined up for mass execution. At the same time, several media organizations downplayed the IDF’s legitimate reason for using these tactics while detaining suspects, portraying these images as a humiliation tactic or an example of Israeli barbarity.
In their initial reports on a Congressional hearing about campus antisemitism, several news outlets glossed over the fact that three university presidents would not condemn calls for Jewish genocide, effectively downplaying the concerning rise of antisemitism on university campuses and gaslighting the Jewish community.
As December is the holiday season, various news organizations published stories on how the war was harming the observance of Christmas in the Holy Land, with subdued celebrations and a reduced presence of tourists. In effect, these news organizations were blaming Israel for ruining Christmas.
In a report on corpses from Gaza being briefly brought into Israel for identification (to determine if they belonged to Israeli hostages), Tthe Washington Post uncritically parroted a Hamas blood libel that the bodies had been returned without organs.
A disturbing trend that emerged in December was the reliance of several news outlets on the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor NGO, despite the fact that the organization has ties to Hamas and is known to fabricate stories meant to besmirch Israel’s reputation.
January 2024
January 2024 continued to see a high number of antisemitic incidents, with 65% of these related to Israel.
Here are some major stories and trends that appeared in the media coverage that may have contributed:
As the South African genocide case against Israel was presented to the International Court of Justice in mid-January, there was a special focus on these baseless allegations throughout the month in the media and on social media. Some, such as New York Times opinion writer Megan Stack, used their media platforms to bolster the libel that Israel’s defensive war was an act of genocide.
Near the end of the month, some media outlets publicized Hamas’ justification of the October 7 atrocities while others parroted Hamas’ ceasefire offer, falsely presenting the terror group as an antiwar movement.
The British channel ITV published a three-minute video that purported to show a Palestinian man with a white flag being shot by an Israeli soldier. However, the video was edited and HonestReporting raised several questions about its reliability. Despite the sketchy nature of this video, it went viral on social media and fomented a significant amount of outrage against Israel.
A CNN story about the IDF allegedly desecrating Gazan cemeteries went viral even though the IDF later revealed that Israeli forces were forced to operate in the cemetery due to Hamas tunneling under it and using it for combat purposes.
March 2024
March 2024 saw a rise in antisemitic incidents from February, with 78.5% of these incidents being related to Israel.
Here are some major stories and trends in the media that may have affected this uptick in antisemitic incidents:
Several major news organizations, like The New York Times, CNN, and NPR, spread the false claims that Israel was severely restricting the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and that no aid had reached the enclave’s northern half.
The claim that due to the war, there was starvation in Gaza. In order to illustrate this humanitarian concern, The New York Times profiled the death of someone with a pre-existing medical condition while CNN published the medically questionable claim that a one-day-old baby had died of starvation.
Major news organizations such as LA Times, The New York Times, and AFP cited Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor as a legitimate source despite its affiliation with Hamas and its history of spreading false and libelous information about the Jewish state.
Al Jazeera’s false story that Israeli troops were raping Palestinian women in Al-Shifa Hospital. By the time it was deleted the next day, the story had already gone viral on social media.
Al Jazeera’s IDF rape allegations in Gaza highlight a key question: Are fabricated stories against Israel exceptions or part of propaganda strategies by Al Jazeera and Hamas?
(Some language has been edited to avoid censorship on other social media platforms). pic.twitter.com/kPi0oMXvmU
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 30, 2024
April 2024
For a second month in a row, antisemitic incidents continued to rise, with almost 76% of these incidents being related to Israel.
In the aftermath of the accidental killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers by an Israeli drone, several news organizations held up the incident as uniquely severe, instead of another tragic case of “friendly fire” in the annals of Western military history. This helped develop a false narrative whereby Israel has gone “rogue” and is exceptionally aggressive.
One of the biggest Israel-related stories of April was the Iranian rocket and drone attack against Israel. However, rather than castigate the Islamic Republic for its assault on the Jewish State, various media organizations either rationalized the Iranian attack or minimized its ferocity, ultimately creating a narrative that implicitly legitimizes politically based attacks on Jews and Israelis.
Another major story in April was the anti-Israel encampments that spread throughout university campuses. The media chose to portray these encampments and their accompanying protests as “antiwar” and “pro-Palestinian,” downplaying the antisemitic rhetoric and celebration of anti-Israel violence that became commonplace. In effect, the media provided a shield of gaslighting and obfuscation for those advocating for Israel’s destruction and against Jewish students.
As part of the reporting on these encampments and protests, some media aimed to legitimize them by spreading Hamas casualty numbers as the basis for their existence.
Near the end of April, Hamas’ false allegations about the discovery of mass graves outside of Gazan hospitals with evidence of execution-style killings by Israeli forces went viral online and were also spread by several mainstream media organizations which appeared to take Hamas (and the UN officials who parroted their claims) at their word.
Let’s not sugarcoat it: the protests on university campuses are not about peace but about spreading anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments. The media has often obscured these truths, gaslighting Jewish students and downplaying the violence they face. pic.twitter.com/PH0BXr9KKe
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 25, 2024
July 2024
After two months of decreasing antisemitic incidents, the number of incidents rose in July, with 61% of incidents being related to Israel.
The media cited several biased “UN experts” who claimed that famine was spreading in Gaza, even though the allegation was unsubstantiated.
One of the biggest sources of misinformation in July was a “correspondence” piece in the Lancet medical journal that baselessly claimed that the Gaza death toll was as high as 186,000. Even though there was zero evidence to back up this allegation, it was still spread by various media organizations, including Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, MSNBC, The Independent, and The Irish Times.
Following an Israeli airstrike against the Houthis in retaliation for an attack on Tel Aviv that killed one Israeli and injured 10 others, several media reports either falsely portrayed this airstrike as indiscriminately targeting civilian areas or disregarded any mention of the Houthi attack that precipitated the Israeli response.
A BBC story about an IDF dog attacking a Palestinian man with Down Syndrome and allegedly leaving him for dead left out several salient facts, including that members of his family were affiliated with Hamas, that the attack occurred during a battle between Israeli soldiers and terrorists, and that even though Israeli forces had left the area soon after the attack, the family did not return to look for the man until a week later. The BBC’s narrative left the false impression that Israeli forces cruelly use dogs to attack innocent and vulnerable Palestinians.
After a Hezbollah rocket killed 12 Druze children playing soccer in Majdal Shams, news reports downplayed the fact that the victims were children, drew false comparisons between this strike and Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, and even tried to provide a post-facto justification for it.
In response to the Hezbollah rocket attack in Majdal Shams, Israel killed Fouad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah military commander, in a targeted strike. Several news organizations ignored who the target was, making it seem as if Israel was indiscriminately bombing a Beirut suburb.
Seen the wild claim “186,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza”?
Here’s the scoop: they multiplied current, inaccurate death tolls by 4 to get this number. Even worse, the media ran with it, spreading false info far and wide. pic.twitter.com/dPfRM9mVlN
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 9, 2024
August 2024
Once again, antisemitic incidents rose for the second month in a row, with 57% of incidents being related to Israel.
Following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, several mainstream media organizations (such as Reuters, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and The New York Times) sought to portray the terror head as a moderate voice and pragmatist and accused Israel of causing a dangerous escalation in the region. The connection between antisemitic incidents and false narratives about Israel was made clear when the NYPD was forced to boost patrols in Jewish neighborhoods in the wake of the assassinations of Haniyeh and Fouad Shukr.
In mid-August, Israel struck a Hamas command center that was located in an UNRWA school-turned-shelter, killing 19 terrorists. However, several news organizations relied on Hamas sources to portray this as an attack on civilians or as part of a continued campaign by Israel against Gazan schools, with some even completely ignoring the fact that Hamas terrorists were killed in the strike.
Later in the month, Israel pre-emptively struck Hezbollah rocket launchers as the Lebanon-based terror organization was planning a major assault on the Jewish state. The New York Times, LA Times, and NPR portrayed Israel as the aggressor and the initiator of hostilities while Sky News accused Israel of risking a regional war by defending its people and territory.
Another theme that permeated media coverage in August was the claim that a polio epidemic was threatening Gaza’s children, based on one confirmed case in the enclave. This was another instance where the media parroted projections of a humanitarian disaster (that had not yet occurred) in order to besmirch Israel’s defensive campaign in Gaza.
An IDF’s strike killed 19 terrorists. But instead of reporting the facts, major outlets like CNN and Reuters echoed Hamas’ false claims.
The truth? The strike targeted a command center hidden in a mosque, not civilians. pic.twitter.com/GnlEEkHQu2
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 11, 2024
***
As we can see from the above, there is a strong correlation between the months that antisemitism spiked and negative coverage of Israel in the media and online during those same months.
While the extent of the media’s influence on antisemitic trends cannot be definitively determined, this apparent correlation is a reminder to all media organizations, journalists, and social media users that the narratives they put forward about the Israel-Hamas war do not stay on the page or online — they have real-world consequences.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Did the Media Coverage of October 7 and the Hamas War Lead to Increased Antisemitism? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Rejects US Nuclear Proposal, Says ‘Counteroffer’ Coming as Talks Stall Over Uranium Enrichment, Sanctions
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran has denounced the latest nuclear proposal from the United States as “unprofessional and untechnical,” reaffirming the country’s right to enrich uranium and announcing plans to present a counteroffer in the coming days.
“After receiving the American proposal regarding the Iranian nuclear program, we are now preparing a counteroffer,” Ali Shamkhnai, political adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview on Wednesday.
Shamkhani criticized the White House draft proposal as “not well thought out,” emphasizing its alleged failure to address sanction relief — a key demand for Tehran under any deal with Washington.
“There is no mention whatsoever of lifting sanctions in the latest American proposal, even though the issue of sanctions is a fundamental matter for Iran,” Shamkhnai said.
The Iranian official also warned that Tehran will not allow the US to dismantle its “peaceful nuclear program” or force uranium enrichment down to zero.
“Iran will never relinquish its natural rights,” Shamkhani said.
Washington’s draft proposal for a new nuclear deal was delivered by Omani officials — who have been mediating negotiations between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff — during last month’s talks in Rome.
On Wednesday, Khamenei dismissed such an offer, saying it “contradicts our nation’s belief in self-reliance” and runs counter to Iran’s key objectives.
“The proposal that the Americans have presented is 100 percent against our interests,” the Iranian leader said during a televised speech.
“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?” Khamenei continued.
After five rounds of talks, diplomatic efforts have yet to yield results as both adversaries clash over Iran’s demand to maintain its domestic uranium enrichment program — a condition the White House has firmly rejected.
In April, Tehran and Washington held their first official nuclear negotiation since the US withdrew from a now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal that had imposed temporary limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief.
Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has sought to curtail Tehran’s potential to develop a nuclear weapon that could spark a regional arms race and pose a threat to Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran seeks to have Western sanctions on its oil-dependent economy lifted, while maintaining its nuclear enrichment program — which the country insists is solely for civilian purposes.
As part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran — which aims to cut the country’s crude exports to zero and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon — Washington has been targeting Tehran’s oil industry with mounting sanctions.
Amid the ongoing diplomatic deadlock, Israel has declared it will never allow the Islamist regime to acquire nuclear weapons, as the country views Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to uphold any agreement that prevents Tehran from enriching uranium.
“But in any case, Israel maintains the right to defend itself from a regime that is threatening to annihilate it,” Netanyahu said in a press conference last month, following reports that Jerusalem could strike Iranian nuclear sites if ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran fail.
The post Iran Rejects US Nuclear Proposal, Says ‘Counteroffer’ Coming as Talks Stall Over Uranium Enrichment, Sanctions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Day After Colorado Attack, Founder of Anti-Israel Group Chides Activists Who Are Insufficiently ‘Pro-Resistance’
Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of WithinOurLifetime (WOL), leading a pro-Hamas demonstration in New York City on Aug. 14, 2024. Photo: Michael Nigro via Reuters Connect
Nerdeen Kiswani, the founder of the radical anti-Israel organization Within Our Lifetime, chastised those within the pro-Palestinian movement who only support “resistance” in the abstract but not in practice following Sunday’s antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado.
“A lot of people who call themselves anti-Zionist or pro-resistance don’t actually understand what resistance is,” Kiswani posted on X/Twitter on Monday. “They support it in theory, but when it shows up in practice, they hesitate, distance themselves, or shift the conversation entirely.”
She continued, “And it makes it even harder for those of us who are principled to take public stances. We’re already marginalized, already painted as extreme or dangerous and that isolation only deepens when others in the movement won’t stand firm when it counts.”
Kiswani’s comments came the day after a man threw Molotov cocktails at a Boulder gathering where participants were rallying in support of the Israeli hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza — which resulted in 15 injuries, including some critically, in what US authorities called a targeted terrorist attack. Her tweets also came less than two weeks after a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they were leaving an at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by the American Jewish Committee. In both attacks, the perpetrator yelled “Free Palestine” as they targeted innocent civilians, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
After Kiswani’s social media posts sparked some backlash among pro-Israel users on X, she provided limited pushback on the idea that it was an expression of support for the prior day’s attack in Colorado.
“Zionists are freaking out in the QTs about this, insisting it’s about Colorado,” she wrote. “Newsflash: the world doesn’t revolve around you. Resistance hasn’t stopped in Gaza, look at what just happened in Jabalia [where three IDF soldiers were killed] for instance. The perpetual victimhood is getting old.”
However, Kiswani did not say her comment had no connection to the attack in Colorado, and she did not say that she opposed the firebombing.
Kiswani and her group, Within Our Lifetime (WOL), have been at the forefront of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activism since Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages during their invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a massacre that started the war in Gaza.
On Oct. 8, 2023, one day after the biggest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, WOL organized a protest to celebrate the prior day’s attack, which it described as an effort to “defend the heroic Palestinian resistance.” Kiswani notably refused to condemn Hamas and the Oct. 7 massacre following the atrocities.
Then, in Apil 2024, Kiswani refused to condemn the chant “Death to America” and organized a mass demonstration to block the “arteries of capitalism” by staging a blockade of commercial shipping ports across the world in protest of Western support for the Jewish state. That same month, she was banned from Columbia University’s campus in New York City after leading chants calling for an “intifada,” or violent uprising.
The following month, Kiswani led a demonstration in Brooklyn, New York in which she lambasted the local police department, claimed then-US President Joe Biden will soon die, and called for the destruction of Israel.
That proceeded the activist saying she does not want Zionists “anywhere” in the world while speaking in defense of a person who called for “Zionists” to leave a crowded subway car in New York City.
WOL, which planned a protest last year to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre, was also behind demonstrations at the Nova Music Festival exhibit, which commemorated the more than 300 civilians slaughtered by Hamas while at a music festival.
The latter protest prompted widespread condemnation, including from Biden and even progressive members of the US Congress who are outspoken against Israel.
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for example, posted on social media that the “callousness, dehumanization, and targeting of Jews on display at last night’s protest outside the Nova Festival exhibit was atrocious antisemitism – plain and simple.”
The post Day After Colorado Attack, Founder of Anti-Israel Group Chides Activists Who Are Insufficiently ‘Pro-Resistance’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel’s Defense Exports Hit Record $15 Billion in 2024 Despite European Pressure, Calls for Arms Embargo
Israeli troops on the ground in Gaza. Photo: IDF via Reuters
Israel reached a new all-time high in defense exports in 2024, nearing $15 billion — the fourth consecutive year of record-breaking sales — despite mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza and growing pressure from European countries to suspend arms deals.
In a press release on Wednesday, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced that defense exports reached over $14.7 billion last year — a 13 percent increase from 2023 — with more than half of the deals valued at over $100 million.
According to the ministry, Israel’s military exports have more than doubled over the past five years, highlighting the industry’s rapid expansion and growing global demand.
“This tremendous achievement is a direct result of the successes of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and defense industries against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, the Ayatollah regime in Iran, and in additional arenas where we operate against Israel’s enemies,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“The world sees Israeli strength and seeks to be a partner in it. We will continue strengthening the IDF and the Israeli economy through security innovation to ensure clear superiority against any threat – anywhere and anytime,” Katz continued.
In 2024, over half of the Jewish state’s defense contracts were with European countries — up from 35 percent the previous year — as many in the region have increased their defense spending following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Despite increasing pressure and widespread anti-Israel sentiment among European governments amid the current conflict in Gaza, this latest data seems to contradict recent calls by European leaders to impose an arms embargo on the Jewish state over its defensive campaign in Gaza against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
On Wednesday, Germany reversed its earlier threat to halt arms deliveries to Israel, reaffirming its commitment to continue cooperation and maintain defense contracts with Jerusalem.
“Germany will continue to support the State of Israel, including with arms deliveries,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told lawmakers in parliament.
Last week, Berlin warned it would take unspecified measures against Israel if it continued its military campaign in Gaza, citing concerns that exported weapons were being used in violation of humanitarian law.
“Our full support for the right to exist and the security of the State of Israel must not be instrumentalized for the conflict and the warfare currently being waged in the Gaza Strip,” Wadephul said in a statement.
Germany would be “examining whether what is happening in the Gaza Strip is compatible with international humanitarian law,” he continued. “Further arms deliveries will be authorized based on the outcome of that review.”
Spain and Ireland are among the countries in Europe that have threatened or taken steps to limit arms deals with Israel, while others such as France have threatened unspecified harsh measures against the Jewish state.
According to the Israeli defense ministry’s report, since the outbreak of war on Oct. 7, 2023, after the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, the operational successes and proven battlefield performance of Israeli systems have fueled strong international demand for Israel’s defense technology.
Last year, the export of missiles, rockets, and air defense systems reached a new high, making up 48 percent of the total deal volume — up from 36 percent in 2023.
Similarly, satellite and space systems exports surged, accounting for 8 percent of total deals in 2024 — quadrupling their share from 2 percent in 2023.
While Europe dominated Israel’s defense export market in 2024, significant portions also went to other regions. Asia and the Pacific made up 23 percent of total sales — slightly lower than in previous years, when the region approached 30 percent.
Exports to Abraham Accords countries fell to 12 percent, down from 23 percent in 2022, while North America remained stable at around 9 percent.
The post Israel’s Defense Exports Hit Record $15 Billion in 2024 Despite European Pressure, Calls for Arms Embargo first appeared on Algemeiner.com.