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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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UN Data: Nearly 90 Percent of Gaza Aid ‘Intercepted’ Before Reaching Intended Recipients

Palestinians collect aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
The vast majority of humanitarian aid entering Gaza is intercepted before reaching its intended civilian recipients, newly released data from the United Nations shows, fueling growing concerns among Israeli officials and international observers about systemic aid diversion by armed groups in the enclave.
According to figures tracking humanitarian assistance for Gaza from May 19 to Aug. 1 of this year, out of the 2,010 UN trucks (carrying 27,434 tons of aid) collected from any of the crossings along Gaza’s perimeter, only 260 trucks (4,111 tons) reached their intended destination. That equates to a staggering 87 percent of all trucks and 85 percent of all tonnage of aid being stolen and not getting into the hands of civilians at the intended destination.
The UN’s own data, posted on the website of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) as part of the “UN2720 Monitoring & Tracking Dashboard,” reveals that almost all the aid — 1,753 trucks (23,353 tons) — has been “intercepted, either peacefully by hungry people or forcefully by armed actors” while being transported inside Gaza over the past few months.
No breakdown is provided of how much aid has been seized by armed groups versus civilians.
The data also shows that much of the UN aid offloaded at any of the crossings along Gaza’s perimeter has not been collected to enter the war-torn enclave during this period. Out of 40,012 tons of aid (2,134 trucks) being delivered to the crossings, just 27,434 tons (2010 trucks) have been picked up. It’s unclear what exactly led to this discrepancy, with issues such as poor internal coordination and security concerns potentially delaying aid shipments.
The UN2720 mechanism, created earlier this year, was intended to boost transparency by verifying and tracking aid shipments via QR codes at key checkpoints. The system monitors each pallet from offloading to delivery and flags any discrepancies in a centralized database.
Israel has facilitated the entry of thousands of aid trucks into Gaza, with Israeli officials condemning the UN and other international aid agencies for their alleged failure to distribute supplies, noting much of the humanitarian assistance has been stalled at border crossings or stolen by the ruling Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
On Sunday, Israel announced a halt in military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and new aid corridors as Arab and European countries began airdropping supplies into the enclave.
However, the UN and several Western governments have increased pressure on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, blaming the Jewish state for what they described as a hunger crisis and insufficient amounts of aid reaching civilians.
Israeli officials have said that claims of mass starvation in Gaza are false and being amplified by not only Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, but also international humanitarian organizations and media organizations to manipulate global opinion.
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Dutch Nurse Under Police Investigation for Alleged Threats Against Israeli Patients

Pro-Hamas demonstrators march in the Dutch city of Nijmegen. Photo: Reuters/Romy Arroyo Fernandez
A Muslim nurse in the Netherlands is under police investigation after allegedly threatening to administer lethal injections to Israeli patients — an incident that has sparked public outrage and intensified fears over rising antisemitism and patient safety in Europe’s health-care systems.
The comments were widely circulated by Israeli influencer Max Veifer, who also exposed a recent case in Australia where two nurses were suspended for two years over antisemitic threats and remarks.
In a video shared on social media, Veifer denounced Dutch-Muslim nurse Batisma Chayat Sa’id’s remarks as a serious violation of medical ethics.
“Someone like that should be prosecuted and barred from treating patients. Imagine your grandparents being cared for by someone so hateful,” the Israeli influencer said.
Zorgwekkende dreiging op Instagram: Nederlandse verpleegkundige is bereid om “zionisten een extra spuitje te geven” en bereid “zionisten te laten sterven binnen de gezondheidszorg.” pic.twitter.com/xTnXNi1wH5
— CIDI
(@CIDI_nieuws) July 29, 2025
The incident was sparked when an Israeli-Dutch woman living in the Netherlands commented on a social media post by far-right politician Geert Wilders, who cautioned about what he called the country’s looming radical Islamization by 2050.
A social media account belonging to the Muslim nurse also commented on the post, claiming it would happen by 2027, to which the Israeli woman responded, “Your dream is our nightmare. But people wake up from nightmares. Our Netherlands, our Israel.”
“Nothing belongs to you! My grandparents built the Netherlands. I was born and raised here, and I will do everything in my power to help this country get rid of the Zionist cancer,” the nurse further replied.
“You know what I’m doing with Zionists — giving an extra injection as a nurse specialist. Letting them go to heaven!” Sa’id continued.
When the Israeli woman threatened to report her, Sa’id replied: “Haha, try your best! I don’t have a boss — I’m the boss! All Zionists can die, inside healthcare and beyond, and I’m happy to help with that!”
Shortly after her posts gained widespread attention, Sa’id deleted all her social media accounts, insisting that her identity had been stolen and that she was not responsible for such comments.
On Wednesday, local police detained Sa’id for questioning, but she denied the allegations, asserting that someone had impersonated her online.
“It seems someone is pretending to be me, posting false and defamatory statements,” the nurse said. “I want to make it clear — I hold no hatred toward Jews or any people, race, religion, or identity.”
Even after announcing plans to file an identity theft complaint, she faces skepticism from authorities, who have assigned a digital forensics expert to scrutinize her online accounts.
Last year, an account under her name also posted threatening messages aimed at Jewish people, including “Your time will come — don’t spare anyone,” and another in which she described the burial of Israelis in Gaza as “a dream come true.”
Earlier this year, two Australian nurses — Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh — gained international attention after they were seen in an online video posing as doctors and making inflammatory statements during a night-shift conversation with Veifer.
The widely circulated footage, which sparked international outrage and condemnation, showed Abu Lebdeh declaring she would refuse to treat Israeli patients and instead kill them, while Nadir made a throat-slitting gesture and claimed he had already killed many.
Following the incident, New South Wales authorities in Australia suspended their nursing registrations and banned them from working as nurses nationwide.
They were also charged with federal offenses, including threatening violence against a group and using a carriage service to threaten, menace, and harass. If convicted, they face up to 22 years in prison.
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French Authorities Halt Gaza Evacuations After Palestinian Student Expelled Over Viral Antisemitic Posts

Anti-Israel demonstration supporting the BDS movement, Paris France, June 8, 2024. Photo: Claire Serie / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
French authorities have halted evacuations from Gaza after a Palestinian student was expelled from the prestigious Sciences Po Lille and placed under investigation, following the viral circulation of hundreds of antisemitic posts praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and calling for the murder of Jews.
The incident drew widespread condemnation and public outrage, prompting French ministers to demand answers and call for an investigation into how the Gazan student was allowed into the country in the first place.
On Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that all further evacuations from Gaza would be suspended pending the completion of the investigation into the student’s background.
After receiving a scholarship, 25-year-old Nour Atalla, a Palestinian from Gaza, arrived in the country in early July to begin her master’s degree in law and communications this fall at the Institute of Political Science in Lille, northern France.
Barrot confirmed that discussions are ongoing about the student’s possible return to Gaza, making clear that she must leave the country pending the investigation’s outcome.
“She has no place at Sciences Po, nor in France,” the top French diplomat said.
On Thursday, local authorities reported that a criminal investigation is underway into Atalla, with the public prosecutor in Lille confirming the case was opened for “apology of terrorism, apology of crimes against humanity using an online public communication service.”
Barrot admitted lapses in the screening process that allowed her entry and has mandated a comprehensive review of everyone evacuated from Gaza to France.
“The security checks, carried out by the French services and Israeli authorities, did not detect the antisemitic content,” the French diplomat said.
Atalla is one of 292 Gazans admitted to the country following a court ruling that opened the door for Gazans to seek refugee status based on their nationality.
She was offered a place at Sciences Po Lille University based on “academic excellence” and following a recommendation by the French consulate in Jerusalem.
On Wednesday, the university announced it had revoked Atalla’s enrollment after hundreds of her past antisemitic and violent social media posts went viral, sparking widespread condemnation from political leaders and members of the local Jewish community.
In several of these posts, she glorified Hitler, praised Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, called for the execution of Israeli hostages and the killing of Jews, and expressed support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
In one post, Atalla shared a video of Hitler giving a speech about Jews, writing, “Kill their young and their old. Show them no mercy … And kill them everywhere.”
In another post shared on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, she wrote, “We must do everything we can to match the bloodshed — as much as possible.”