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Why Did the Head of the Olympic Committee Meet with an October 7 Supporter?
Palestinian Football Association head Jibril Rajoub, and chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, speaks during a press conference regarding the cancellation of the soccer match between Argentina and Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, June 6, 2018. Photo: Flash90.
Jibril Rajoub, the chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, is a very vocal supporter of Hamas’ October 7 massacre and atrocities.
Just six weeks after those events — in which Gazans tortured, raped, and brutally murdered over 1,100 Israelis while wounding over 5,000 and abducting approximately 251 people into the Gaza Strip — Rajoub said: “What happened on October 7 was an earthquake … full of epics and acts of heroism” [Al-Anba, Kuwaiti news website, Nov. 26, 2023].
That statement alone should have been enough to disqualify him from meetings with any Western leader.
Nevertheless, earlier this month, Rajoub was greeted warmly at a meeting in Geneva with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, and Rajoub thanked Bach for his cooperation:
Rajoub thanked Mr. Bach for the cooperation of the International Olympic Committee with the Palestine Olympic Committee by implementing joint plans to promote Palestinian athletes … Rajoub also met with several senior employees at the International Olympic Committee. He briefed them on the Israeli violations against Palestinian sport and their consequences on sport in Palestine.
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 6, 2025]
During the same trip to Switzerland, at an international press conference, Rajoub compared Israeli policy to Nazi atrocities, saying in English that Israel was doing to Palestinians what the Nazis had done to the Jews:
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “We are recognized by 149 [states] all over the world from the international community as a state, except Israel, America, and those who are suffering from the inferiority complex of what happened somewhere last century. We should not be a scapegoat for the Holocaust. I don’t think that it’s fair for the grandchildren of the victims of the Holocaust to practice, to exercise, the same against the Palestinians.”
[Jibril Rajoub, Facebook page, March 7, 2025]
This is overt antisemitism, according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. Yet, the International Olympic Committee did not issue a condemnation of Rajoub’s libel, nor did it condemn his support of October 7.
This is also not the first time this year that Rajoub made such antisemitic statements. In January, he said similarly in Arabic:
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “The Israelis built their lie based on the Holocaust. What is happening in the Gaza Strip? That’s a holocaust … Same formula and same means …The grandchildren of the victims of the Holocaust are the ones who are perpetrating a holocaust in Gaza.”
[Jibril Rajoub, Facebook page, Jan. 31, 2025]
In February, Rajoub also insulted President Donald Trump as being “biased in favor of the fascist neo-Nazis who rule Israel” and he equated Netanyahu to Joseph Goebbels:
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “Today it’s clear that Trump and his policy has been exposed, and he is 100% biased in favor of the fascist neo-Nazis who rule Israel … [Trump] announced what he announced alongside Netanyahu, who is a [Nazi propaganda minister] Goebbels and the last shout in the world of fascism of the 21st century.”
[Jibril Rajoub, Facebook page, Feb. 5, 2025]
The libel of Israel as being like the Nazis or worse is not exclusive to Rajoub. Rather, it has become a leading component of Palestinian antisemitism. It is echoed by many senior PA officials, such as this one on official PA TV this month, who said that Israel was “committing things uglier and more violent than what was committed in the Holocaust”:
Palestinian MP and National Library President Issa Karake: “This occupation [i.e., Israel] has been claiming for a long time that it is the victim of the Holocaust. It is committing things uglier and more violent than what was committed in the Holocaust.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, March 12, 2025]
All of this odious Palestinian hate speech should be categorically condemned rather than meriting indifference at best and acceptance at worst by major international figures, such as the president of the IOC.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is the Founder and Director of PMW, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Why Did the Head of the Olympic Committee Meet with an October 7 Supporter? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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