The charred remains of the Israeli bus hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in 1978 Coastal Road massacre, which was masterminded by female terrorist Dalal Mughrabi. Photo: MathKnight via Wikimedia Commons.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has turned arch-terrorist Abu Jihad (Khalil Al-Wazir) into one of the greatest role models for Palestinian society. He headed the PLO terror organization’s military wing and planned many deadly Fatah terror attacks from the 1960s to the 1980s, in which 125 Israelis were murdered.

These “achievements” are a source of eternal pride for Palestinians, and the PA and all PA institutions commemorate and glorify Abu Jihad on the anniversary of his death.

Affectionately hailing Abu Jihad as “the Prince of Martyrs,” the PA praised him in its official daily earlier this year, highlighting the numerous terror attacks he planned. The paper even stated how many Israelis were murdered in some of Abu Jihad’s “military operations,” among them the Coastal Road massacre that, prior to Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was the most lethal in Israel’s history with 37 murdered Israelis, among them 12 children:

The article in the official PA daily included a picture of terrorist Khalil Al-Wazir “Abu Jihad.”

Abu Jihad, the deputy general commander of the revolution forces and engineer of the first Intifada …

Among the military operations [i.e., terror attacks] that Abu Jihad planned: the Zohar reservoir bombing in 1955; the operation to blow up the Israeli National Water Carrier pipelines (Eilabun tunnel) in 1965; the Savoy Hotel operation in Tel Aviv and the killing of 10 Israelis in 1975; the operation to blow up a truck bomb in Jerusalem (15 murdered – ed.) in 1975; the operation to kill Albert Levy, the senior sapper and his assistant, in Nablus in 1976; the Dalal Mughrabi operation, in which more than 37 Israelis were killed, in 1978; the operation to shell the Eilat Port in 1979; and the Katyusha fire on the northern settlements )in 1981.

In addition, he also planned the infiltration of the headquarters of the Israeli military governor in Tyre and its bombing, leading to the deaths of 76 officers and soldiers, including 12 senior officers, in 1982; he led the war of attrition during the years 1982-1984 in southern Lebanon; and he planned the Dimona Reactor operation [i.e., Mothers’ Bus attack, 3 murdered] in 1988, which was the principal reason for his assassination. [emphasis added]

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 16, 2025]

Palestinian Media Watch documented last year that the PA named a new hall in Ramallah after Abu Jihad.

The Palestinian National Council (the legislative body of the PLO) elevated Abu Jihad to the status of “a symbol and paradigm of the Palestinian revolution,” owing to the many murderous terror attacks he planned against Israelis that it praised as “quality operations”:

Posted text: ” On this date in 1988, the malicious hands of the occupation’s [i.e., Israel’s] arms and its security forces succeeded in killing a symbol and paradigm of the Palestinian revolution, unique leader Khalil Al-Wazir ‘Abu Jihad,’ … He was one of the first founders of the Fatah Movement and a member of its [Fatah] Central Committee, the mastermind behind the quality operations [i.e., terror attacks] in the history of the revolution, a sharp politician and military man who combined wisdom in leadership and determination in confrontation.” [emphasis added]

[Palestinian National Council Chairman Rawhi Fattouh, Facebook page, April 16, 2025]

PA educational institutions also mark the day of Abu Jihad’s death.

Fatah’s Shabiba High School Movement arranged a “cultural competition” called “Remaining Loyal to the Path” at schools in Nablus. The top of the competition registration form features a picture of terrorist Abu Jihad and a picture of former PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, making it clear that students are being encouraged to remain loyal to their path of terror:

Former Israeli Arab Member of Parliament and Head of the High Follow-Up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel Muhammad Barakeh credited Abu Jihad — together with Arafat — with initiating and “managing” the first Intifada, which resulted in “unprecedented achievements”:

Muhammad Barakeh: “The [first] Intifada – which was initiated by Abu Jihad and his comrades, foremost among them [former PLO Chairman and PA President] Yasser Arafat – made unprecedented achievements for the Palestinian people and was managed under the supervision of Abu Jihad from abroad.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 17, 2025]

Another great “hero” of Palestinian society is imprisoned terrorist and member of the PA parliament and Fatah Central Committee, Marwan Barghouti, who orchestrated three shooting attacks in which five people were murdered.

While Barghouti is serving five life sentences, he is also the PA’s “national symbol and model of inspiration for the masses,” according to Abbas’ deputy in Fatah, Mahmoud Al-Aloul. In fact, he is so popular that Barghouti often comes out at the top of polls when Palestinians are asked who they would elect for PA chairman.

On the anniversary of Barghouti’s arrest, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party praised him as “the engineer of the Al-Aqsa Intifada” — the PA’s five-year terror campaign during which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered:

Posted text: “The 23rd anniversary of the arrest of the engineer of the Al-Aqsa Intifada and Fatah Movement Central Committee member commander prisoner Marwan Barghouti” [emphasis added]

[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, April 15, 2025]

Fatah also praised terrorist Barghouti as “a shining example on the path of the Palestinian struggle and an awe-inspiring symbol for our people.” Abbas’ party then stressed that it endorses Barghouti’s path of murder and terror, stating that it is “committed to the principles outlined by its leaders, founders, and fighters.”

The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.

The post Palestinian Authority: Mass Murderers Are ‘Awe-Inspiring Symbols for Our People’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

The New York Times building in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The child in Hans Christian Andersen’s folktale The Emperor’s New Clothes says the truth when he sees it — that the vain ruler being paraded through town in his “new clothes” is actually naked.

But when The New York Times’ Patrick Kingsley saw the naked truth as the Israeli army led him into a Hamas tunnel underneath a Gaza hospital, he went out of his way to twist the facts and avoid embarrassing the terror group.

Instead of questioning the legality of Hamas head Mohammed Sinwar hiding under the European Hospital in Gaza, Kingsley’s article includes biased premises and unprofessional use of quotes that delegitimize Israel’s targeting of the top terrorist.

And it’s all the more alarming because Kingsley is the Times’ Jerusalem bureau chief, responsible for leading the coverage of Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank for the once-respected newspaper.

Biased Premises

Kingsley’s bias is exposed in two main issues: one is obvious and the other covert.

The first one is displayed in the sub-header. It casts immediate doubt on the simple fact — which Kingsley saw with his own eyes — that Hamas violates international law by using Palestinians as human shields:

Unbelievable. A @nytimes journalist is taken into a tunnel underneath a hospital, and this is his morally subverted takeaway?

Instead of questioning the legality of Hamas head Sinwar hiding there, @PatrickKingsley goes out of his way to delegitimize Israel’s targeting of him. pic.twitter.com/1pYqgbFoXG

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 9, 2025

The bias is also on display in the fourth paragraph, which follows three opening paragraphs that accurately describe the facts. In it, Kingsley likens the terror tunnel he saw to a Rorschach test, a psychological assessment in which people give different interpretations to a series of inkblots:

What we saw in that dark and narrow tunnel is one of the war’s biggest Rorschach tests, the embodiment of a broader narrative battle between Israelis and Palestinians over how the conflict should be portrayed.

A journalist who thinks that a terror tunnel underneath a hospital has more than one interpretation is performing reality-denying mental gymnastics.

Kingsley, it seems, may have a severe case of anti-Israeli tunnel vision. Because instead of seeing the truth about Hamas, he looked at a Rorschach’s inkblot and saw Israel as the terrorists.

But his most damning bias is covert. Throughout the entire article, which seems to care about the loss of Palestinian lives, Kingsley doesn’t wonder even once why the tunnels aren’t used to shelter civilians. He takes for granted that only terrorists can use them.

This reveals that Kingsley does not expect Hamas to show any mercy for their own people, which is exactly what he demands from Israel.

Unprofessional Use of Quotes

What makes all of this possible is Kingsley’s unprofessional use of quotes.

In four instances, Kingsley uses the vague term “Palestinians” to cement his claim — or opinion — that to them, Israel’s actions show disregard for civilian life.

But only one Palestinian is quoted saying that, in paragraph 14 — Dr. Salah al-Hams, the official spokesman of the hospital under which Sinwar was hiding.

Any journalist worth his salt should know that spokespeople of official institutions in Gaza are most likely Hamas-approved, and anyway won’t say anything against the terror group because of fears of reprisal.

But this should come as no surprise; HonestReporting has already exposed how The New York Times relies on Gaza photojournalists who were awarded as “work partners” by Hamas.

Kingsley also quotes the chief Israeli military spokesman, Brigadier General Effie Defrin. But he twists his words like he twists the facts: Defrin is quoted as saying he could not provide a definitive answer as to Sinwar’s death, and speculates it may have been the result of suffocation or a shockwave unleashed by the explosions.

Despite Defrin’s complete denial, Kingsley takes this to mean that the top terrorist may have been “intentionally poisoned by gases released by such explosions.” He dedicates three paragraphs to this blood libel, which borders on comparison of Israel’s actions to those of the Nazis.

He does the same with the accusation, also denied by the IDF spokesperson, that the army has been using Palestinians as human shields.

Ironically, Kingsley did not ask Hamas for comment. He only pressed the IDF for answers, even though it’s Hamas that was exposed in its nakedness.

The reason for this ethical and journalistic failure is that, unlike the child in Andersen’s folktale, Kingsley and The New York Times are foolish or willfully blind.

Either way, they are morally and professionally bankrupt.

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 New York Times’ Anti-Israeli Tunnel Vision first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits the Iranian centrifuges in Tehran, Iran, June 11, 2023. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran has been expanding its nuclear program to build weapons under the direct oversight of its so-called “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a coalition of Iranian opposition groups revealed on Tuesday.

At an event in Washington, DC, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which seeks to overthrow the country’s Islamist regime, unveiled explosive new intelligence alleging that Tehran has been working to build nuclear weapons while telling the world its expanding nuclear program is only meant for peaceful civilian uses.

The revelations, sourced from the NCRI’s network of dissidents inside Iran, suggest a sophisticated operation named “Kavir Plan” has intensified over the past 15 years with the aim of developing boosted nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles with ranges exceeding 3,000 kilometers.

The disclosure came one day after the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, warned that Iran’s continued accumulation of highly enriched uranium nearing weapons-grade levels poses a serious concern that cannot be ignored.

“Uranium enrichment per se is not a forbidden activity, which is something my Iranian counterparts always tell me,” IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said at a press conference following the agency’s Board of Governors opening meeting in Vienna on Monday.

“At the same time, when you accumulate and continue to accumulate, and you are the only country in the world doing this at a level very, very close to what is needed for a nuclear explosive device, then we cannot ignore it,” Grossi continued. “There is no medical or civilian use for it. That is why it is important for us.”

The IAEA’s latest report to its 35-nation Board of Governors on the Iranian nuclear program, dated May 31, disclosed that Iran carried out secret nuclear activities with material not declared to the IAEA at three locations that have long been under investigation. It also found that Iran has previously conducted multiple implosion tests — a crucial military capability for developing an atomic bomb.

A separate IAEA report sent to member states the same day said Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent of weapons grade, had skyrocketed in recent months. According to an analysis of the report’s finding by the Institue for Science and International Security, if Iran chooses to “break out” toward a bomb, it has enough highly enriched uranium at two of its main facilities, Fordow and Natanz, “for 11 nuclear weapons in the first month, enough for 15 nuclear weapons by the end of the second month, 19 by the end of the third month, 21 by the end of the fourth month, and 22 by the end of the fifth month.”

Meanwhile, the US and Iran have been conducting nuclear talks over the past several weeks. Diplomatic efforts have yet to yield results as both adversaries clash over multiple issues including Iran’s demand to maintain its domestic uranium enrichment program — a condition that US President Donald Trump has publicly rejected.

Iran’s nuclear program, according to the NCRI, has consistently aimed at building nuclear weapons, with the regime shifting tactics to adopt a more covert structure that allows the leadership to conceal its activities following the exposure of its weapons program about two decades ago.

The Kavir Plan is now the focal point of the regime’s nuclear activities, the NCRI argued on Tuesday. Headquartered at the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) in Tehran, the program allegedly maintains a constellation of secret sites throughout Iran. These include warhead development facilities at the Shahroud and Semnan sites, the Ivanaki research site, underground test operations in Sorkheh Hesar, and explosives testing at Parchin. Intelligence also points to renewed activity at the Sanjarian site, where engineers are said to be developing shock wave generators required for simultaneous detonation in nuclear weapons.

A central point of the plan is Semnan Province in northern Iran, where accoridng to the NCRI the Iranian military has implemented a security regime dividing the region into three zones: Red, Yellow, and Blue. The Red Zone, encompassing 9 percent of the province, is entirely off-limits to civilians and houses key military installations. The Yellow Zone, which makes up 27 percent, is used for missile testing and is a no-fly area requiring special permits for entry. The remaining Blue Zone, while technically open to civilians, includes extensive environmental protection areas under strict surveillance.

Within these restricted areas, the NCRI identified several important installations believed to be part of the Kavir Plan. These include the Rangin-Kaman site at Ivanaki, the Ghadir radar site for missile defense, and the Me’raj-1 complex in central Semnan, allegedly involved in arming the Simorgh missile with a nuclear warhead. Also of note are the Imam Reza Training Center at the Shahroud Missile Site, the Semnan Air Defense Complex, and logistics and missile defense facilities in Damghan and Shahroud. All these sites are under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an Iranian military force and internationally designated terrorist organization, or the Ministry of Defense.

To guard these assets, the NCRI explained, Tehran has put in place a complex counter-intelligence framework. A security unit known as the Kavir Security Unit, along with the IRGC’s Sahib al-Zaman Intelligence Base, oversees the region. Drone surveillance equipped with facial recognition cameras, satellite tracking, and map redactions are just some of the methods reportedly used to monitor and restrict access. Foreign nationals, especially Americans and Europeans visiting for scientific or environmental purposes, are frequently arrested or interrogated.

The NCRI argued that the Iranian government has engaged in a pattern of deception. According to the group, Tehran has never voluntarily revealed nuclear activities to the IAEA. Instead, information became public knowledge through whistleblowers, satellite imagery, or NCRI disclosures. The group accused the regime of a long-standing strategy of concealment, delay, and destruction of evidence.

The dissident organization argued that the recent escalation in nuclear activity stems from increased domestic repression, pointing to over 1,300 executions since Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian took office in August 2024. They added that the regime, facing its most fragile political moment in decades, is increasingly reliant on nuclear weapons as a form of political and military insurance.

Calling for a stronger international response, the NCRI urged global powers to immediately invoke the so-called “snapback” mechanism of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and several countries to reimpose UN sanctions on the regime before the relevant resolution expires in October. The dissident group also called for the permanent dismantling of Iran’s uranium enrichment programs, the elimination of Iran’s missile capabilities, and unrestricted IAEA inspections across all military and civilian facilities.

NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi, who testified before the US Congress earlier this year, reiterated her call on Tuesday for the international community to recognize the Iranian people’s right to resist the regime. She emphasized that regime change does not require foreign military intervention, only political support for the Iranian opposition.

“A democratic, non-nuclear Republic of Iran is not only possible; it is within reach,” Rajavi told lawmakers.

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