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Pro-Israel Democrats Blast Washington Post Over ‘Antisemitic Tropes’ in Coverage of ‘Extremist’ Jewish Activists
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University in Somerville, Massachusetts, poses in an undated photograph provided by her family and obtained by Reuters on March 29, 2025. Photo: Courtesy of the Ozturk family/Handout via REUTERS
A US group advocating pro-Israel policies within the Democratic Party has lambasted the Washington Post for promoting what it described as “antisemitic tropes” in a front-page news story published on Saturday.
The article — headlined “A militant Zionist group threatens activists online with a ‘deport list’” — profiled the resurgence of Betar, an organization with roots going back a century which has chosen to embrace a hardball style in confronting — critics say threatening — anti-Israel protesters.
Betar, a right-wing Jewish group, says that it has assembled a list of foreign students who have engaged in pro-Hamas advocacy, calling on the Trump administration to deport them for supporting a US-designated terrorist organization. The Post noted that there is no evidence that Betar’s research has contributed to any deportations.
Another controversial tactic Betar employs is advocating for pro-Israel supporters to hand pagers to pro-Hamas activists, a move some regard as a threat of violence given its reference to a successful Israeli operation to explode the pagers used by members of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon.
The group Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) took issue with the Post‘s coverage of Betar, saying it pushed “antisemitic tropes” by suggesting, without concrete evidence, that the small Jewish organization has had significant influence on the Trump administration pursuing its policy of deporting non-citizen students who allegedly support Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Beginning with clarification that “Betar does not speak for us,” DFMI President and CEO Mark Mellman then ran down a list of values DMFI supports including the US constitution, freedom of speech, the presumption of innocence, holding accountable those who harass Jewish students, and that “convicted criminals who are not citizens can be returned to their home countries and that our country is stronger when this process demonstrates adherence to the law.”
Mellman said that DMFI was “taken aback that, at a time of rising antisemitism, the Washington Post would echo antisemitic tropes by publishing a front-page story suggesting a small, extremist group is responsible for Donald Trump’s deportation policy. The decision is especially troubling when the Post admits, in the story’s fifth paragraph, that it ‘couldn’t determine whether the group played a role in the Trump administration’s decision to target deportees.’”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) includes Betar in its “Glossary of Extremism and Hate.” The entry describes how the organization “adopts the far-right Kahanist slogan calling for Jewish armament, ‘Every Jew, a .22,’ openly embraces Islamophobia and harasses Muslims online and in person. The group has indicated that they would like to work with the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group with a history of antisemitism and Islamophobia, to ‘counter Islamic jihadis.’”
The ADL also notes that Betar “posted a video of an individual shouting Islamophobic slurs outside of a mosque with the caption, ‘We protest mosques.’”
Betar rejects accusations of extremism.
“This claim that Betar, the youth movement associated with the Revisionist Zionist movement, is extremist is a mischaracterization that overlooks its historical context and ideological evolution,” the organization said in a Monday statement on X. “Founded in 1923 by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Betar was originally conceived as a Zionist organization aimed at fostering Jewish nationalism and preparing Jews for the defense of the Jewish homeland. However, labeling Betar as ‘extremist’ in the modern context fails to recognize its integral role in shaping mainstream Zionism and its evolution into a broad-based ideological movement.”
Betar described how its “core ideology” had “always focused on Jewish self-defense, the establishment of a Jewish state in the historical land of Israel, and the revival of Hebrew culture. These principles align with the broader goals of Zionism, which advocated for the return of Jews to their ancestral homeland and the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state.”
Betar said that to call the group extremist “is to misunderstand the historical trajectory of Zionism itself. The movement has always been dedicated to the vision of a Jewish homeland, and its advocacy for this cause, far from being an extremist position, is one shared by the majority of Israeli society and is enshrined in the foundational principles of the modern State of Israel. To call Betar extremist is to call Zionism extremist.”
Following the arrest of Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, Betar wrote Wednesday on X accompanied by an American flag emoji that “she was on our list. Many more jihadis are. We will be making a new submission Monday with approximately 1800 more jihadis. Submit to us candidates with proof for @ICEgov to consider!”
On Friday, US District Judge Denise Casper in Boston halted Ozturk’s deportation, requesting a response by Tuesday from the Trump administration to a complaint by the Turkish student. As of Monday, Ozturk remains in custody at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana and she reportedly suffered an asthma attack while in transit to the facility.
The post Pro-Israel Democrats Blast Washington Post Over ‘Antisemitic Tropes’ in Coverage of ‘Extremist’ Jewish Activists first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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