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NFL’s New York Jets Falsely Accused of Firing Muslim Head Coach Robert Saleh for Wearing Lebanon Flag Patch
Sep 29, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh looks on during the first half against the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium. Photo: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images via Reuters
The New York Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh on Tuesday morning, and anti-Israel voices, a sports radio host, and Islamic groups were quick to falsely accuse the National Football League team of firing him because of his Muslim faith and Lebanese heritage.
Jets owner Woody Johnson announced Saleh’s firing, and multiple sources told media outlets that Saleh was escorted out of the Jets’ facility by the team’s director of security after he was informed of the news, which a source described as protocol to ESPN.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) addressed what it called “unusual hostility” that Saleh faced by having to be escorted out of the Jets’ team building, but also suggested that Saleh was fired because at the Jets vs. Vikings game in London, England, on Sunday, Saleh wore a team sweatshirt that had a patch of a Lebanese flag on his arm.
CAIR took it one step further and even suggested that Johnson’s ties to the administration of former US President Donald Trump and “racially charged” comments he made in the past, which Johnson denied, may have also contributed to Saleh’s firing. Johnson served as US ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Trump administration.
“The report that Jets security physically escorted Saleh out of the building does raise concerns about the possible motive for such unusual hostility — especially given that Saleh wore a Lebanese flag pin at a game just days ago and that owner Woody Johnson is a former Trump administration official who has been accused of making racially charged remarks,” CAIR stated.
Sports radio personality Joe Beningo and anti-Israel activists on social media made similar false claims about Saleh’s firing and its ties to the patch he wore of the Lebanese flag. However, Saleh — who was born in Dearborn, Michigan, after his parents were born in Lebanon — has worn the same patch multiple times in the past. Johnson has also made it clear that Saleh was fired as head coach of the Jets due to the team’s poor performance under his leadership.
Saleh was relieved of his position two days after the Jets lost to the Vikings 23-17 in Week 5, the team’s second straight loss. The Jets has lost three of their first five games of the NFL season. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was named the team’s interim coach for the remainder of the season. The move marks the third time in the history of the Jets franchise that it has changed head coaches mid-season. Saleh was the first Muslim head coach in NFL history and is the fourth Arab-American head coach in history.
The patch of the Lebanese flag that Saleh wore on Sunday stirred controversy because of escalating tensions between Israel and Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas-led terrorists carried out a deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month, and Israel recently launched a ground incursion into Lebanon, which it has since expanded.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday that about 180 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel. While most were intercepted, two people were killed in the strikes in Kiryat Shmona and at least six were wounded in Haifa.
Saleh had worn the Lebanese flag patch on his arm in previous NFL games and for two weeks straight now, according to the New York Post.
One of his first appearances with the patch was at a game in late October 2023, which took place weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war but also not long after the NFL announced a heritage program in which players and coaching staff are encouraged to celebrate their “cultural origins” by wearing international flag decals and patches on helmets for the players and jackets for the coaches.
Johnson called the move to fire Saleh “my decision and mine alone.” He said he expects the team to perform better in a statement announcing Saleh’s firing.
“This was not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations, and I believe now is the best time to move us in a different direction,” he said. He added that he believes Ulbrich as interim coach “along with the coaches on this staff can get the most out of our talented team and attain the goals we established this offseason.”
At a Jets press conference on Tuesday, interim coach Ulbrich talked about the team “underperforming” recently. “We’re not playing to our potential,” he added. “We’re too talented to be putting the product we put out there the last couple of weeks.”
The Jets had a tumultuous 2023 season, finishing with only seven wins for a second consecutive season. Saleh finished 20-36 in his three-and-a-half years with the Jets and the team never reached the playoffs during his tenure. There have also been reports of tension between Saleh and the team’s star quarterback, Super Bowl champion and four-time NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Aaron Rodgers.
Saleh released a statement on Wednesday, responding to his firing. He told the players: “I truly love and appreciate every single one of you. The character of the men in the locker room made coaching you guys the ultimate privilege. Through all the ups and downs, each and every one of you showed up everyday and attacked every moment.”
The Jets have not won more than seven games since 2015, and the last time they made it to the playoffs was in 2010. Their only Super Bowl appearance was in 1968 when they beat the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III.
The post NFL’s New York Jets Falsely Accused of Firing Muslim Head Coach Robert Saleh for Wearing Lebanon Flag Patch 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.