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‘L’Chaim Intifada’: Rashida Tlaib Meets With Fringe Anti-Israel Group Amid Gaza War
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on Wednesday met with a group of activists representing a fringe anti-Israel organization that did not condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and has long celebrated terrorism against Israelis.
Tlaib posted a picture on social media with a group of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) activists who visited her office, writing, “I am so grateful for @JVPLive Rabbis on the Hill for standing with us in solidarity to demand a lasting ceasefire in Gaza. I am so inspired by their advocacy to save lives, no matter their faith or ethnicity, and their commitment to uplifting the human dignity of Palestinians.”
I am so grateful for @JVPLive Rabbis on the Hill for standing with us in solidarity to demand a lasting ceasefire in Gaza. I am so inspired by their advocacy to save lives, no matter their faith or ethnicity, and their commitment to uplifting the human dignity of Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/0NAIav1tSd
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) March 13, 2024
In response to Tlaib’s meeting, pro-Israel activist Hen Mazzig wrote on X/Twitter: “The Jewish community knows which viewpoints from our community are mainstream or fringe, when we’re correctly being represented or not.””
“Tokenizing Jews is never to heal your relationship with our community; it’s to play kosher to people who don’t know better,” he continued.
JVP has long been criticized for allegedly celebrating and advocating terrorism. On Oct. 7, it reposted a user who wrote, “Today’s events are more than just an operation, uprising, revolt, etc. Palestinian bulldozers tearing down the barrier that imprisoned them for more than 16 years is symbolic of Gaza’s defiance in the face of decades of siege, massacres, & occupation.”
Hamas terrorists launched a surprise invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, murdering 1,200 people, kidnapping 253 others as hostages, and launching the current war in Gaza.
Nonetheless, JVP wrote in an official statement on Oct. 7 that while it “grieve[s] the lives of those already lost,” Israel’s “war on Palestinians started over 75 years ago. Israeli apartheid and occupation — and United States complicity in that oppression — are the source of all this violence. Reality is shaped by when you start the clock.”
“”nevitably, oppressed people everywhere will seek — and gain — their freedom,” JVP added. “We all deserve liberation, safety, and equality. The only way to get there is by uprooting the sources of the violence, beginning with our own government’s complicity.”
JVP has also created and distributed flyers that read “L’Chaim Intifada.” The flyer was created in 2003, at the height of the second intifada, which featured more than 130 suicide bombings against Israeli civilians and countless shooting and stabbing attacks. The flyer also included a celebratory picture of Leila Khaled, a Palestinian terrorist who hijacked a plane in 1969 and attempted to do it again a year later.
Reportedly, the poster was intended to commemorate the first intifada, which included the murder of almost 300 Israelis but was significantly less violent than the second intifada.
JVP also supports rallies calling to “globalize the intifada” and chants of “there is only one solution, intifada revolution,” which many take to mean an increase in suicide bombings and other terror attacks against Jews and Israelis.
This is not the first time Tlaib has met with fringe figures. In January, she participated in an event with a woman who defended Hamas, doubted that it used sexual and gender-based violence on Oct. 7, and compared Gaza to the infamous Auschwitz extermination camp used by the Nazis.
“Hamas members, like all Palestinians, just want freedom. They have always warmly welcomed people, irrespective of religion and nationality, including Jewish Israelis, who come in solidarity, not as occupiers,” the woman Tlaib appeared with wrote in November.
Additionally, in February, Tlaib was the only House member not to vote “yes” on a resolution that condemned Hamas’ use of sexual and gender-based violence on Oct. 7.
Tlaib explained she voted “present” because the resolution “completely ignores and erases any sexual violence and abuse committed by the Israeli forces, against Palestinians, especially children.”
The vote caused significant backlash, with Michael Dickson, executive director of the pro-Israel group StandWithUs, saying, “Rashida Tlaib is so racist she cannot bring herself to condemn the brutal rape of women used by Hamas as a weapon of war … because the women that were raped were Jewish Israelis. A new low. Most American women — and men — will recoil in horror at her vote.”
After the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, Tlaib flew a Palestinian flag outside her home and seemingly blamed Israel for the attack, accusing the Jewish state of having an “apartheid system” that fosters “conditions that can lead to resistance.” Tlaib and other members of the so-called “Squad” of far left progressive House members came under fire for slamming Israel without condemning Hamas by name.
Tlaib also accused US President Joe Biden of supporting a “genocide” against Palestinians by backing Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of the Hamas onslaught.
In November, Tlaib was censured by her colleagues in the US House of Representatives for her recent spate of anti-Israel comments amid the Jewish state’s war with Hamas. The censure measure accused Tlaib of “promoting false narratives” regarding Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion and of “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
The post ‘L’Chaim Intifada’: Rashida Tlaib Meets With Fringe Anti-Israel Group Amid Gaza War 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.