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Gaza-Based Journalist Tied to PFLP Terrorist Group Wins Emmy Award for Coverage of Israel-Hamas War
Bisan Owda in a scene from “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive.” Photo: YouTube screenshot
A documentary led by a Palestinian journalist and filmmaker who has ties to the US-designated terrorist organization The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) won an award at the 2024 News and Documentary Emmys on Wednesday night in New York City.
“It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive” from reporter Bisan Owda, 25, and the Qatari-owned media outlet AJ+ won in the category of outstanding hard news feature story: short form. The eight-minute segment features Owda as she reports live from the Gaza Strip and documents with her cellphone Palestinian struggles during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Other nominees in the category included short form news feature stories from PBS, CNN, The Guardian and The New York Times.
Jon Lawrence, senior executive producer of “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive,” accepted the award on Wednesday night at the Emmys ceremony and praised Owda in his acceptance speech. “This award is testimony to the power of one woman only with an iPhone who survived almost a year of bombardment,” he said.
It was revealed in late July that Owda attended and spoke at PFLP rallies, and hosted events honoring Palestinians fighting Israeli soldiers. The PFLP referred to Owda as a member of the group’s Progressive Youth Union in 2018. Owda also often posts anti-Israel messages on social media, such as accusing the country of genocide and occupation and referring to lsrael as “IsraHell.” She has similarly advocated for violence against Israel and wrote on Instagram “Long live our martyrs.”
In mid-August, more than 150 prominent members of the entertainment industry urged the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) to revoke Owda’s Emmy nomination because of her affiliation to the PFLP, but to no avail. The PFLP is a designed terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada and Israel. PFLP terrorists participated in the Oct. 7 deadly Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel and reportedly held Israeli hostages in Gaza who were taken captive that day.
In June, Owda won a Peabody Award for “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive” and dedicated her award to anti-Israel college students protesting on their campuses and those who support a boycott of Israel.
The post Gaza-Based Journalist Tied to PFLP Terrorist Group Wins Emmy Award for Coverage of Israel-Hamas War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy
FILE PHOTO: Adam Boehler, the CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, US, April 14, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
The Trump administration has withdrawn the nomination of Adam Boehler to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, the White House said on Saturday.
Boehler, who has been working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, will continue hostage-related work as a so-called “special government employee,” a position that would not need Senate confirmation.
“Adam Boehler will continue to serve President Trump as a special government employee focused on hostage negotiations,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“Adam played a critical role in negotiating the return of Marc Fogel from Russia. He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals around the world home.”
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Boehler withdrew his nomination to avoid divesting from his investment company. The move was unrelated to the controversy sparked by his discussions with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
“He still has the utmost confidence of President Trump,” said the official.
“This gives me the best ability to help Americans held abroad as well as work across agencies to achieve President Trump’s objectives,” Boehler told Reuters in a brief statement.
Boehler recently held direct meetings with Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza. The discussions broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the US brands as terrorist organizations.
The talks angered some Senate Republicans and some Israeli leaders. According to Axios, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer expressed his displeasure to Boehler in a tense phone call last week.
Boehler was given permission from the Trump administration to engage directly with Hamas, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this week, calling the talks a “one-off situation” that had not borne fruit.
Boehler has been credited with helping secure the release of Fogel, a US schoolteacher who was freed by Russia in February after three and a half years in prison.
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Bernard-Henri Lévy, German Officials Bow Out of Israeli Antisemitism Conference
French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy addressing the 38th Zionist Congress. Photo: Screenshot.
i24 News – A French intellectual superstar and a pair of German officials announced that they withdrew from a conference on antisemitism organized by the Israeli government, citing the participation of far-right figures in the Jerusalem event.
Iconic thinker Bernard-Henri Lévy, who was set to deliver the conference’s keynote address, opted out upon learning that Marion Marechal and Jordan Bardella from France’s far-right National Rally party were among the other speakers.
Felix Klein, the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Antisemitism, “has decided not to attend,” his representatives told Haaretz.
“He was unaware of the other attendees when he accepted the invitation, and upon learning who the other speakers were, he decided to withdraw.”
Volker Beck, a former Green Party parliamentarian who chairs the Germany-Israel Friendship Society (DIG) also announced he was cancelling his attendance. “If we associate ourselves with extreme right-wing forces, we discredit our common cause; it also goes against my personal convictions and will have a negative impact on our fight against antisemitism within our societies.”
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US Kicks Out South Africa’s Hamas-Linked Ambassador
Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
i24 News – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday designated the South African ambassador to Washington Ebrahim Rasool as a Persona Non Grata, branding Rasool a “race-bating politician.”
The decision comes after Rasool made the inflammatory allegation that Trump was “leading global white supremacist” movement.
A known supporter of the genocidal Palestinian group Hamas, Rasool even boasted that he owned a keffiyeh signed by late Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
South Africa filed a claim with the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza during its ongoing war against Hamas, a charge both Israel and the US regard as slanderous and antisemitic.
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