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North Carolina Lawmaker Accused of Antisemitism for Repeated Attacks on ‘Zios,’ Israel
Raleigh City Council member Mary Black. Photo: Screenshot
A member of the Raleigh City Council in North Carolina who recently filed for re-election has come under fire for regularly attacking Israel and Zionists, despite her job having no apparent responsibilities concerning Middle Eastern affairs.
Mary Black, 30, describes herself as “an intersectional environmentalist” — which, she told a local newspaper, “requires me to evaluate all issues through a justice and equity lens.” The lawmaker’s intense focus on the world’s lone Jewish state and its supporters has fueled accusations of antisemitism, with local Jewish and even fellow progressive leaders questioning why she is spending a disproportionate amount of her time concerned with such issues rather than the needs of her constituents.
Black has notably been outspoken on the issue of Israel and the Palestinians at Raleigh City Council meetings, publicly accusing other council members of “looking for any reason” to shut down conversation on an Israel-Hamas ceasefire resolution. During the time a ceasefire resolution was before the council, Black posted on Threads, a social media platform similar to X/Twitter: “I was gifted a kuffiyeh tonight for pushing a ceasefire vote. It’s red. I’m happy.” The Gaza ceasefire resolution did not pass.
Beyond pushing to focus on Israel at City Council meetings, Black has also shared images and videos of herself on Threads speaking at a local pro-Palestinian rally with the comment, “I am the only City Councilor to speak publicly in support of Palestine…#Free Palestine.” Black introduced herself at the rally this way: “My name is Mary Black. I am a Raleigh City Council member.”
Black later took to Threads to complain about someone taking issue with her speaking at the event. “Someone just emailed my city email and wanted to discuss why I spoke at a ceasefire rally,” she posted. “I told them that’s not an appropriate use of my city time (also just no).”
The local lawmaker has shown her anti-Israel activism most frequently on social media. Using the name @mary.poppinn, Black is active on Threads, where she regularly derides Israel and its supporters.
In a post about Israel invoking the Holocaust, Black wrote on Threads: “Imagine. To survive a death camp, find liberation, just to then slaughter, rape, and massacre men, women, and children for land without remorse is the definition of unhealed trauma.” The lawmaker appeared to be comparing Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians with the Nazis’ systematic murder of six million Jews during World War II.
In 2022, Black was endorsed by the Wake County Democratic Party.
The Algemeiner reached out to the party for additional information and comment for this story. However, hours after making this request, this author was blocked from reading Black’s Threads account. Sources sent The Algemeiner Black’s next post in which she complained about being “canceled” by the media
In other social media posts, Black has used the hateful, pejorative term “zios” as well as “xionist” and “zionologists.”
A column in the New York Times pointed out that “Zio” is “an insult used by the Ku Klux Klan.” A column in The Forward, a progressive Jewish publication, stated that “Zio” is “a pejorative brought into prominence by former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke and often deployed by white supremacists.”
However, while the term has generally been deployed by far-right extremists, it has more recently been used as well by anti-Israel activists on the progressive far left. A column in the Jewish Journal explained that “Zio” is a “derogatory code word for Jews invented by white supremacists. Despite its right-wing extremist roots, the term has been re-popularized by anti-Israel activists, normalizing violent antisemitic vernacular among self-identified progressives.”
Such language “incites hatred and hatred leads to violence,” Raleigh resident and Jewish community leader Dr. Michael Ross told The Algemeiner.
Meanwhile, Dr. Adam Goldstein, a local Democratic leader, told The Algemeiner that Black’s “support of violence, against Israel, against Zionists, against Jews, and even against political opponents displays blatant antisemitism and is an embarrassment to the people of Raleigh.”
In June, Black shared a post on Threads severely critical of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying organization in the US, in which she commented, “F—k yeah” before signing her post “-a city councilor.”
Black recently announced having received the endorsement of the newly formed Solidarity with Humanity, which describes itself as “North Carolina’s first and only grassroots political action committee (PAC) building power for Palestinian freedom.”
Black recently attended the group’s fundraiser billed as “Raleigh United for Gaza” with a stated goal of raising funds “to support local political campaigns who oppose genocide and stand with Palestinian freedom.” Raleigh City Council member Christina Jones also attended and was endorsed by the PAC.
Raleigh City council members Mary Black, right, and Christina Jones. Photo: Screenshot
Black shared a picture on Threads of herself addressing the fundraiser while local Hamas supporter Rania Masri stood behind her.
As The Algemeiner reported in November, Masri spoke at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill declaring that Oct. 7 — when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel and perpetrated the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — “was a beautiful day” and expressing pride and admiration for Hamas and their paragliders. Masri went on to “demand the eradication of Zionism.” In addition, Masri posted a video on Facebook that called Hamas fighters “heroes.”
Black has shared several videos of herself speaking at a local pro-Palestinian rally standing with Masri.
A Political Committee Disclosure Report filed by Solidarity with Humanity in July indicates that Masri has made 10 recent “in kind” contributions to the organization’s PAC which endorsed Raleigh City Council members Black and Jones.
During her 2022 campaign, Black announced that her campaign was “free from toxic money.”
Rabbi Eric Solomon of Beth Meyer Synagogue, the largest congregation in Raleigh, lambasted Black for adopting a “pro-Hamas” position, noting her district has a significant Jewish population.
“Council Member Mary Black represents District A which includes the largest Jewish population of any district in Raleigh as well as two synagogues,” Solomon, a political progressive, told The Algemeiner. “I have no issue with Black’s concern for Palestinian suffering; I too empathize with the plight of innocent Palestinians. But after the greatest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust and during an unprecedented rise in antisemitism including hate-filled incidents in her own district, she is more focused on the war on Gaza than the well-being of residents in her district.”
Solomon continued, “Her [Black’s] one-sided, pro-Hamas statements are not only ill-informed; they are a direct source of incitement. How can it be that our City Council representative, the one who is supposed to ‘represent’ us, is one of the greatest threats to my community’s safety? I find her unwillingness to support the District A Jewish community during this time to be profoundly negligent at best, and overtly antisemitic at worst.”
Beyond the Jewish community, Black has invited scrutiny, declaring on social media, “I am an elected official desperately asking you to hold us accountable…Vote us out if you have to.”
Last year, Black made a post on Threads that some community members described to The Algemeiner as a possible dog whistle for violence.
“Yes propaganda is expensive but not if we keep sending them billions of dollars for war machines,” she wrote. “We need another step beyond being vocal, beyond protest, beyond boycotts, I think we know exactly what it is too but we’re just too scared or maybe too colonized mentally to say it.”
On July 14, Black shared on Threads a caricature of former US President Donald Trump with a bloody face, having just survived an assassination attempt. The messages included with the image read, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” and “BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME.”
Black recently called supporters of Trump “maggots.”
Mitchell Silver, former New York City Parks Commissioner and Raleigh Chief Planner, has announced he is running for the Raleigh City Council seat currently held by Black.
Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.
The post North Carolina Lawmaker Accused of Antisemitism for Repeated Attacks on ‘Zios,’ Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Who Is the Biggest Bastard?’ Belgian Politician Equates Israel With Hamas After Refusing Jewish New Year Greeting

Matthias Diependaele, Minister‑President of Flanders, has faced backlash after declining to send a Rosh Hashanah message to Belgium’s Jewish community. Photo: Screenshot
A senior Belgian politician who recently refused to send a Jewish New Year message has once again sparked outrage for equating Israel with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Matthias Diependaele, Minister‑President of Flanders — the Dutch-speaking region in northern Belgium — was speaking before the Flemish Parliament on Tuesday when he argued the world’s lone Jewish state and only democracy in the Middle East was no better morally than an international designated terrorist group.
“How do you explain who is the biggest bastard?” he asked. “On the one hand, you have an innovative, modern country that should be based on Western standards, but uses disproportionate force and commits human rights violations without any compassion. On the other hand, you see a terrorist organization that doesn’t hesitate to hide behind a human shield. Who is the bigger bastard? The one who shoots at children? Or the one who uses them as a human shield? I don’t know. I choose the innocent victims, and I want to think about how best to help them.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the ongoing war with their invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages while perpetrating widespread sexual violence. In response, Israel has waged a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths during its war effort to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, which rules Gaza, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the Israeli miitary.
Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
Diependaele belongs to the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the same center-right party led by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever. His parliamentary remarks prompted immediate backlash.
“The Flemish Alliance has completely surrendered to leftist pressure and no longer has a moral compass. He compares a free society and democratic state, existentially threatened, to a gang of murderous Muslim terrorists,” said Sam van Rooy, a lawmaker from the right-wing Vlaams Belang party, according to multiple reports. “This is why I continue responding to the anti-Israeli debate, constantly fed by leftist parties and traditional parties — it causes masks to fall. Israel is a litmus test. Now we know that, unfortunately, Flanders is controlled by a prime minister who cannot distinguish between good and evil.”
Diependaele has even received criticism from other members of Belgium’s five-party federal government coalition.
Sammy Mahdi, head of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V), described the remarks in an Instagram post as “shameful” and indicative of “a lack of common sense.”
CD&V and Vooruit, another political party in the coalition, said on Wednesday that Diependaele was not speaking on behalf of the government, according to Belgian media.
Diependaele’s comments came after he declined a request last week by the Belgian Jewish newspaper The Centrale to provide a Rosh Hashanah message. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, will take place in late September this year.
“After internal deliberation, we regret to inform you that, given the current situation and sensitivities concerning the tensions in the Middle East, we cannot follow up on your request,” the statement from Diependaele’s office read.
“Anything that bears even the slightest connection to this conflict is being closely monitored and examined under a magnifying glass. For that reason, we do not deem it opportune to go into this any further,” it continued.
According to the Jewish newspaper, requesting a Rosh Hashanah greeting from Belgium’s leaders for the country’s Jewish citizens has been a long-standing tradition.
“This year, even that became radioactive,” The Centrale wrote.
Shortly after the newspaper published Diependaele’s response, which drew widespread outrage from Belgium’s Jewish community, the politician rejected claims of antisemitism and attempted to defend his earlier statement.
“My refusal is purely based on the principle that, for more than 15 years in my role as a representative of the people, I have not supported religious activities,” Diependaele wrote in a new letter sent to The Centrale.
“I have also never accepted invitations for the Eid. I have also never taken part in a Te Deum for Catholics,” the Flemsih leader continued. “By this I am in no way passing judgment on any religion or on the people who practice it. It is, however, my conviction that no religion — including my own — has any role to play in the exercise of my mandate.”
However, the paper rejected Diependaele’s new letter, arguing that his shift from “too sensitive right now” to a “timeless principle” was an attempt to mask his initial fear of public backlash.
The World Jewish Congress denounced Diependaele’s actions as a clear act of antisemitism.
“Holding Jews in the Diaspora collectively accountable for the actions of Israel – is antisemitic. To be a political leader, and to refuse to acknowledge the traditions and culture of your country’s Jewish community – because of Israel – is antisemitic,” the organization said in a statement. “What transpired is quite clear: A political leader declined to acknowledge their Jewish citizens because of Israel and the perceived public backlash about engaging with Jews.”
While members of the Belgian government have been pushing for a tougher stance against Israel amid the Gaza war, the country has been less critical of the Israeli military campaign in recent months than other European countries.
In late April, for example, De Wever rejected a journalist’s claim that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza and argued it is premature to recognize a “Palestinian state.”
Weeks earlier, Belgium announced it would not enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, should he visit Brussels.
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Palestinian Activist Ahed Tamimi Says ‘We Are Fighting the Jews, Not Zionism’

Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi attends the annual festival of Greek Communist Youth in Athens, Greece, Sept. 22, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Costas Baltas
Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi said on a podcast earlier this month that she is fighting Jews, not Zionism, and that she wishes for World War III.
“I was raised [to believe] that Judaism means occupation, and today, tomorrow, and a million years from now, I will continue to say that Judaism [should] be presented to the children of Palestine – children of my age and younger – as occupation, and that we are fighting the Jews, not Zionism,” Tamimi, now 24, said on “The Enlightenment Podcast” on YouTube on Aug. 8.
Tamimi’s comments were flagged by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which reported on and translated her remarks.
Palestinian Activist Ahed Tamimi: We Are Fighting the Jews, Not Just Zionism; Westerners Patronize Us with Their Aid, They should Shut Up When We Talk; They Will Give Us Aid, Whether They Like It Or Not, and We Will Not Thank Them; I Wish for a Nuclear WWIII, So the Whole World… pic.twitter.com/NNn5Jf7TD6
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) August 15, 2025
“The whole world needs to shut up, when a Palestinian is talking,” she said. “We are superior to the entire world, because we are the only ones in the world fighting injustice, at the expense of our lives, and the expense of our humanity.”
Tamimi continued, “Every night when I go to sleep, I put my head on the pillow, and I pray to God to protect the humanity left inside me, because I don’t want to become a killer. In this West of yours, if a mother screams at her child, he grows up to become a serial killer.”
“I have reached a point where I wish for a World War III. Whoever dies, dies, and whoever lives, lives. The important thing is that we will be over with this. I have reached this point,” she said. “Let the whole world be destroyed, I don’t care. Let them drop nuclear bombs, and destroy the whole world, so it won’t be just the Palestinians.”
These recent comments are the most recent in a long string of radical remarks by Tamimi. In November 2023, she wrote, in an Instagram post, “Come on settlers, we are waiting for you in all the West Bank cities from Hebron to Jenin – we will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke.”
Speaking about Israelis who live in the West Bank, she said, “We will drink your blood and eat your skull. Come on, we are waiting for you.”
Tamimi became famous internationally in 2017 when a video of her, then just 16 years old, slapping, kicking, and yelling at Israeli soldiers went viral as a symbol of both Palestinian resistance to Israel, and the asymmetric nature of the conflict. The soldiers did not retaliate but did later arrest her.
Tamimi was convicted on four counts of assaulting an IDF officer and soldier, incitement, and interference with IDF forces in March 2018, and was sentenced to eight months in prison and eight months of probation.
She was released a few months later, in July 2018. Since then, Tamimi has been hailed as a Palestinian human rights activist, received a book deal from Penguin Random House, and consistently received sympathetic coverage from Western news outlets.
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Trump Administration Reaffirms Opposition to Turkey Rejoining F-35 Program

A Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft is seen at the ILA Air Show in Berlin, Germany, April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt
The Trump administration has reaffirmed its opposition to Turkey’s rejoining the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, citing Ankara’s possession of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.
In a letter sent on Wednesday to US Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH), a senior State Department official reiterated that Washington remains committed to enforcing the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which penalizes countries with financial ties to Russia’s defense sector.
“The Trump administration is fully committed to protecting US defense and intelligence assets and complying with US law, including CAATSA,” the letter read
The message, signed by Paul Guaglianone of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, stated that Washington’s position “has not changed” and that Turkey’s continued possession of the Russian-supplied S-400 remains incompatible with US law and defense requirements. The official stressed that the Trump administration was fully committed to protecting American defense and intelligence assets while maintaining its obligations under the National Defense Authorization Act.
Despite the strained relationship, the letter emphasized that Turkey remains a longstanding NATO ally. US officials framed the relationship as critical to the security interests of both countries and signaled a willingness to maintain dialogue with Ankara.
In 2017, despite several US warnings, Ankara purchased the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, leading to Turkey’s expulsion from the multibillion-dollar fighter jet program in 2019.
“The United States seeks to cooperate with Turkey on common priorities and to engage in dialogue to resolve disagreements,” Guaglianone wrote, while maintaining that Washington has “expressed our disapproval of Ankara’s acquisition of the S-400 and clearly conveyed steps that would need to be taken” in the sanctions review process.
The letter came after a bipartisan coalition of more than 40 US lawmakers pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month to prevent Turkey from rejoining the F-35 program, citing ongoing national security concerns and violations of US law. Members of Congress warned that lifting existing sanctions or readmitting Turkey to the US F-35 fifth-generation fighter program would “jeopardize the integrity of F-35 systems” and risk exposing sensitive US military technology to Russia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed during a NATO summit in June that Ankara and Washington had begun discussing Turkey’s readmission into the program.
Under Section 1245 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the Pentagon is prohibited from transferring F-35 jets or related technology to Turkey unless Ankara no longer possesses the Russian-made S-400 system and provides assurances it will not acquire such equipment in the future. Because Turkey continues to retain the S-400, US officials are legally barred from approving its participation in the F-35 program.