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Pro-Hamas Turkish MP Who Collapsed and Died Moments After Delivering Anti-Zionist Rant Is Buried With Honors
The funeral at the Turkish parliament of pro-Hamas MP Hasan Bitmez. Photo: Screenshot
Dozens of Turkish dignitaries attended the funeral on Thursday afternoon of a pro-Hamas parliamentarian who collapsed and died just seconds after delivering a ferociously anti-Zionist speech in front of his fellow MPs.
The death of the MP — Hasan Bitmez of the Islamist Saadet Party — had been announced earlier by Turkey’s Health Minister, Fahrettin Koca.
Video of Bitmez collapsing at the podium on Monday a split second after he finished speaking went viral on the internet. After warning Israel that it faced “the wrath of God” while displaying a sign reading “Israel murders,” Bitmez immediately fell to the ground unconscious. Efforts by other MPs to revive him failed and he was rushed to Bilkent City Hospital in Ankara, where he died on Thursday morning after spending two days in the intensive care unit. It is understood that Bitmez, who was 54, suffered from diabetes.
Bitmez’s funeral procession began outside the Turkish parliament in front of key leaders, including former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Mustafa Elitas, the deputy chairman of the ruling Islamist AKP Party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Also present was Bitmez’s father, who demonstratively wore a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf. The coffin was wrapped in a Turkish flag that was in turn placed over a Palestinian flag, local media outlets reported.
A vice-president of the Saadet Party, Bitmez entered parliament last May as the representative of the city of Kocaeli.
Bitmez’s last post on his X/Twitter feed on Dec. 9 criticized the Turkish government for retaining relations with Israel, comparing the country’s leaders unfavorably with the Iran-backed Houthi rebel movement in Yemen which enthusiastically supports Hamas and has attacked commercial shipping bound for Israel in the Red Sea.
“Who is a friend of ISRAEL, who is a friend of PALESTINE?” Bitmez wrote. “Are the Houthis in Yemen trying to prevent ships carrying logistics to Israel? Or is it the AKP government that still sends all kinds of materials Israel needs to Israeli ports with dozens of ships every day from Turkish ports?”
The circumstances of Bitmez’s death drew ironic amusement from pro-Israel advocates on social media, who pointed out that he collapsed less than a minute after asserting that Israel faced divine retribution.
“LOL! Turkish MP Hasan Bitmez says God will punish Israel and instantly has a heart attack,” one post remarked, while another commented, “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”
Turkish lawmaker gets heart attack right after saying Israel will ‘not be able to escape the wrath of God’.
I guess he couldn’t escape it either. pic.twitter.com/V8wHbCm7R1
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) December 13, 2023
The post Pro-Hamas Turkish MP Who Collapsed and Died Moments After Delivering Anti-Zionist Rant Is Buried With Honors 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.