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Journalist Linked to Terror Group Faces Backlash for Peddling Anti-Vaccine Conspiracies Amid Gaza Polio Crisis
Bisan Atef Owda in a scene from “It’s Bisan From Gaza, I’m Still Alive After Six Months Of Bombing.” Photo: YouTube screenshot
Bisan Owda is facing criticism from fellow Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary for casting skepticism on the ongoing polio vaccination drive in Gaza, arguing that her misinformation could endanger the lives of the enclave’s civilians.
Khoudary took to social media to vent his frustrations with what he described as Owda’s attempts to derail the World Health Organization-led vaccination drive through peddling unsubstantiated conspiracy theories to the residents of Gaza. Khoudary claimed that Owda’s social media commentary risked undermining the efforts by humanitarian workers in Gaza to prevent a devastating disease from wreaking havoc on the war-torn enclave.
“We’ve spent weeks tirelessly working on the polio vaccination campaign, focusing especially on raising awareness among parents about the importance of vaccinating their children,” Khoudary wrote in an Instagram story.
“Now, a filmmaker with millions of followers has released a video urging parents not to vaccinate their kids, spreading conspiracy theories and undermining everything we’ve worked for,” Khoudary continued.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are spearheading a campaign to distribute polio vaccines throughout the Gaza Strip. The organizations called for a seven-day temporary ceasefire to allow for the safe distribution of vaccines to approximately 640,000 children and families.
Polio appeared in Gaza in June. Israel agreed to pause military operations against the Hamas terror group in the enclave to allow children to be vaccinated. The highly infectious disease can cause irreversible paralysis and death. The Israeli military’s Southern Command and the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories agency (COGAT) have been coordinating with WHO and UNICEF to conduct the effort.
The drive is being staggered across three geographic regions of Gaza over the first week of September. Experts claim that Hamas is expected to use the temporary ceasefire to move key personnel, valuable assets, and weapons.
“Countless people at UNICEF, WHO, and the Ministry of Health have sacrificed sleep and worked around the clock on this campaign. This kind of misinformation threatens to undo all of that hard work,” Khoudary said of Owda’s comments on the effort.
Owda, a Gaza-based Palestinian journalist and filmmaker, has posted a series of videos urging Palestinians not to give their children polio vaccines. She argued that the “genocidal” country of Israel cannot be trusted to vaccinate Palestinian children, citing the “horrific” conditions in Gaza since the start of the war. She also suggested that Israel “intentionally entered” Polio into Gaza.
“I don’t trust humanitarian institutions. I don’t trust the occupation,” Owda said.
Owda has also made headlines recently because she was nominated for her documentary series “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive” in the 2024 Emmy Awards for News & Documentary in the category of outstanding hard news feature story: short form. In the docuseries, Owda reports from Gaza and documents the daily life of Palestinians during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The docuseries was a collaboration with the digital media outlet AJ+ which is based in the US and is a subsidiary of the Qatari-owned media outlet Al Jazeera.
However, more than 150 entertainment industry leaders signed an open letter last month urging the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) to rescind Owda’s Emmy nomination because of her ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organization.
The letter came a few weeks after the pro-Israel, nonprofit entertainment industry organization Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) similarly called on NATAS to revoke the Emmy nomination due to Owda’s links to PFLP.
Owda’s connections to PFLP were exposed shortly after her Emmy nomination was announced in mid-July. She attended and spoke at PFLP rallies, hosted events honoring Palestinians fighting Israeli soldiers, and the PFLP referred to her in 2018 as a member of its Progressive Youth Union. She also regularly makes anti-Zionist comments on social media while reporting from Gaza about the Israel-Hamas war.
NATAS has refused to rescind her nomination, pointing to its history of celebrating “controversial” works.
The post Journalist Linked to Terror Group Faces Backlash for Peddling Anti-Vaccine Conspiracies Amid Gaza Polio Crisis 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.