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Jennifer Garner Stirs Controversy After Sharing Video With ‘Palestine’ Supporter at Soccer Game
Jennifer Garner, left, at a recent Angel City FC match at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Photo: Screenshot
Actress and entrepreneur Jennifer Garner has left some fans disappointed after she shared a video of her performing with a pro-Palestinian activist at a recent soccer game in Los Angeles.
Garner is co-founder of the Angel City Football Club, a National Women’s Soccer League professional team based in Los Angeles. At a recent Angel City home game in BMO Stadium, Garner attended to show support for her team. The “Family Switch” star shared a video on Instagram from the game showing her beating a drum as fans in the stadium chanted “Angel City.”
The drum Garner played in the video was draped in what appeared to be a pink-colored keffiyeh. The actress was also beating the instrument with a woman who had a shawl around her neck that featured the colors of the Palestinian flag and the word “Palestine.” Their performance on the drums was displayed on the Jumbotron inside BMO Stadium.
“So, I’m a drummer now,” Garner wrote in the video’s caption, before thanking Canadian Indian YouTuber Lilly Singh “for being a badass” and the “always incredible” La Fortaleza, the name given to the Angel City FC supporters’ section in the venue. The Once Upon a Farm co-founder made no reference to the keffiyeh lookalike or pro-Palestinian sentiments expressed in the video, but she did label the original audio for the clip as “celebrities4palestine.”
However, Instagram users quickly took to the comments section on Garner’s post to share their thoughts on the matter. Some told Garner her interaction with the “Palestine” supporter was “deeply disappointing” and sad, and accused her of being complacent with the rest of the world in “diminishing what happened on October 7” during the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.
“You were a role model of mine growing up. But that era has ended,” wrote one upset Instagram user. Another told Garner: “I’m sad to see your support a terrorist group — look what happened in LA yesterday. They brought destruction and violence to a peaceful neighborhood. Look what happened October 7. They don’t promote peace, they promote hate.”
Anti-Israel activists also took to the comments section, applauding Garner and sharing the emoji of the Palestinian flag with the message “Free Palestine.” One Instagram user wrote, “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free from Zionists Israhell.”
In January, Garner’s daughter Violet Affleck — her eldest child with ex-husband Ben Affleck — was photographed walking in Beverly Hills with her mother while wearing a black crewneck with a watermelon printed on it. Watermelons have become an expression of solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The clothing company behind the shirt, Wear The Peace, said on its website that all proceeds from the sale of the crewneck will be donated to the nonprofit Pious Projects, which provides humanitarian help to locals in the Gaza Strip.
The post Jennifer Garner Stirs Controversy After Sharing Video With ‘Palestine’ Supporter at Soccer Game 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.
The post White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.”
The post Bernard-Henri Lévy, German Officials Bow Out of Israeli Antisemitism Conference first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.
The post US Kicks Out South Africa’s Hamas-Linked Ambassador first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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