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Trump Blames Biden, Harris for Death of American-Israeli Hostage as White House Decries ‘Evil’ Hamas
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US, April 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump blamed the “lack of American strength and leadership” during the Biden administration for the death of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Trump lobbed a series of insults at US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, suggesting that the pair wasn’t forceful enough in attempting to secure the release of American hostages held captive in Gaza. He asserted that stronger US leadership would have saved the life of Goldberg-Polin, who was found along with five other hostages over the weekend in a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Hamas terrorists had executed them prior to a raid by Israeli forces.
“We grieve the senseless death of the Israeli Hostages, horrifically including a wonderful American Citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, murdered by Hamas due to a complete lack of American Strength and Leadership,” Trump posted on social media. “Make no mistake — This happened because Comrade Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden are poor Leaders. Americans are getting slaughtered overseas, while Kamala is disparaging and making up lies about Gold Star families, and Biden is sleeping on the beach on this 16th consecutive day of vacation. They have blood on their hands!”
Goldberg-Polin, who was born in the United States and moved to Israel at age 7, was abducted on Oct. 7 while at the Nova music festival with his best friend, Aner Shapiro. Shapiro, who fielded three grenades from the roadside bomb shelter the two were hiding in, was one of 1,200 people killed that day by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists. Apart from Goldberg-Polin, 250 others were kidnapped to Gaza.
Trump argued that Biden and Harris’s poor “judgment has not only put lives at risk, but is directly responsible for unnecessary deaths that should have never happened.”
The former president claimed that Goldberg-Polin’s death was representative of the consistent ineptitude within the Biden administration, as evinced by the “debacle” of the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Trump argued that the US is “not safe under Joe Biden,” and “will be less safe” if Harris, the Democratic nominee and his opponent in the 2024 presidential election, wins in November.
“This terror would have never happened if I were President, and it will stop the day I am back in the Oval Office. America will be Strong Again, and that will make the World Safe and Secure!” Trump said.
Biden and Harris both issued statements lamenting the murder of Goldberg-Polin and expressing outrage at Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that rules Gaza.
“Doug and my prayers are with Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, Hersh’s parents, and with everyone who knew and loved Hersh,” Harris said in a statement. “Hamas is an evil terrorist organization. With these murders, Hamas has even more American blood on its hands.”
Harris continued, “I strongly condemn Hamas’s continued brutality, and so must the entire world. From its massacre of 1,200 people to sexual violence, taking of hostages, and these murders, Hamas’s depravity is evident and horrifying. The threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel — and American citizens in Israel — must be eliminated and Hamas cannot control Gaza. The Palestinian people too have suffered under Hamas’s rule for nearly two decades.”
Biden expressed similar sentiments in his statement.
“I am devastated and outraged. Hersh was among the innocents brutally attacked while attending a music festival for peace in Israel on Oct. 7. He lost his arm helping friends and strangers during Hamas’s savage massacre. He had just turned 23. He planned to travel the word,” Biden said.
“[I] am heartbroken by the news of his death,” he continued. “It is as tragic as it is reprehensible. Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”
Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Jon Goldberg and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, appeared at the Democratic National Convention last month to call attention to their son’s abduction and urge an immediate hostage and ceasefire deal.
News of the death of Goldberg-Polin and the other five murdered hostages over the weekend ignited widespread outrage and protests throughout Israel, with civilians demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finalize a Gaza ceasefire deal to return the remaining captives home.
On Monday, Biden issued his own criticism of Netanyahu, arguing that the Israeli leader is not doing enough to secure a ceasefire deal and free the remaining hostages. However, Biden insisted that “we’re very close” to achieving a final agreement. He also added that he will continue “to push” for the release of the remaining American hostages in Gaza.
“Yes. I have spoken to the American hostage … I spoke to his mom and dad, and we are not giving up. We are going to continue to push as hard as we can. Thank you,” Biden told reporters on Monday.
In November, more than 100 hostages were released as part of a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas. Since then, the US, Egypt, and Qatar have attempted to broker a more enduring ceasefire. Hamas has repeatedly rejected proposals accepted by Israel.
Ninety-seven hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the Israeli military.
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Two Russian Regions Block Telegram App Over Security Fears
The Telegram logo is seen on a screen of a smartphone in this picture illustration taken April 13, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin.
Authorities in two Russian regions have blocked the Telegram messenger because of concerns that the app could be used by enemies, a regional digital development minister was quoted as saying by the TASS state news agency on Saturday.
Dagestan and Chechnya are mainly Muslim regions in southern Russia where intelligence services have registered an increase in militant Islamist activity.
“It (Telegram) is often used by enemies, an example of which is the riots at the Makhachkala airport,” said Yuri Gamzatov, Dagestan’s digital development minister, adding that the decision to block the messenger had been made at the federal level.
Gamzatov was referring to an anti-Israel riot in Dagestan in October 2023, when hundreds of protesters stormed an airport to try to attack passengers arriving on a plane from the Jewish state. No passengers were injured, and authorities have prosecuted several people over the incident.
News of the plane’s arrival had spread on local Telegram channels, where users posted calls for antisemitic violence. Telegram condemned the attack and said it would block the channels.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the blocks in Russia.
Based in Dubai and founded by Russian-born Pavel Durov, the messenger has nearly 1 billion users and is used widely in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.
Moscow tried but failed to block Telegram in 2018 and has in the past demanded the platform hand over user data. Durov is under formal investigation in France as part of a probe into organized crime on the app.
Gamzatov, the minister in Dagestan, said Telegram could be unblocked in the future, but encouraged users to switch to other messengers in the meantime.
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Trump’s Scottish Golf Resort Vandalized with Pro-Palestine Graffiti
US President Donald Trump speaks at the White House, in Washington, DC, Feb. 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland has been daubed with pro-Palestinian graffiti, with a protest group claiming responsibility.
Local media on Saturday showed images of red paint scrawled across walls at the course with the slogans “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine” as well as insults against Trump.
“Gaza is not for sale” was also painted on one of the greens and holes dug up on the course.
Palestine Action said it caused the damage, posting on social media platform X: “Whilst Trump attempts to treat Gaza as his property, he should know his own property is within reach.”
Last month, Trump enraged the Arab world by declaring unexpectedly that the United States would take over Gaza, resettle its over 2-million Palestinian population and develop it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Police Scotland said it was investigating.
“Around 4.40am on Saturday, 8 March, 2025, we received a report of damage to the golf course and a premises on Maidens Road, Turnberry,” a Police Scotland spokesperson said, adding that enquiries were ongoing.
Separately on Saturday, a man waving a Palestinian flag climbed the Big Ben tower at London’s Palace of Westminster.
The post Trump’s Scottish Golf Resort Vandalized with Pro-Palestine Graffiti first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Columbia University Promises to Address Trump Administration’s Concerns After $400 Million in Funding Pulled
A student protester parades a Palestinian flag outside the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, in New York, US, April 30, 2024. Photo: Mary Altaffer/Pool via REUTERS
Columbia University’s interim president said the school is working to address the “legitimate concerns” of US President Donald Trump’s administration after $400 million of federal government grants and contracts to the university were canceled over allegations of antisemitism on campus.
In an announcement on Friday, the government cited what it described as antisemitic harassment on and near the school’s New York City campus as the reason for pulling the funding. The university has repeatedly been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel student protest movement since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent war in Gaza.
“I want to assure the entire Columbia community that we are committed to working with the federal government to address their legitimate concerns,” Katrina Armstrong, the university’s interim president, said in a late-night message to alumni on Friday. “To that end, Columbia can, and will, continue to take serious action toward combating antisemitism on our campus.”
The Trump administration said the canceled funding is only a portion of the $5 billion in government grants that has been committed to the school, but the school is bracing for a financial hit.
“There is no question that the cancellation of these funds will immediately impact research and other critical functions of the University, impacting students, faculty, staff, research, and patient care,” Armstrong said.
Federal funding accounted for about $1.3 billion of the university’s $6.6 billion in operating revenue in the 2024 fiscal year, according to a Columbia financial report.
Some Jewish students and staff have been among the pro-Palestinian protesters, and they say their criticism of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism. Minouche Shafik resigned last year as Columbia’s president after the university’s handling of the protests drew criticism from pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian sides alike.
The administration has declined to say what contracts and grants it has canceled, but the Education Department argues the demonstrations have been unlawful and deprive Jewish students of learning opportunities.
Civil rights groups say the immediate cuts are unconstitutional punishment for protected speech and likely to face legal challenges.
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