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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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University of Toronto is granted an injunction to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment that has been on campus for two months
The University of Toronto has received an injunction to dismantle the pro-Palestinian encampment on its property. The 98-page decision from Justice Markus Koehnen of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice said that members of the encampment must take down the tents within 24 hours, by 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 3. Toronto Police will have […]
The post University of Toronto is granted an injunction to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment that has been on campus for two months appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Jewish Cemeteries Vandalized in Cincinnati, Montreal
Vandals in Canada targeted a Jewish cemetery. Photo: Screenshot
Vandals have targeted notable Jewish cemeteries in Cincinnati, Ohio and Montreal, Canada, sparking outcry and concern over mounting threats of antisemitism.
Vandals at Montreal’s Kehal Yisrael Cemetery placed memorial stones in the shape of a Nazi swastika on top of tombstones. Ones with the last names Eichler and Herman were targeted in the antisemitic attack.
Placing memorial stones on graves is an ancient Jewish custom to memorialize the dead. Jewish cemeteries oftentimes have stones nearby tombstones for mourners.
Canadian leaders decried the vandalism.
“It is absolutely abhorrent and revolting to defile the dead with swastikas,” Jeremy Levi, the Jewish mayor of a Jewish-majority suburb of Montreal, commented on X/Twitter. “This desecration at the Kehal Israel cemetery in Montreal is beyond contempt. [Canadian Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau, step aside and get out of the way so we can reclaim our country. May this Kohen’s neshama have an Aliyah on high.” One of the tombstones vandalized belonged to a Kohen.
The leader of the Conservative Party in Canada’s parliament and candidate for prime minister, Pierre Poilievre, lambasted Trudeau and denounced antisemitism. “We cannot close our eyes to the disgusting acts of antisemitism that are happening in our country everyday,” he posted on X/Twitter. “The prime minister must finally act to stop these displays of antisemitism. If he won’t, a common sense Conservative government will.”
Canada, like many countries around the world, has experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Meanwhile in Cincinnati, vandals targeted two historic Jewish cemeteries this past week, toppling and shattering ancient tombstones — some dating back to the 1800s.
According to a statement from the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, 176 gravesites in Cincinnati’s West Side were ruined “in an act of antisemitic vandalism.”
“Due to the extensive damage and the historical nature of many of the gravestones, we have not yet been able to identify all the families affected by this act,” the statement continued. “Our community [is] heartbroken.”
The Cincinnati Police Department and the FBI are investigating the incidents.
The destruction of monuments is the latest in a greater trend of antisemitic vandalism. In an incident over the weekend, vandals in Australia targeted war memorials dedicated to Australian veterans who sacrificed their lives in Korea and Vietnam with pro-Hamas graffiti.
A couple weeks earlier, vandals in Belgium defaced two memorials for Holocaust victims with swastikas and a phrase calling for violence against Israel. In Germany, meanwhile, at least seven stolpersteine, or stumbling blocks in the sidewalk meant to mark Jewish homes seized by the Nazis, were defaced with the message “Jews are perpetrators.”
The US, Canada, Europe, and Australia have all experienced an explosion of antisemitic incidents in the wake of the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, and amid the ensuing war in Gaza. In many countries, anti-Jewish hate crimes have spiked to record levels.
According to the B’nai Brith, antisemitic incidents in Canada more than doubled in 2023 compared to the prior year.
The post Jewish Cemeteries Vandalized in Cincinnati, Montreal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Launches Probe Into Anti-Israel Rapporteur for Allegedly Accepting Trip Funded by Pro-Hamas Organizations
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The United Nations has opened an investigation into allegations that its special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories accepted an all-expense paid trip to Australia from various pro-Hamas groups.
In November 2023, Francesca Albanese allegedly traversed around the Australian continent on a trip whose high price tag was covered by anti-Israel organizations, according to documentation acquired by UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO that monitors the UN.
Albanese initially landed in Sydney and subsequently enjoyed flights into Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra, as well as Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand. The glamorous excursion is estimated to have cost a staggering $22,500.
The UN Investigations Division of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) told UN Watch last week that it had alerted the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the allegations of financial impropriety levied at Albanese.
In a letter sent to UN leadership last month, UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer outlined evidence based on multiple sources indicating that Hamas-supporting organizations funded Albanese’s trip to Australia, which has been experiencing an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.
Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA), an organization that lobbies Australian politicians on behalf of the pro-Palestinian cause, claimed on its website that it “sponsored Ms. Albanese’s visit to Australia” to speak at its annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture in Adelaide. During the lecture, Albanese thanked AFOPA for “organizing such a busy visit,” in which she met with numerous Australian politicians and foreign ministry officials.
Free Palestine Melbourne (FPM) and Palestinian Christians in Australia (PCIA) both claimed to have “supported her visit to Victoria, ACT [Australian Capital Territory] and NSW [New South Wales].” Both groups also publicly declare that they participate in explicit lobbying of Australian politicians in an attempt to “change their minds” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
While on her visit, Albanese served as a keynote speaker at a PCIA fundraiser. FPM encourages politicians to endorse the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel on the international stage economically and politically as the first step toward the Jewish state’s eventual elimination.
Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network (APAN) said it was “honored to support” Albanese’s visit. The organization’s president, Nasser Mashni, openly endorses the terrorist group Hamas and has stated that the eradication of Israel is necessary to secure “the liberation of earth.” APAN states that it “facilitated a range of meetings” for Albanese with Australian parliamentarians.
Palestinians in Aotearoa Co-ordinating Committee (PACC) and Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) both organized and likely bankrolled Albanese’s trip to New Zealand, according to UN Watch. At the behest of these groups, Albanese helped lobby a New Zealand sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel-linked companies.
Albanese outright denied that her trip was funded by Palestinian lobbying organizations, insisting that the UN footed the bill.
“Yet another trail of egregiously false claims agst me,” she tweeted. “My trip to Australia was paid by the UN as part of my mandate’s activities. Continuous defamation agst my mandate may be well remunerated,but won’t work. It just wastes time that should be used to help stop violence in [the Palestinian territories].”
Albanese did not present any documentation confirming that the UN paid for her travel and accommodations. Rather, she pointed at a statement from AFOPA reading, “Ms. Albanese was authorized by the UN to accept AFOPA’s invitation to deliver the Edward Said Memorial Lecture. The UN funded Ms. Albanese’s travel & accommodation costs. No Palestinian Solidarity group paid for this trip.”
Albanese has an extensive history of using her role at the UN to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize Hamas’ attacks on the Jewish state.
In April, Albanese issued public support for the pro-Hamas protests and encampments on American university campuses, saying that they gave her “hope.” She has also repeatedly falsely accused the Jewish state of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza and enacting “apartheid” in the West Bank without condemning Hamas’ terrorism against Israelis.
In February, Albanese claimed Israelis were “colonialists” who had “fake identities.” Previously, she defended Palestinians’ “right to resist” Israeli “occupation” at a time when over 1,100 rockets were fired by Gaza terrorists at Israel. Last year, US lawmakers called for the firing of Albanese for what they described as her “outrageous” antisemitic statements, including a 2014 letter in which she claimed America was “subjugated by the Jewish lobby.”
Albanese’s anti-Israel comments have earned her the praise of Hamas officials in the past.
Additionally, in response to French President Emmanuel Macron calling Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel the “largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century,” Albanese said, “No, Mr. Macron. The victims of Oct. 7 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression.”
Video footage of the Oct. 7 onslaught showed Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas celebrating the fact that they were murdering Jews.
Nevertheless, Albanese has argued that Israel should make peace with Hamas, saying that it “needs to make peace with Hamas in order to not be threatened by Hamas.”
The UN did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The post UN Launches Probe Into Anti-Israel Rapporteur for Allegedly Accepting Trip Funded by Pro-Hamas Organizations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.