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Mohamed Hadid Apologizes for Sending Racist, Homophobic Messages to US Rep. Ritchie Torres for Supporting Israel
Mohamed Hadid and one of his daughters, Bella Hadid, arrive at the premiere of Ismael’s Ghosts (Les Fantomes d’Ismael) during the 70th Annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. Photo: Hubert Boesl/Cover Media via Reuters
Real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, who is also the father of models Gigi and Bella Hadid, continued to rail against US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) on Sunday for supporting Israel, calling him a “shill being used by” the Jewish state while attempting to apology for sending offensive messages to the congressman.
A day earlier, the New York Post shared direct messages that Hadid, 75, sent from his verified Instagram account to Torres, 36, over several months.
“You worse than the rats of New York sewage system. They have bigger brains than you. You might get a job as bouncer at gay bar,” Hadid allegedly wrote. The real estate mogul, who was born in Nazareth, reportedly told Torres that he was a “slave to whites” and another message read, “Make sure you dress as KKK to hide that ugly gray colored face of yours.”
The New York Post shared a screenshot of one message in which Hadid wrote to Torres, “You are just unusual Black and colorful mouth for Israeli and AIPAC and looking for payday of over 500K,” referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.
In 2021, Torres became the first openly gay Black and Hispanic man to join Congress. He has been vocal in his defense of Israel following the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.
Hadid took to Instagram on Sunday to apology for his remarks — but also accused Israel of committing genocide and further criticized Torres for being supportive of the Jewish state.
“I need to apologize,” Hadid wrote in an Instagram post. “Not for the anger I feel but for the words I used to express that anger.” He then called Israel “a state that not only mistreats Black and Brown people but pinkwashes their atrocities using their projected gay rights as a shield for their human rights violations.”
He added: “My feeling after 76 years of being a refugee from the country where I and my ancestors were born and watching a genocide unfold are at an all time high. I am watching Unites State politicians work as AIPAC messengers of genocide. I used the wrong words to express that anger but the anger was warranted. To send Black and Brown and other marginalized communities to do the dirty work of two countries who have never respected them is wrong. I apologize to my community for directing the conversation to this. And even for a minute from Palestine. All eyes on Palestine. Free Palestine.”
Before Hadid issued his apology, Torres released a statement to the New York Post about the hateful messages he received from the real estate developer.
“Whether it is dehumanizing me as worse than the rats of the NYC sewage system or telling me to dress like the KKK to ‘hide that gray colored face of yours,’ Mr. Hadid has hurled just about every racist insult at me shorting of calling me the N-word,” Torres said. “That Mr. Hadid felt so at ease demonizing and dehumanizing a Black member of Congress reveals a tragic truth about our politics: if you are a person of color and pro-Israel, you are fair game for racist invective.”
Hadid has a history of accusing Israel of occupation, colonialism, genocide, and apartheid. In March, he lambasted US President Joe Biden for his relations with Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks. “He will be in court with the rest of the Zionist criminals. We will hunt them down like they did the Nazis,” he wrote. He also called Biden the “head of the Zionist project.”
Hadid’s daughter, Bella, has participated in anti-Israel rallies where she chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and for it to be replaced with a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. She has also accused Israel of “colonization, ethnic cleansing, military occupation, and apartheid over the Palestinian people.”
The post Mohamed Hadid Apologizes for Sending Racist, Homophobic Messages to US Rep. Ritchie Torres for Supporting Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays

A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives

Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.