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US Gives $336 Million to Palestinians; PA Demonizes It as the ‘Head of Global Terror’
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
The US has announced that it’s giving the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank additional humanitarian aid worth $336 million.
But in response to all the US support during the war (and prior), the Palestinian Authority (PA) is relentlessly demonizing the US as being the aggressor and mastermind behind Israel’s war against the Hamas and Hezbollah terror organizations, regardless of the fact that both terror organizations first attacked and continue to attack Israel and Israeli civilians.
Worse still, three days ago, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman also blamed the US for “the continuing chaos, wars, and instability” in the region:
Official Spokesman for the [PA] Presidential Office Nabil Abu Rudeina [said] … the successive American administrations bear responsibility for the continuing chaos, wars, and instability through their mistaken policy and provision of political, monetary, and military support for the continuation of the occupation [i.e., Israel], which has encouraged it to commit more crimes against our people and against the peoples of the region in Syria and Lebanon, alongside the ongoing threats against other regions.” [emphasis added]
[WAFA, official PA news agency, Sept. 29, 2024]
While many Western governments have been highly critical of Israel’s response to Hamas and Hezbollah’s attacks during the ongoing 2023 Gaza war, and have supported the idea of having the PA take power in Gaza after it is done, the PA and its ruling Fatah party have, on the other hand, made their hostility to the West clear in numerous recent conspiracy theories and statements of demonization.
Even as Abbas was again welcomed in the US last week, his PA and Fatah officials are busy bad-mouthing the US administration, accusing it of being behind the war and using Israel as its pawn.
A regular columnist of the PA’s mouthpiece Al-Hayat Al-Jadida accused the US of being guilty of “war crimes” in Lebanon:
The US has been a central partner in managing the operations against the Hezbollah leadership and its activists who are wanted by the [American] administration and Israel ….
The American administration is involved in the war crimes against the Hezbollah leadership and activists … [emphasis added]
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida website, Sept. 22, 2024]
In a recent interview, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki referred to the US as “the head of global terror.”
Perhaps this is no surprise considering that Zaki also serves as Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations:
Fatah Movement Central Committee member Abbas Zaki… called for a comprehensive agreement and a code of honor between all parts of the Palestinian people and its movements, according to which the main contradiction is with the Israeli occupation and the rest are secondary differences that our preoccupation with them serves the plots of the occupation … led by the US, the head of global terror. [emphasis added]
[Al-Quds website, Sept. 8, 2024]
Earlier this year Zaki accused the US, and “not Israel,” of waging a war to “slaughter the Palestinian people”:
Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki: “The US is the one waging the [Gaza] war, and not Israel …
[The US] is the one waging the war and it is the one that is striving with all its efforts to slaughter the Palestinian people … Our central issue is to stop this cursed war, this barbaric war, which is worse than Nazism.” [emphasis added]
[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page, Jan. 20, 2024]
Similarly, Abbas’ advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, has accused the US of pulling the strings in Israel’s war against Hamas, claiming Israel just “carries out American instructions” and the US is “pushing” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “towards extremism” with its “hostile, immoral, and illegal position”:
Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Israel’s sovereign is the US, unfortunately. The US even today opposes a resolution proposal at the [UN] General Assembly calling to end the occupation. Imagine, this is the level of American hostility to the Palestinian rights …
The one who is strengthening the position of [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and pushing him more and more towards extremism is the American administration’s position.
The American administration’s position is a hostile position, an immoral and illegal position, and honestly it is the one that bears responsibility for the scope of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.” [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Sept. 18, 2024]
Al-Habbash: “Everyone knows that all the cards are in the hands of the US, not in the hands of Israel. Israel is nothing more than the one who carries out the American policy. If the American administration would have wanted to tell Israel ‘Enough,’ the war would have ended. But it doesn’t do this and attempts to mislead and spread lies to extend the aggression to achieve the same goal. The goal is to erase the political aspect of the Palestinian cause and change the rules of the game, even in the West Bank.”
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Sept. 11, 2024]
Al-Habbash: “Israel exploited and used what happened on Oct. 7 [2023] as an excuse to carry out aggression that was planned and prepared in advance against the Gaza Strip, as part of the aggression against the Palestinian people. What happened on Oct. 7 is not the cause of the aggression …
[Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu is just a clerk of the American administration, and all of Israel is just subordinate to the American administration and carries out its instructions and serves its policies.
Israel is nothing more than an American interest that is carrying out the American policies. We don’t need to speak with Netanyahu because he has no authority of his own. We must speak only with the American administration that alone bears the magnitude and responsibility for the continuation of this aggression.” [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Jan. 29, 2024]
Al-Habbash has also called the US “the biggest liar” and “the true threat”:
Al-Habbash:“There is no bigger liar than the US administration, no bigger liar than [the US] exists.
The American administration is inventing lies against us, as it has done through all the last decades… We are an unarmed people. We are a people that has been living under occupation for more than 70 years…. We are just trying to protect our existence.” [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Aug.29, 2024]
Palestinian Media Watch also reported on other anti-US remarks by another Abbas advisor, including the accusation that US President Biden is a “war criminal who should stand trial.”
While emphasizing that the real war is “against the US and not Israel,” Abbas Zaki has also stressed the Palestinians’ “strong connection and strategic partnership with China”:
Zaki: “Our war now [i.e., 2023 Gaza war] is a war against the US and not Israel because Israel’s guarantee of life is the US …
Old colonialism, in other words the European colonialist states, wanted to take the Jews and create a base close to them that is hostile to their surroundings, and offered to establish Israel in Argentina, Uganda, and the like.
But when the oil was discovered, the lifeline of modern industry, they wanted to take control of the Middle East region from the ocean to the gulf, and therefore Palestine fell victim to this oppressive criminal alliance …
Our connection with China is very strong, we have a strategic partnership with China. Our connection with Russia is very strong … Israel could not fight against any faction, not even against a state, if not for the US, and Allah willing the US will not be the world ruler.” [emphasis added]
[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page, May 16, 2024]
Zaki also repeated the conspiracy theory that Israel is not fighting Hamas in Gaza for security reasons, but rather because it wants to steal natural gas resources discovered there:
Zaki emphasized that Israel is striving to decide the conflict and empty the land of its Palestinian owners, and he noted that the goal of the war in the Gaza Strip is not security-related, but rather it deviates beyond this and includes economic targets, like the [natural] gas reserve that was discovered northwest of Gaza. [emphasis added]
[Al-Quds website, Sept. 8, 2024]
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
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Columbia University Newspaper Endorses Mamdani for New York City Mayor

Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Democratic New York City mayoral primary debate, June 4, 2025, in New York, US. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/Pool via REUTERS
Columbia University’s flagship newspaper, The Columbia Daily Spectator, has endorsed a far-left New York City mayoral candidate who has been accused of antisemitism and made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career.
The Spectator’s editorial board issued the endorsement of Zohran Mamdani, a representative in the New York State Assembly, in a rare moment of summer activity, as most of the university’s student body is on holiday. It comes as the university’s leadership is reportedly taking steps to deal with a surge of campus antisemitism that captured national attention and led the Trump administration to pull federal funding over the school’s alleged failure to combat the crisis.
“Our endorsements reflect the consensus opinion of the editorial board, but we recognize that voters may weigh these issues differently,” the paper said on Tuesday. “As Spectator‘s editorial board, we endorse Zohran Mamdani as our top choice for New York City Mayor. Currently ranked second in most polls, the New York State Assembly member and his campaign have resonated with New Yorkers who have been repeatedly disappointed by the current administration.”
It added, “The Democratic Socialist has grounded his campaign in bread-and-butter issues such as universal child care, free public transportation, and affordable housing, echoing Sen. Bernie Sanders’ brand of economic populism.”
The paper’s choice of Mamdani prompted a slew of responses on social media. A native of Uganda born to parents from India, one of whom is an Oscar nominated filmmaker, Mamdani has refused to recognize the Jewish state of Israel, advocated adoption of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, and suggested that New York City — home to the world’s largest Jewish community outside of Israel — will divest from the country if he is elected.
Earlier this month, he refused to distance himself from the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a slogan that is believed to have inspired a wave of anti-Jewish violence which culminated in the murder of two young Israeli diplomats outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC in May. The Democratic mayoral candidate went as far as comparing the phrase to the motivations behind the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, prompting a rebuke from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“I think what’s difficult is that the very word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic, because it’s a word that means struggle,” Mamdani said on the Bulwark podcast. “And as a Muslim man who grew up post-9/11, I’m too familiar in the way in which Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted, can be used to justify any kind of meaning.”
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was an effort by Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland to fight back as they were set to be deported to concentration camps and killed during the Holocaust. In contrast, the slogan “globalize the intifada” references previous periods of sustained Palestinian terrorism against Jews and Israels known as intifadas, or uprisings.
On another occasion, years before he emerged as a candidate for mayor, Mamdani appeared to threaten that a “third intifada” was forthcoming.
Following the Spectator’s declaration of support for his campaign, Columbia University professor Shai Davidai charged that the paper had violated laws which prevent nonprofit entities, such as the Spectator, from entering the fray of electoral politics.
“The Columbia Spectator has just breached its non-profit status by endorsing a political candidate,” Davidai said. “Please join me in filing a formal complaint with the IRS against the Spectator Publishing Company. It’s time to make our colleges a partisan-free space for education.”
Elisha Baker, who studies Middle East History at Columbia University, said in a statement shared with The Algemeiner and other outlets that the Spectator is essentially throwing its support behind a surge of antisemitic violence called for by anti-Zionists of Mamdani’s mold.
“Zohran Mamdani is a threat to Jews in NYC and Americans everywhere. He marches with the antisemitic and anti-American mob,” Baker said. “A vote for Mamdani is a vote for antisemitism and continued pro-terror chaos on our streets. Especially since the tragic attacks in DC and Boulder, a vote for Mamdani is nothing short of a vote for Jews to stay inside.”
New York City will ultimately determine the merit of the case against the mayoral candidate, who would be the favorite to win the November general election if he prevails over his Democratic opponents, including former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during Tuesday’s primary.
During the campaign, Cuomo criticized Mamdani’s links to the anti-Zionist movement.
“Yesterday when Zohran Mamdani was asked a direct question about what he thought of the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,’ he dismissed it as ‘language’ ‘that is subject to interpretation,’ Cuomo said in a statement earlier this month. “That is not only wrong – it is dangerous. At a time when we are seeing antisemitism on the rise and in fact witnessing once again violence against Jews resulting in their deaths in Washington DC or their burning in Denver – we know all too well that words matter. They fuel hate. They fuel murder. As the US Holocaust Museum so aptly said, all leaders or those running for office must condemn the use of this battle cry. There are no two sides here.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Calls for UN to Condemn Attacks on Aid Workers, Collaborate Amid Mass ‘Disinformation’

Palestinians collect aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has called on the United Nations to publicly condemn the killing of aid workers in Gaza and to collaborate in order to provide relief to the enclave’s population, accusing the UN of perpetuating a “vast disinformation campaign” aimed at tarnishing the US- and Israel-backed foundation’s image.
In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, GHF executive chairman Rev. Johnnie Moore defended the foundation’s efforts to distribute aid to the civilians of Gaza, the Palestinian enclave that has been ruled by the Hamas terrorist group for nearly two decades.
“Nearly 40 million meals have been distributed in our first month of operations from our Secure Distribution Sites,” Moore wrote, adding that the program has successfully distributed emergency aid to Palestinians in “desperate need” despite constantly operating “under grave threat.”
Moore also criticized the UN, saying that the GHF has “shared our data and our logistical approach” with the global body in hopes of forging a collaboration effort between the two entities. He lamented that the UN has “neither partnered with GHF nor even acknowledged our operational successes.”
“Our work has continued with normal operations amidst an expanding regional conflict, and also a vast disinformation campaign which has sought to stop us from feeding people from the moment we started,” Moore continued. “We regret that your own office has been a victim of this disinformation campaign which has only threatened to further harm the Gazan people.”
The GHF was created because Hamas routinely steals humanitarian aid, leaving civilians facing severe shortages. Documents released by the Israeli military earlier this month showed that Hamas operatives violently took control of approximately 25 percent of incoming aid shipments, which they then resold to civilians at inflated prices.
The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these frameworks are more neutral. Israeli and American officials have rejected those calls, saying Hamas previously exploited UN-run systems to siphon aid for its war effort. The UN has denied those allegations while expressing concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach food distribution points.
Since the GHF launched operations in late May, there have been reports of Palestinians being shot near distribution sites. In specific cases, Israel has acknowledged targeting what it believed to be armed Hamas operatives using civilians as cover.
In his letter, Moore also criticized the UN for staying “absolutely silent in the wake of a targeted killing of GHF personnel nearly two weeks ago.”
“Their murder was not only a violation of international law, it was an affront to the very principles the UN purports to defend,” the GHF chairman added. He called on the UN to “publicly condemn the targeting of humanitarian workers in Gaza, and to denounce the obstruction of aid by Hamas and other armed factions.”
Moore’s letter came about two weeks after the GHF said that, on the night of June 11, several of its aid workers were killed when Hamas gunmen attacked a bus transporting local staffers.
The group said the vehicle was targeted as it carried more than 20 workers to a distribution site near the city of Khan Younis. In a statement Thursday, GHF said that at least people people were killed and several more were injured.
The bus attack followed days of threats from Hamas directed at the foundation and its workers.
According to Moore, the UN can help the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by working directly with GHD to help distribute aid “at scale” to needy civilians while bypassing “intermediaries.”
“The only credible response to food insecurity is food delivery. Anything less is a deferral of responsibility. We are ready to work with other humanitarian providers to deliver food straight to the Palestinian people and restore order to a system plagued by desperation and disorder,” Moore wrote.
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Netanyahu Declares Historic Win, Says Israel Removed Iran’s Nuclear Threat in 12-Day War

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel in its 12 days of war with Iran had removed the threat of nuclear annihilation and was determined to thwart any attempt by Tehran to revive its program.
“We have removed two immediate existential threats to us – the threat of nuclear annihilation and the threat of annihilation by 20,000 ballistic missiles,” he said in video remarks issued by his office.
“If anyone in Iran tries to revive this project, we will work with the same determination and strength to thwart any such attempt. I repeat, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”
Netanyahu called it a historic victory that would stand for generations.
He said Israel never had a better friend in the White House than President Donald Trump, whose US military had dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear sites in an attack over the weekend.
“Our friend President Trump has rallied to our side in an unprecedented way. Under his direction, the United States military destroyed the underground enrichment site at Fordow,” Netanyahu said.
He spoke hours after Trump directed stinging criticism at Israel over the scale of strikes Trump said had violated a truce with Iran negotiated by Washington, Israel‘s closest ally.
Netanyahu said Israel‘s work was unfinished. He cited the war against Iran’s ally Hamas in Gaza, where 50 hostages remain in captivity since the Palestinian terrorist group carried out a surprise attack on October 7, 2023.
About 20 are believed to be alive.
“We must complete the campaign against the Iranian axis, defeat Hamas, and bring about the release of all the hostages, both living and dead,” he said.
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