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This Washington Post Writer Defames Israel Online and In Print
Since October 7, when Hamas terrorists brutally invaded Israel and slaughtered hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians, Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah has dedicated both her weekly newsletter and much of her social media to discussing Israel, the Palestinians, and the Jewish state’s ongoing war against the Hamas terror organization.
However, despite being an award-winning journalist, Attiah’s published pieces and social media posts are chockful of misleading statements, baseless opinions, and a skewed analysis that serve only to construct a narrative that is solely bent on tarnishing the Jewish state.
In particular, the three key ways by which Karen Attiah develops her toxic narrative is through the implicit justification of Hamas’ attack, the manipulation of language, and the twisting of facts and history.
“If Israel proceeds to make good on its threats to turn Gaza into flattened pavement, it’s all the more clear that ‘never again’ does not apply to Arab or Muslim lives,” Karen Attiah writes. https://t.co/SFu0RtCU0l
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) October 14, 2023
Karren Attiah’s Reaction to October 7
In her first Washington Post newsletter following the October 7 massacres, Karen Attiah referred to Hamas’ attack as “horrific,” “unprecedented,” and a “nightmare.” On Twitter, she reposted an update on the number of Israeli deaths with the comment “My god.”
However, in light of her robust activity on social media in the days following October 7, it appears that the above is merely a lip service condemnation while her deeper feelings about Hamas’ invasion are much more sinister and alarming.
As one analyst put it, Attiah’s reaction to October 7 “fell somewhere between dismissive and giddy.”
Viewing Hamas’ brutal assault as an expression of decolonization, Attiah reportedly reposted a now-deleted tweet that exulted in the attack: “What did y’all think decolonization meant? vibes? papers? essays? Losers.”
Similarly, Attiah also reposted a tweet that declared “Settlers are not the victims here and never will be.”
On October 8, in response to a tweet that downplayed the value of “armed struggle,” Attiah tweeted, “There are a lot of people going off of vibes and feel-good platitudes about decolonization and resistance, not actual historical knowledge and research about the global south.”
That same day, she also tweeted that “We are forced to see state violence as justified + moral, while violence by non-state actors isn’t. This is changing.”
There are a lot of people going off of vibes and feel-good platitudes about decolonization and resistance, not actual historical knowledge and research about the global south. https://t.co/KkdqbW85UY
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) October 8, 2023
Even more than two weeks later, when a large extent of Hamas’ atrocities had been made public, Karen Attiah felt it necessary to repost a tweet by Marc Lamont Hill that read, “So many university academics who insist upon doing performative, virtue signaling ‘land acknowledgements’ at every public event are eerily silent as real liberation struggles are happening. Guess decolonization really is a metaphor for some folk…”
In her first newsletter following the Hamas attack, Attiah decried the fact that “People using the terms ‘decolonization’ and ‘liberation’ in describing Palestinians’ struggle for human rights have had their remarks taken out of context and have been accused of championing Hamas’s brand of terrorism.”
While she might believe there is some distinction to be made, it appears from her social media history, that Karen Attiah’s reaction to Hamas’ terrorism is at best ambivalent and at worse supportive.
From “Ethnic Cleansing” to “Never Again”: Misuse of Language
One of the ways in which Karen Attiah frames her anti-Israel narrative is through the use (and abuse) of evocative language in describing Israel’s military response to Hamas’ brutality.
Throughout her newsletters, Attiah refers to the IDF’s defensive military action as “atrocities,” “collective punishment,” “genocidal,” and the “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”
She also recently tweeted that it was “not a war against Hamas. This is Israel waging a colonial-style, punitive massacre against Palestinians.”
This is not a war against Hamas.
This is Israel waging a colonial-style, punitive massacre against Palestinians.
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) November 11, 2023
In addition to her use of direct language, Karen Attiah also uses insinuations to negatively associate Israel with some of the darkest events in modern history.
In one newsletter, Attiah wrote that “The last time millions of people were targeted and trapped based on their identity, the world said ‘never again.’”
By invoking the terminology “never again,” Attiah is drawing a direct and baseless comparison between Israel’s military struggle against the Hamas terror group and Nazi Germany’s attempt to destroy European Jewry during the Holocaust.
In a later newsletter, Attiah implicitly compares Israel to the French in Algeria. Here, too, the comparison is absurd, as France was a colonial power ruling over the native population while Israel is the embodiment of an indigenous population’s return to sovereignty in their ancestral homeland.
The Nazis trapped millions of Jews & transported them to their deaths.
Israel is helping Palestinians escape while rooting out Hamas evil that’s ACTUALLY perpetrating atrocities based on identity.
How dare @washingtonpost allow @KarenAttiah‘s antisemitism to infect its pages. https://t.co/biLeEPboRT pic.twitter.com/IBZ7F3kJ1d
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 14, 2023
A third way that Karen Attiah misuses language to further her anti-Israel narrative is by questioning the use of certain terminology.
For example, in one newsletter, she questioned the use of the term “human shields” when describing Hamas’ cynical use of Gazan civilians as cover for its terrorist activities.
To her mind, the term
means any Palestinian is a possible vector for violence, an unwitting Trojan horse for terrorism. You know the thing about shields and armor? Shields are allowed to be penetrated and broken, so long as the enemy is vanquished. Is this how we should be talking about people, human beings?
This quote reveals a lot about Karen Attiah’s mindset: If Israel is unable to fight Hamas due to the latter’s use of humans shields (a viewpoint not based in international law), then any Israeli response is to be condemned. Ultimately, this rewards Hamas’ violation of human rights while punishing Israel for its defense of its citizenry.
Misuse of Facts & History
One of the most concerning issues with Karen Attiah’s analysis is her reliance on misleading statements and skewed facts to support her troubling narrative.
Several examples of Karen Attiah’s loose grip on the facts include:
1) In one piece, Attiah claims that “the angry discourse in response to the Oct. 7 attack has been undeniably anti-Arab and Islamophobic in nature, and utterly dehumanizing.”
This statement completely ignores the rise in antisemitism following the October 7 massacre and Israel’s response. Only four days after the publication of Attiah’s piece, the ADL noted an almost 400% increase in antisemitic incidents since October 7.
2) In another piece, Karen Attiah claims that “Black writers and civil rights leaders have a long history of seeing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of the Black struggle for freedom and resistance to violent imperialism.” She then lists such leaders as Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Huey Newton.
However, to make her case, Attiah purposefully ignores the history of Black and civil rights leaders supporting Israel and Zionism, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Bayard Rustin, and John Lewis.
3) Attiah claims that in 2018, Marc Lamont Hill “was removed as a commentator from CNN after expressing solidarities with Palestinians.” This minimizes what Hill actually did, which was call for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” which many interpret to mean the dismantling of the Jewish state.
4) In her latest piece, Karen Attiah claims that the Israel-Palestine issue is “a fundamentally British colonial project.” Throughout the piece, she attempts to portray Israel as being the creation of British imperialism by citing the Balfour Declaration, a few pronouncements by Winston Churchill, and the 1922 British Mandate.
However, in order to present this overly simplistic picture, Attiah has to ignore the fact that Britain severely limited Jewish immigration in 1939, it abstained from the UN partition vote in 1947, it battled Zionist militias fighting for independence in the late 1940s, it did not recognize Israel until 1950, and the British-trained forces in Jordan and Egypt were part of the invasion of Israel in 1948.
Karen Attiah appears to hold a rigid worldview, which focuses on observing reality through the lenses of race and decolonization. However, by viewing the world this way, Attiah is forced to disregard certain facts that do not fit neatly into an ideological box.
This not only leaves her analysis lacking in credibility but also deprives her readers at The Washington Post of the proper nuanced and intelligent analysis that they deserve.
The post This Washington Post Writer Defames Israel Online and In Print first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syrian Leader al-Sharaa Holds Talks With Erdogan on Surprise Istanbul Visit
Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, met during al-Sharaa’s first diplomatic trip since the fall of the al-Assad regime. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was holding talks with Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul on Saturday, local media reported. No further details were available.
This comes one day after the US administration of President Donald Trump issued orders that it said would effectively lift sanctions on Syria in order to help the country rebuild after a devastating civil war.
The Treasury Department issued a general license that authorizes transactions involving the interim Syrian government led by Al-Sharaa, as well as the central bank and state-owned enterprises.
The general license, known as GL25, “authorizes transactions prohibited by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations, effectively lifting sanctions on Syria,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Syria welcomed the sanctions waiver early on Saturday, which the Foreign Ministry called a “positive step in the right direction to alleviate the country’s humanitarian and economic suffering.”
Syria is keen on cooperating with other countries “on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs. It believes that dialogue and diplomacy are the best path to building balanced relations,” the ministry said in a statement.
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‘It Was Just An Accident’ by Iran’s Jafar Panahi Wins Cannes’ Top Prize
Director Jafar Panahi, Palme d’Or award winner for the film “Un simple accident” (It Was Just an Accident), reacts, during the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Revenge thriller “It Was Just An Accident” by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was last at the Cannes Film Festival in person more than 20 years ago, won the Palme d’Or top prize on Saturday.
Panahi, who has been arrested several times for his filmmaking and was under a travel ban until recently, last attended the festival in person in 2003, when “Crimson Gold” was screened in the Un Certain Regard category.
“Art mobilizes the creative energy of the most precious, most alive part of us. A force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope and new life,” said jury president Juliette Binoche when announcing the award.
“It Was Just An Accident” follows Vahid, played by Vahid Mobasseri, who kidnaps a man with a false leg who looks just like the one who tortured him in prison and ruined his life.
Vahid sets out to verify with other prison survivors that it is indeed their torturer – and then decide what to do with him.
An emotional Panahi, wearing sunglasses on stage, thanked his cast and film crew during his acceptance speech.
The Grand Prix, the second-highest prize after the Palme d’Or, was awarded to “Sentimental Value” from acclaimed director Joachim Trier.
The jury prize was split between the intergenerational family drama “Sound of Falling” from German director Mascha Schilinski and “Sirat,” about a father and son who head into the Moroccan desert, by French-Spanish director Oliver Laxe.
Brazil’s “The Secret Agent” won two awards, one for best actor for Wagner Moura, as well as best director for Kleber Mendonca Filho.
“I was having Champagne,” said Mendonca Filho after he ran up to the stage to collect his award after celebrating Moura, who previously made a name for himself in hit TV series “Narcos.”
Newcomer Nadia Melliti took home best actress for “The Little Sister,” a queer coming-of-age story centered around the daughter of Algerian immigrants in Paris.
Belgium’s Dardenne brothers, who have the rare honor of already having won two Palme d’Or prizes, took home the award for best screenplay for their film “Young Mothers.”
Twenty-two films in total were competing for the prize at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, with entries from well-known directors Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson and Ari Aster.
Saturday’s closing ceremony officially ends the glamour-filled festival that began on May 13.
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Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Admin From Revoking Harvard Enrollment of Foreign Students
US President Trump speaks to the media at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, Washington, DC, April 21, 2025. Photo: Andrew Leyden/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
A US judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students, a policy the Ivy League school called part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to “surrender its academic independence.”
The order provides temporary relief to thousands of international students who were faced with being forced to transfer under a policy that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university called a “blatant violation” of the US Constitution and other federal laws, and said would have an “immediate and devastating effect” on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.
“Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the 389-year-old school said in its lawsuit filed earlier on Friday in Boston federal court. Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, equal to 27% of total enrollment.
The move was the latest escalation in a broader battle between Harvard and the White House, as Trump seeks to compel universities, law firms, news media, courts and other institutions that value independence from partisan politics to align with his agenda. Trump and fellow Republicans have long accused elite universities of left-wing bias.
Harvard has pushed back hard against Trump, having previously sued to restore nearly $3 billion in federal grants that had been frozen or canceled. In recent weeks, the administration has proposed ending Harvard’s tax-exempt status and hiking taxes on its endowment, and opened an investigation into whether it violated civil rights laws.
Leo Gerden, a Swedish student set to graduate Harvard with an undergraduate degree in economics and government this month, called the judge’s ruling a “great first step” but said international students were bracing for a long legal fight that would keep them in limbo.
“There is no single decision by Trump or by Harvard or by a judge that is going to put an end to this tyranny of what Trump is doing,” Gerden said.
In its complaint, Harvard said the revocation would force it to retract admissions for thousands of people, and has thrown “countless” academic programs, clinics, courses and research laboratories into disarray, just a few days before graduation. It said the revocation was a punishment for Harvard’s “perceived viewpoint,” which it called a violation of the right to free speech as guaranteed by the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
The Trump administration may appeal US District Judge Allison Burroughs’ ruling. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “unelected judges have no right to stop the Trump Administration from exercising their rightful control over immigration policy and national security policy.”
Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, his administration has accused several universities of indifference toward the welfare of Jewish students during widespread campus protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Harvard’s court challenges over the administration’s policies stand in contrast to its New York-based peer Columbia University’s concessions to similar pressure. Columbia agreed to reform disciplinary processes and review curricula for courses on the Middle East, after Trump pulled $400 million in funding over allegations the Ivy League school had not done enough to combat antisemitism.
In announcing on Thursday the termination of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, effective starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, without providing evidence, accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”
Harvard says a fifth of its foreign students in 2024 were from China. US lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about the influence of the Chinese government on US college campuses, including efforts by Beijing-directed Chinese student associations to monitor political activities and stifle academic speech.
The university says it is committed to combating antisemitism and investigating credible allegations of civil rights violations.
HARVARD DEFENDS ‘REFUSAL TO SURRENDER’
In her brief order blocking the policy for two weeks, Burroughs said Harvard had shown it could be harmed before there was an opportunity to hear the case in full. The judge, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, scheduled hearings for May 27 and May 29 to consider next steps in the case. Burroughs is also overseeing Harvard’s lawsuit over the grant funds.
Harvard University President Alan Garber said the administration was illegally seeking to assert control over the private university’s curriculum, faculty and student body.
“The revocation continues a series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence,” Garber wrote in a letter on Friday to the Harvard community.
The revocation could also weigh on Harvard’s finances. At many US universities, international students are more likely to pay full tuition, essentially subsidizing aid for other students.
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Harvard’s bonds, part of its $8.2 billion debt pile, have been falling since Trump first warned US universities in March of cuts to federal funding.
International students enrolled at Harvard include Cleo Carney, daughter of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Princess Elisabeth, first in line to the Belgian throne.
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