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Israel Must Stop the Red Cross From Providing ‘Economic Incentive for Terrorist Activity’
A Red Cross vehicle, as part of a convoy believed to be carrying hostages abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, arrives at the Rafah border, amid a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, as seen from southern Gaza, Nov. 24, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been complicit in the facilitation of rewards to imprisoned Palestinian terrorists. In so doing, the ICRC plays a central role in providing “economic incentive for terrorist activity,” as defined in Israeli law.
In January 2024, Qadura Fares, the director of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, alleged on official PA television that:
The occupation [i.e., Israel] is preventing the Red Cross from visiting the prisoners, and as a result, the Red Cross cannot provide the document given to new or veteran prisoners showing that they are still in prison. This is the document that we established in our [prisoners’ law] regulations as a main document [to confirm salary eligibility]. [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Jan. 31, 2024]
The prisoners’ law to which Fares was referring is Palestinian Authority (PA) “Government Decision Number 23 of 2010, Regarding the Regulation of Payment of the Monthly Salary to the Prisoner.” The law specifies:
Clause 3 — Documentation
For the purpose of the payment of a prisoner’s monthly salary, his relatives are required to present the necessary documentation to the authorized administration:
1. An original document of the Red Cross attesting to his arrest, and an updated document must be brought every three months for a prisoner who is still in detention. [emphasis added]
The prisoners who are entitled to a monthly salary from the PA are those who have been imprisoned for acts of terrorism, as specified in the “PA Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners number 19 of 2004”:
Prisoner: Anyone imprisoned in the occupation’s [i.e., Israel’s] prisons as a result of his participation in the struggle against the occupation [i.e., PA euphemism for terror] … (7) (1) The Authority will pay every prisoner a monthly salary (ratib) that will be determined in the regulations. [emphasis added]
The PA has arranged that the Red Cross supply the forms for the imprisoned terrorists as proof of their imprisonment, and has written this into PA law and regulations. Accordingly, the Red Cross is a central cog in facilitating the terror rewards.
Additional PA regulations reveal that the Red Cross is quite active in the process. They require an initial Red Cross visit and a minimum of four visits a year to prisoners until the completion of their trial and conviction.
The same PA regulations require that another important form be provided by the Red Cross, that of the Power of Attorney. With this form, terrorist prisoners can designate an individual who will open a bank account for them or receive terror reward payments on their behalf:
Clause 5 — Power of Attorney: (3) The authorization of a representative is executed through a power of attorney issued by the Red Cross signed by the prisoner, or through a personal power of attorney signed by him and certified by a lawyer of the Ministry and by the General Administration for Legal Matters of the Ministry. The document will be valid only at the Ministry for the purpose of paying the salaries. [emphasis added]
The last line of this regulation is of particular significance. It states that the PA would use the power of attorney provided by the Red Cross for one purpose only—to facilitate financial reward for terrorism.
Red Cross documentation also plays a central role in guaranteeing jobs within the PA to released terrorist prisoners, as stated in PA Government Decision — 2006, Regarding the Regulations of the Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners — Regulation for Ensuring Jobs for the Released Prisoners”:
Clause 3. Every released prisoner has a right to be guaranteed a job in one of the ministries or the PA apparatus, if the following conditions are met:
He was imprisoned for 5 or more years, because of resistance to the occupation; that is whether this period was consecutive or broken into different time periods.
These period/periods is/are documented in official documents of the Red Cross organization, or in a document from the responsible ministry that will verify his imprisonment. [emphasis added]
PA Government Decision No. 15 of 2013 — Regulation for Ensuring Jobs for Released Prisoners was enacted to replace the previous regulation of 2006, but the role of the Red Cross remained the same:
Clause 4: The fixed salary
The criteria for receiving the fixed salary [after release from prison]
The prisoner was imprisoned for a period of 5 or more years …
The period is confirmed by official documents from the International Committee of the Red Cross, or any other legal document that confirms the arrest, the indictment, and decision of the court. [emphasis added]
The fundamental role of the Red Cross in the PA terror rewards program was demonstrated yet again in December 2023, when the PA published the following announcement:
Honored prisoners’ relatives, please produce a Red Cross document for those who have no sentence whose names appear below; [(a list of names followed]
a Red Cross document accompanied by a new administrative [detention] order for the administrative detainees;
and a Red Cross document accompanied by a verdict for the sentenced prisoners.
In addition, the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs published the following: “The relatives of the prisoners whose names are noted below must produce the signed Red Cross documents. Respectfully.”
The document shows a list of prisoners from the PA’s Hebron District whose period of eligibility for PA terror salaries would end in December 2023. Next to the prisoners’ names is written either, “Bring a new Red Cross document” or “Bring an administrative [detention] document with the Red Cross’ [signature].”
List: “The relatives of these prisoners must hurry and bring new signed [Red] Cross documents — before Dec. 5, 2023”
[PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs – Hebron Directorate, Facebook page, Nov. 26, 2023]
How the Red Cross incentivizes terrorism
In 2018, Israel passed the Law on the Deduction of Allocations to Palestinian Prisoners and Families of Martyrs from Palestinian Clearance Revenues, which defines these terror salaries as an “economic incentive for terrorist activity.”
This law penalizes the PA for paying stipends to Palestinian terrorists and their families by ordering that Israel withhold the monthly transfers of tax revenues that it collects on the PA’s behalf.
The Red Cross, by facilitating these payments, is enabling “economic incentive for terrorist activity.”
The Palestinian Authority’s policy of paying salaries to imprisoned terrorists, including murderers, has been universally condemned by Western governments. Ignoring this, the International Committee of the Red Cross has chosen to play a central role in facilitating these payments to the terrorists.
As can be seen above, the Red Cross is actively involved in ensuring that terrorists receive their salaries and thereby plays an important role in incentivizing Palestinian terrorism.
Every time a Red Cross representative brings forms to the PA after a visit with terrorists, the Red Cross is enabling “economic incentive for terrorist activity.”
The Red Cross has been under severe criticism since Oct. 7 for its lack of initiative in helping the Israeli hostages in Gaza. This Palestinian Media Watch report makes clear that while the Red Cross seems to have no problem being complacent when it comes to the welfare of Israeli hostages, the Red Cross is proactive in being complicit in the reward of Palestinian terrorists.
The Israeli government has been committing a gross oversight by enacting laws that curtail terror salaries on the one hand, but permit the Red Cross to openly facilitate those illegal salaries on the other.
The Israeli government, which has suspended Red Cross visits to imprisoned terrorists, must notify the Red Cross that any future visits are contingent on the Red Cross’ commitment not to supply any forms to the PA that will enable terrorists to receive the terror salaries. It must further prohibit anyone, including imprisoned terrorists’ lawyers, from processing any forms on behalf of the terrorists that allow them to receive these illegal terror payments, and if necessary, enact legislation to prohibit this.
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel

People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
TRUMP THREAT
Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival

Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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