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The Media Has Ignored 11 Months of Hezbollah Attacks to Blame Israel for Recent Violence
Firefighters respond to a fire near a rocket attack from Lebanon, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, near Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, June 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
On Monday, September 23, hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalated, as the IDF struck hundreds of terror targets in southern Lebanon and Beirut. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed terror group launched volleys of rockets, missiles, and drones deep into northern and central Israel.
Israel’s strikes targeted Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure, marking the latest in a week-long effort to halt the group’s relentless bombardment of northern Israel since October 8. The operation aims to stop the barrage, and enable tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return home along the Lebanese border.
To minimize Lebanese civilian casualties, the IDF issued warnings through text messages, phone calls, and radio alerts, urging civilians to evacuate areas where Hezbollah hides its weapons.
Yet, despite the precision of Israel’s operations, multiple news outlets ran headlines framing the strikes as indiscriminate, and casting Israel as the primary instigator of tensions along its northern border.
Hezbollah has been relentlessly bombarding Israel’s north for 11 months. Over the last few days, the IDF has been targeting the terror group’s members and weapons in order to put a stop to it.
However, you would never know this from reading these media headlines. pic.twitter.com/H4qZJCoZ5o
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 24, 2024
For example, The Washington Post’s headline described Israel’s precision strikes on Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure as “Hundreds of Israeli airstrikes pound Lebanon,” while its subheading placed equal blame on both Israel and Hezbollah for escalating the conflict.
This framing conveniently ignored that Hezbollah initiated the violence by launching rockets at northern Israel on October 8, 2023 — and continuing until today:
Similarly, headlines by Voice of America and NBC News reported on Israeli strikes against Lebanon, giving the misleading impression that Israel was targeting the Lebanese state as a whole, rather than focusing on the terror organization that controls southern Lebanon.
Headlines from the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, and Politico focused solely on Lebanese casualties, omitting the fact that these numbers included Hezbollah fighters. They also failed to mention that Israel’s strikes were aimed at Hezbollah’s weapon caches and personnel.
Anyone reading these headlines would be left with the false impression that Israel was conducting an indiscriminate bombing campaign against innocent Lebanese civilians, devoid of any clear tactical objective.
In another headline, the Associated Press accused Israel of “escalating” the conflict, conveniently ignoring Hezbollah’s months-long campaign of rocket attacks on northern Israel and the recent intensification of its strikes on Israeli civilian areas.
Here’s @AP accusing Israel of “escalating” a conflict while it defends itself against relentless Hezbollah attacks.
In what world does this pass for objective reporting? https://t.co/tYZw6qqlcm pic.twitter.com/Baz9wBT2gp
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 24, 2024
One of the most egregious headlines came from Sky News, which accused Israel of “provoking” Hezbollah into fully deploying its arsenal.
In the bizarre worldview of Sky News and its international affairs editor, Dominic Waghorn, Israel is painted as an irrational aggressor while Hezbollah is portrayed as a rational, restrained entity. Only by completely disregarding Hezbollah’s actions over the past 11 months could such a tone-deaf headline be justified.
It’s not just the headlines causing issues. CNN’s ongoing coverage of the escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah has consistently pushed a narrative that Israel shows little concern for civilians caught in the crossfire. CNN has largely placed the blame for rising tensions on Israel, downplaying Hezbollah’s role in initiating the conflict 11 months ago and its relentless bombardment of northern Israel ever since.
By fixating on Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah positions while disregarding or downplaying the terror group’s central role in this conflict, the media not only undermines Israel’s legitimate acts of self-defense in the court of public opinion, but also provides cover for Hezbollah to continue its aggression against the Jewish State.
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.
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New Poll: Majority of NYC Voters ‘Less Likely’ to Support Mamdani Over His Refusal to Condemn ‘Globalize the Intifada’

Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
In a warning sign for the campaign of Democratic nominee for mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani, a majority of city voters in a new poll say the candidate’s hardline anti-Israel stance makes them less likely to vote for him.
In the survey of likely city voters conducted by American Pulse, 52.5 percent said Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada” coupled with his backing of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement made them less likely to vote for him in November. Just 31% of city voters polled were more likely to support him because of these positions.
At the same time, a significant share of young New York City voters support Mamdani’s anti-Israel positioning, a striking sign of shifting generational views on Israel and the Palestinian cause.
Nearly half of voters aged 18 to 44 (46 percent) said the State Assembly member’s backing for BDS and “refusal to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’” made them more likely to support him.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist from Queens, has been under fire for defending “globalize the intifada,” a slogan many Jewish groups associate with incitement to violence against Israel and Jews. While critics argue it glorifies terrorism, supporters claim it’s a call for international solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially Palestinians. Mamdani has also voiced support for BDS, a movement widely condemned by mainstream Jewish organizations as antisemitic for singling out Israel.
The generational divide exposed by the poll comes amid a broader political realignment. Younger progressives across the country are increasingly critical of Israeli policies, especially in the wake of the Gaza war, and more receptive to Palestinian activism. But to many Jewish leaders, Mamdani’s rising support is alarming.
Rabbi David Wolpe, visiting scholar at Harvard University, condemned the phrase with a sarcastic analogy.
“‘Globalize the intifada’ is just a political slogan,” he said. “Like ‘The cockroaches must be exterminated’ was just a housing authority slogan in Rwanda.”
Jewish organizations have reported a surge in antisemitic incidents in New York and across the U.S. since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last fall. The blending of anti-Zionist slogans with calls for “intifada,” historically linked to violent uprisings, has deepened fears among Jewish communities that traditional red lines are being crossed.
Whether this emerging coalition reshapes New York politics remains to be seen. However, the poll indicates that among younger voters, views that were once considered fringe are quickly moving into the mainstream.
The post New Poll: Majority of NYC Voters ‘Less Likely’ to Support Mamdani Over His Refusal to Condemn ‘Globalize the Intifada’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Jews Targeted at June’s Pride Month Events

A Jewish gay pride flag. Photo: Twitter.
The research division of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) released a report on Wednesday detailing incidents of hate against Jews which took place last month during demonstrations in celebration of LGBTQ rights and identity.
Incidents reported by the group include:
- At a Pride march in Wales, the activists Cymru Queers for Palestine chose to block the path and show a sign that said “Profiting from genocide,” an attempt to link the event’s sponsors — such as Amazon — to the war in Gaza.
- A Dublin Pride march saw the participation of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which labeled Israel a “genocidal entity.”
- In Toronto at a late June Pride march, demonstrators again attacked organizers with a sign declaring, “Pride partners with genocide.”
CAM also identified a recurring narrative deployed against Israel by some far-left activists: so-called “pinkwashing,” a term which the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement calls “an Israeli government propaganda strategy that cynically exploits LGBTQIA+ rights to project a progressive image while concealing Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies oppressing Palestinians.”
The report notes that at a Washington DC Pride event in early June Medea Benjamin, cofounder of activist group Code Pink and a regular of anti-war protests, wore a pair of goofy, oversized sunglasses and a shirt in her signature pink with the phrase “you can’t pinkwash genocide.”
Other incidents CAM recorded showed the injection of anti-Israel sentiment into Pride events.
A musical group canceled a performance at an interfaith service in Brooklyn, claiming the hosting synagogue had a “public alignment with pro-Israel political positions.” In San Francisco before the yearly Trans March, a Palestine group said in its announcement of its participation, “Stop the war on Iran and the genocide of Palestine, stop the war on immigrants and attacks on trans people.”
CAM notes that this “queers for Palestine” sentiment is not new, pointing to a 2017 event wherein “organizers of the Chicago Dyke March infamously removed participants who were waving a Pride flag adorned with a Star of David on the grounds that the symbol ‘made people feel unsafe.’”
In February, the Israel Defense Forces shared with the New York Post documents it had recovered demonstrating that Hamas had tortured and executed members it suspected of homosexuality and other moral offenses in conflict with Islamist ideology.
Amit Benjamin, who is gay and a first sergeant major in the IDF, said during a visit to New York City for Pride month that “All the ‘queers for Gaza’ need to open their eyes. Hamas kills gays … kills lesbians … queers cannot exist in Gaza.”
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IAEA pulls inspectors from Iran as standoff over access drags on

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi at the agency’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country’s nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.
Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in a 12-day war with the Islamic Republic three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran’s facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.
Iran’s parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency’s inspectors will be able to return to Iran.
“An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict,” the IAEA said on X.
Diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors’ safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.
Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“[Grossi] reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible,” the IAEA said.
The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran’s three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran’s nine tonnes of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.
That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.
As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries’ declarations. But the bombing of Iran’s facilities has now muddied the waters.
“We cannot afford that … the inspection regime is interrupted,” Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.
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