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Media Ignore Hamas’ Praise for the UN After Gaza Ceasefire Resolution
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the UN headquarters in New York City, US, before a meeting about the conflict in Gaza, Nov. 6, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
On December 12, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) demanded an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Its resolution has been widely covered in the news.
But mainstream media outlets didn’t report that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, on a televised broadcast the next day, thanked the UN Secretary-General and welcomed the UN General Assembly’s move.
By omitting that fact, as well as other connections between the UN and anti-Israel forces, media outlets have misrepresented reality and framed it in a way that effectively undermines Israel’s position.
A survey of last week’s coverage by major media outlets reveals that the narrative had already been set on December 12, the day of the UN vote. It included reporting on the “overwhelming” ceasefire vote of the General Assembly, and comments from Israeli, US, and Palestinian diplomats.
These reports were not updated to include Haniyeh’s comments on December 13, in which he praised the ceasefire efforts of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and welcomed the UNGA resolution. Almost no one wrote individual stories about this. Instead, some media outlets included a short reference to Haniyeh in their ongoing war stories, claiming that any solution in Gaza without Hamas was a “delusion.”
Here is what Haniyeh said:
We also express our appreciation for the positions of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, especially his message to the Security Council concerning the situation in the Palestinian territories, regarding it as a threat to international peace and security, in implementation of Article 99 of the United Nations Charter.
Accordingly, a draft ceasefire resolution was presented, but like its predecessors, it met an American veto. We also welcome the resolution issued by the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, which stipulates a ceasefire by an overwhelming majority. We are certain that the brutal aggression will end and the resistance will remain a faithful guardian of the rights and legitimate aspirations of our people.
And here’s what some media outlets actually chose to mention:
I say that any bet concerning arrangements in Gaza or in the Palestinian issue in general without Hamas and the resistance factions are nothing but illusion and mirage. Illusion and mirage. Illusion and mirage.
Reuters, AP, and AFP Reframe Reality
For example, the world’s major wire services all ignored Haniyeh’s praise for the UN and its Secretary-General.
Reuters’ article on the ceasefire resolution, which preceded Haniyeh’s statement, has not been updated to include his later comments. It still quotes the Palestinian Authority’s UN envoy as a representative of the Palestinian side:
Palestinian Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour, citing large pro-Palestinian protests around the world, said the U.S. could not continue “to ignore this massive power.” He described the General Assembly vote as a culmination of public sentiment.
Another relevant Reuters story did add a comment from a Hamas official, but it wasn’t updated later to include the statement of the terror group’s leader.
Only a day after Haniyeh spoke, in the middle of an ongoing news story about the war, did Reuters include one line referring to what Haniyeh had said regarding Hamas:
In a televised address, Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh said any future arrangement in Gaza without Hamas was a “delusion.”
Did the Reuters crew in charge of monitoring such statements choose to highlight only this part? Did an editor bother to demand a translation of the whole statement to make sure nothing was missed? Either way, important facts were left out.
What makes this omission and minimization even more disturbing is that last month Reuters published an entire piece featuring Haniyeh as an important figure:
The AP went down a similar route. Its story on the UN vote has not been updated to include Haniyeh’s comments. It still quotes only the Palestinian Authority representative as a Palestinian voice. A later, ongoing news story that was used by ABC News, includes a short reference to what Haniyeh said about a future without Hamas as an “illusion”:
Late Wednesday, Hamas’ supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said any plans for Gaza that do not involve Hamas are an “illusion and mirage,” though he said the group is open to halting the fighting. Speaking to Al-Masira TV, a channel linked to Yemen’s Houthi militant group, he claimed Hamas had dealt a “resounding blow” to Israel. Haniyeh lives in exile in Qatar, but it was not clear where he was when he made those comments.
The AFP at least published a separate story on Haniyeh’s statement, but included the same quote about Hamas with no mention of the terror group leader’s warm words for the UN and its Secretary-General.
Unfortunately, none of the major news agencies (although there was a fuller report on the Chinese Xinhua) gave its consumers the full picture they deserved.
And it seems that other media outlets, whether they rely on the wire services (like hundreds of news outlets) or not, didn’t make an independent effort to report on Haniyeh’s public comments, as is clear from the lack of coverage in The New York Times, Washington Post or BBC, to name a few.
The wire services distorted the picture, and this skewed narrative was picked up by other media outlets: They erased the fact that a brutal terror group celebrated the UN ceasefire resolution.
Could it be that media outlets didn’t realize how important it was to report that the leader of a barbaric group that massacred and kidnapped innocent Jews on October 7, was happy with the United Nations? Isn’t it worth noting how embarrassing it is for the UN to be flattered by genocidal terrorists who couldn’t care less about international law? Or did it not “fit” the narrative?
At the very least, it seems that these outlets didn’t serve their audience or fulfill their mission of accurately representing reality.
The post Media Ignore Hamas’ Praise for the UN After Gaza Ceasefire Resolution first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Eyes Bringing Azerbaijan, Central Asian Nations into Abraham Accords, Sources Say
US President Donald Trump points a finger as he delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, July 31, 2025. Photo: Kent Nishimura via Reuters Connect
President Donald Trump’s administration is actively discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility of bringing that nation and some Central Asian allies into the Abraham Accords, hoping to deepen their existing ties with Israel, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter.
As part of the Abraham Accords, inked in 2020 and 2021 during Trump’s first term in office, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
Azerbaijan and every country in Central Asia, by contrast, already have longstanding relations with Israel, meaning that an expansion of the accords to include them would largely be symbolic, focusing on strengthening ties in areas like trade and military cooperation, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Such an expansion would reflect Trump’s openness to pacts that are less ambitious than his administration’s goal to convince regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to restore ties with Israel while war rages in Gaza.
The kingdom has repeatedly said it would not recognize Israel without steps towards Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state.
Another key sticking point is Azerbaijan’s conflict with its neighbor Armenia, since the Trump administration considers a peace deal between the two Caucasus nations as a precondition to join the Abraham Accords, three sources said.
While Trump officials have publicly floated several potential entrants into the accords, the talks centered on Azerbaijan are among the most structured and serious, the sources said. Two of the sources argued a deal could be reached within months or even weeks.
Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in March to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Aryeh Lightstone, a key Witkoff aide, met Aliyev later in the spring in part to discuss the Abraham Accords, three of the sources said.
As part of the discussions, Azerbaijani officials have contacted officials in Central Asian nations, including in nearby Kazakhstan, to gauge their interest in a broader Abraham Accords expansion, those sources said. It was not clear which other countries in Central Asia – which includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan – were contacted.
The State Department, asked for comment, did not discuss specific countries, but said expanding the accords has been one of the key objectives of Trump. “We are working to get more countries to join,” said a US official.
The Azerbaijani government declined to comment.
The White House, the Israeli foreign ministry and the Kazakhstani embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Any new accords would not modify the previous Abraham Accords deals signed by Israel.
OBSTACLES REMAIN
The original Abraham Accords – inked between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan – were centered on restoration of ties. The second round of expansion appears to be morphing into a broader mechanism designed to expand US and Israeli soft power.
Wedged between Russia to the north and Iran to the south, Azerbaijan occupies a critical link in trade flows between Central Asia and the West. The Caucasus and Central Asia are also rich in natural resources, including oil and gas, prompting various major powers to compete for influence in the region.
Expanding the accords to nations that already have diplomatic relations with Israel may also be a means of delivering symbolic wins to a president who is known to talk up even relatively small victories.
Two sources described the discussions involving Central Asia as embryonic – but the discussions with Azerbaijan as relatively advanced.
But challenges remain and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached, particularly with slow progress in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The two countries, which both won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh – an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population – broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia.
In 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Both sides have since said they want to sign a treaty on a formal end to the conflict.
Primarily Christian Armenia and the US have close ties, and the Trump administration is wary of taking action that could upset authorities in Yerevan.
Still, US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump himself, have argued that a peace deal between those two nations is near.
“Armenia and Azerbaijan, we worked magic there,” Trump told reporters earlier in July. “And it’s pretty close.”
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Trump Reaffirms Support for Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara
A Polisario fighter sits on a rock at a forward base, on the outskirts of Tifariti, Western Sahara, Sept. 9, 2016. Photo: Reuters / Zohra Bensemra / File.
US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, saying a Moroccan autonomy plan for the territory was the sole solution to the disputed region, state news agency MAP said on Saturday.
The long-frozen conflict pits Morocco, which considers the territory as its own, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state there.
Trump at the end of his first term in office recognized the Moroccan claims to Western Sahara, which has phosphate reserves and rich fishing grounds, as part of a deal under which Morocco agreed to normalize its relations with Israel.
His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, made clear in April that support for Morocco on the issue remained US policy, but these were Trump’s first quoted remarks on the dispute during his second term.
“I also reiterate that the United States recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and supports Morocco’s serious, credible and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute,” MAP quoted Trump as saying in a message to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
“Together we are advancing shared priorities for peace and security in the region, including by building on the Abraham Accords, combating terrorism and expanding commercial cooperation,” Trump said.
As part of the Abraham Accords signed during Trump’s first term, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
In June this year, Britain became the third permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to back an autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty for the territory after the U.S. and France.
Algeria, which has recognized the self-declared Sahrawi Republic, has refused to take part in roundtables convened by the U.N. envoy to Western Sahara and insists on holding a referendum with independence as an option.
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Israel Says Its Missions in UAE Remain Open Despite Reported Security Threats
President Isaac Herzog meets on Dec. 5, 2022, with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. Photo: GPO/Amos Ben Gershom
i24 News – Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that its missions to the United Arab Emirates are open on Friday and representatives continue to operate at the embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai in cooperation with local authorities.
This includes, the statement underlined, ensuring the protection of Israeli diplomats.
On Thursday, reports appeared in Israeli media that Israel was evacuating most of its diplomatic staff in the UAE after the National Security Council heightened its travel warning for Israelis staying in the Gulf country for fear of an Iranian or Iran-sponsored attacks.
“We are emphasizing this travel warning given our understanding that terrorist organizations (the Iranians, Hamas, Hezbollah and Global Jihad) are increasing their efforts to harm Israel,” the NSC said in a statement.
After signing the Abraham Accords with Israel in 2020, the UAE has been among the closest regional allies of the Jewish state.
Israel is concerned about its citizens and diplomats being targeted in retaliatory attacks following its 12-day war against Iran last month.
Earlier this year, the UAE sentenced three citizens of Uzbekistan to death for last year’s murder of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Cohen.