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‘We Mourn Ismail’: Media Outlets, Anti-Israel Activists Praise Deceased Hamas Leader Haniyeh as ‘Moderate,’ Peacemaker
Global news outlets and anti-Israel activists reacted curiously to the news of the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday, mourning for the terrorist mastermind and labeling him as “moderate.”
In the early morning hours of Wednesday, an explosion killed Haniyeh, the Palestinian terrorist group’s political chief, while he was staying in Tehran, the Iranian capital city, for the inauguration of the country’s new president.
No country or group has claimed responsibility for the strike that killed Haniyeh, but Hamas and Iran blamed Israel, which has remained quiet about the attack. Some observers have argued the strike could result in regional escalation and make it harder to secure a deal to release the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas and reach a ceasefire in Gaza. Others argued it established a certain level of deterrence and will incentivize Hamas to come to a deal soon.
Regardless, many journalists and anti-Israel activists were quick to lionize Haniyeh, who was placed on the US State Department’s Specially Designated Global Terrorists list in 2018, and castigate Israel.
The American writer and activist Shaun King described the assassination as “murder” at the hands of the United States and Israel. “I must admit that I am furious, because they [Israel] murder people with impunity. It’s absurd. But you can never destroy a people who do not believe that death is the end.”
King also said that he admired Haniyeh for negotiating with Israel. “He was working hard, day and night, on the ceasefire even though these genocidal monsters had murdered his own kids and grandchildren. I never understood how he had such strength to push forward. But he knew and said that he was no different than the average Palestinian who has lost so much.”
As the Hamas terror group’s political chief, Haniyeh has become known for his role in recent Gaza ceasefire negotiations
“In the face of this, Brother Ismail remained steadfast to Islam and to a free Palestine,” King said.
Palestine Action US, one of the biggest anti-Israel groups in the country instrumental in organizing pro-Hamas protests, reposted a person on its Instagram story expressing that they are “genuinely in tears” at the news of the death of Haniyeh.
More mainstream groups also had striking reactions to the news.
Yolande Knell, BBC’s Middle East Correspondent, described Haniyeh as “moderate and pragmatic.” Meanwhile, Sky News’s Alex Crawford told viewers on air that the terror leader is “very moderate.”
The Wall Street Journal‘s news story on the strike — written by Rory Jones, Omar Abdel-Baqui, and Summer Said — labeled Haniyeh as “Hamas’ leading advocate for a Gaza cease-fire,” seemingly suggesting that the long-time terrorist, who reportedly has close links with Hamas’ military wing and has been involved in attacks against Israeli citizens, is an agent for peace.
The top quote in the Journal‘s story is from a Hamas official, who said, “They [Israel] didn’t just kill Ismail Haniyeh … They are killing peace in the Middle East.”
Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote on X/Twitter that “tonight, we mourn Ismail himself but know his martyrdom is not in vain. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
She also quoted a line from the Quran in reference to Haniyeh, which read, “Never say that those martyred in the cause of Allah are dead — in fact, they are alive! But you do not perceive it.”
Haniyeh was 62. He became a part of Hamas during the First Intifada against Israel and eventually rose to become the political leader of the group, which is an internationally designated terrorist organization with the stated goal of destroying the Jewish state through armed struggle.
The post ‘We Mourn Ismail’: Media Outlets, Anti-Israel Activists Praise Deceased Hamas Leader Haniyeh as ‘Moderate,’ Peacemaker first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Indigo wants the law to block an online boycott promotion that appropriates bookstore branding
Canadian bookstore chain Indigo is seeking a court injunction ordering internet service providers to block a website that the company says causes the brand “irreparable harm,” while also infringing on its copyright and trademark. Indigo’s lawyers appeared in a virtual Federal Court hearing Sept. 17 to ask a judge for an injunction that would order […]
The post Indigo wants the law to block an online boycott promotion that appropriates bookstore branding appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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‘F—king Jews’: Protester Interrupts Hate Crimes Hearing at US Capitol Over Focus on Antisemitism
An anti-Israel agitator on Tuesday unleashed an antisemitic tirade during a congressional hearing in Washington, DC on rising hate crimes across the United States.
The US Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to address growing numbers of attacks against minority religious and ethnic groups in the United States. While Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) delivered a presentation condemning anti-Israel protests on college campuses, an angry demonstrator stood up and hurled expletives targeted at the Jewish community.
“F—king Jews and the Israelis themselves!” the man shouted, apparently frustrated and angry at Cruz for focusing on the deluge of reported antisemitic attacks following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
“Talk about the 40,000 [casualties in Gaza]. Talk about all these people. Why is [this presentation] about antisemitism? F—k the law,” the agitator said before being escorted out by Capitol Police.
“We now have a demonstration of antisemitism. We have a demonstration of the hate,” Cruz responded.
Cruz then slammed Democrats for exhibiting what he described as weakness on antisemitism and vowed to punish antisemites if Republicans secure a Senate majority and the presidency in November. He accused the Biden administration and the US Justice Department of turning a “blind eye” to antisemitism.
“I’ll tell you this. Next year, if there’s a Republican majority on this committee, you will see real leadership. Next year, if there’s a Republican administration, you will see people prosecuted for this sort of violence,” Cruz said.
Senate Republicans criticized Democrats for insisting on broadening the scope of the hearing from antisemitism to a “generic” discussion about all forms of bigotry. Some critics pointed out that Democrats previously condemned use of the phrase “All Lives Matter” in lieu of “Black Lives Matter,” accusing conservatives of attempting to minimize anti-black racism.
Earlier in the hearing, US Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), chair of the Judiciary Committee, defended shifting the focus of the meeting off antisemitism specifically, stating that “prioritizing which group is being discriminated against the worst” is not a “valid exercise of [the committee’s] authority.” He went on to argue that hatred is a problem “that extends beyond the Jewish population” and also affects “the Arab population” and “the Palestinian population.”
Progressive lawmakers have been under fire from pro-Israel voices in the months following the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 for allegedly being too soft on Hamas and placing unrealistic restrictions on Israel’s war effort in Gaza. Recent polling suggests that large swaths of Democratic voters have soured on Israel, with many supporting the implementation of an arms embargo on the Jewish state. Younger Democrats, in particular, are reporting significantly greater sympathy for Palestinians than the citizens of Israel. Many Democratic staffers have also reportedly revolted against party officials, demanding that they adopt a more adversarial posture against Israel.
In response, Democratic elected officials have sharpened their rhetoric against the Jewish state, with some suggesting that Israel has committed a “genocide” in Gaza. Democratic politicians have also sought to pressure US President Joe Biden to withhold certain weapons from Israel.
Tuesday’s hearing came amid a record surge in antisemitism across the US since Oct. 7.
The post ‘F—king Jews’: Protester Interrupts Hate Crimes Hearing at US Capitol Over Focus on Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Cyber Expert: Explosives Planted in Hezbollah Pagers in Op Planned Months Before War
An Israeli cyber and national security expert has claimed that the exploding pagers carried by Hezbollah members in Lebanon, which left thousands wounded and killed at least nine people on Tuesday, were part of a sophisticated attack that was planned at least half a year before the war in Gaza erupted.
Dr. Eyal Pinko, a former navy commander and senior research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, dismissed theories that the blasts were caused by lithium batteries that were hacked to become overheated, and said that the nature of the wounds seen in footage emerging from Lebanon was consistent with those caused by explosives such as TNT and HTB.
“To get this kind of wound you need to have between one to two grams of type of explosives, which is not a big technological issue — you just need to open the beeper,” Pinko said during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday evening. He added that a stable explosive that wouldn’t detonate accidentally would have been inserted into the device, along with a small control mechanism capable of receiving remote commands via a call or page.
Such an operation would have required significant infiltration of Hezbollah’s communication systems, according to Pinko, and planting explosives in pagers would necessitate a serious breach of the supply chain. “This is an intelligence operation that was very well planned, prepared for more than one and a half years,” Pinko said
Pinko alluded to the possibility of a coordinated effort, suggesting that Israel may not have acted alone if it was behind the attack in Lebanon, where Hezbollah wields significant political and military clout. He noted efforts by Germany, France, the US, and the UK to prevent escalation in the region.
Israel has so far been quiet about the explosions, but senior Lebanese officials have blame the Jewish state. So too has Hezbollah, which said Israel would receive “its fair punishment.”
The operation clearly appeared to serve as a message to Hezbollah, showcasing vulnerabilities in its security apparatus and serving as a form of deterrence, Pinko said. “It’s saying that, ‘you’re already being penetrated. We know where you are and what you do. Now look what we can do: In one single shot, in less than a second, we can eliminate almost 3,000 terror operatives.’”
Meanwhile, Sky News Arabia quoted an Israeli military source as saying that Hezbollah’s supply chain was infiltrated with the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, placing PETN, a highly explosive stable material, on the batteries of the devices.
A source close to Hezbollah, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the pagers were “sabotaged at the source” before being imported by Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist organization based in Lebanon.
Al Jazeera said that the pagers had been in use by Hezbollah operatives for five months.
Brigadier General (res) Amir Avivi, founder of the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), told The Algemeiner that the attack “had the Mossad’s fingerprints all over it.”
“Hezbollah certainly got the message,” Avivi said, adding that war between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group was “imminent.”
However, Pinko said that Tuesday’s coordinated attacks were not a prelude to a full ground invasion into Lebanon and that Israel was likely to adopt a “wait and see” approach. “Israel doesn’t want to go towards further escalation; not in the north, and not with the Houthis in Yemen. They just want to finish the business in Gaza.”
The explosions came hours after a revelation by the Israeli Shin Bet security agency that a Hezbollah cell had infiltrated Israel with the intent to assassinate a former senior defense official in Tel Aviv using a mobile phone, camera, and remote detonation.
Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets, missiles, and drones at northern Israel almost daily following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists on the Jewish state’s southern region. Since then, both sides have been exchanging fire constantly while avoiding a major escalation as war rages in Gaza to the south.
About 80,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate their homes in northern Israel and flee to other parts of the country amid the unrelenting attacks from Hezbollah.
Israeli leaders have said they seek a diplomatic resolution to the conflict with Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon but are prepared to use large-scale military force if needed to ensure all citizens can safely return to their homes.
On Monday night, Israel’s security cabinet expanded its war goals to include returning the displaced Israelis from the north.
The post Israeli Cyber Expert: Explosives Planted in Hezbollah Pagers in Op Planned Months Before War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.