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Politico Hired an Anti-Israel Journalist, Then Ran Her Stories on the Middle East
Israeli soldiers and emergency responders attend the scene of a suspected Palestinian shooting attack on an Israeli bus that, according to Israeli emergency services, killed a child and wounded others, near Beit Jala in the West Bank, Dec. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dedi Hayun
In the wake of the Gaza ceasefire, a new narrative painting Israel as an aggressor is subtly infiltrating mainstream media.
Biased reporters, like Politico’s Dalia Hatuqa, try to depict Israel’s ongoing anti-terrorism operations in the West Bank as a new onslaught against innocent Palestinians.
To that end, any means is justified — including distorted or even made-up terminology, one-sided sources, and omission of crucial facts.
In a recent piece published by the magazine, Hatuqa interviews residents of the Jenin refugee camp who were displaced due to Israel’s operation. The accounts are obviously heartbreaking, and only one paragraph is dedicated to Israel’s stated aim of uprooting murderous Jihadis.
Without any mention of terror casualties on the Israeli side, Hatuqa goes on to platform a Jenin hospital director, as well as Diana Buttu, a former PLO official with a track record of spreading falsehoods about Israel.
And then, attentive readers understand Hatuqa’s trick: her entire piece, including the headline — “The ‘Gaza-ification’ of the West Bank” — is parroting the words of these one-sided sources.
One of these words is “revenge,” as if Israel is now unleashing its anger over October 7 not on Gaza but on poor West Bank residents:
Many here in the West Bank believe this operation is a way for Israelis, still angry about the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, to continue to take revenge on the Palestinian population despite the Gaza cease-fire.
Other words are used to mask who Israel is really fighting against. The made-up term “traditional Palestinian factions,” for example, is used instead of naming the proscribed terror groups that threaten Israel, such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
And the phrase “Palestinian armed resistance” appears in a distorted background paragraph about Israel’s 2002 military operation in Jenin. The paragraph completely omits the fact it was Israel’s reaction against the terror wave of the Second Intifada that targeted Israelis with suicide bombs on buses and in cafes.
Sadly, none of this is surprising if one takes a quick look at Hatuqa’s X account (formerly Twitter). She doesn’t even try to hide her pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli bias.
In a tweet last week, she called a protester who raised a Palestinian flag during the Super Bowl halftime show “a king.”
This is who @politico published.
No surprise that someone who sees terrorism as “armed resistance” also considers an attempt to disrupt the Super Bowl halftime show as a heroic act. https://t.co/DfHQ3P5Qdw pic.twitter.com/6WjP8XqcYX
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 10, 2025
And last year, she ridiculed Israel’s proven claim that UNRWA staff and Gazan journalists participated in Hamas’ October 7 atrocities:
How can Politico see Hatuqa as a credible journalist? What she writes is not news but propaganda, and it’s quite easy to check her social media activity.
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 Politico Hired an Anti-Israel Journalist, Then Ran Her Stories on the Middle East first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
The post Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.