Palestinian Olympic Committee President Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the Palestinian Football Association, holds a news conference to update the media about challenges facing Palestinian sports ahead of the Olympics in Paris, in Ramallah, in the West Bank, June 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

When the Palestinian Authority (PA) says that the murderer of a 9-month-old is a “symbol of the Palestinian people’s struggle,” can the PA be called anything other than a terror organization?

In yet another morally reprehensible display of terror support, Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub and other senior PA and Fatah officials held a public ceremony honoring convicted terrorist murderers — including a terrorist responsible for the murder of a 9-month-old Israeli infant.

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, May 3, 2025]

The terrorists were released in January in exchange for Israeli hostages held by Hamas. The recent event in their honor was organized by PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Movement.

The ceremony, described as an “appreciation for the symbols of the Palestinian people’s struggle,” featured Rajoub personally presenting honorary plaques to released terrorist prisoners Yasser Abu Bakr and Nasser Al-Shawish, each of whom was convicted of murdering three people.

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, May 3, 2025]

Abu Bakr threw a grenade from a rooftop in Hadera in 2002, killing 9-month-old Avia Malka and two other Israelis. Al-Shawish was involved in multiple terror attacks and murders, including targeting Israeli civilians.

Photos from Fatah’s event show Rajoub with the murderers, solidifying their status as celebrities and role models in Palestinian society. Other leaders present were Fatah Revolutionary Council member Akram Rajoub, PLO Youth and Sports Director-General Issam Al-Qaddumi, and representatives of the PA-funded Prisoners’ Club and PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs — highlighting the official endorsement of terrorism.

This embrace of terrorists who murdered civilians — including an infant — is not isolated, but part of a fundamental Palestinian Authority policy of glorifying terror and terrorists as “heroic” as documented for decades by Palestinian Media Watch.

This celebration of murderers is not only a celebration of brutality and terrorism, but direct incitement to more terror, as Palestinians, especially children and teenagers, see the high status achieved by terrorists.

The author is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.

The post The Palestinian Authority Just Honored a Baby Killer in an Official Ceremony first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

An Iranian protester waves an Iranian flag while participating in an anti-Israeli multinational rally at the holy mosque of Jamkaran near the holy city of Qom, 156 km (97 miles) south of Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2025. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl via Reuters Connect.

Iran has executed a man accused of spying for Israel despite international condemnation over what human rights groups called an “unfair trial,” marking the latest escalation in the regime’s crackdown on dissent.

On Wednesday, a 41-year-old man named Pedram Madani was hanged outside Tehran following his transfer earlier this week from a prison in the capital.

“After identification, arrest, and judicial proceedings against Pedram Madani, who was spying in favor of the Zionist regime, and following the complete process of criminal procedure and the final confirmation and upholding of the verdict by the Supreme Court, he was brought to justice and executed,” a report from the Iranian judiciary news outlet Mizan stated.

Arrested in 2020, Madani was accused of transmitting classified information on strategic Iranian sites to Israel and obtaining money through illicit means.

He is the second individual Iran has executed on espionage charges linked to Israel in just two months, with activists warning that the rising executions are part of a broader campaign to intimidate the population.

Human rights groups and Madani’s family have condemned the case against him as deeply flawed, emphasizing that he was even denied the right to appoint his own lawyer throughout the legal proceedings.

Madani “was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court without access to a lawyer of his choice, through an unfair and non-transparent process orchestrated by security agencies,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Iran Human Rights (IHR) — a Norway-based NGO which tracks the death penalty in the country — told AFP.

“The Islamic Republic’s goal in executing Pedram Madani and others who are hanged daily is solely to instill fear within society and to conceal the regime’s widespread corruption and systemic failures,” he continued.

According to IHR, there have been at least 478 executions in Iran this year, including more than 60 hangings in the past 10 days. Most of those executed were accused of collaborating with Mossad — Israel’s national intelligence agency — and aiding covert operations in Tehran, such as assassinations and sabotage targeting the country’s nuclear program.

Among other activists condemning Madani’s trial, Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, currently on temporary release from prison, also denounced the regime’s escalating repression.

“The Islamic republic uses the death penalty as a tool to instill fear and intensify repression against the people,” Mohammadi said in a video statement.

“There was not even a chosen lawyer on the case. Pedram’s cellmates testified he confessed falsely and under pressure. In Revolutionary Courts, these false confessions serve as the basis of death sentences,” she continued.

The regime’s growing crackdown unfolds amid rising tensions with Israel over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran — the chief international backer of Hamas and Hezbollah, providing the terrorist groups with weapons, funding, and training — has consistently pledged to destroy Israel.

For its part, Jerusalem 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.

The post Iran Executes Man Accused of Spying for Israel Amid Rising Crackdown, International Outcry first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Burlington Coat Factory exterior. Photo: Flickr

Monroe Milstein, the enterprising businessman who transformed a modest New Jersey coat store into the national retail powerhouse Burlington Coat Factory, passed away earlier this month at the age of 98 from dementia. 

Monroe Gerald Milstein was born on Jan. 14, 1927, in the Bronx, New York, to his mother, Ann Milstein, and father, Abe Milstein — founder of Amherst Fashions. When Monroe was 11, the family moved to Manhattan. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and earned a bachelor’s degree in business from New York University in 1946.

In 1949, Milstein married Henrietta Haas, an elementary school teacher who had fled the Holocaust. Henrietta later played an integral role in shaping Burlington’s children wear division. She passed away in 2001.

In 1972, Milstein and his wife purchased a defunct factory in Burlington, New Jersey, for $675,000 with the goal of transforming it into a retail destination. The venture became Burlington Coat Factory, selling discounted designer and brand-name coats for women, men, and children. Eventually, the store’s offerings grew to include home linens, menswear, baby clothes, and shoes, laying the foundation for a nationwide retail empire.

Three years after the initial purchase, Burlington Coat Factory opened its second location in Copiague, Long Island. According to Family Business Magazine, Milstein’s eldest son, Lazar, was the store manager and, as an Orthodox Jew, would not open the store on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath.

In 1982, Milstein shut down Burlington’s wholesale operations and reoriented the company’s focus entirely to discount retail. Just a year later, in 1983, he took the company public when it operated only 32 stores — injecting the capital needed to fuel a rapid retail expansion.

In 2006, Bain Capital bought the company for $2.06 billion, with the Milstein family cashing out its stake for $1.3 billion. Milstein exited the business., and two of his sons, Andrew and Stephen, continued in executive positions for a period. The company returned to the public market in 2013.

“I’m a very average fella,” Milstein said on his 80th birthday regarding his business ventures. “I got lucky.”

During Milstein’s tenure, Burlington Coat Factory carved out a niche in the retail world by delivering brand-name goods at significant discounts. By the early 2000s, when he transitioned out of day-to-day management, the business had evolved into a national chain with hundreds of stores and a customer base numbering in the millions annually.

Burlington has grown to become the third-largest off-price retail chain in the US, following industry leaders TJX Companies (which operates TJ Maxx and Marshalls) and Ross Stores. Today, Burlington operates around 1,100 locations across the US, raking in roughly $10.6 billion in sales over the past 12 months.

He is survived by his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, many of whom continue to carry forward his values of hard work and integrity.

The post Monroe Milsten, Founder of Burlington Coat Factory, Dies at 98 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.