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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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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.