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James Zogby, Anti-Israel Activist, to Make Bid for Democratic National Committee Vice Chair
US Senator-elect Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) speaks during the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 20, 2024. Photo: Credit: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
James Zogby, a prominent critic of Israel and president of the Arab American Institute, is preparing to run for vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), a position that would allow him to exert significant influence over the strategy and inner workings of the primary left-wing political party in the US.
Zogby, who has been a member of the DNC for decades and an advocate for the Palestinian cause, told Politico on Tuesday that he plans on officially launching his bid for party leadership in the coming days. The academic and lecturer claimed that US President-elect Donald Trump’s resounding victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election left him feeling despondent and angry, motivating him to seek a powerful position within the Democratic Party.
“I’m on the DNC for 32 yrs: 16 on the Executive Committee, 11 as chair of the resolutions committee, & on the Unity/Reform Committee. I’m pushing for budget transparency & accountability, & party democracy. But I guess all I’ll ever be is that ‘pro-Palestinian’ guy. It’s bigotry,” Zogby posted on X/Twitter on Tuesday after his announcement was published in Politico.
Zogby has established himself as a fierce opponent of Israel, arguing that the Jewish state has enacted a “brutal” regime of repression and discrimination against the Palestinian people. In the year following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s slaughter of 1,200 people throughout southern Israel last Oct. 7, he has blamed the Israeli government for “making a desperately bad situation worse” by causing “acute shortages of food, medicine, and water.” He asserted that Israel’s defensive military operations in Gaza are counterproductive because they “only create more resistance and new recruits for Hamas.”
In the months leading up to the US presidential election, Zogby openly criticized Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for campaigning with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney. He claimed that Cheney’s presence on the campaign trail alienated Arab American voters, citing her long-standing support for American military intervention in the Middle East.
In 2019, Zogby took aim at Cheney for criticizing US Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), two of the most vocal opponents of Israel in Congress.
“[Liz Cheney] your obsession w/ targeting [Rashida Tlaib] or [Ilhan Omar] smacks either of a deep-seated anti-Arab/Muslim bigotry or crass politics designed to prey on the bigotry of your ‘base.’ In either case it’s disgraceful. Your party’s been playing this game for a decade. Shame,” Zogby wrote on X/Twitter at the time.
In a post-election analysis, Zogby argued that Harris’s failure to address the so-called “genocide” in Gaza eroded her support among valuable constituencies.
“Of particular note, they would not recognize the impact of the genocide in Gaza on not only Arab American voters, but also on key components of their Obama coalition, young, progressive, and non-white voters,” Zogby wrote about the Harris campaign.
In the aftermath of Harris’s shellacking at the polls, the Democratic Party has scrambled to rebrand itself in order to attract new voters. Despite insistence by many progressives that the Israel-Hamas war capsized Harris’s campaign, there remains scant evidence her support for the Jewish state proved decisive in the election. Data compiled by Blueprint, a data analytics firm allied with the Democratic Party, indicated that Harris’s support for Israel ranked among the bottom concerns for the electorate. In fact, the poll showed that Harris suffered more damage by presenting as too supportive of the Palestinians.
The post James Zogby, Anti-Israel Activist, to Make Bid for Democratic National Committee Vice Chair first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.