RSS
Former Hamas Captive Has Hostage Pin Confiscated at Cannes as Over 900 Filmmakers, Actors Accuse Israel of ‘Genocide’
A woman takes a picture of one of the official double poster featuring a joint tribute to the two actors Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant in the film “A Man and a Woman” (Un homme et une femme), on the Festival Palace before the opening of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Former Hamas hostage Mia Schem said management at the 78th Cannes Film Festival confiscated a pin in support of the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip that she intended to wear on the red carpet of the festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday.
Schem told Israel’s N12 that at the entrance of the red carpet, members of the security team at Cannes told her she was forbidden from wearing a ribbon that said “Bring Them Home Now,” a rallying call for the immediate return of the hostages still held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza after being kidnapped during the terror group’s deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. After her pin was confiscated, Schem took another pin, featuring a yellow ribbon in support of the hostages, from a member of the Israeli delegation and wore it on her dress while walking the red carpet.
“I came to help in the fight to return the kidnapped,” she told N12. “Unfortunately, at the entrance to the red carpet, the festival management confiscated the ribbon that I was supposed to wear. I did not agree to give it up. I took the yellow hostage pin from one of the members of the delegation and wore it on my dress.”
Schem was invited to attend Cannes by the local Jewish community to raise awareness about the hostages who remain in Gaza. A day before the incident at Cannes, she was hosted by the mayor of Nice and spoke before the city council.
Leading up to the Cannes Film Festival this year, an open letter condemning the movie industry for remaining silent about the alleged “genocide” taking place in Gaza was published and signed by members of the film industry. The letter was initially signed by a little more than 300 filmmakers and actors, but by the end of the festival on Saturday, more than 900 people had signed the letter. The signatories include Juliette Binoche, who chaired the jury at Cannes this year; French actress Catherine Deneuve; “Schindler’s List” star Ralph Fiennes; British director Danny Boyle; actresses Susan Sarandon and Rooney Mara; and actors Mark Ruffalo, Pedro Pascal, Javier Bardem, Richard Gere, and Joaquin Phoenix.
The open letter was published by an initiative called “Artists for Fatem,” which refers to Fatima (“Fatem”) Hassona, a 25-year-old Palestinian freelance photojournalist who was the subject of the documentary “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk” that premiered as part of the ACID Cannes selection. Hassona and 10 of her family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month.
Palestinian twin brothers and directors Arab and Tarzan Nasser won the best director award on Friday in the Un Certain Regard section for their crime thriller “Once Upon a Time in Gaza.” During the film’s premiere, the Gaza-born brothers reportedly criticized Israel, claiming that “Gaza is undergoing the greatest and most horrific genocide in modern history.” They dedicated their best director win to Palestinians and said in their acceptance speech: “Soon Palestinians will be free, Insha’Allah.”
“I’m Glad You’re Dead Now” — a film by Palestinian-Israeli director, screenwriter, and actor Tawfeek Barhom — won the Palme d’Or award in the short film category at Cannes on Saturday night. Barhom directed, wrote, and starred in the film. At a press conference after receiving the Palme d’Or award for best short film, he dedicated his win to “Palestine.”
“The liberation of people shouldn’t antagonize anyone else. There’s very big difference between liberation and peace,” he said. “This is for Palestine and for peace and enough with hate. Let’s stop this madness.”
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walked the red carpet at Cannes last week wearing a hunter green button-down shirt that said “Stop Israel” on the back. He wore the shirt open over a white shirt that included the names of almost 5,000 children who were allegedly killed by Israel in Gaza. He attended Cannes to support “The Six Billion Dollar Man,” a new documentary about his life that is directed by American filmmaker Eugene Jarecki. The filmmaker was awarded the first-ever Golden Globe Prize for Documentary at Cannes.
The post Former Hamas Captive Has Hostage Pin Confiscated at Cannes as Over 900 Filmmakers, Actors Accuse Israel of ‘Genocide’ 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.