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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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Body of Mohammed Sinwar Recovered from Gaza, Taken to Israel
A screengrab shows according to the Israeli Army, Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar, taken from a handout video, released Dec/ 17, 2023. Photo: Israeli Army/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – During excavations carried out recently in the area of the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, several bodies were found – i24NEWS learned on Sunday that one belonged to late Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, which is now being held in Israel.
On Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces published documentation from the underground space located under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. The tunnels include a command and control complex from which the fighting was conducted by senior Hamas commanders. During the scans, several additional bodies of terrorists were found.
About three weeks ago, Israel heavily shelled the hospital area, targeting the underground space below it, where the terrorist organization’s headquarters was located. In recent days, Israeli forces have been operating in the area, with an emphasis on underground tunnels, and have located the body. The IDF’s recovery of Sinwar’s body contradicts a previous report, according to which Hamas recovered his body from the tunnel under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, and buried it in a tunnel in the Deir al-Balah area.
Sinwar was one of the senior and veteran figures in Hamas’ military wing, and took a significant part in the planning and execution of the murderous massacre on October 7, 2023, in which he served as head of the operations headquarters. After the assassination of military commander Mohammed Deif, Sinwar was appointed by his brother, late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, to the position. He was an influential and central factor in the organization’s decision-making, promoting Hamas’s effort to rehabilitate after IDF operations.
Now, Israel possesses the bodies of both Sinwar brothers, with much of the Hamas leadership eliminated in the more than 600 days since the war began.
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Hamas Militants Kill Gaza Civilians, Publicly Asserting Brutal Control
A drone view shows buildings lying in ruins, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Al-Basos
i24 News – The Israeli army released footage from the Gaza Strip on Sunday showing a Palestinian brutally shot dead in public by what the military claims is a Hamas militant.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, General Ghassan Alian, released the footage via military channels. According to the official statement, the brutal execution took place last weekend in a Gaza City square, in front of witnesses. Israeli military authorities described the footage as “exceptional documentation” illustrating the Islamist movement’s methods against its own population.
General Alian addressed the residents of Gaza directly in a statement – “Hamas, terrorists, and criminals are killing you and do not care about your lives,” he said. “There is no difference between a dictator who kills in silence and a terrorist who massacres openly. Both are your enemies and the enemies of life.”
Alian described the act as “a desperate, further, and failed attempt to sow public fear in order to preserve Hamas’s rule, power, and governance, while cynically trampling on and exploiting the residents of Gaza for the survival of the Hamas terrorist regime and the preservation of its rule.”
Meanwhile, the IDF is intensifying its operations in key flashpoints in Gaza, particularly in Jabalia and Khan Yunis. Military forces continue to reach areas where they were not previously present.
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Two of Four Israeli Soldiers Killed in Gaza Building Collapse Identified
Tom Rothstein and the late Uri Jonathan Cohen / Photo: Israeli army spokesman
i24 News – Four Israeli soldiers were killed on Friday in the collapse of a building in Khan Younis during a military operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The incident occurred during an offensive by the 98th Division targeting Hamas infrastructure in northern Khan Younis, near Bani Suheila.
The fallen soldiers were identified as Staff Sergeant Tom Rotstein, 23, from Ramat Gan; Staff Sergeant Uri Yehonatan Cohen, 20, from Neve Yarok; Reserve Staff Sergeant Chen Gross, 33; and Staff Sergeant Yoav Rovor, 19. All served in the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit.
According to IDF sources, the soldiers were part of a mission to secure a Hamas compound believed to contain underground tunnels. A powerful explosive device detonated during the operation, causing the structure to partially collapse and trap the soldiers inside.
Five additional soldiers were wounded—one seriously and four moderately. They were airlifted to hospitals, while search and recovery teams from the Home Front Command worked for hours to extract the bodies from the rubble.
This latest incident brings the total number of Israeli military fatalities to eight this week alone, raising the overall death toll to 424 since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza.
Earlier this week, three soldiers from the Rotem Battalion of the Givati Brigade were killed by an improvised explosive device in the northern Gaza Strip. Reserve Staff Sergeant Alon Perkas, 27, also died during separate combat in the Shejaiya neighborhood.
The IDF continues its operations in Gaza as military and political leaders navigate the high costs of an enduring conflict with Hamas.
The post Two of Four Israeli Soldiers Killed in Gaza Building Collapse Identified first appeared on Algemeiner.com.