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Nasrallah Underestimated Israel’s Willingness to Assassinate Him

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Photo: Screenshot.

JNS.orgHezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah underestimated Israel’s willingness to assassinate him, believing that Jerusalem wanted to avoid a full-scale war, according to a New York Times investigation published on Sunday.

Despite warnings from his aides, he remained in a Beirut bunker 40 feet underground on Sept. 27, which is where Israeli F-15 fighter jets dropped massive explosives, ending the life of the longtime leader of Iran’s Lebanese terrorist proxy along with other senior Hezbollah leaders.

His body was found the next day, buried in the rubble in the embrace of a top Iranian general based in Lebanon, both having died of suffocation, according to Israeli intelligence reports.

The Times investigation showed the extent of Israel’s decades-long penetration into the radical Shi’ite movement, closely tracking the terrorist group’s commanders and culminating in the targeted killing of Nasrallah, which was preceded by weeks earlier by the remote detonation of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah.

Drawing on interviews with more than two dozen current and former officials from Israel, the United States, and Europe, the Times article paints a picture of an organization deeply compromised by Israeli espionage efforts.

“They recruited people to plant listening devices in Hezbollah bunkers, tracked meetings between one top commander and his four mistresses, and had near constant visibility into the movements of the militia group’s leaders,” the authors of the article wrote.

In 2012, the Israel Defense Forces’ 8200 signals intelligence unit obtained a cache of information detailing the leaders’ secret hideouts and the group’s stockpile of missiles and rockets.

The reporting also revealed that in late 2023, a Hezbollah technician got suspicious about the batteries in the rigged walkie-talkies, and in September, Unit 8200 received intelligence that Hezbollah operatives were sending pagers to Iran for inspection.

Fearing that the operation might be compromised, senior intelligence officials convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to authorize the detonation of the devices, initiating the series of events that led to Nasrallah’s assassination.

A tenuous ceasefire went into effect on Nov. 27, after more than a year of hostilities in which Hezbollah terrorists launched thousands of rockets, missiles and drones at Israeli territory, mostly in the north, where nearly 70,000 residents were evacuated. Israel responded with a devastating aerial campaign and, beginning on Oct. 1, a ground invasion of Southern Lebanon.

It was reported on Sunday that Israel might keep troops positioned in areas of Southern Lebanon past the 60-day deadline for a withdrawal because the Lebanese Army is slow to fulfil its obligation to deploy south of the Litani River and soldiers are still finding Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure.

The IDF has confiscated more than 85,000 weapons, missiles and other terrorism apparatuses belonging to Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, a military spokesperson revealed on Friday.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal reached with Beirut on Nov. 26, Israeli forces are to withdraw gradually from the country.

Hezbollah must retreat north of the Litani River, about 20 miles north of the border, while the Lebanese Armed Forces deploy along the 75-mile frontier, along with monitors from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The post Nasrallah Underestimated Israel’s Willingness to Assassinate Him first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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2024 Dishonest Reporter of the Year Awards

The New York Times building in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Following the horrific events of October 7, 2023, news and analysis related to Israel’s war against Hamas dominated the headlines around the world for months on end. But instead of rising to the challenge of covering the fast-moving, multi-front battle accurately and impartially, media outlets did their viewers and readers a great disservice by producing a plethora of skewed coverage.

And with the alarming spike in antisemitism, fueled by the warp-speed dissemination of baseless accusations against Israel and its motives for fighting Hamas, the negative impact of dishonest reporters in 2024 was felt more acutely than at any other time in recent memory.

Some of this year’s nominees for the Dishonest Reporter of the Year Award are old favorites — outlets that incessantly delegitimize Israel by distorting the truth, not providing relevant context, using loaded language, publishing misleading headlines, as well as other sleights of hand that are part of the biased journalist’s bag of tricks.

And then there are the influencers with massive online followings who contributed to the wave of anti-Israel bias that swept through the media in 2024. By perpetrating a distinct narrative, that of unbridled Israeli aggression in contrast to perpetual Palestinian victimhood, these online activists have had an impact on the public discourse over the last year.

Our hope is that by tracking and spotlighting the most egregious examples of journalistic malfeasance and presenting our findings, the serial offenders will be held to account for their spreading of malicious untruths about Israel.

Before we reveal the winner of the 2024 Dishonest Reporter Award, here are all the nominees, those publications and individuals who excelled in getting it totally wrong about Israel…

(nominees presented in no particular order)

Most Useful Idiot: Adam Schrader, UPI

UPI’s Adam Schrader in 2024 repeatedly used terror groups and state-run Palestinian agencies as the primary sources in his articles. Among Schrader’s many offenses, the one that stood out this year was when he produced a biography of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar that depicted the arch-terrorist in heroic terms.

According to UPI, Sinwar — a mass murderer and the mastermind behind the October 7 massacre in southern Israel — is a “Palestinian militia” leader who had been arrested in Israel “for supporting a free Palestine.”

While he may have supported a Palestine free of Jews, Sinwar was most definitely not a militia leader. Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organization that has ruled all aspects of life in Gaza for almost two decades.

In the same abysmal story, Schrader referred to the October 7 attack, “which many have characterized as a terror attack” and “Jewish settlers during the 1948 war.”

He even had the gall to accuse Israelis of raping Palestinians in 1948 while singularly ignoring the very real Hamas rape cases that had literally just occurred on October 7.

Biggest Car Crash Interview: Michael Moore (on CNN)

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore’s April 2024 interview on CNN was difficult to watch. Among many, many gaffes, Moore suggests that anti-Israel campus demonstrations are a hallmark of healthy “democracy and free speech,” and complains that protesters have been beaten and clubbed by police in response, even though no protesters are “committing any acts of violence.”

 Another stand-out moment is when he states that 98% of protesters are not antisemitic — something he suggests is impossible “because the Palestinian people are Semites.”

The fact that the there was virtually no pushback from CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins allowed Moore to reimagine facts and rewrite history.

This is can’t-miss viewing in the worst conceivable way.

Most Malicious Mouthpiece for the Iranian Regime: Seyed Mohammad Marandi, (Interviews on BBC, Sky News, and Channel 4 News)

In the aftermath of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel in April 2024, several British media outlets provided a platform for Seyed Mohammad Marandi. While he was presented innocuously enough as a University of Tehran professor, he is nonetheless an educator in a closed society, where the Iranian regime maintains control over every facet of life, including education. Moreover, Seyed Mohammad Marandi has been exposed as a former IRGC soldier. Despite this revelation, UK media continue to turn to the good professor for sage analysis.

None of the various UK-based news channels alerted their audience that Marandi is effectively a representative of the Iranian government. And so, viewers were fed a feast of lies by the ever-smirking professor who accused Israel in various interviews of genocide, and the Israeli government of being a Nazi regime – an overt act of antisemitism. The fall of the Iran-led axis of resistance will be that much sweeter if it manages to knock that irritating grin off Marandi’s face.

New Master Race: Owen Jones, The Guardian

Having published a lengthy screed exposing the BBC for being pro-Israel, Guardian columnist Owen Jones liked a couple of blatantly antisemitic comments posted by his supporters. After being called out, Jones sort of backtracked, posting that “the lesson here is don’t scan through comments reading the first line and pressing ‘like,’ which is what I did.”

A heartfelt apology this most assuredly was not.

Then again, Jones is no stranger to the Dishonest Reporter of the Year Award. This is, after all, the same man who, after watching 47 minutes of footage from the October 7 Hamas massacre, concluded that Israel still hadn’t provided enough proof of horrors like the gang-rape of women and the deliberate killing of children.

In Memoriam: Mehdi Hasan, On Leaving Legacy Media (Hopefully for Good)

In late 2023, MSNBC announced the cancelation of long-time detractor of Israel Mehdi Hasan’s regular show. Hasan eventually chose to quit the network and launch his own independent media company, Zeteo, in early 2024.

In theory, Hasan now has even more freedom to pursue his obsessive attacks on Israel through his own outlet and on social media.

How did he fare without MSNBC as a platform? Based on his performance in the Munk Debate on anti-Zionism, where he spoke against the motion that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, Hasan’s flame-throwing days may be behind him. Between the beginning of the debate and the end, support for Mehdi’s position dropped by 5%.

Most Dysfunctional News Network: CBS

In July, HonestReporting revealed that a CBS News journalist in Gaza praised terrorists at an official event of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and had contacts with terrorists as a member of the Gaza City municipal council.

Marwan al-Ghoul has been working as a CBS News producer in Gaza for more than two decades, and his affiliation with a proscribed terror group, as well as his official public role in the Hamas-ruled Strip, raises alarming questions regarding the network’s journalistic standards.

Unsurprisingly, Al-Ghoul’s reports from Gaza are typical — they include destruction and victims, not Hamas terrorists.

Marwan Al Ghoul Dishonest Reporter 2024

Despite having no problem with al-Ghoul’s continuing employment, CBS did take issue when its anchor Tony Dokoupil pressed author Ta-Nehisi Coates on the most contentious parts of his new essay collection, The Message, which tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Instead of engaging in an open debate, CBS succumbed to internal backlash and forced Dokoupil to apologize. The resulting fallout led to Paramount Global’s CEO, Shari Redstone reportedly admitting that CBS’s decision to reprimand Dokoupil was a “mistake.”

Al-Ghoul gets a free pass but Dokoupil gets hauled over the coals? Something just isn’t right at CBS News.

Biggest New Influencer Antisemite: Dan Bilzerian

Like many other influencers, Dan Bilzerian’s sudden interest in Israel ignited after the October 7 Hamas massacre that sparked the current war in Gaza. His public embrace of anti-Jewish bigotry is part of a wider online trend that includes such luminaries as Nick FuentesCandace Owens, and Jackson Hinkle.

In 2024, Bilzerian posted dozens of disturbing comments about the Jewish state, including conspiratorial claims that Israel murdered U.S. soldiers, that Israel’s Mossad controls the U.S. government, and that Israel orchestrated October 7 as a pretext to seize land in Gaza.

Another antisemitic social media trend that Bilzerian has latched onto involves using either fake or manipulated quotations from the Talmud to supposedly “prove” that Jews are evil, thereby “contextualizing” the war in Gaza.

Bilzerian’s post-October 7 boost in popularity underscores how antisemitism is flourishing online, resulting in real-world consequences.

Dan Bilzerian

Most Creative Use of Hezbollah to Correct a Story: Washington Post

The Washington Post in September managed to “correct”’ an error of its own making with … Hezbollah propaganda.

Comments in Post connected with an interview conducted with Alma, an independent research and education center focused on Israel’s security challenges along its northern border, implied that the Galilee region in northern Israel is “disputed” territory. After confirming with Alma that its representative never made any such statement during her interview with the Washington Post, the publication issued a correction…of sorts.

Instead of doing the right thing and simply removing the word “disputed” from the article, journalist Loveday Morris appeared to double down, attempting to justify or explain why the status of the Galilee region could be considered disputed.

Yet even after HonestReporting called out The Washington Post for Morris’s shoddy journalism and subsequent ‘correction,’ the media outlet continued to platform Hezbollah’s false claims.

Biggest Disappointment: The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal, long seen as a reliable voice on Israel, is now pushing a dangerous narrative by drawing disturbing moral equivalencies between Hamas terrorists and Israelis defending their lives.

Case in point: One of their reporters, Abeer Ayyoub, was caught spreading terrorist propaganda on social media. On October 7, Ayyoub posted a violent Hamas propaganda video. It showed terrorists lynching and executing Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border.

Ayyoub’s anti-Israeli sentiment is often hidden behind the facade of the Arabic language, making it easier to conceal from her bosses and colleagues in Western media.

But this is no excuse.

However, despite Ayyoub’s rampant hate-mongering, The Wall Street Journal apparently believes that she can report on Israel and Gaza objectively, without letting her views contaminate her coverage.

Aber Ayyoub

Perpetuation of 2,000-Year-Old Blood Libel Prize: Sky News

Sky News reached a journalistic low in July with a report by special correspondent Alex Crawford, detailing the aftermath of the Hezbollah rocket attack on the Golan Heights that killed 12 children playing soccer in the Druze town of Majdal Shams.

Crawford prominently highlighted Hezbollah’s vehement denials of involvement in the attack, yet omitted the fact that the group had earlier that day boasted about launching at least 100 rockets at Israel.

But the most disturbing part of the piece wasn’t Crawford’s almost sympathetic portrayal of the terror group as unflinching in the face of “threats and accusations from their Israeli neighbors.” Below, is a direct quote from the piece:

The war has entered a very dangerous stage and the Lebanese authorities who’re in direct contact with their Hezbollah partners are urging restraint whilst encouraging the Americans to leverage pressure on the Israelis to reign [sic] in their lust for revenge. 

The People’s Choice: BBC News

Last year’s Dishonest Reporter Award winner has had a stellar year for anti-Israel bias and that was reflected in a vote held on X (formerly Twitter) that demonstrated just how poorly BBC News is thought of around the globe. Despite coming up against The New York Times in the final round of voting, the BBC delivered a knockout blow to take the people’s choice for the worst coverage of Israel this year.

A damning report exposed the full extent of the BBC’s anti-Israel bias during the Israel-Hamas war. The analysis, spanning four months of the broadcaster’s coverage starting on October 7, uncovered a staggering 1,500 breaches of the BBC’s editorial guidelines and highlighted systemic failures to maintain its commitment to impartiality and accuracy during a conflict that has fueled a troubling rise of antisemitic bigotry worldwide.

The Asserson Report reveals not just isolated errors, but a consistent pattern of bias that undermines the BBC’s journalistic integrity. But how can the BBC begin to address its failings when it refuses to acknowledge that there is a problem?

The BBC has recently come under fire from The Guardian’s Owen Jones and Al Jazeera for being “pro-Israel.”

We’ll respectfully disagree.

2024 Dishonest Reporter of the Year: The New York Times

In a disturbingly crowded field, The New York Times stood out in 2024. One of America’s leading publications, the Gray Lady repeatedly played fast and loose with news about the Israel-Hamas conflict. While there were notable instances where the newspaper of record for the United States distinguished itself with compelling fact-driven articles and investigations, even earning a Pulitzer Prize for its Israel-Hamas war coverage, such examples of journalistic excellence, unfortunately, proved to be the exception.

Instead, people around the world looking for clear and sober reporting and reasoned analysis about Israel were generally treated to a steady diet of advocacy journalism that put a premium on pushing a certain narrative.

Below, are but a few of the ways the NYT’s readership was thoroughly misled:

Doctors Plot

In October, The New York Times opinion essay “65 Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics: What We Saw in Gaza” blew up, as weapons and forensic ballistic experts debunked and questioned X-ray images featured in the piece claiming to be 5.56 caliber bullets inside the skulls of Gazan children.

Despite The New York Times’ vigorous defense of the essay, the mounting evidence that discredited both the accounts and the purported evidence within the piece raises serious questions about how thoroughly The Times vetted the doctors involved.

Another doozy also occurred in October, when The New York Times published an investigation alleging that IDF soldiers were using Gazans as human shields during operations in the Gaza Strip. NYT’s investigation relied heavily on highly problematic sources, including the organization Breaking the Silence.

In doing so, The New York Times turned on its head the substantiated fact that Hamas deliberately embeds itself within civilian infrastructure as a means of protecting its terrorists and their weaponry from Israel. Not only are the accusations against the IDF baseless, but they are also a distraction from the very real human rights violations Hamas perpetrates when it uses Gazans as human shields.

Apartheid Roads

The New York Times failed mightily when it published an interactive feature titled “Roadblocked.”

The piece implied strongly that Israel’s road network exists solely to “restrict Palestinian movement.” The truth is that these barriers and security measures were put in place to protect Israelis from terrorism. And, crucially, they likely would not exist if there were a Palestinian leadership committed to peace with Israel.

Apartheid Roads New York Times

No Campus Antisemitism Here

The Times posted a piece in July that failed to portray the full and accurate picture of events surrounding the outburst of antisemitism on U.S. college campuses. In an entire discussion of the campus protest arrests, the article does not make a single mention of the extreme nature of these demonstrations.

Effectively, the NYT uncritically ran with the narrative that student protesters were simply exercising their right to free speech. Such fact-free reporting trivializes the incitement perpetrated by those present and enforces the idea that they do not deserve any consequences for their violent behavior.

Lancet Libel

The Lancet medical journal published a piece in July that claimed it wasn’t “implausible” that the overall number of deaths in Gaza could be higher than 186,000 — a figure the authors concocted by comparing Gaza to other conflicts with no substantial basis.

To her credit, New York Times Opinion Editor Meher Ahmad was one of the few journalists to correctly describe the piece as a “letter,” not a peer-reviewed study or anything remotely rigorous. However, she still attempted to contextualize the authors’ “staggering” number, describing the contents of the missive as “more a call for open documentation of casualties than anything else.”

Legitimized By Pulitzer Prize

The awarding of the Pulitzer Prize to the Times for “its wide-ranging and revelatory coverage of Hamas’ lethal attack in southern Israel on October 7, Israel’s intelligence failures, and the Israeli military’s sweeping, deadly response in Gaza” gave the ultimate seal of approval for all of the paper’s Israel-Hamas war coverage — including all of those times that the Gray Lady has not lived up to appropriate standards.

To fulfill its mission to cover “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” one can forgive The New York Times for the occasional case of sloppy journalism, inevitable in a 24/7 news cycle. However, the publication’s biased reporting on the Israel-Hamas war was part of a pattern. On a topic as complex and impactful as the Israel-Hamas war, the paper has a major responsibility to get the facts right. Instead, the publication sacrificed its journalistic standards on the altar of a narrative that aligns neatly with that of Israel’s most vociferous detractors.

“Congratulations” to a worthy winner of this year’s Dishonest Reporter Award.

Gidon Ben-Zvi, former Jerusalem Correspondent for The Algemeiner newspaper, is an accomplished writer who left Hollywood for Jerusalem in 2009. He and his wife are raising their four children to speak fluent English – with an Israeli accent. Ben-Zvi’s work has appeared in The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, The Algemeiner, American Thinker, The Jewish Journal, Israel Hayom, and United with Israel. Ben-Zvi blogs at Jerusalem State of Mind (jsmstateofmind.com). The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The post 2024 Dishonest Reporter of the Year Awards first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Why Does the Media Continue to Smear Israel With Anti-Christmas Lies?

The BBC logo is seen at the entrance at Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in central London. Photo by Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Sipa USA.

As long-time readers know, the BBC cannot resist promoting politicized messaging in its Christmas coverage, and this year was no exception.

On the morning of Christmas Day, the BBC News website published a report by the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Yolande Knell titled “Palestinian Christians struggle to find hope at Christmas,” which opens by telling readers that a town which has been under the exclusive control of the Palestinian Authority for twenty-nine years is “occupied.”

The little town of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank has good reason to consider itself the capital of Christmas but this year it does not feel like it.

There are very few visitors at what is typically a peak time. There are not the usual cheerful street decorations nor the giant Christmas tree in front of the Nativity Church, built over the spot where it is believed that Jesus was born.

Public celebrations of Christmas have been cancelled for a second year because of the war in Gaza. Palestinian Christians are only attending religious ceremonies and family gatherings.

As was the case in a very similar report published a year earlier, Knell does not bother to inform her readers that one of the reasons why there are “few visitors” is because most major airlines cancelled flights to Israel following the October 7, 2023 invasion and massacre by Hamas that led to the current war.

Neither does Knell explain that tourists are unlikely to be attracted to a town which has cancelled Christmas celebrations for the second time and – as was also the case in the BBC’s 2023 report – she fails to clarify that (as other media outlets were able to report) the political decision to cancel public celebrations was taken by local authorities, including the municipality.

Despite having failed to clarify that the cancellation of Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem is a political decision, Knell later goes on to promote talking points concerning the town’s economy:

The economy is in dire straits especially in Bethlehem, which relies heavily on tourism which has almost entirely stopped. Guides stand idly by the Nativity Church, feeding the pigeons.

“If there [are] tourists, all the people will work: hotels, transportation, accommodation, all of them,” says one guide, Abdullah. “But [if] there [are] no tourists, there is no life in Bethlehem city.”

“I am broke! No business! For more than one year we stay home,” exclaims Adnan Subah, a souvenir seller on Star Street.

“My son is a tour guide in the church, we stay home, all my kids stay. No jobs, no business, no tourists.”

Knell fails to comply with BBC editorial guidelines concerning Contributors’ Affiliations by neglecting to inform readers that the pastor to whom she gives a platform to promote lies concerning “genocide” is a long-time political activist.

”This should be a time of joy and celebration,” comments Reverend Dr Munther Isaac, a local Lutheran pastor. “But Bethlehem is a sad town in solidarity with our siblings in Gaza.”

At his church, the Nativity scene shows baby Jesus lying in a pile of rubble. In the run-up to Christmas, a prayer service focused on the catastrophic situation in Gaza.

“It’s hard to believe that another Christmas has come upon us and the genocide has not stopped,” Isaac said in his strongly worded sermon. “Decision makers are content to let this continue. To them, Palestinians are dispensable.”

Israel strongly denies accusations of genocide in Gaza and judges at the UN’s top court have yet to rule in a case alleging genocide, brought by South Africa.

Neither does Knell tell her readers that the same pastor also promoted “baby Jesus lying in a pile of rubble” agitprop last Christmas.

Another political activist (who, like Isaac, is linked to the Bethlehem Bible College and ‘Christ at the Checkpoint’ conferences) is portrayed by Knell merely as a “theologian.” His promotion of the politically motivated falsehood of ‘starvation’ goes unchallenged.

”My mum told me that what we see on television doesn’t capture one per cent of what’s happening,” says theologian, Dr Yousef Khouri, who is originally from Gaza City.

His parents and sister are among a few hundred Christians who have spent much of the past 14 months sheltering in two Gazan churches.

“They are subjected like the entire Gaza strip to starvation. Of course, almost non-sleep because of bombardment, because of all the drones hovering above their heads and the lack of medical attention and services,” he says.

“We’ve lost friends and relatives.”

In addition, Knell promotes the notion that casualty figures provided by the Gaza-based terrorist organization which started the war are “reliable.”

“In Gaza, more than 45,000 people have been killed in the war that was unleashed in response to the Hamas attacks on southern Israel. Figures come from the Hamas-run health ministry but are considered reliable by the UN and others. The assault on 7 October 2023 killed some 1,200 people – Israelis and some foreigners – and led to about 250 being taken hostage.

Knell tells her readers that: “Tensions have risen in the West Bank in parallel to the war. Israel has imposed new restrictions on Palestinians’ movements and cancelled tens of thousands of permits for workers who used to cross into Jerusalem or Jewish settlements each day.”

BBC audiences are not informed that “tensions” in fact began long before October 2023 due to the rise in terrorism that has been encouraged and facilitated by Iranian-backed terrorist groups for over three years.

Knell also returns to themes that she has been promoting in Christmas coverage for at least a decade: “Many local Christian and Muslim families have emigrated in the past year. With the constant threat of violence and expansion of settlements on lands where Palestinians have long sought an independent state of their own, there is increased fear and uncertainty over the future.”

Christian emigration from PA controlled areas began long before “the past year” but like so many of her colleagues, Yolande Knell opts for the easy option of blaming “settlements” and an inadequately explained “threat of violence” rather than informing her readers accurately on the topic.

And so once again BBC audiences find Yolande Knell self-conscripting to the opportunistic exploitation of Christmas for promotion of context-free political sloganeering.

Hadar Sela is the co-editor of CAMERA UK — an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Why Does the Media Continue to Smear Israel With Anti-Christmas Lies? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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The Algemeiner’s Top 10 Most-Read News Stories of 2024

Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in this handout picture released on March 5, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS

In a year when Israel was at war on several fronts, Donald Trump was reelected president of the United States, and antisemitism continued to skyrocket globally in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion, these were the 10 stories that most captured the attention of The Algemeiner‘s readers.

1. Masked Activists Violently Attack Jews at North Carolina Public Library

West Asheville Library in North Carolina. Screenshot: buncombecounty.org.

Three pro-Israel attendees of a public event titled “Strategic Lessons From the Palestinian Resistance” reported being attacked and forcibly dragged out by anti-Israel activists also in attendance at the West Asheville Library in North Carolina.

2. Network Behind Eruption of Anti-Israel College Campus Protests Revealed in New Report

The “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia University, located in the Manhattan borough of New York City, on April 25, 2024. Photo: Reuters Connect

Anti-Zionist protests striking US colleges and universities across the country have been the result of “tightly coordinated” efforts backed by the financial power and logistical support of groups linked to terrorist organizations and some of America’s most prestigious philanthropic foundations, according to a new report.

3. Boxing Champion Floyd Mayweather Donates $100,000 to United Hatzalah for Bulletproof Vests for Israel

Floyd Mayweather speaks to the media during the press conference after the 12-round Undisputed Super Middleweight World Title main-event bout at Premier Boxing Champions, Canelo vs Charlo. at T-Mobile Arena on Sept. 30, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Alejandro Salazar/PxImages/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Former boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather will donate $100,000 to United Hatzalah of Israel for the organization to purchase 100 bulletproof vests to keep volunteers safe amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

4. ‘Raped Daily’: Former Israeli Hostages Recount Sexual Abuse by Hamas Terrorists as Families Plead for Action

Hamas terrorists kidnapping Israeli women at the Nahal Oz base near the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Screenshot

In an emotional hearing at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, former hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza recounted harrowing tales of sexual harassment and abuse, as families of those still held captive pleaded for the Israeli government to do more to secure their release.

5. Hamas Responds to Trump Threat to Unleash ‘Hell’ on Terror Group if Hostages Not Freed by His Inauguration

US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, DC, US on Nov. 13, 2024. Photo: ALLISON ROBBERT/Pool via REUTERS

Hamas has responded to US President-elect Donald Trump’s warning that there will be “all hell to pay” in the Middle East if the Palestinian terrorist group does not release all of the remaining hostages in Gaza before his inauguration on Jan. 20, claiming that Israel has “sabotaged” several potential ceasefire deals and should be held responsible for perpetuating the ongoing war.

6. George Washington University Professor Accused of Antisemitism Leaves School, Heads to Qatar-Based Institute

Professor Lara Sheehi of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. Photo: X/Twitter.

George Washington University psychology professor Lara Sheehi, who was accused of verbally abusing and discriminating against her Jewish graduate students, has left the school and accepted a job at an institution based in Qatar, according to a correspondence obtained by The Algemeiner.

7. Chanel, Tory Burch, Others in Fashion Donate to Help Israelis Impacted by Hamas War

Tourists shop for goods at a CHANEL store at China Duty Free Group’s (CDF) Sanya International Duty Free City in Sanya, Hainan Province, China, Aug 28, 2023. Photo: CFOTO via Reuters Connect

Several fashion brands and their parent companies have announced that they are making donations to help provide humanitarian aid to Israeli victims of Hamas atrocities following the Palestinian terror group’s infiltration of Israel on Oct. 7.

8. ‘You Jew!’: UC Berkeley Mob Attacks Jews During Event With IDF Soldier, University Pledges Investigation

Mob of anti-Zionists attempting to infiltrate event with Ran Bar-Yoshafat at University of California, Berkeley on February 27, 2024. Photo: Screenshot/Twitter

A mob of hundreds pro-Palestinian students and non-students shut down an event at the University of California, Berkeley featuring an Israeli soldier, forcing Jewish students to flee to a secret safe room as the protestors overwhelmed campus police.

9. Prominent Pro-Hamas Activist in Australia Arrested on Kidnapping and Torture Charges

Australian pro-Hamas activist Laura Allam. Photo: XTwitter

Australian police announced the arrest of a prominent pro-Hamas advocate accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and torture of a man whose perceived offense was to work for a Jewish employer.

10. ‘You Corrupt the World!’ Jewish Man Wearing Kippah Assaulted in Washington, DC

The suspect who was arrested for allegedly assaulting a Jewish man in Washington, DC on June 10, 2024 going on a tirade after he was restrained. Photo: Screenshot from video taken by the victim, Ariel Golfeyz, and provided to The Algemeiner.

A Jewish man wearing a kippah was assaulted in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, DC in what police are investigating as a hate crime.

The post The Algemeiner’s Top 10 Most-Read News Stories of 2024 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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