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Jamaal Bowman Suggests Israel Responsible for Hamas’ Oct. 7 Attack in Latest Salvo Against Jewish State
US Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) speaks during the National Action Network National Convention in New York City, US, April 7, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), a prominent progressive in Congress and outspoken critic of Israel, suggested in a new interview that the Jewish state is responsible for the Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attacks, which resulted in the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Bowman on Monday chatted with left-wing political pundit Olayemi Olurin about his views on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The congressman stated that Israel’s alleged oppressive treatment of Palestinians might have spurred Hamas, which rules Gaza, to lash out.
The New York Democrat said that he declined the opportunity to sign a so-called “AIPAC-written” resolution that backed Israel, stating that he “stopped reading” the document when it referred to Oct. 7 as an “unprovoked attack.”
On Oct. 7, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel from Gaza. During the onslaught, they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 hostages. In the months since then, mounting evidence has revealed that the terrorists perpetrated systematic sexual violence, including mass gang rape and torture, against the Israeli people.
In the weeks after the onslaught, Bowman publicly cast doubt on reports that Israeli women were raped and called such accusations “propaganda.” He walked both those comments earlier this year, however, after receiving widespread scrutiny and condemned Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7.
During Monday’s interview, Bowman asserted that to end the “extremism” of Hamas, there needs to be a “free Palestine.”
“Well, if we’re calling this an unprovoked attack, that means we’re going to ignore 18 human rights organizations calling Israel an apartheid state, and we’re going to ignore 75 years of military occupation, which is illegal, or 700,000 settlers expanding into the West Bank, which is also illegal,” Bowman said. He did note mention that Israel fully withdrew all its soldiers and civilian population from Gaza in 2005.
Bowman claimed that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying organization in the US, penned an October 2023 resolution in the US House that expressed support for Israel and condemned Hamas’ atrocities less than three weeks after the attack. He was one of nine Democrats to vote against the measure.
“Now, I am not justifying the killing of civilians on Oct. 7 — there’s no justification. It’s just an explanation of what the circumstances were that led to Oct. 7,” Bowman said.
The lawmaker argued that US support for the Jewish state is rooted in “white supremacy,” “white nationalism,” and the desire to legitimize “settler-colonialism.” He also dismissed the notion that international support of Israel is necessary to combat antisemitism. Comparing Israel unfavorably to the United States and Canada, Bowman claimed that the Jewish state is a “white country” that is “siphoning resources” from “black and brown” people.
Roughly 45 percent of Israeli Jews are Mizrahi — Jews who trace their ethnic origins to the Middle East and North Africa. Meanwhile, 21 percent of Israel’s population identifies as Arab. Conversely, Arab and Muslim countries in the region expelled roughly 900,000 Jews between 1920-1970.
Nonetheless, Bowman then praised anti-Israel demonstrators for “taking the baton” from slavery abolitionists and civil rights protesters. Notably, pro-Palestinian demonstrations have expressed support for the Houthis, a terrorist group that has reinstituted slavery in Yemen. Anti-Israel activists have also commended Iran, which backs Hamas and maintains minimal civil rights for women and homosexuals.
Bowman added that black Americans should join the pro-Palestinian movement, claiming that dismantling Israel will strike a blow to “white supremacy” and benefit marginalized groups around the world.
“Fighting for Palestinian lives and rights is a fight against white supremacy and the ideology of white supremacy, so it is a collective fight,” he said, urging minority groups not to adopt a “crabs-in-a-barrel” mentality.
Bowman has sharpened his rhetoric against Israel in recent weeks as he seeks to shore up support from left-wing groups in New York City. On Monday, Bowman pledged to back the controversial boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, in an attempt to win an endorsement and funding from the Democratic Socialists of America, a prominent leftist organization. The group nearly expelled Bowman in 2021 after he took a trip to Israel and voted to fund the Iron Dome — an air defense system that intercepts missiles and has proven critical in the Jewish state’s fight against terrorist groups.
Bowman faces a stiff challenge from his opponent in the Democratic primary for New York’s 16th Congressional District. George Latimer, the current county executive of Westchester County, holds a commanding lead over Bowman, according to a poll by the Mellman Group. Fifty-two percent of respondents support Latimer compared to 35 percent who claim they will vote for Bowman, the poll found.
United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with AIPAC, has reportedly spent millions of dollars on the race in an effort to unseat Bowman.
The post Jamaal Bowman Suggests Israel Responsible for Hamas’ Oct. 7 Attack in Latest Salvo Against Jewish State first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Holds Secret Talks With Hamas on Gaza Hostages, Source Says
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
The Trump administration has been conducting secret talks with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on the possibility of releasing US hostages being held in Gaza, two sources briefed on the conversations told Reuters.
US special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler has been holding the direct talks with Hamas in recent weeks in Doha, the sources said, confirming a report by Axios.
Until recently the US had avoided direct discussions with the Islamist group. The US State Department designated Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
Such talks run counter to long-standing US policy against direct contacts with groups that Washington lists as terrorist organizations.
The previous US role in helping to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Gaza war has been dealing with Israel and Qatari and Egyptian mediators but without any known direct communications between Washington and Hamas.
The Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Boehler’s office declined to comment.
It was unclear when or how the Israeli government was informed of the talks.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives for Hamas.
The sources said the talks have focused on gaining the release of American hostages still held in Gaza, but one said they also have included discussions about a broader deal to release all remaining hostages and how to reach a long-term truce.
One of the sources said the effort includes an attempt to gain the release of Edan Alexander, of Tenafly, New Jersey, believed to be the last living American hostage held by Hamas.
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff plans to return to the region in coming days to work out a way to either extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal or advance to the second phase, a State Department spokesperson said on Monday.
The post US Holds Secret Talks With Hamas on Gaza Hostages, Source Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Kremlin Says Iran’s Nuclear Program Will Be Subject of Future Russia-US Talks
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits the Iranian centrifuges in Tehran, Iran, June 11, 2023. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that future talks between Russia and the United States would include discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, a subject it said had been “touched upon” in an initial round of US-Russia talks last month.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Russia has agreed to assist US President Donald Trump’s administration in communicating with Iran on various issues, including on Tehran’s nuclear program and its support for regional anti-US proxies.
The Kremlin has not confirmed that but has made clear that Iran is now one of the subjects that will be discussed in more detail by Washington and Moscow.
“So far there is only an understanding that the Russian position really is that this problem of Iran’s nuclear dossier should be solved exclusively by peaceful political and diplomatic means,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“We believe that there is potential for this, because Iran is our ally, our partner, and a country with which we are developing comprehensive, mutually beneficial, and mutually respectful relations, and Russia is ready to do everything possible for this. The United States is aware of this.”
Trump last month restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any such intention.
Russia has deepened its ties with the Islamic Republic since the start of the Ukraine war and signed a strategic cooperation treaty with Iran in January.
The Kremlin said that the subject of Iran was touched upon during Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia last month.
“It was touched upon in Riyadh,” Peskov said. “But not in detail, not in detail.”
Asked specifically about the Bloomberg report, Peskov said: “Look, the topic of Iran was on the agenda, it was touched upon, but at the same time, not in detail.”
The post Kremlin Says Iran’s Nuclear Program Will Be Subject of Future Russia-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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New Israeli Military Chief Assumes Command With Gaza Ceasefire in the Balance
The new Chief of the General Staff, Major General Eyal Zamir, visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, March 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Israel swore in a new commander of its military on Wednesday as a standoff over the fragile ceasefire in Gaza increased the risk of a resumption of fighting without an agreement to bring home the rest of the hostages still held by Hamas.
Eyal Zamir, a former tank commander who had retired after 28 years with the rank of Major General before being called back into service, was promoted to Lieutenant General, before formally assuming command from General Herzi Halevi, who stepped down over the security disaster of Oct. 7, 2023.
“The mission is not yet complete,” he said in an address as he assumed command, saying that Hamas had not yet been defeated.
“We will not forgive, we will not forget. This is an existential war. We will persist in our campaign to bring our hostages home and to defeat our enemies,” he said. Fighting in Gaza has been halted since January under a truce brokered by Qatar and Egypt and supported by the United States that has allowed the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages and 5 Thais for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
A related war in southern Lebanon, which broke out after Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces launched missile strikes against Israel after the Oct. 7 attack, has also been silenced by a separate ceasefire agreement.
But Israeli ministers and officials have warned that their forces could resume fighting if there is no agreement on bringing back the 59 hostages that remain.
Israeli troops have pulled back from some of their positions in Gaza but talks that were intended to agree to the release of the hostages and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces before an end to the war have not begun.
Israel has called for an extension of the truce until after the Jewish Passover holiday in April to allow the release of the remaining hostages, while Hamas has insisted on proceeding to talks on a permanent end to the war before agreeing to any further releases.
COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
Zamir’s appointment comes as a series of official inquiries have begun to examine the failures that allowed thousands of Hamas-led terrorists to storm Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip, killing 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages in one of the biggest military and security disasters in Israel’s history.
Halevi led the military during the Israeli campaign in Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.
But he announced in January, soon after the Gaza ceasefire deal was agreed, that he would step down from his command, accepting responsibility for the military‘s patchy and uncoordinated response to the Oct. 7 attack.
On Wednesday, as he handed over his command, he called for a wider examination of the failures on Oct. 7, 2023.
“The establishment of a state commission of inquiry is necessary and essential – not to place blame, but first and foremost, to understand the root of the problems and allow for correction,” he said.
Both the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security agency have acknowledged that their failures allowed the attack to take place, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far resisted a more general inquiry that would look at the responsibility of his government.
The post New Israeli Military Chief Assumes Command With Gaza Ceasefire in the Balance first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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