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The Guardian Publishes Claim That Terror-Loving Palestinian-American Woman Was ‘Kidnapped’ By IDF
“The IDF kidnapped my mother.”
That is the absurd claim from Ibrahim Hamed, a US-based man whose Palestinian mother was recently arrested in Israel.
Even more absurd, however, is the fact that The Guardian (and others) printed the allegation without doing even a modicum of journalistic due diligence — due diligence that would have shown precisely why she was arrested.
According to The Guardian, Hamed wants US President Joe Biden to intervene after Samaher Esmail, who is a US citizen, was taken into custody from a home in the West Bank town of Silwad, where she lives part-time.
Referencing the IDF’s statement that Esmail had been arrested for “incitement on social media,” the outlet detailed Hamed’s unsubstantiated claim that his mother was beaten, handcuffed, and blindfolded, as well as his assertion that she was arrested merely for being “critical of Israel’s West Bank occupation” on social media:
He said he feared comments which she posted on social media that were critical of Israel’s West Bank occupation may have brought her unwanted attention from the IDF. But he said it was ‘bogus’ for Esmail to be arrested for them.
However, a quick search of Esmail’s Facebook profile reveals the posts that most likely led to her arrest were those in which she praised the October 7 Hamas massacre, posted photos holding an automatic weapon, and glorified infamous Hamas terrorists who have murdered hundreds of innocent civilians.
Indeed, had The Guardian journalist who wrote the piece, Ramon Antonio Vargas, actually bothered to look at Esmail’s social media profile — something that took less than 20 seconds for HonestReporting to find — he would have found it awash with disturbing messages and imagery.
For example, on the day that Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern Israeli communities, killing and raping scores of civilians, Esmail wrote numerous comments online praising the terrorists responsible and calling for more violence.
Dear @guardian, we think you’ll find that the IDF arrested, not “kidnapped” his mother.
It took us 15 seconds of online research to find just this one social media post below, which could reasonably illustrate why.
Shame your reporter couldn’t do the same due diligence. https://t.co/q62NaABQe2 pic.twitter.com/QeOonzRn8X
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 8, 2024
In one post, Esmail, who describes herself as an educator within Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish Public School System, included footage of Hamas terrorists kidnapping an Israeli grandmother and asked for God to “bless” them, adding: “Don’t play with your tails, this day will be witnessed in the history, remember it very well 07/10/2023.”
In another October 7 post, she wrote: “7/10/2023, date of a rich history, we do not know when it will be repeated, whether it will happen in our time, or the time of our children, or the time of our grandchildren. But the victory is coming no doubt with God’s will. Victory or martyrdom. We are the children of Palestine who don’t know surrender. Don’t play with us, bastards the sons of Zion.”
In further posts, she warned that Palestinians will take the Israeli city of Tel Aviv “back from the hands of the rapists” and describes the “joy” of terrorists filmed breaking across the Gaza border.
Seemingly in the United States at the time of the massacre, Esmail also apparently graffitied her car in support of Hamas, showing off photos of a vehicle daubed in slogans including “Freedom to Palestine!” and “Today is the victory day, promised and memorable for Gaza 7/10/2023.”
Other posts written by Esmail include her praise for Yahya Ayyash, a Hamas terrorist dubbed “The Engineer,” who introduced the tactic of suicide bombings and orchestrated attacks that killed dozens of Israelis, and current Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida, whose picture she once used as her own profile photo.
Meanwhile, her son, Ibrahim Hamed, who painted a picture of his mother as a harmless woman to The Guardian, commented beneath one photo of his burka-clad mother aiming a rifle: “Walla, let me go hide kill em.”
Unfortunately, The Guardian wasn’t the only outlet to be taken in by what it described as Hamed’s “mother’s plight.”
The Washington Post published a piece that quoted the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization previously found to have ties to Hamas, and its demand that as “an American citizen, Samaher Esmail deserves the full protection and support of her government.”
And CBS News went even further, printing her son’s ludicrous claim that none of his mother’s posts “support Hamas specifically.”
Perhaps CBS News should have tried doing some actual journalism and checking to see if she had expressed support for Hamas.
Sadly, it seems that even the most basic journalistic standards have been abandoned by so many leading news organizations when it comes to reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The latest tale of injustice toward Palestinians that has transpired to be anything but, is evidence of that.
Update: The Guardian amended its story after HonestReporting revealed Samaher Esmail’s Facebook posts with the following paragraph: “The statement did not elaborate, but a Facebook profile that matches Esmail’s name and likeness – with fewer than 110 followers – contained an image of her smiling next to text spelling out the date of Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel. At least two images displayed her posing with a rifle.”
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 The Guardian Publishes Claim That Terror-Loving Palestinian-American Woman Was ‘Kidnapped’ By IDF first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.