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NY Times Platforms ‘Progressive’ Activist Who Called Oct. 7 ‘Provoked’ and Compared Hamas to Holocaust Survivors
A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters / Carlo Allegri
The documentary No Other Land, a joint Israeli-Palestinian production that won an Academy Award earlier this month, is not “just a film” — at least according to a guest essay in The New York Times by Rania Batrice and Libby Lenkinski.
Batrice, described by the Times as a Palestinian-American activist and “strategist for progressive causes,” and Israeli-American activist Lenkinski, argue that No Other Land is much more than a movie — it’s a “statement, a challenge, and an act of defiance.”
Batrice and Lenkinski argue that the film’s Israeli and Palestinian creators are “defying the zero-sum logic that dominates the region” by working together.
Yet, as they acknowledge, No Other Land has faced criticism from both Israelis and Palestinians. Among the latter, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign condemned Palestinian activist Basel Adra for collaborating with Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham.
According to Batrice and Lenkinski, this opposition has “undermined the joint artistic work that directly criticizes the Israeli government.”
Oscar-winning Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Palestinian activist Basel Adra claim to show “life under occupation” in Masafer Yatta, yet their doc distorts the area’s true history. When you start with a pre-written script, propaganda wins out over facts. pic.twitter.com/7z2vLjp2Ev
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 7, 2025
This, ultimately, is the core message of their essay: No Other Land presents a model of collaboration in which Israeli activists align with Palestinian efforts to challenge Israel’s legitimacy — what Batrice and Lenkinski euphemistically call “co-resistance.”
It’s a charming spin. After all, “resistance” is precisely the term that Hamas uses for every suicide bombing and stabbing attack it orchestrates against Israeli civilians.
Batrice and Lenkinski are now attempting to repackage the term, stripping it of its violent connotations. See? Israelis are “resisting” too. It’s non-violent. It’s peaceful. It’s art.
“If there is any hope for the future, it lies precisely in these partnerships, in collaboration, and in what the filmmakers aptly call ‘co-resistance,’” they write.
There’s just one problem. One of the essay’s authors had a rather different interpretation of “resistance” on October 7, when Hamas terrorists, aided by Gazan civilians, invaded Israel, massacred 1,200 people, and dragged 251 more back to Gaza as hostages.
On that day — the morning Israelis woke to hundreds of rockets and videos flooding social media of men, women, and children being hunted down, shot, stabbed, and bludgeoned — Rania Batrice was busy amplifying Hamas propaganda.
She shared footage of terrorists paragliding into Israel and opening fire, complete with a text overlay likening them to Jews smuggling weapons into Nazi ghettos during the Holocaust.
Rania Batrice posted a video of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks that described terrorists attacking civilians as “resistance… invading illegal settlements housing illegal settlers.”
Now this “progressive” Palestinian American activist is writing in @nytimes.
pic.twitter.com/7COOZ5XMV7
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 17, 2025
And 24 hours later — on October 8, 2023, when even the most committed apologists could no longer claim ignorance about the scale of the atrocities — Batrice doubled down, declaring that anyone who described the attack as “unprovoked” was “part of the problem.”
The Times essay calls No Other Land a “challenge” — and in a way, that’s true.
It’s certainly a challenge to take seriously a film that distorts decades of legal rulings and historical facts so thoroughly that its inclusion in the Academy’s documentary category was an insult in itself.
But the Times essay itself presents an even greater challenge: How does one reconcile its co-author’s supposed belief in the unity of Israelis and Palestinians when on the day of the bloodiest massacre in Israeli history, she was celebrating?
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 NY Times Platforms ‘Progressive’ Activist Who Called Oct. 7 ‘Provoked’ and Compared Hamas to Holocaust Survivors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
The post Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.