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PEN America Lists Palestinian Terrorists as ‘Writers’ in Annual Freedom Index
A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters / Carlo Allegri / File.
Shortly after PEN America published its annual Freedom to Write Index last Wednesday, The New York Times rushed out a story quoting the organization’s “director of writers at risk,” Karin Karlekar, who described the worsening threats against writers worldwide.
“Russia and Israel entered the list of the Top 10 biggest jailers, as Karlekar noted that countries with conflict or war crackdown on dissent,” The New York Times reported in the piece, which also detailed how the Israel-Hamas war had “roiled PEN America itself” when it was forced to cancel its 2024 literary awards ceremony amid a boycott by prize nominees who insisted PEN America is overly sympathetic to the Jewish State.
While the Times is happy to lump Israel alongside authoritarian regimes like Russia, it failed to name any of the writers whose allegedly unjust jailing has led to Israel’s ignominious inclusion on PEN America’s list. If these writers had been named, it would’ve immediately become clear to readers why Israel has no business being listed alongside countries like Russia, China, and Iran.
.@nytimes reports Israel has entered @PENamerica‘s top 10 list of countries with the most imprisoned writers, in the company of states including Iran, China, Saudi Arabia & Russia.
Let’s take a look at some of those “dissenters” on the Israeli list. https://t.co/zPbZ4Hhji4
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 2, 2024
Palestinian Terrorists Listed as “Writers”
Among the first names on the list is none other than Khalida Jarrar, a self-confessed senior leader in the terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who has served time in prison for multiple terrorism offenses.
Also listed is Ahed Tamimi, whose inclusion is absurdly based on the fact she has a memoir that was ghost-written for her, a 23-year-old Palestinian provocateur who, in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas massacre, wrote online: “We will slaughter you & you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke. We will drink your blood & eat your skull. Come on, we are waiting for you.”
Tamimi was arrested on suspicion of incitement and later freed as part of the hostage-prisoner exchange with Hamas.
Rasem Obaidat, who, unlike most of the other “writers” on the list, has actually published a few things, has been jailed a total of five times and is a member of the PFLP, according to an Israeli security source. Of course, you wouldn’t know this from PEN America’s sanitized description of Obaidat, which claims he was arrested for merely “sharing his critical views of Israel.”
PEN America also included Radwan Qatanani, describing him as an “online commentator posting primarily on Twitter,” without detailing any of the posts that likely led to Qatanani’s detention, such as his October 8 message that praised Hamas’ “beautiful” terrorists and lauded their “wonderful captures.”
Nawef Al-Amer and Musab Khamees Qafeisha are both on the list and identified as a social media commentator and a freelance reporter. Wisely, PEN America opted not to reveal where their work most frequently appears, which is the Sanad News Agency, a propaganda website that lavishes praise on Hamas and the “heroic” Palestinians who murder Israeli civilians.
However, the most disturbing entry on the list is that of Mirvat Al-Azzeh, whom PEN America acknowledges was fired by NBC News over a series of posts made shortly after October 7, including one in which she mocked Israeli hostages.
In another post, she wrote: “Sirens all the time, the Jews are hiding and the Arabs are out drinking coffee on their balconies” and said the Hamas attacks were like “watching a movie where the director is Palestinian and the protagonists are from Gaza.”
Finally, a salient fact completely overlooked by both PEN America and The New York Times in its cursory coverage of the Index is that many of the arrested “writers” were later released. Unlike the other countries on PEN America’s list, Israel practices the rule of law: it arrests individuals on suspicion of breaking the law and releases them if no grounds for continued detention are found.
PEN America’s list is a farce — an A to Z of terrorists and Jew-haters. Nothing more, nothing less.
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 PEN America Lists Palestinian Terrorists as ‘Writers’ in Annual Freedom Index 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.