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Palestinian Analyst: PA Security Forces Will Join Upcoming Terror Campaigns as They Have in the Past

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visiting the West Bank city of Jenin. Photo: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s security services, which are funded and trained by the US, have played an active role in terrorism in the past.

Moreover, their current role in terror is “an important indication about the possibility that this group will participate [in the fighting] if a confrontation will develop in the West Bank.”

This assessment, reinforcing Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)’s repeated recent warnings, comes from Palestinian analyst Akram Al-Natsheh. He recognizes that just as the PA Security Forces were very active in terror during the five-year-long terror-intifada [2000-2005], and recently during the Nablus terror wave [2022-2023], they will continue to perpetrate terror in West Bank fighting in the future:

The participation of former or present Security [Forces] members [in operations] is no longer unusual … Recently, we have seen the participation of security members in operations … They provide an important indication about the possibility that this group will participate [in the fighting] if a confrontation will develop in the West Bank, like in the Al-Aqsa Intifada [i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered] or like what we saw with armed groups such as the Lion’s Den in Nablus [i.e., independent terror cell], which relied on the Palestinian Security Forces members who resigned from their positions.” [emphasis added]

[Al Jazeera website, Palestinian publicist and political commentator Akram Al-Natsheh, March 22, 2024]

Fatah, which rules the PA, loves to boast about how many of its members are involved in terror. In January, an official Fatah spokesman said:

Today we are speaking about nearly 8,000 prisoners inside the occupation’s [i.e., Israel’s] prisons. More than half of the prisoners’ movement is from Fatah, and the remaining less than half are from the rest of the factions together.

This shows that Fatah still adheres to the benefit of the struggle, regardless of what will be. It has carried the flag of armed struggle, it carried the flag of popular resistance in the popular [first] Stone Intifada [i.e., Palestinian terror wave, approximately 200 Israelis murdered, 1987-1993], it returned to armed resistance in the Al-Aqsa Intifada, and today it is in favor of popular resistance [i.e., Palestinian term, includes use of violence and terror], and these strategies change and replace each other at every stage, but Fatah has not abandoned any one of its options. [emphasis added]

[Official Fatah Spokesman Abd Al-Fattah Doleh, Falestinona, YouTube channel, Jan. 1, 2024]

PMW, in its report Terrorists in Uniform, has documented this active role in terror by the PA. For example, Palestinian statistics themselves demonstrate that Fatah and the PA Security Forces have been playing a lead role in the recent terror wave against Israelis:

Director of Palestinian Center for Strategic Studies Muhammad Al-Masri: “More than roughly 63-65% of the number of Martyrs in the West Bank, in the daily confrontations, are members of the Fatah Movement.

And most of them are members of the [PA] Security Forces or their sons … The ones who are being pursued in the streets, arrested, and imprisoned are the Palestinian Security Forces officers.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, June 14, 2023]

Fatah has broadcasted similar statistics on its TV channel:

Fatah-run Awdah TV host: “More than two thirds of the Martyrs in the West Bank over [the last] year-and-a-half belong to the Fatah Movement and the PA … More than 355 of our Palestinian people’s prisoners inside the prisons are from the Palestinian [PA] Security Forces–in other words, the PA’s soldiers.” [emphasis added]

[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 27, 2023]

The PA is controlled by Fatah and by its own admission is synonymous with terror in the West Bank. Nevertheless, the US, UK, and many others in the West believe that the PA and its Security Forces are some sort of moderate element that work to prevent terror and thus should be the ones to receive control over the Gaza Strip on “the day after” the war.

Such beliefs could not be more mistaken. The PA and Fatah are deeply involved in terror and brag about it. Such an organization has no place taking the reins of power in Gaza.

Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.

The post Palestinian Analyst: PA Security Forces Will Join Upcoming Terror Campaigns as They Have in the Past first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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New Poll: Majority of NYC Voters ‘Less Likely’ to Support Mamdani Over His Refusal to Condemn ‘Globalize the Intifada’

Zohran Mamdani Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

In a warning sign for the campaign of Democratic nominee for mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani, a majority of city voters in a new poll say the candidate’s hardline anti-Israel stance makes them less likely to vote for him.

In the survey of likely city voters conducted by American Pulse, 52.5 percent said Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada” coupled with his backing of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement made them less likely to vote for him in November. Just 31% of city voters polled were more likely to support him because of these positions.

At the same time, a significant share of young New York City voters support Mamdani’s anti-Israel positioning, a striking sign of shifting generational views on Israel and the Palestinian cause.

Nearly half  of voters aged 18 to 44 (46 percent) said the State Assembly member’s backing for BDS and “refusal to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’” made them more likely to support him.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist from Queens, has been under fire for defending “globalize the intifada,” a slogan many Jewish groups associate with incitement to violence against Israel and Jews. While critics argue it glorifies terrorism, supporters claim it’s a call for international solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially Palestinians. Mamdani has also voiced support for BDS, a movement widely condemned by mainstream Jewish organizations as antisemitic for singling out Israel.

The generational divide exposed by the poll comes amid a broader political realignment. Younger progressives across the country are increasingly critical of Israeli policies, especially in the wake of the Gaza war, and more receptive to Palestinian activism. But to many Jewish leaders, Mamdani’s rising support is alarming.

Rabbi David Wolpe, visiting scholar at Harvard University, condemned the phrase with a sarcastic analogy.

“‘Globalize the intifada’ is just a political slogan,” he said. “Like ‘The cockroaches must be exterminated’ was just a housing authority slogan in Rwanda.”

Jewish organizations have reported a surge in antisemitic incidents in New York and across the U.S. since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last fall. The blending of anti-Zionist slogans with calls for “intifada,” historically linked to violent uprisings, has deepened fears among Jewish communities that traditional red lines are being crossed.

Whether this emerging coalition reshapes New York politics remains to be seen. However, the poll indicates that among younger voters, views that were once considered fringe are quickly moving into the mainstream.

The post New Poll: Majority of NYC Voters ‘Less Likely’ to Support Mamdani Over His Refusal to Condemn ‘Globalize the Intifada’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: Jews Targeted at June’s Pride Month Events

A Jewish gay pride flag. Photo: Twitter.

The research division of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) released a report on Wednesday detailing incidents of hate against Jews which took place last month during demonstrations in celebration of LGBTQ rights and identity.

Incidents reported by the group include:

  • At a Pride march in Wales, the activists Cymru Queers for Palestine chose to block the path and show a sign that said “Profiting from genocide,” an attempt to link the event’s sponsors — such as Amazon — to the war in Gaza.
  • A Dublin Pride march saw the participation of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which labeled Israel a “genocidal entity.”
  • In Toronto at a late June Pride march, demonstrators again attacked organizers with a sign declaring, “Pride partners with genocide.”

CAM also identified a recurring narrative deployed against Israel by some far-left activists: so-called “pinkwashing,” a term which the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement calls “an Israeli government propaganda strategy that cynically exploits LGBTQIA+ rights to project a progressive image while concealing Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies oppressing Palestinians.”

The report notes that at a Washington DC Pride event in early June Medea Benjamin, cofounder of activist group Code Pink and a regular of anti-war protests, wore a pair of goofy, oversized sunglasses and a shirt in her signature pink with the phrase “you can’t pinkwash genocide.”

Other incidents CAM recorded showed the injection of anti-Israel sentiment into Pride events.

A musical group canceled a performance at an interfaith service in Brooklyn, claiming the hosting synagogue had a “public alignment with pro-Israel political positions.” In San Francisco before the yearly Trans March, a Palestine group said in its announcement of its participation, “Stop the war on Iran and the genocide of Palestine, stop the war on immigrants and attacks on trans people.”

CAM notes that this “queers for Palestine” sentiment is not new, pointing to a 2017 event wherein “organizers of the Chicago Dyke March infamously removed participants who were waving a Pride flag adorned with a Star of David on the grounds that the symbol ‘made people feel unsafe.’”

In February, the Israel Defense Forces shared with the New York Post documents it had recovered demonstrating that Hamas had tortured and executed members it suspected of homosexuality and other moral offenses in conflict with Islamist ideology.

Amit Benjamin, who is gay and a first sergeant major in the IDF, said during a visit to New York City for Pride month that “All the ‘queers for Gaza’ need to open their eyes. Hamas kills gays … kills lesbians … queers cannot exist in Gaza.”

The post Report: Jews Targeted at June’s Pride Month Events first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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IAEA pulls inspectors from Iran as standoff over access drags on

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi at the agency’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country’s nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.

Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in a 12-day war with the Islamic Republic three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran’s facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.

Iran’s parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency’s inspectors will be able to return to Iran.

“An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict,” the IAEA said on X.

Diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors’ safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.

Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“[Grossi] reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible,” the IAEA said.

The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran’s three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran’s nine tonnes of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.

That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.

As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries’ declarations. But the bombing of Iran’s facilities has now muddied the waters.

“We cannot afford that … the inspection regime is interrupted,” Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.

The post IAEA pulls inspectors from Iran as standoff over access drags on first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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