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Released Terrorist Admits Palestinian Authority Security Forces Fought Israel in the Second Intifada
Palestinians, including children, celebrating the Second Intifada. Photo: Screenshot.
Palestinian terrorist Naji Arar was recently released from Israeli prison, having served 18 years. He was warmly welcomed and hugged by Palestinian Authority (PA) police officers:
Posted text: “A reception for [released] prisoner Naji Arar from the village of Qarawat Bani Zeid, near Ramallah, after spending 18 years in the occupation’s [i.e., Israel’s] prisons.”
[Official PA TV, Telegram channel, May 1, 2025]
Why would PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ police force praise and greet a released terrorist?
- Because Arar is one of them, and was imprisoned for fighting Israelis while he was a PA Security Forces (PASF) member.
- Because the PASF endorses and participates in terror against Israelis, as exposed by Palestinian Media Watch.
Introduced and praised on official PA TV as a member of the PA Security Forces, terrorist Arar explained that during the Second Intifada — the PA’s five-year terror campaign during which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered — it was the PA Security Forces members who “responded to the call of the homeland” and “resisted” — i.e., carried out terror attacks:
Official PA TV host: “Today we will talk about the state of the prisoners … with a released prisoner who spent more than 18 years in the occupation’s prison cells … We have with us the free prisoner Naji Arar … Let’s talk about your first period of imprisonment. We’re talking about a young man in his prime, a member of the [PA] Security Forces of whom we are also proud. Tell us about the first period of imprisonment.” …
Naji Arar: “I was a member of the Security Forces, of the security establishment. When we responded to the call of the homeland — we responded to this call through the Security Forces.
Do you remember the Al-Aqsa Intifada [i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005] and the [Israeli] invasions [of the West Bank cities]? The ones who resisted there were the Security Forces members, of course, in cooperation with our people and the factions. I was arrested in Ramallah and sentenced to 18 years … It was shocking. But for Palestine, everything is insignificant.
We were released … and met the security establishment through which we launched [our activity back then]. It welcomed us.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Giants of Endurance, May 30, 2025]
The PA Security Forces’ involvement in terror against Israelis is not a thing of the past though. Palestinian Media Watch has repeatedly exposed examples of the Forces’ involvement in terror.
This is also one of the central arguments against giving the PA governance over the Gaza Strip once Hamas has been eradicated, as doing so would just replace one terror organization with another.
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas has already announced his “vision” that the PA Security Forces will be responsible for security in the Strip:
Mahmoud Abbas: “Today we present the Palestinian vision for dealing with the challenges [in Gaza]. We are working to achieve coordination on them among the Arabs. Here are the important principles: The State of Palestine will fulfill its role in the Gaza Strip through its governmental institutions. An administrative committee has been established for this purpose.
The PA Security Forces will bear responsibility [for security in Gaza] after the construction and unification of the existing staff in Gaza and training [security personnel] in Egypt and Jordan.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV News, March 5, 2025]
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
The post Released Terrorist Admits Palestinian Authority Security Forces Fought Israel in the Second Intifada first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.
“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.
Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.
A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.
Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”
States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.
After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.
The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.
The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.
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Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says
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
Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.
The post Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.
The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”
On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.
Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.
The post Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.