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US Rep. Ro Khanna Blasts AIPAC at Anti-Israel Conference Where Speakers Defend Hamas, Oct. 7 Attack
US Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) speaks as House members hold a press conference in Washington, DC, on Sept. 3, 2025. Photo: Josh Morgan-USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
US Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat widely reported to be considering a 2028 presidential bid, accused pro-Israel advocates of distorting Democratic Party priorities at a major Arab-American gathering known as ArabCon 2025 in Dearborn, Michigan late last week.
The remarks came amid a string of fiery statements from conference panelists opposing Israel and defending the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas which drew cheers from the crowd and criticism from outside observers.
Speaking on Saturday alongside “The Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur, Khanna was asked why many Democrats in the US Congress “hate their own voters” and shy away from allegedly popular policies.
“It’s money,” Khanna responded, before targeting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a prominent lobbying group that seeks to foster bipartisan support for a strong US-Israel alliance.
“You know, every other week, I get AIPAC attacking me, it’s like someone hasn’t cued them in that every time they attack me, my popularity goes up,” the lawmaker said. He also suggested that Democrats fear headlines labeling them as standing with “pro-terror radicals” for attending events like ArabCon.
“You can be true and consistent in either standing with people and standing with human rights and convictions, or you can do the bidding of interest groups and people in power,” Khanna said.
Though Khanna identifies as an ally of Israel, he has become increasingly critical of the Jewish state amid the war in Gaza in recent months, accusing the Israeli military of recklessly killing Palestinians while pushing for US recognition of a Palestinian state.
ArabCon only grew more heated as other panelists spoke over the course of the weekend. For example, Zahra Billoo, executive director of the San Francisco chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), praised the shuttered Holy Land Foundation, once the largest Muslim charity in the United States and later convicted of funneling money to Hamas.
“One of the most seminal cases of that era that I think we should all know about is the Holy Land Foundation, and what happened to the five co-founders of that incredible charity,” Billoo said. She described its founders as “incredible, generous, kind, beautiful men.”
The Algemeiner reported earlier this year that Billoo used the news of former US President Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis as an opportunity to warn the former commander-in-chief of the eternal punishment tied to his administration’s support for the Jewish state during the conflict in Gaza. Months earlier, she shared a post on social media that read in part, “Hamas deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.”
Billoo accused Israel of “genocide” on social media in 2021 and, last year, seemingly issued public support for Hamas, wishing for “the resistance be victorious.” That same year, she also condemned those who fundraise for the Israel Defense Force, writing on X, “Could you make the same fundraising effort for Palestinian resistance fighters without being ostracized, suspended, or fired?”
CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with Hamas.
Another panel drew headlines when Detroit activist Amer Zahr jokingly asked San Francisco State University professor Rabab Abdulhadi whether she condemned Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and rampage across southern Israel. Palestinian terrorists from Gaza murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during the onslaught, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Despite the atrocities, the ArabCon audience erupted in laughter as Abdulhadi replied, “I condemn Israel and the United States, and all oppression and imperial wars. And I never ever condemn Palestinian resistance.” She argued that Palestinians were “returning to their villages” on Oct. 7, denied that kibbutzim had been targeted, and insisted the operation was aimed at liberating prisoners. Abdulhadi added that Palestinian society has long debated whether tactics such as plane hijackings are legitimate.
Said Arikat, a journalist for Al-Quds newspaper who shared the stage, praised Abdulhadi’s response, calling it “an easy answer.”
Zahr, a board member of Dearborn Public Schools, posted a photo on social media honoring Hassan Nasrallah, the deceased leader of the Hezbollah terrorist group. In a 2021 blog post Zahr condemned “normalization” of Zionism and drew parallels between Zionism and Jim Crow laws targeting Black Americans in the US South.
The comments highlighted the tension surrounding ArabCon, which drew thousands to Dearborn from Sept. 26–28. Organizers billed the convention as a gathering to amplify Arab-American voices in politics.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.