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‘Shame on You!’: Jenna Ortega Receives Backlash for Ignoring Israeli Suffering in Message About Iran, Gaza Wars
American actress Jenna Ortega wearing Markgong SS25 RTW and Sheryl Lowe jewelry arrives at the Netflix Tudum 2025: The Live Event held at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Los Angeles, California, United States. Photo: Image Press Agency via Reuters Connect
American actress Jenna Ortega is being criticized for not acknowledging Israelis in a statement she shared on Saturday about the ongoing wars in the Middle East and how they are impacting civilians in Iran and the Gaza Strip.
The “Wednesday” star, 22, said in an Instagram Story that the world is “crying” because of immigration raids in Los Angeles, the Israel-Hamas war, and the Israel-Iran war that started earlier on Friday morning. “Innocent civilians in Iran are caught in the middle of warfare. Palestinian cries are still being buried in every day [sic] media. My thoughts are heavy, my heart follows,” she wrote.
Ortega then urged her followers to “never stop paying attention” as “human freedoms spanning across seas are being violated with such violence.” She told the 37.2 million people who follow her on Instagram: “Listen to one another & love, but be angry too. Educate yourself as best you can. To say this doesn’t concern you, or that it isn’t your problem, is a privilege under abuse.” The Story was later saved to Ortega’s Instagram highlights.
An Instagram Story uploaded by Jenna Ortega. Photo: Screenshot
Ortega’s post came a day after Israel launched airstrikes against Iran, targeting nuclear sites and military infrastructure in the Islamic Republic, and amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Ortega’s “Scream” co-star Melissa Barrera was dropped from an upcoming film in the franchise because of her anti-Israel social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.
Ortega’s comments on Saturday garnered criticism from Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), a nonprofit, pro-Israel organization comprised of prominent members of the entertainment industry who aim to combat antisemitism. CCFP shamed Ortega for ignoring the suffering Israeli civilians are facing while Israel is engaged in two wars in the region.
“If you truly care about innocent lives, all lives, then don’t erase Israeli civilians,” said CCFP. “You wrote about being heartbroken over civilians in Iran and Palestinians being buried by the media. But where is your heartbreak for the Israeli families being slaughtered by Iran’s missiles and terror proxies? Where is your voice for the Jewish children who are forced to sleep in bomb shelters? For the Israeli families torn apart? For Jewish lives murdered simply for existing?”
CCFP noted that the regime in Iran “is the aggressor, deliberately targeting civilians in Israel in a blood hunt fueled by antisemitic hatred while also affecting the Iran population.”
“You say to ‘educate yourself’, so do it fully,” the organization added. “Don’t speak in vague moral poetry that hides support for terror ‘between the lines.’ Speak clearly. Condemn all violence. That includes the missiles launched at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. That includes Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Shame on you!”
Ortega has regularly posted support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which began after the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The post ‘Shame on You!’: Jenna Ortega Receives Backlash for Ignoring Israeli Suffering in Message About Iran, Gaza Wars 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.