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Assassinated Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Recast as ‘Moderate’ by Confused Media
There was an unfortunate inevitability to the media’s coverage of the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at a residence in Tehran early Wednesday morning.
Reportedly killed in an airstrike, Haniyeh was one of Israel’s most prominent targets following the October 7 attacks, and was in the Iranian capital for the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
In addition to a flurry of analyses suggesting that Israel could be responsible for triggering a regional war, international media also published various “explainers” on Haniyeh, portraying the Hamas political bureau head as a moderating force within the Islamist terrorist group.
HonestReporting called out Reuters on social media over a headline, which was later amended, that absurdly described the Hamas terrorist as “tough-talking,” and who was “seen as the more moderate face of Hamas.”
Watch Haniyeh celebrate the murders of 1200 Israelis on October 7 after murdering countless himself and then ask yourself why you trust anything written by @Reuters that calls him a moderate.https://t.co/drHaijJB4Y pic.twitter.com/cTpOqYrcfY
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 31, 2024
Although the mastermind behind October 7 is Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, reputable wire agencies like Reuters should not need reminding that there was nothing moderate about Haniyeh’s celebration of the massacre of Israeli civilians, and his promise to repeat such atrocities.
The Guardian used similar language, going so far as to suggest some kind of diplomatic prowess on Haniyeh’s part by describing him as a “moderate figure within the [Hamas] movement, one whose role had become vital in sustained diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire.”
Apparently for the @guardian, a mass murderer is a moderate, as long as the majority of his victims were Jews. pic.twitter.com/ouPXNVb1aK
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 31, 2024
The BBC’s Middle East correspondent, Yolande Knell, was widely criticized for a piece that praised the “pragmatic” ways of Haniyeh, claiming he was less hardline than other Hamas leaders despite his “tough rhetoric.”
Media Portrayal of War-Provoking Israel
The assassination of Haniyeh, which came just hours after the IDF confirmed it had eliminated Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, who was responsible for the Majdal Shams rocket attack, will undoubtedly provoke a response from Iran, which described it as a “dangerous escalation.”
This skewed narrative is being parroted by the international media, which has placed disproportionate blame on Israel for escalating tensions in the region, including The New York Times accusing Jerusalem of an “audacious escalation.”
According @nytimes, targeting 2 arch terrorists is an “audacious escalation.” Didn’t the region already escalate audaciously on October 7 and on Saturday, when Hezbollah fired 100 rockets and murdered 12 kids? pic.twitter.com/S2bfAQ737Y
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 31, 2024
But the fact is, Israel is not bringing the Middle East to the “brink of all-out war,” as CNN claimed, nor is it provoking “Armageddon,” as suggested in an op-ed in the UK’s Independent.
These depictions of Israel as a destabilizing force in the region overlook crucial context. The killing of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr came after the group murdered a dozen children in a rocket attack on Israel. These acts of terroristic violence, like the October 7 atrocities, sparked the current conflict.
Ismail Haniyeh’s death may well trigger a wider regional conflagration. If it does, it does not change the fact that he was a genocidal monster, and the world is a better place without him in it.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Assassinated Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Recast as ‘Moderate’ by Confused Media first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘The Art of the Yiddish Monologue’ and other mini-courses in Yiddish
במשך פֿונעם חודש יאַנואַר 2026 וועט ייִוואָ פֿירן די ווײַטערדיקע מיני־קורסן אויף ייִדיש:
• „די קונסט פֿונעם ייִדישן מאָנאָלאָג“, וווּ מע וועט לייענען און אַרומרעדן מאָנאָלאָגן פֿון שלום עליכם, י. לץ פּרץ, דער טונקעלער, ב. קאָוונער, משה נאַדיר, רחל ברכות און יצחק באַשעוויס. מע וועט אויל אַרומרעדן די געשיכטע פֿונעם מאָנאָלאָג אין ייִדישן טעאַטער (שיין בייקער)
• שעפֿעריש שרײַבן, וווּ מע וועט אויפֿן סמך פֿון ליטעראַטור־מוסטערן באַטראַכטן די וויכטיקע באַשטאַנדטיילן פֿון פּראָזע — שפּראַך, סטיל, דיאַלאָג, געשטאַלט און פּייסאַזש (באָריס סאַנדלער)
• יצחק־לייבוש פּרץ און זײַנע באַציִונגען מיט די נײַ־געבוירענע ייִדישע סאָציאַליסטישע קרײַזן אין משך פֿון די 1890ער יאָרן (עדי מהלאל)
• די גרויסע אַקטריסע אסתּר רחל קאַמינסקאַ, וווּ די סטודענטן וועלן לייענען אירע זכרונות אויף ייִדיש (מיכל יאַשינסקי)
• די לידער פֿון דוד האָפֿשטײן, וואָס איז מערקווירדיק צוליב זײַן צונױפֿפֿלעכט פֿון דײַטשישע, רוסישע און אוקראַיִנישע ליטעראַרישע טראַדיציעס מיט תּנכישע און מאָדערנע ייִדישע השפּעות (יודזשין אָרנשטיין)
• די ייִוואָ־גדולים אין זייערע אייגענע ווערטער, וווּ מע וועט לייענען די שריפֿטן פֿון א. טשעריקאָװער, מ. װײַנרײַך, י. לעשטשינסקי, י. מאַרק, ש. ניגער, נ. פּרילוצקי, ז. קלמנאָװיטש, ז. רייזען, י. שאַצקי און נ. שטיף (דוד בראַון)
The post ‘The Art of the Yiddish Monologue’ and other mini-courses in Yiddish appeared first on The Forward.
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Suspect at Large in Brown University Shooting that Killed at Least Two, Injured Eight
Police vehicles stand near the site of a mass shooting reported by authorities at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S., December 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Taylor Coester
Police in Rhode Island were searching for a suspect in a shooting at Brown University in Providence in which two people died and eight were critically wounded at the Ivy League school, officials said.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told a news conference that police were still searching for the shooter, who struck at Brown’s Barus & Holley engineering building, where exams were taking place at the time. Officials said police were looking for a male dressed in black and were scouring local video cameras in the area for footage to get a better description of the suspect.
Smiley said officials could not yet disclose details about the victims, including whether they were students. He lamented the shooting.
“We are a week and a half away from Christmas. And two people died today and another eight are in the hospital,” he said. “So please pray for those families.”
Brown is on College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island‘s state capital. The university has hundreds of buildings, including lecture halls, laboratories and dormitories.
President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he had been briefed on the situation, which he called “terrible.”
“All we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt.”
Compared to many countries, mass shootings in schools, workplaces, and places of worship are more common in the US, which has some of the most permissive gun laws in the developed world. The Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as any incident in which four or more victims have been shot, has counted 389 of them this year in the US.
Last year the US had more than 500 mass shootings, according to the archive.
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Rights Groups Condemn Re-Arrest of Nobel Laureate Mohammadi in Iran
Taghi Ramahi, husband of Narges Mohammadi, a jailed Iranian women’s rights advocate, who won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, poses with an undated photo of himself and his wife, during an interview at his home in Paris, France, October 6, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
International human rights groups have condemned the re-arrest of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi in Iran, with the Nobel committee calling on Iranian authorities to immediately clarify her whereabouts.
Mohammadi’s French lawyer, Chirine Ardakani, said on X that the human rights activist was arrested on Friday after denouncing the suspicious death of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi at his memorial ceremony in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
Mashhad prosecutor Hasan Hematifar told reporters on Saturday that Mohammadi was among 39 people arrested after the ceremony.
Hematifar said she and Alikordi’s brother had made provocative remarks at the event and encouraged those present “to chant ‘norm‑breaking’ slogans” and disturb the peace, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
The prosecutor said Mashhad’s chief of police and another officer received knife wounds when trying to manage the scene.
CALLS FOR RELEASE
The Norwegian Nobel Committee called on Iranian authorities “to immediately clarify Mohammadi’s whereabouts, ensure her safety and integrity, and to release her without conditions.”
The European Union also called for Mohammadi’s release. “The EU urges Iranian authorities to release Ms Mohammadi, taking also into account her fragile health condition, as well as all those unjustly arrested in the exercise of their freedom of expression,” an EU spokesperson said on Saturday.
A video purportedly showing Mohammadi, 53, without the mandatory veil, standing on a car with a microphone and chanting “Long Live Iran” in front of a crowd, has gone viral on social media.
Ardakani said Mohammadi was beaten before her arrest.
Reporters Without Borders said four journalists and other participants were also arrested at the memorial for human rights lawyer Alikordi, who was found dead in his office on December 5.
Authorities gave the cause of his death as a heart attack, but rights groups have called for an investigation into his death.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the crowd also chanted “death to the dictator,” a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as: “We fight, we die, we accept no humiliation.”
Mohammadi, who received the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, has spent more than 10 years of her life in prison, most recently from November 2021 when she was charged with “propaganda against the state,” “acting against national security,” and membership of “illegal organizations.”
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, said on Saturday that the opposition’s campaign in Venezuela was akin to that taking place in Iran.
“In Oslo this week, the world honored the power of conscience. I said to the ‘citizens of the world’ that our struggle is a long march toward freedom. That march is not Venezuelan alone. It is Iranian, it is universal,” she said on X on Saturday.