A picture is worth a thousand words — or in this case, a thousand lies. Or, in this case, a thousand reasons to fuel the BDS campaign in the United States: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions.
As a professional photographer, I know that the person behind the lens doesn’t just capture the story, they control it. Every crop is a decision. Every object in the frame is a deliberate layer. Every angle sends a message. What you choose to show and what you intentionally leave out matters. Photography can illuminate truth. But it can just as easily be weaponized to obscure it.
That’s exactly what’s happening in Gaza.
A recent exposé by <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-863454#google_vignette">German outlet</a> BILD revealed that Gaza-based photographer Anas Zayed Fatiyeh has been staging scenes of suffering — intentionally using women and children — to manufacture strong emotions and propaganda on behalf of Hamas. These aren’t candid moments of human agony; they are carefully choreographed images designed to deceive.
One of Fatiyeh’s photos recently went viral after being amplified by The New York Times and millions of influencers. It showed a severely malnourished Gazan child wearing a trash bag, with headlines claiming Israel was “starving” civilians. The image is heartbreaking, and the suffering is real — but the story was false. The child had severe congenital conditions, including cerebral palsy. A healthy child who appears to be a sibling, not in a trash bag but in normal clothing, standing right beside them, was deliberately cropped out of the frame.
<div id="attachment_959399" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-959399" class="size-large wp-image-959399" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225506182-864x576.jpg" alt="GAZA CITY, GAZA - JULY 21: Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, a 1.5-year-old child in Gaza City, Gaza, faces life-threatening malnutrition as the humanitarian situation worsens due to ongoing Israeli attacks and blockade, on July 21, 2025. Having dropped from 9 to 6 kilograms, he struggles to survive in a tent in Gaza City, where milk, food, and other basic necessities are lacking. Suzan Marouf, a clinical nutrition specialist at Patient Friend’s Hospital, confirmed that Mohammad’s condition worsened due to severe malnutrition caused by the ongoing Israeli siege. When his family brought him to the hospital a month ago, doctors diagnosed him with moderate malnutrition in addition to pre-existing congenital health issues, including brain complications and muscle atrophy. Marouf said they had been trying to stabilize Mohammad’s condition using the last remaining nutritional supplements. &quot;The medical issues he had weren’t significantly affecting his weight,&quot; she noted. (Photo by Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini/Anadolu via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225506182-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225506182-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225506182-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225506182.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini/Anadolu via Getty Images</div>
This wasn’t journalism. It was another example of deliberately distorting reality to cast Israel as the perpetrator and Hamas as the victim. It is visual DARVO: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender.
And it didn’t happen in a vacuum. This isn’t organic outrage, it’s narrative warfare and has been going on for decades, executed in stages, and the formula works: 
First, Hamas-approved photographers stage the shot. Then, mainstream outlets from The New York Times to the BBC buy and publish the images from the Hamas-approved photographer, giving them global legitimacy. BDS accounts flood social media with them, stripped of context but supercharged with moral outrage. By the time real developments emerge — like hostage videos showing real famine, or footage of Evyatar David, intentionally starved (a war crime) and forced to dig his own grave — the emotional groundwork is already in place. The narrative then takes root, outrage explodes, and blame shifts automatically to Israel. The cherry on top? Destabilization in the West.
That’s exactly what happened here. The manufactured image became the emotional climax of a months-long BDS campaign blitz accusing Israel of engineering famine while conveniently omitting a critical fact: it was the United Nations, not Israel, that paused aid deliveries, leaving nearly 1,000 humanitarian trucks stalled inside Gaza.
What didn’t go viral? Over 100 million meals have been delivered into Gaza in the last two months alone — facilitated by Israel and the U.S. through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. That’s not the behavior of a genocidal regime. That’s a sovereign nation defending itself under relentless rocket fire, still upholding humanitarian obligations in the middle of war.
<div id="attachment_959405" style="width: 881px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-959405" class="size-large wp-image-959405" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2226561585-871x576.jpg" alt="A C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft drops humanitarian aid on the northern Gaza Strip on July 27, 2025. Two Jordanian and one Emirati plane drop 25 tonnes of humanitarian aid over the Gaza Strip, Jordanian state television reports on July 27, 2025. (Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)" width="871" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2226561585-871x576.jpg 871w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2226561585-300x198.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2226561585-768x508.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2226561585.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 871px) 100vw, 871px" />Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</div>
Hamas understands something many in the West still don’t: visual storytelling wields more power than words. In a media landscape where lies spread six times faster than truth, where content goes viral without verification, and where movements are built on emotion instead of evidence, a single image — especially of a child in pain or, worse, a child’s death — can shape global perception before truth even enters the conversation. Even when the image is staged, or the child is tragically yet intentionally sacrificed by Hamas, the emotional impact overwhelms reality. And once the narrative takes hold, the truth rarely catches up.
This visual manipulation metastasizes. In the United States, Hamas’s propaganda becomes the lifeblood and oxygen of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. While Hamas wages physical war, BDS attacks the American mind.
You’ve likely seen BDS content without realizing it: polished Instagram carousels calling for “genocide” strikes, petitions demanding economic boycotts, and blacklists of “Zionist businesses.” But make no mistake, this is not a grassroots cry for peace. BDS was conceived under the Iranian regime, shaped by Soviet propaganda, and codified at the 2001 Durban Conference — a supposed anti-racism summit that devolved into open antisemitism, casting Israel as the world’s pariah. Officially launched in 2005, BDS has since infiltrated nearly every legacy institution in the West and thrives on the most powerful algorithms and most naive influencers online.
BDS is a sophisticated, well-funded Trojan horse cloaked in Western progressive language: feminism, decolonization, intersectionality, liberation theology. These ideals have been hijacked and funneled into unlikely arenas. <a href="https://coachingindustryglobalstrike.com">Wellness coaches</a> are calling for BDS strikes. Interior design accounts are boycotting Jewish businesses. Predatory marketing influencers like Jenna Kutcher are raising money for <a href="https://ngo-monitor.org/ngos/palestine_children_s_relief_fund_ohio_/">NGOs</a> that historically have documented ties to Hamas. The publishing industry is boycotting <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C9u0y4uJsSG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">Jewish authors</a>. And even ex-country music singer turned social justice crusader <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/a2tolfsarb64bn18gm25c/Maren-Morris-BDS-Rosenheck-Op-ed.jpg?rlkey=o7c7kz48huni79qvjz0p1psm7&amp;dl=0">Maren Morris</a> is resharing BDS propaganda on her Instagram stories. Many of these voices have unknowingly become messengers for Hamas.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-959415 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-11-Aug-2025-10-00-AM-5432-384x576.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-11-Aug-2025-10-00-AM-5432-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-11-Aug-2025-10-00-AM-5432-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-11-Aug-2025-10-00-AM-5432-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-11-Aug-2025-10-00-AM-5432-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-11-Aug-2025-10-00-AM-5432-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-11-Aug-2025-10-00-AM-5432-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-11-Aug-2025-10-00-AM-5432-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></div>
Credit: @marenmorris/Instagram
I’ve seen their playbooks firsthand. Last year, I was part of the effort to stop a BDS resolution in Nashville and sifted through hundreds of BDS Google Drive toolkits used to <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x8ggtgx3tzafjvozy650g/STOP-GAZA-GENOCIDE_-Ceasefire-Now-Public-Toolkit-copy.docx?rlkey=gg6u3uoy93b0l5ipfkw9yvr9u&amp;dl=0">orchestrate pressure campaigns.</a> These documents detail everything from how to birddog politicians, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/15XripiWh5HoaNwLkPz05xrF2OJ-Yd6NVt3THLrNxLsE/edit?usp=sharing">chant slogans in English and Arabic,</a> manipulate marginalized groups, and weaponize emotional language to win public opinion — along with legal contacts for when the chaos inevitably leads to arrests.
The manipulation works. We’ve created a culture where a staged photo can do more to radicalize a high school student at a private school that costs $30k/year than any speech from a terrorist leader. And the consequences are measurable: Antisemitism isn’t just rising, it&#8217;s raging. The Anti-Defamation League reports 46% of the global population harbors antisemitic beliefs. That means nearly every other person you pass on the street or follow online holds some form of hatred toward Jews or Israel.
Let’s stop pretending this is accidental. It is deliberate. It is dangerous. And it is working.
I believe in the power of photography. I’ve dedicated my life to it. When done with integrity, photography is one of the most powerful tools we have to build bridges, evoke empathy, and humanize differences. But when photography is used as a weapon of propaganda, it becomes a tool of destruction, of truth, of peace, and of human dignity.
This is a wake-up call — not just for journalists, producers, and editors, but for every one of us who consumes media. We must ask: Who is behind this image? What’s their agenda? What’s being shown and what’s being deliberately left out? Does this content amount to material support for a foreign terrorist organization — a felony under U.S. law? Where is the line, and who is drawing it?
If we don’t start applying discernment, we become complicit in a system designed to manipulate us. We become pawns in a game played by those who seek not peace, but power.
You can either be used by Hamas propaganda, or you can reject it. You can either fall for the illusion or you can insist on the truth, no matter how complex or uncomfortable.
Photography shapes memory. It shapes morality. And right now, it&#8217;s being used to distort both.
* * *
Alyssa Rosenheck is a bestselling author and named by Architectural Digest as one of the U.S.’s top photographers. Through her forthcoming book White. Blonde. Jew. (Spring 2026) and firsthand experience on post-war delegations to Israel, she confronts modern antisemitism while inspiring truth-tellers and cultural clarity.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Malnourished toddler in Gaza fights for life amid ongoing Israeli attacks

How Hamas Photo Propaganda Dupes The West And Fuels BDS

Boycott Divest Sanction

Gaza

Hamas

Israel

Legacy Media

New York Times

Opinion

Photography

Media outlets around the world jumped on the story of a journalist who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, but managed to elide the fact that he celebrated the Hamas October 7, 2023, massacre of over 1200 Israelis and was seemingly close with the late Hamas terrorist leader, Yahya Sinwar.
Anas al-Sharif was one of five Al Jazeera journalists killed in the airstrike on Sunday, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/08/11/israel-gaza-anas-al-sharif-al-jazeera/">according</a> to the Washington Post.
Israel Defense Forces reported that al-Sharif had been the head of a Hamas terrorist cell and advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, adding, “Intelligence and documents from Gaza, including rosters, terrorist training lists and salary records, prove he was a Hamas operative integrated into Al Jazeera.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🎯STRUCK: Hamas terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as an Al Jazeera journalist
Al-Sharif was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell and advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops. 
Intelligence and documents from Gaza, including rosters, terrorist training lists and… <a href="https://t.co/ypFaEYDHse">pic.twitter.com/ypFaEYDHse</a>
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) <a href="https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1954652255199887516?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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On the very day that Hamas and fellow Palestinian civilians slaughtered more than 1200 Israelis, raping women and brutalizing infants, al-Sharif posted on Telegram: “9 hours and the heroes are still roaming the country killing and capturing &#8230; God, God, how great you are ❤️❤️❤️”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Al Jazeera “journalist” Anas Al Sharif, who was just eliminated, reported on October 7th: <a href="https://t.co/JRHgBFGuw6">pic.twitter.com/JRHgBFGuw6</a>
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) <a href="https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/1954685194176549106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Photos show Sinwar embracing al-Sharif and the journalist taking selfies with him and other Hamas leaders:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Yahya Sinwar and Anas Al Sharif <a href="https://t.co/VdBXQFTlhm">https://t.co/VdBXQFTlhm</a> <a href="https://t.co/rsO8xVaqwQ">pic.twitter.com/rsO8xVaqwQ</a>
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) <a href="https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/1954865948369854873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
They say Anas Al-Sharif was a journalist.
Here he is with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
He was a terrorist. Don&#8217;t let them fool you. <a href="https://t.co/E2NV5RzMaK">pic.twitter.com/E2NV5RzMaK</a>
— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) <a href="https://twitter.com/VividProwess/status/1954674271139344745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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But media outlets had their own story to tell: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-strike-kills-al-jazeera-journalists-gaza-2025-08-11/">Reuters</a> called al-Sharif a “prominent Al Jazeera journalist,” quoting the news outlet that described him as “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists.”
<a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-gaza-war-al-jazeera-netanyahu-08-11-25">CNN</a> quoted Al Jazeera English’s director of news, Salah Negm, saying the airstrike was “killing the messenger and trying to eliminate any eyewitness to atrocities and genocide.”
AP <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mideast-wars-gaza-journalist-jazeera-c7d73f1d3cfa3d24fb4ce5a294c08d32">huffed</a>, “Observers have called this the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern times,” then quoted al-Sharif writing before he died, “I never hesitated for a single day to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification.”
The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqyyrp3yq9o">BBC</a> called al-Sharif a “prominent reporter.” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/10/prominent-al-jazeera-journalist-killed-in-israeli-airstrike-on-gaza">The Guardian</a> echoed that al-Sharif was a “prominent Al Jazeera journalist,” and gave a more lengthy version of the al-Sharif post that stated he had “lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification.”
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-journalists-killed.html">referred</a> to al-Sharif as a “well-known correspondent for Al Jazeera,” and also quoted the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry claiming that Israel had caused “61,000 deaths.”

PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-GAZA-AL JAZEERA

The Media Refuse To Report Critical Details Surrounding Palestinian Journalist Killed By Israel

Media Mourn Palestinian Journalist Killed By Israel. Here Are Some Key Facts They Don't Report.

journalist

Media Bias

Australian television presenter Erin Molan, a staunch defender of the West and Israel, denounced the Australian government for asserting they would recognize a Palestinian state in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of over 1200 Israelis, bitterly offering congratulations to Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has presided over an era in which antisemitism has become pronounced in his country and anti-Israel actions have grown ever more public, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/australia-palestinian-state-albanese-3d32a2d823a430cb85d3f6a83158dd90">said</a> on Monday that his country would recognize a Palestinian state.
“A big congratulations to Hamas off the news out of Australia that our government, our Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister will be recognizing a Palestinian state,” Molan said acidly. “They are, of course, in control of Gaza. They are terrorists and they carried out October 7. So a big congratulations to them for this wonderful shot in the arm.”
“I’d like to pass on my condolences to the hostages, around 50, who are still trapped in tunnels, are desperate, dying, suffering immensely; to every child in Gaza, my condolences to you as well because this will only prolong your pain because our government has just given a massive big hurrah to the people responsible for your pain: Hamas, the terrorists,” she declared.
“And also a big shout out to every other heinous, murderous terrorist group in the world who was looking for a kind of way to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the Western world,” she said. “Who now know all they have to do is break into another country, slaughter, rape, chop off heads, hack them off on camera, burn children alive, and take hostages, including babies, then kill them, and ‘Bob’s your uncle’: there you go: statehood.”
“So just really a big congratulations all round to all the terrorists and condolences to every innocent person who will be hurt immensely by this, none more so than the hostages and those children in Gaza,” she concluded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
A huge congratulations not JUST to H*mas… but to terrorists everywhere 💪 What a win… 🥳
Ohhhh and condolences to the hostages, kids in Gaza and innocents everywhere who will suffer even more so as a result 🙏
Australia has just announced it will recognise a Palestinian… <a href="https://t.co/MF7OF2eAfQ">pic.twitter.com/MF7OF2eAfQ</a>
— Erin Molan (@Erin_Molan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Erin_Molan/status/1954753839061746149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Molan said last November of Israel, “They are the only country currently fighting back and destroying the terrorists currently trying to destroy our way of life. &#8230; For most people in the West, that’s not the case. Yet. But as this movement grows — and it is — we won’t have an Iron Dome to protect us. Unlike Israel, the enemy in the West is already within. And the damage they will be capable of with just a little more encouragement and leniency will be unthinkable.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
I honestly don’t know how <a href="https://twitter.com/Erin_Molan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Erin_Molan</a> does it. Week after week after week she breathtakingly knocks it out of the park every single time.
Watch as Erin calls out every single cowardly government for their blatant inaction in the face of the worst wave of hate and antisemitism… <a href="https://t.co/OlMvjPSZku">pic.twitter.com/OlMvjPSZku</a>
— Cheryl E 🇮🇱🎗️ (@CherylWroteIt) <a href="https://twitter.com/CherylWroteIt/status/1862429255000301794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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In July, a synagogue with roughly 20 people inside praying was firebombed in East Melbourne; last December, another synagogue in Melbourne was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/world/australia/synagogue-fire-melbourne.html">set ablaze</a>. Between October 7, 2023, and December 2024, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry reported more than 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lioness-aussie-news-anchor-confronts-anti-semitism-around-the-world-warns-the-west">‘Lioness’: Aussie News Anchor Confronts Anti-Semitism Around The World, Warns The West</a>

Mercedes-Benz Sydney Women In Business Luncheon – Arrivals

Former Sky News Host Denounces Australia For Recognizing Palestinian State

'Congratulations To Hamas': Erin Molan Denounces Australia For Recognizing Palestinian State

Australia

Erin Molan

Palestinians

The viral story of a Gazan boy killed by Israel’s military at an aid distribution site is under question in light of new body cam footage from the day of the incident and an interview with a woman who&#8217;s been identified as the boy&#8217;s stepmother who insists he was alive after it occurred.
In a video exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire, a woman who says she is the boy&#8217;s stepmother, Siham Al-Jarabe&#8217;a, disputes the account given by former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) contractor Tony Aguilar. Aguilar says he met a boy named “Amir&#8221; while working at a GHF aid site on May 28, and saw him killed by the Israel Defense Forces that day. His account has since gone viral, fueling criticism of Israel as well as the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
But Al-Jarabe&#8217;a — who has been interviewed on several media outlets — says her stepson, Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hamdan Al-Jarabe&#8217;a, went missing on July 28 and was alive with her for two months after the date Aguilar claims he saw him die.
Al-Jarabe&#8217;a says she believes Aboud, as he’s known to family (Al-Jarabe&#8217;a says Aguilar was responsible for spreading the nickname “Amir”) is still alive, as she has seen no death certificate or body, and suspects he may have been kidnapped.
In a video filmed on August 5, Al-Jarabe&#8217;a is asked repeatedly what day her son went missing, to which she replied July 28 — about a week before.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Al-Jarabe&#8217;a said that she left Amir at home at 6AM on July 28 and went to a GHF site for aid. When she returned home, Amir was missing. Two days later, she saw Aguilar’s footage from May and thought he was the last person to see her son.
Interview 👇 <a href="https://t.co/nMN2Y6EbuW">pic.twitter.com/nMN2Y6EbuW</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1954734310499516580?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
“July 28 is the last time you saw the boy? Today is August 5,” the Arabic-speaking interviewer says to Al-Jarabe&#8217;a. The Arabic interview’s translation into English has been independently verified by The Daily Wire.
“Yes,” she replied.
“So almost a week ago?”
“Yes.”
<h3>Aguilar’s Video and New Footage</h3>
Aguilar <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmxBUpyb2oI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first spoke about</a> Amir on an American podcast called Unxeptable, which discloses on a <a href="https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/unxeptable" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fundraising page</a> that it exists only to criticize the Israeli government. The interview took place on July 28, the same day Al-Jarabe&#8217;a says her son went missing. During the interview, Aguilar recounts how he met Amir at GHF’s Safe Distribution Site 2.
Aguilar says in the interview that he told the boy, “People care. You&#8217;re a human being and people care about you,” before he kneeled down and placed his hands on the side of Amir’s face. He adds that Amir, the boy, responded by kissing him and saying thank you in English, only to walk away and get shot an hour later.
“He sets his food down, and he places his hands on my face — on the side of my face, on my cheeks — these frail, skeleton, emaciated hands, dirty. And he puts them on my face, and he kissed me. He kissed me, and he said, ‘Thank you,’ in English. Thank you. And he collected his items, and he walked back to the group, and then he was shot at with pepper spray and tear gas and stun grenades and bullets — shot at his feet and in the air — and he runs away, scared.”
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_959265" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-959265" class="size-large wp-image-959265" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/IMG_0624-1024x576.jpeg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/IMG_0624-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/IMG_0624-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/IMG_0624-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/IMG_0624-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/IMG_0624-2048x1152.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hamdan al-Jarabe&#8217;a kissing the hand of a GHF contractor.</div>
&nbsp;
His story was picked up days later by MSNBC, which did a special report on Aguilar’s allegation that the boy was “gunned down” and killed. He was <a href="https://youtu.be/cWVC5d4490Y?si=sByloGU3f60OfLFI">also invited</a> to tell his story to a sitting Democrat Senator, Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen.
But in response to questions from The Daily Wire, Aguilar clarified that while he saw “Amir’s” motionless body on the ground, he could not verify that he was dead. Aguilar said that, based on his 25 years of experience in the Army, he assessed the boy was “dead or, at a minimum, fatally wounded.”
“I saw Amir&#8217;s body on the ground, having fallen/dropped to the ground amidst the gunfire from the IDF, which was being fired toward the crowd as a crowd control measure to keep them moving in a westerly direction to the Morag Corridor as they left the site,” Aguilar said. “It has always been my position that he, and others, were dead. The body wasn&#8217;t moving. Others ran or limped away. I, nor anyone, could verify that he was dead.”
“Considering that he has not been found, and he has not been seen, it is safe to say that my assessment is correct,” Aguilar added. “However, if he were to be alive, that would be a blessing. Yet it does not excuse the firing of ‘warning shots’ at/toward/near a group of unarmed civilians.”
The GHF maintains that no incident involving IDF fire on civilians occurred at their distribution site that day. It adds that even if such an incident had taken place, Aguilar could not have witnessed it, as GHF contractors are prohibited from leaving the secure aid sites — which are set back from the IDF’s position, lack a clear line of sight, and are separated by physical barriers such as sand mounds.
The IDF did not report any incidents taking place on May 28.
A review of body cam footage of an American security contractor standing next to Aguilar also shows a very different interaction than what has been described by Aguilar.
The boy is seen walking up to the man with the body cam and kissing his hand. He then turns to Aguilar, and appears to ask for assistance with getting the crowd to let them take food. Aguilar then touches the boy’s shoulders and chest.
“This little young man here, obviously pretty young, he has food,” Aguilar says while recording his video. “Go home, go home, okay? Thank you.”
The little boy then walks away into the crowd.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
The contractor wearing the body cam told The Daily Wire that Aguilar’s story is “fabricated.”
&#8220;There is no profound English dialog, kneeling at his level, nor does the boy drop his aid to kiss Tony and say ‘thank you’ to him in English.&#8221;
Side-by-side video👇 <a href="https://t.co/YaQpDmw4CN">pic.twitter.com/YaQpDmw4CN</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1954734297379918285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
Aguilar confirmed to The Daily Wire that the footage below is the full extent of the interaction. Asked why the video does not show the full interaction he described, Aguilar insisted in a statement that it transpired off camera, and that the hand shown being kissed was his.
“The video you show misses the moments of the key elements you are claiming to discredit, yet your video doesn’t ‘not’ show it, and you weren’t there, and I am on the record,” Aguilar said. “I did not embellish. And it is clearly evident that Amir and I had the interaction.”
The security contractor wearing the body cam told The Daily Wire that Aguilar’s story is “fabricated.”
“The hand in his picture is my hand,” the contractor said, describing how he knows it’s not Aguilar’s. “I have discolored pigment from a burn on that hand, and I see the blood under my fingernail growing out from smashing it at home before coming here. The boy disappeared back into the aid after Tony walks off from him. There is no profound English dialog, kneeling at his level, nor does the boy drop his aid to kiss Tony and say ‘thank you’ to him in English. Tony completely fabricated this story.”’
On May 29, a day after the alleged incident, Aguilar sent a “daily impact report” to his fellow teammates where he praised them for their work and included two pictures of Amir.
“Your efforts have brought families back together and have severely weakened the image of Hamas,” Aguilar wrote in the texts released by the GHF after Aguilar first went public with his accusations. “GREAT JOB.”
<div id="attachment_959267" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-959267" class="wp-image-959267 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/3-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/3.jpg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Tony Aguilar praising his teammates on May 29 along with two photos of Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hamdan al-Jarabe&#8217;a aka &#8220;Amir.&#8221;</div>
<h3>Amir’s Stepmother Says The Boy Was Alive After May 28</h3>
According to Amir’s stepmother, the boy was not killed on the day he appeared in Aguilar’s footage — he lived for at least another two months after May 28.
News of Aguilar’s story greatly confused Al-Jarabe&#8217;a, who does not own a phone with an internet connection and first saw his footage about two days after she says her son went missing on July 28.
Until the August 5 interview, she believed that Aguilar mixed up his dates and actually took the footage in July instead of May. Aguilar’s work with GHF ended in June, when he was terminated by the security contractor staffing aid sites “due to poor performance, volatile conflicts with staff, and erratic behavior.”
“The American made a mistake by saying he saw the boy May 15,” the grieving mother said, mixing up the May dates. “This is from two months ago. No, the boy went to the Americans on July 28.”
When she is told Aguilar’s photo is from May, she denies it, affirming that the footage must have been taken on July 28, the day her son went missing.
“I tell you that this picture that was on the news, was not from July 28,” the interviewer says, showing a picture of Amir.
“No, it was July 28.”
Al-Jarabe&#8217;a said that she left Amir at home at 6:00 a.m. on July 28 and went to a GHF site to pick up aid with her daughter. When she returned home, Amir was missing. Two days later, her neighbor saw Aguilar’s story and footage and told her that Amir was killed when visiting GHF’s SDS2 site.
“A woman came and told me that it looks like your son Aboud was martyred,” she said. “I told her I’m shocked.”
Aguilar’s claim of where the incident happened also confused Amir’s mother who said in the interview that her son had never been to SDS2 — which she calls Al Shakosh — before, and that she was confused when she heard where he was because it was much further from their home from the SDS3 site where the family has been going to get aid.
Aguilar repeated the claim that he met Amir at SDS2 in several interviews, but clarified to The Daily Wire after being presented with evidence from GHF’s daily operational emails that SDS2 was not operational on May 28, that it must have happened at SDS3.
<div id="attachment_959255" style="width: 964px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-959255" class="size-large wp-image-959255" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-10-at-9.09.17-PM-954x576.png" alt="" width="954" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-10-at-9.09.17-PM-954x576.png 954w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-10-at-9.09.17-PM-300x181.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-10-at-9.09.17-PM-768x464.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-10-at-9.09.17-PM-1536x927.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-10-at-9.09.17-PM.png 2008w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 954px) 100vw, 954px" />GHF Operational Update emailed to press on May 28.</div>
“I was surprised to find out he was at Al Shakosh,” Al-Jarabe&#8217;a said, adding that the only reason she thought Amir went to the site was from Aguilar’s claims in the press.
“How did you find out he was at Al Shakosh?” the interviewer asked.
“The American released his photo.”
“Okay, so you’re basing your information on the story by the American?”
“Yes.”
“So not because you knew he was going to Al Shakosh?”
“No. I thought he was going to Al Tina (SDS3).”
The Daily Wire reviewed interviews with two of Al-Jarabe&#8217;a’s neighbors also confirming that Amir went missing on July 28.
Al-Jarabe&#8217;a said upon realizing Amir was missing, she thought he must’ve followed her after she left for SDS3.
The photos and videos of Aguilar shared with the press gave his stepmother hope she would find Amir, because she did not realize they were taken in May. She has spent over a week going to morgues, hospitals, and humanitarian organizations in search of a sign of life, she says.
In the interview, she said she had spoken with Aguilar days before, but wanted to clarify with him what exactly he saw.
“I want to reach the American whom my son kissed his hand, to talk to him and ask him: did you see him die in front of you? Did you see the boy die with your own eyes? I mean, you said you gave your resignation when you saw the moment in front of you.”
Aguilar provided The Daily Wire with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKsNF0z3fL8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Zoom recording</a> where he, Al-Jarabe&#8217;a, and activists were present. In the Zoom, Aguilar shares the same claims he has made about Aguilar, and mentions that the incident took place on May 28. When Aguilar’s comments are translated into Arabic, the translator does not mention when Aguilar took the video. Aguilar says the Zoom, during which Al-Jarabe&#8217;a was having connection issues, took place on August 3.
Al-Jarabe&#8217;a responds in Arabic, stating that she’s been searching for her son since the 28th — without specifying which month, and says she has still yet to find any evidence showing if her son is dead or alive.
Reports in both <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2025/8/4/relative-of-photographed-boy-killed-at-gaza-aid-site-cant-find-his-body#flips-6376529917112:0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Al Jazeera</a> and <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-family-boy-amir-killed-ghf-site-still-have-not-received-his-body" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Middle East Eye</a> share heavily-edited videos of Al-Jarabe&#8217;a, who says she is searching for her son without any mention of when he went missing.
Both reports accurately name Amir as Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hamdan al-Jarabe&#8217;a. According to al-Jarabe&#8217;a, she saw Aguilar call her son “Amir” and believed it was because the boy had kissed the hand of an Amir (Arabic for &#8220;prince&#8221;) — referring to Aguilar.
“He was named Al Amir when he kissed the hand of the Amir,” she said. “And the nickname stuck.”
When asked how she found out about the nickname, she said it came from the internet.
“From the internet, they said ‘the child Amir.”
Aguilar told The Daily Wire that he believes Amir was an already existing nickname.
“Surely, as anyone can understand, Amir was his nickname,” he said. “My name, for example, is Anthony Aguilar, but I go by ‘Tony.’”
Despite Aguilar’s insistence, Al-Jarabe&#8217;a still believes that her son is alive.
“I believe my son is alive — he didn’t die,” she said. “I feel strong because if he died in Al Shakosh — I entered Al Shakosh — they for sure would have given him treatment,” she added, referring to the basic medical attention GHF provides to aid seekers.
She adds that in Aguilar’s footage, Amir is surrounded by a crowd, and someone would have been able to provide her more information.
“My son was not alone,” she said. “When the American said he was shot and fell, he was surrounded by a lot of people.”
According to GHF, Augilar’s contract was terminated on June 13 “due to poor performance, volatile conflicts with staff, and erratic behavior.” In several screenshots of text messages provided to the press, Aguilar is seen both lashing out at GHF staff and asking for his job back. In a screenshot provided to The Daily Wire of GHF’s executive team chat, a leader reiterates on June 13 that Aguilar was fired after being given a chance at two different locations and still getting “negative feedback.”
<div id="attachment_959257" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-959257" class="size-large wp-image-959257" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Cover-images-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Cover-images-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Cover-images-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Cover-images-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Cover-images.jpg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshots of text messages regarding Tony Aguilar&#8217;s employment at GHF. (Courtesy)</div>
“Last straw was planning today and being disruptive and unprofessional,” the leader writes.
On June 22 Aguilar wrote to a GHF employee: “I can be your best friend, or your worst nightmare. Stop F-ing around, put me back to work, and let’s get this mission done.”
Aguilar claims he was not fired, but resigned.
After returning to the United States, Aguilar went to the media — first anonymously, then on the record — to voice his grievances about GHF operations, including the story of Amir.

Tony Aguilar and Amir

EXCLUSIVE: New Evidence Calls Into Question Viral Story Of Gazan Boy ‘Amir’ Killed At GHF Aid Site

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee denounced CBS News for selectively editing an <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/huckabee-says-if-israel-is-attempting-genocide-they-are-really-really-bad-at-it/">interview</a> with him on its way to savagely attacking Israel.
Huckabee was interviewed by CBS News&#8217; Debora Patta, who has been critical Israel for years, whether <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6be9tHsEpO/">interviewing members</a> of “Breaking the Silence,” an organization that has accused Israel of occupation and apartheid and routinely attacks the Israel Defense Forces, or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CBSEveningNews/videos/israeli-soldier-accuses-army-of-using-human-shields/1297754977966525/">interviewing an anonymous Israeli soldier</a> attacking the IDF for supposed crimes it had committed in the war against Hamas.
He released the full transcript of the interview to illustrate how it was chopped up by the network to &#8220;give you a different story&#8221; than what actually took place.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Ever wonder how the media edits an interview to give you a different story than the one they had? Here’s <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSNews</a> interview with me yesterday and the unedited full transcript below. Take time and read. You’ll see it ⬇️. <a href="https://t.co/6bubcQogyi">https://t.co/6bubcQogyi</a>
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@USAmbIsrael) <a href="https://twitter.com/USAmbIsrael/status/1953777227914453499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Huckabee links to both the aired segment and a <a href="https://il.usembassy.gov/ambassador-huckabees-interview-with-cbs-news/">full transcript of the interview</a> posted on the ambassador&#8217;s website.
The actual interview with Huckabee started with him speaking of the futility of negotiations with Hamas, saying, “I’m not sure there is a way to revive negotiations with people who were so savage that they would rape women in front of their families, burn elderly people in their wheelchairs, in front of family, and do the hideous things that they not only did on October 7, but they continue to do in torturing hostages that have been in these tunnels now for almost 22 months. So, if I believe that there was a way to sit down and reason with people like that. I would love to see it happen, but you have to look at who they are and what they have done, what they’ve done to their own people. How many of their own people they’ve murdered in Gaza and ask yourself, are these people that really want a conclusion? Do they want some level of stability? I see no sign of it.”
Patta asked, “So, the alternative is?”
“I think the alternative is to recognize that they understand one thing: they lose, they have to be defeated. And President Trump has repeatedly said, Hamas has no future in Gaza, and they can’t lead it. I think that’s exactly right. It would be the equivalent of saying, well, the Nazis can stay in Germany after World War II and continue to be a party and maybe have a role in government.”
None of that was aired.
After discussing the possibility of Israel taking control of Gaza, with Huckabee saying, “The United States has respect for the nation that was attacked on October the seventh. We understand that they’re the ones who have to make some of these tough decisions. So it’s not our job to tell them what they should or should not do,” Patta segued to undermining the Israeli war effort, claiming, “I have spoken to many families of the hostages interviewed in countless times, and there is real frustration, though, with Netanyahu and his government, the feeling that they could perhaps be beholden to right wing factions in the Cabinet who don’t want the war to end, who have said that they don’t want the war to end until Hamas is completely defeated.”
Huckabee responded:
<blockquote>
Now some people would want it to end regardless of the outcome, even if Hamas gets to stay, but that’s an outcome that ultimately, Israel has to ask itself, can we live with that? Can the world live with that? Does that not just invite another October 7, which is what Hamas has pledged, promised, guaranteed, they would do again. How many more hostage families will there be in the future? If Hamas gets to stay, they get to chalk this up as a victory.
</blockquote>
Patta then claimed, without providing any documentation or evidence, “You’ve seen the protests, over half of Israelis want the war to end.”
“I think 100% of the Israelis want the war to end. I would venture to say I couldn’t find somebody in this country that wants it to continue. But I don’t think that there is a consensus as to whether or not the war should end with Hamas getting a victory,&#8221; Huckabee fired back. “Do you allow these savages who did what they did and continue to do it? &#8230; October the seventh wasn’t the only time they ever did something that was absolutely a massacre, the number of deaths that they inflicted would have been the equivalent of 40,000 people in America killed on a single day by a terror organization. I can’t even begin to tell you what would be the reaction in the United States. So, from the perspective as an American who’s here watching in the middle of this, I can tell you that Americans, if 40,000 of us, would have been slaughtered, massacred, mutilated in front of our families, I don’t think Americans would say: ‘you know, we just want this to be over. We’re just tired of this.’ If the people who did it were going to claim a victory and put a flag up and say: ‘And we’re going to do it again.”
None of this was aired.
Patta then turned to what appeared to be her real agenda, asking Huckabee if he was “moved” by alleged starvation in Gaza.
“I’m moved when the photos are verified,” Huckabee stated. Then he continued in a section that was not aired: “I mean, we’re all moved when you see someone, especially a child who’s starving. But the New York Times published a picture on the front page of what was purported to be a starving child. Turns out the child had a birth defect and had not been starving. There were other pictures, for example, that were published of starving children in Gaza. Turned out one of them was from Yemen.”
“I think that there are certainly people suffering in Gaza,” Huckabee continued. Then he explained why in another section that was not aired: “Part of the reason is, is because you’ve had pallets and trucks full of food that the UN won’t take in because they say they don’t want military escort from IDF, but they say it’s not safe, and 87% of their own food every time they do take it in gets hijacked and looted. That’s their numbers. Those aren’t mine. I didn’t make that up. That’s what they report. So there’s not been a lack of food or even a lack of attempt. It’s been an inefficient way of getting it in. It’s been a problem because you have a terror organization who is stealing it, looting it, and then turning around and selling it to the people who are hungry. And one thing that’s true certain is that Hamas is not feeding hostages. Where’s the Red Cross? Where’s the Red Crescent? How come they haven’t demanded that the hostages get fed?”
“We spoke to the World Food Program, and they have not been shown any evidence of this at all,” Patta insisted.
“Are you telling me they say that their food has not been looted?” Huckabee asked incredulously.
“No, I’m saying there’s no evidence that it’s been diverted to Hamas. They’re not saying it’s not being looted. What they’re saying…” Patta persisted.
“I am shocked they would say that,” Huckabee responded.
Another section CBS News chose not to air: Huckabee stated, “Hamas made half a billion dollars last year, 500 million U.S. dollars stealing food, selling it on the black market in order to finance their activities. That’s stunning. That’s a real business they have. They put it in warehouses. Yes, there have been some of the just regular population who are looting the trucks. One of the things we heard at GHF (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) feeding sites was people, when they first started coming, they said, well, this is the first time you didn’t have to pay for the food. They were used to having to buy a food from Hamas at prices that Hamas was inflating because they stole something. And then they turned around and sell it.”
“Every single day there are people dying near GHF sites,” Patta said.
Then, this non-aired exchange:
<blockquote>
Patta claiming, ‘They’re being shot, allegedly, according to either countless, and we have interviewed just the other day a private security contractor, not a security contractor, a private civilian contractor who drove the truck and has provided us with new video of constant shooting at these GHF sites, he says, by both Americans and IDF soldiers, live ammunition being used as a form…
“Could you show that video to me, because I have not seen it,” Huckabee answered. “ “No one in the U.S. government has seen it. And frankly, we have no reports. And we get reports every single day from all four feeding sites. When someone says something like that, I say, I don’t believe it, until you show it to me.”
</blockquote>
“We’ve had reports that there have been incidences,” Huckabee says in the video, but then this is elided: “But we’ve also had reports one day that there were 27 people killed at a GHF site. We had the video to show that no one was even injured. Much less killed. But it went all over the world, the New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, CNN all reported it turned out as a total hoax. It’s never happened. Did those media companies come back, some of them with a tiny little correction in the fine print, but the story went out there that 27 people had been murdered at the GHF side. It never happened.”
Patta quoted the virulently anti-Israel <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165552">Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights</a>, of which the notoriously vicious Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese is a member, saying, According to the UN, 1400 people have been killed. Mostly, they say, by IDF gunfire, nearly 900 by GHF sites.”
Another section elided: Huckabee responded, “My gosh &#8230; who would be for people being killed getting aid but here’s what Gazans told me when I was there last week. The people who live in Gaza, the people, the ones who are going to get the food, said that they did not hate the IDF, and they loved the Americans. But they hated Hamas because every single one of them with Hamas had had some family members in their clan who had been murdered by Hamas when they were trying to get food so who’s doing the killing? That’s a good question. You honestly think it’s some U.S. contractors, or it’s the IDF just gunning people down. Or is it Hamas, who have tried to keep people from getting to the feeding sites for a simple reason, because it’s business to them. If they can keep people from getting the free food, then they can sell the food that was supposed to be given to them for free. That’s what no one seems to be wanting to talk about. Why not?”
CBS News aired Patta saying, “Increasingly strong language is being used about Israel’s prosecution of this war, including from Israeli organizations, they’ve been accused of genocide.”
They aired Huckabee responding, “If Israel is attempting genocide, they’re really, really bad at it. They could have had genocide on October the eighth.”
They did not air what followed; Huckabee saying: “They could have dropped a few bombs and have annihilated all Gazans, it’s not that big an area. They certainly had the capacity to do it, and saw that in the 12-day war with Iran. It is the most ridiculous thing in the world to say that Israel is committing genocide. That’s absurd. On its face. It’s absurd.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Holds Nomination Hearing For Mike Huckabee To Be Ambassador To Israel

Huckabee Rips CBS News For Selectively Editing His Remarks About Israel To Mislead Audience

Ambassador Huckabee Says CBS News Selectively Edited His Remarks About Israel

CBS News

Media

Mike Huckabee

Poltiics

Let’s take a moment to examine how despicable the legacy media is.
Let’s contrast an actual heroic human being, the kind we need more of in America, the kind the media hates, with a person who&#8217;s awful, a person the media continue to tout.
First, the hero. His name is Edward Coristine and he was ripped up and down by the media when he first came onto the public scene. Why? Because he was working for Elon Musk&#8217;s Department of Governmental Efficiency and he was known as “Big Balls.’
According to the Left-wing media, the idea that you would have a young man who calls himself with this moniker, looking over the American budgetary system and saying, “This doesn&#8217;t belong and this does belong,” was the end of the world.
That was terrible. That was awful. We couldn&#8217;t have somebody like that working in our system.
But it turns out that Edward Coristine isn&#8217;t just a young genius who is capable of looking at budgetary numbers and figuring out where the waste, fraud, and abuse are. It turns out he is an amazing dude.
According to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/05/trump-administration-staffer-known-as-big-balls-assaulted-in-dc-00494990">Politico</a>:
<blockquote>A 19-year-old man known as “Big Balls” who played a key role in the DOGE initiative to shrink the size of government was assaulted over the weekend in Washington, according to city police. Edward Coristine, who still works for the government, was assaulted by approximately 10 juveniles near Dupont Circle about 3 a.m. Sunday, according to a police report obtained by POLITICO. Police arrested two 15-year olds as they attempted to flee the scene. 
A black iPhone 16 valued at $1,000 was also reported stolen during the incident, according to the report. President Donald Trump posted a photo on his social media platform showing a shirtless Coristine with what appeared to be blood spattered on his face, body and pants. He called for a change in the law so that the juveniles who attacked him could be charged as adults.</blockquote>
Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114977985620971126">wrote</a>: 
<blockquote>Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local “youths” and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released. They are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them, but it’s going to happen now! The Law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these “minors” as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14. The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs.  
Washington, D.C., must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see. If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore. Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!</blockquote>
What exactly happened here?
Apparently, Coristine said that the assailants approached him outside his vehicle while he was with a woman identified in the report as his significant other. He told police officers he got the other person into the vehicle just before he was attacked.
This young man made sure that the woman was not attacked. Elon Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1952836498971344926">wrote</a> on X, “A few days ago, a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night in DC. A @Doge team member saw what was happening, ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her. It is time to federalize DC.”
Remember, the media thought that this kid, this young man, was bad. He was bad because he was very online and he was young and he was smart, and he wanted to go through the governmental records. This was the kind of person we needed fewer of in America. According to our legacy media, “Big Balls” was the problem with America.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2255-the-ben-shapiro-show?elementPosition=6&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Meanwhile, the media was championing another young man, claiming that he is the kind of person America needs.
That would be Mahmoud Khalil.
Mahmoud Khalil, of course, was the import from abroad; an activist who hates America, who hates the West, who hates Israel, who is not only complicit in anti-Semitism, but is an anti-Semitic provocateur. He was imported to Columbia University to essentially act as an activist against the West, against America, against Israel and against Jews.
When the Trump administration looked at his participation in the violent student protests at Columbia, they decided to deport him. But a court stopped that deportation, and the entire Left rallied to his cause. He was a victim; America needed more Mahmoud Khalils.
Mahmoud Khalil is now out there on the talk circuit, and he sat with Ezra Klein over at the New York Times, where he promptly explained to Ezra Klein that essentially, October 7 was justified, that Israel had it coming, that there was no actual anti-Semitism at Columbia University or anything of the like.
According to the Left, this is the person, this Mahmoud Khalil, whom we need more of, and fewer of the “Big Balls” type of young men. We need more imports from third-world countries who hate America and hate Jews and make our country worse.
If you actually watch the entire interview with Ezra Klein, some of the things that Khalil said were astonishingly pro-terrorism.
At one point, he said, “Having lived in the Middle East most of my life” — he lived in Syria — “The only Jew you hear about is someone who&#8217;s trying to kill you. For those in Gaza and the West Bank, that&#8217;s the only Jewish person they encounter, the one at checkpoints, the one raiding their homes.”
Khalil didn&#8217;t grow up around Jews. He grew up in Syria. And yet he is openly stating that he grew up hating Jews.
And so he came to the United States. He found a bunch of Left-wing Jews like Jewish Voice for Peace — which is not Jewish or a voice for peace — and according to him, that&#8217;s what real Judaism is, which is an absurdity.
Khalil told Klein there was no anti-Semitism at Columbia. He said, “It&#8217;s not like anti-Semitism is happening at Columbia because of the Palestine movement,” which is, of course, a lie. And then he said, “From the river to the sea, from the Palestinian perspective, no one ever said it&#8217;s a violent call.” And then, of course, he defended “globalize the intifada.” He said October 7 was not an aggressive attack. He said it was just to break the cycle, that Palestinians were not being heard.
This Left-wing martyr is a pro-terror show. That&#8217;s always what he was.
But the Left insists that he be allowed into the country, and that not only that, we need more of these people in our country.
The contrast between the media vilification of this young white man who was working for the federal government to cut waste, fraud and abuse, the kind of person who will rush to a woman&#8217;s side to save her from being assaulted by thugs, and the absolutely kid-glove glowing treatment given to Mahmoud Khalil by Ezra Klein and the rest of the legacy media is astonishing and disgusting.
It speaks to not only what the media are, but what the Left has become. I will say it over and over and over again. The Left-wing is Zohran Mamdani. The Left-wing is not some moderate senator from Minnesota like Amy Klobuchar, who&#8217;s bad enough. It&#8217;s all Mamdani, period. It’s people like Khalil, who champions terrorism. That’s what the Left thinks is right for America.
But a genius kid who saves a woman from thugs and has a nickname they hate? He’s not right for America.
Their agenda could not be any more obvious. Or vicious.

US-POLITICS-MIGRANTS-KHALIL-EDUCATION-MIGRATION

America Needs ‘Big Balls,’ Not Mahmoud Khalil

America Needs 'Big Balls,' Not Mahmoud Khalil

Ben Shapiro

DOGE

Donald Trump

gangs

Mahmoud Khalil

October 7

Washington D.C.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Thursday evening that Israel intends to fully occupy the Gaza Strip until an Arab civilian government free of Hamas can take over.
“We intend to in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free in Gaza, and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas or anyone advocating for the destruction of Israel,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer.
‘WE INTEND TO’: Israeli prime minister <a href="https://twitter.com/netanyahu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@netanyahu</a> tells FOX News’ <a href="https://twitter.com/BillHemmer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BillHemmer</a> that Israel is aiming to take control of Gaza in order to liberate its people from the grips of Hamas and end the threat of the terror regime against his country. <a href="https://t.co/lxQkYKHEB8">pic.twitter.com/lxQkYKHEB8</a>
— Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1953476751327142043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2025</a>
The announcement comes after Hamas tanked ceasefire negotiations last month, leading to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-blames-hamas-for-ceasefire-collapse-says-terror-group-wants-to-die?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Blames+Hamas+for+Ceasefire+Collapse%2C+Says+Terror+Group+%E2%80%98Wants+To+Die%E2%80%99">President Donald Trump saying</a> the terror group “wants to die.” 
According to Netanyahu, there is no path forward with Hamas.
“You met Palestinians who are fighting Hamas because finally they see that they have a future that can rid themselves of this awful tyranny that not only holds our hostages but holds 2 million Palestinians in Gaza hostage,” Netanyahu told Hemmer, who visited a U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site before the interview.
About 50 hostages remain in Gaza, some believed to be alive, others presumed dead.
Netanyahu made it clear that Israel does not wish to permanently occupy Gaza but would rather give it to a capable Arab-led government. 
“We don’t want to keep it, we want to have a security perimeter,” he said. “We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us.” 

Israel evacuated Jewish civilian communities from the Gaza Strip — known as Gush Katif — 20 years ago this month, as part of the 2005 disengagement plan to give land for peace. Shortly after, Hamas violently seized control of Gaza and turned the Strip into a terror hub.
“We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “The only way you will have a different future is to get rid of this neo-Nazi army.”
The IDF has been finishing up its operation dubbed “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/israel-greenlights-major-operation-conquer-occupy-gaza-strip" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gideon’s</a><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/israel-greenlights-major-operation-conquer-occupy-gaza-strip"> Chariots</a>” in recent weeks and has withdrawn its elite 98th Division, made up of paratroopers and commando units, along with two reserve brigades, reported the Times of Israel. The operation led to the IDF gaining control of approximately 75% of the Gaza Strip. Since the launch of Operation Gideon’s Chariots, 48 IDF soldiers have been killed.
Netanyahu’s new plan would require the IDF to ramp up its presence in Gaza and increase its attacks on Hamas.
“They are really cruel to their own people because when we try to take them away from the combat zones, they shoot them. They want people to be civilian casualties. They want a starvation policy that they themselves are trying to put into being and we’re doing everything to reverse that.”
An official in Netanyahu’s office earlier this week said the plan will include the Israel Defense Forces operating in areas where hostages are believed to be held, despite Hamas’s threats to murder hostages if forces get too close, The <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-863225">Jerusalem Post reported</a>. Hamas <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/american-israeli-hersh-goldberg-polin-among-six-dead-hostages-recovered-by-israeli-forces-in-rafah">killed six hostages</a> last August — including American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin— in Rafah shortly before the IDF reached them.
The Prime Minister’s office also encouraged IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, to resign from his position if he disagrees with a full occupation.
“If this does not suit him, you should resign,” the office reportedly said.

Netanyahu Hamas

Netanyahu Confirms Israel’s Plans To Fully Take Control Of Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu

I still see his face every time I think of Washington Square Park: a stranger who was unapologetically pro-Hamas and made clear that he cheered the October 7 massacre in Israel.
As an Olympian on Israel’s bobsled team — a team with both Jewish and Arab athletes — I decided to engage with the public following the horrific events of October 7, 2023.
So, on October 15, 2023, I spent eight hours in a folding chair in New York City’s Washington Square Park. I placed a table in front of me with a sign that called Hamas a brutal terror organization and Israel a force for good. “Change my mind,&#8221; the sign read. Passersby questioned Israel’s right to defend itself, some even denied the brutality of Hamas. I spent the day dismantling every excuse for terror. I met them all with history, with personal testimonies, and with the same grit I bring to my Olympic training. Almost no one came by to actually defend Hamas, but most were almost exclusively anti-Israel.
<div id="attachment_958343" style="width: 417px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-958343" class="wp-image-958343 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-407x576.jpg" alt="Credit: AJ Edleman" width="407" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-407x576.jpg 407w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-212x300.jpg 212w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-768x1086.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-1086x1536.jpg 1086w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-1448x2048.jpg 1448w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-scaled.jpg 1810w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px" />Credit: AJ Edleman</div>
<div id="attachment_958345" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-958345" class="wp-image-958345 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-384x576.jpg" alt="Credit: AJ Edleman" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Credit: AJ Edleman</div>
But then, as the day was coming to a close, a man and his girlfriend approached the table. He was hot. Mad. Angry. He didn’t plead with a nuanced argument or context. He didn&#8217;t come to debate over Israel, he came to both defend Hamas and justify the attacks on October 7. It was deserved, you see. The natural reaction to Israel&#8217;s actions.
For over a decade, I have debated with all kinds of people on the topic of Israel. And there are some occasions when the feeling you are left with is far more powerful than the words the person used. I have hosted over a dozen events just like this one. And after debating hundreds of individuals, I can say that while I may forget the talking points, I can usually remember the overall feeling. This was just such an occasion. I could feel his hatred. This man hated who I was. What I was.
<div id="attachment_958347" style="width: 417px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-958347" class="size-large wp-image-958347" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-407x576.jpg" alt="Credit: David Zimand" width="407" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-407x576.jpg 407w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-212x300.jpg 212w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-768x1086.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-1086x1536.jpg 1086w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-1448x2048.jpg 1448w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-scaled.jpg 1810w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px" />Credit: David Zimand</div>
It was only as his story at Columbia University broke into the news that a photographer-friend who had taken a picture of our encounter messaged me to ask if I realized who that was shouting at my face back in Washington Square Park: It was Mahmoud Khalil and his now-wife standing behind him as she nodded along with what he said.
And here’s what gets me: The media elevate voices like his because they somehow echo part of the cultural anger. We cut them slack, grant them platforms, then pat ourselves on the back for “honest debate.” But is shouting like a cheerleader for genocide really “honest”? Or is it moral abdication?
We treat his bloodlust as just another datapoint in a “heated discussion.” We ignore that he stands for rejoicing in the death of children. We gloss over the fact that someone who rationalizes cold-blooded massacre is someone we wouldn’t let babysit our own kids. Yet the legacy media puts them on a rhetorical pedestal and hands them the microphone.
Why do we give leeway to a man whose heart harbors hatred we’d recoil from in our personal lives? Because we in the West neutralize his crime into a “viewpoint” — and pretend there’s no difference between demanding justice and celebrating murder.
This is the hate-validation fallacy: assuming that any hatred we share is enough to legitimize the most extreme expressions of it. The media embrace the worst apologists for atrocity, then wonder why society feels more fractured than ever. Somehow, when it comes to Israel, this fallacy is dialed up to 11.
Are we so starved for certainty that we’ll champion the vilest among us just to prove we’re right? When did we decide that the loudest hate gets respect, while decency gets dismissed as propaganda?
Hamas stands for exulting in death — of Jews and their own people. There is no moral middle ground. And anyone who celebrates terror doesn’t have a “perspective” worth quoting — they’re a warning sign of how low discourse can sink.
That day in Washington Square Park, I saw his contempt up close. I saw how easily we can excuse the worst people when they confirm our biases. And I knew: if we don’t draw a line here, we lose more than a debate — we lose our humanity.
So, the next time you see a genocide apologist splashed across your feed, ask yourself: am I amplifying truth or validating hate? Because there’s a world of difference between making a point and aiding a monster.
We owe it to ourselves — and to every innocent life — to choose wisely. Reject the hate-validation fallacy. Refuse to give hate a stage. And remember: some voices deserve nothing but silence.
* * *
A.J. Edelman is an Israeli Olympian and captain of Israel’s Edelman Bobsled Team, a mixed Jewish/Druze team training for the 2026 Olympic Games, and in line to become Israel&#8217;s first ever multi-sport Olympian. When not sliding down mountains he is a writer and commentator.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Washington Square Park

The Day I Met Mahmoud Khalil In Washington Square Park

Anti-Semitism

antisemitism

Jews

New York City

U.S. Attorney General for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced on Thursday that the government is weighing seeking the death penalty for Elias Rodriguez, the man accused of killing Israeli Embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim earlier this year.
“This begins the statutory process of whether to seek the death penalty,” Pirro said. “This is a weighty decision. It takes time.”
Pirro said Attorney General Pam Bondi will decide whether to seek the death penalty after getting advice from a special unit that reviews such cases.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 U.S. Attorney <a href="https://twitter.com/JudgeJeanine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JudgeJeanine</a> Pirro unseals a 9-count indictment against Elias Rodriguez for the heinous murders of two Israeli Embassy staff outside D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum. <a href="https://t.co/YQSMoVzJdr">pic.twitter.com/YQSMoVzJdr</a>
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1953481283612414175?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
Lischinsky, 30, and Milgrim, 28, were allegedly shot and killed by Elias outside of an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in May. Lischinsky was a German-Israeli dual citizen and devout evangelical Christian. He immigrated to Israel at 16, served in the Israel Defense Forces, and began working as a political analyst at the embassy in 2022.
He was planning to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/friends-family-react-to-murder-of-israeli-embassy-staffers-by-keffiyeh-wearing-terrorist">propose</a> to Milgrim, who grew up in the Kansas City suburbs and was a full-time employee at the embassy’s Department of Public Diplomacy.
Rodriguez, 31, from Chicago, was detained by police and shouted “Free Palestine,” according to law enforcement and a viral video of him in custody. He allegedly told a police officer near the scene that he “did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.” He also pre-scheduled his “explication” to be published on his X account, where he advocated for violence against Israelis.
“This Justice Department will not tolerate violence motivated by hatred of faith or national origin, and we will enforce our federal civil rights laws accordingly,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice.
According to the DOJ, Rodriguez fired approximately 20 shots at Lischinsky and Milgrim.
Pirro unsealed a nine-count indictment against Rodriguez, including two new counts of committing a hate crime and two counts of assault with intent to kill. Rodriguez was previously charged on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charges-revealed-in-d-c-terror-attack-shooter-did-it-for-palestine-fbi-says">May 22</a> with the murder of a foreign official, firearm offenses, and first-degree murder.
“This office will leave no stone unturned in its effort to bring justice to the innocent victims of Elias Rodriguez,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia. “The hate charges shed further light on his evil intent in the killing of innocent victims.”
&nbsp;

Milgrim and Lichinsky

Death Penalty On The Table For Killer Of Israeli Embassy Staffers

Crime

Death Penalty

Hate Crime

Jeanine Pirro

U.S.

Washington DC

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that &#8220;not enough attention&#8221; is being focused on the hostages still being held by Hamas.
During an interview on Fox Business, host Larry Kudlow noted the Israeli government might engage in a complete military takeover of Gaza and pressed Rubio on whether he has spoken to the prime minister — and whether he thinks Israel is making a wise decision.
&#8220;Well, ultimately the president has said that it’s up to Israel to decide what they need to do for their own security. I’ve spoken often — almost daily — to somebody in the Israeli government, often to the prime minister but many times to many members of his team,&#8221; the top diplomat said.
Rubio then explained how there are three &#8220;interrelated&#8221; problems when it comes to the situation in Gaza.
&#8220;The first is there is a humanitarian problem that needs to be addressed. We’re working very hard to figure out ways to address it in ways that doesn’t benefit Hamas but that allows people to be fed and prevents a further humanitarian problem there that we’re seeing now,&#8221; Rubio said.
He added, &#8220;The second is that there are 20 innocent human beings that are being held hostage in horrifying conditions. And the third is that as long as Hamas exists, there will not be peace. There cannot be a permanent peace. It’ll restart again if Hamas remains.&#8221;
President Donald Trump recently <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reel/1828298958101812" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> there was &#8220;real starvation&#8221; going on in Gaza, in a rare break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who contends Hamas is hoarding supplies and no famine is taking place.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday that he and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with Israeli officials to assess the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where the fight against Hamas continues.
&#8220;The purpose of the visit was to give [President Trump] a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,&#8221; Witkoff <a href="https://x.com/SEPeaceMissions/status/1951281182286500025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X.
Rubio said there is &#8220;a lot of attention&#8221; being placed on the humanitarian issue and noted &#8220;we want to do everything we can to be helpful on the humanitarian problem.&#8221;
The secretary went on to say, &#8220;But not enough attention is being paid to the fact that 20 people that had nothing to do with this are being held hostage in tunnels on the verge of death, and no real talk about how Hamas needs to be disarmed and disbanded. We have to focus more on those two things.&#8221;
He concluded: &#8220;You have to do all three, and all the talk is about humanitarian — which is important; we are willing to do a lot to be helpful there — but we have to focus on the other two. Those other two cannot be forgotten. And it’s all — the president has said he wants all the hostages out — not five, not seven, all of them, including the deceased hostages. And ultimately, Hamas cannot continue to exist. Even the Arab League says it. As long as Hamas exists as an armed group in Gaza, there will not be a &#8230; peaceful future, because it’s going to happen again. And that can’t — this can never happen again.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Trump official says admin has &#039;CONCRETE EXAMPLES&#039; of what Russia would ask for to end Ukraine war" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X8FIRt7mASM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Secretary of State Marco Rubio

‘Not Enough Attention’ Given To Hostages Held By Hamas, Rubio Declares

Marco Rubio

State Department

Trump Administration

The University of Maryland has agreed to pay Palestine Legal and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) $100,000 after the university first defended, but then briefly tried to reschedule, a rally on the anniversary of Hamas&#8217;s October 7, 2023 attacks by a campus group that advocates &#8220;the right of Palestinians to carry out armed struggle.&#8221;
The public university&#8217;s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter “will spend every dollar we receive from the $100,000 penalty for banning our vigil on organizing and supporting the movement for a free Palestine,” group member Daniela Colombi said in a <a href="https://www.cair.com/press_releases/palestine-legal-cair-announce-historic-100k-settlement-from-u-of-maryland-for-unlawfully-suppressing-pro-palestinian-student-speech/">statement</a>.
&#8220;Capitulating to bad faith, anti-Palestinian pressure will cost you,&#8221; Ahmad Kaki, a CAIR attorney, added, calling it a &#8220;transparent censorship attempt&#8221;—although even as CAIR fought for the right of students to demonstrate on October 7 on free speech grounds, it tried to force the university&#8217;s medical school to <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2025/01/umd-medical-school-stands-by-israeli-surgeon-after-cair-played-role-canceling-his-talk/">cancel</a> a lecture by an Israeli surgeon.
CAIR noted that the Maryland public institution agreed to pay the anti-Israel group even as the Trump administration has extracted <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-university-retreats-as-trump-scores-historic-220m-settlement">massive</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ucla-will-pay-6-million-to-settle-antisemitic-discrimination-complaints">payments</a> from other universities for failing to protect Jews from antisemitism on campus. 
 University president Darryll Pines had in fact gone to great lengths to allow Students for Justice in Palestine to rally on the anniversary of the terror attack — an event advertised as &#8220;honor[ing] the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-maryland-will-let-anti-israel-group-hold-oct-7-rally">150,000+ martyrs</a> who have lost their lives within the past year&#8221; — including his personally echoing the false claim that Israel had killed 150,000 people, which not even Hamas contended.
But that freedom appeared to extend only to certain groups. In an email obtained by the Daily Wire, Pines threatened to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-of-maryland-prez-said-anti-israel-protesters-could-rally-on-10-7-then-threatened-to-call-police-on-jew-for-complaining">call the police on a Jewish woman</a> if she did not stop emailing faculty and staff with complaints about antisemitism.
When Jewish critics raised that double standard by wondering how Pines, who is black, would respond if it were a KKK rally instead of an anti-Israel rally, or confederate flags instead of Palestinian ones on the campus&#8217;s central quad, the rhetorical device seemed to go over Pines&#8217; head: he took it as a literal assertion that there was actually a KKK rally planned for October 7, and suddenly his prior First Amendment concerns no longer seemed to apply. 
Patricia Perillo, the University of Maryland’s Vice President of Student Affairs, later said in an affidavit that “on August 26, 2024, an individual emailed University President Darryll J. Pines, who is Black, advising that if the University was going to permit SJP’s event to go forward, ‘then my Klan Rally with sheets and a noose are also approved.’”
Pines cancelled all events on October 7, not because of his aversion to the anti-Israel event, but because of what he suggested was anti-black racism and threats by Jewish people, requiring the cancellation of events to protect the safety of the Palestine activists, according to prior Daily Wire reporting and CAIR&#8217;s summary of the lawsuit.
&#8220;The University <a href="https://palestinelegal.org/s/Defendants-Opposition-to-Plaintiffs-Motion-for-TRO-and-PI.pdf">responded to CAIR and Palestine Legal’s lawsuit</a> by claiming that it was forced to cancel all events due to racist threats from pro-Israel individuals, who had threatened to organize a KKK rally and come to campus armed if SJP’s vigil was allowed to proceed. At the hearing, University of Maryland Police Chief David Mitchell testified that pro-Israel individuals even threatened UMD President Darryl Pines’ family and used the N-word,&#8221; CAIR said in its statement heralding the settlement.
But the postponement of all October 7 gatherings on campus was short-lived. Despite Pines&#8217; general sympathy to the group, SJP sued his university in federal court, backed by lawyers from CAIR. On October 2, U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte wrote that the Palestinian group would suffer &#8220;irreparable harm&#8221; if it could not congregate on that date to mark &#8220;what it calls Israel&#8217;s most recent &#8216;genocidal campaign,'&#8221; and ordered the event <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-judge-says-university-must-let-anti-israel-group-hold-oct-7-event">reinstated</a>.
In its statement on the settlement, CAIR cast the planned event as a &#8220;vigil&#8221; somberly mourning the deaths of people in the Israel-Hamas war, but that is not what contemporaneous documents indicate. SJP&#8217;s national headquarters had called for a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-student-group-is-calling-for-a-week-of-rage-beginning-october-7">&#8220;Week of Rage&#8221;</a> coinciding with the anniversary of the Palestinian terrorist group&#8217;s slaughter of 1,200 Israelis. 
An application for reserving campus space, filed August 1, contained only a nine-word description of the event (&#8220;One year since the genocidal bombing campaign in Gaza&#8221;), according to documents obtained under public records laws, and Jewish critics have raised questions about whether the group failed to properly comply with the university&#8217;s rules for getting events approved, which would have given Pines a mechanism for blocking the event. 
Pines dismissed complaints from Jews by claiming that the group had &#8220;condemned the horrific attack by Hamas,&#8221; but a Daily Wire review of SJP&#8217;s social media showed no such sentiment. SJP instead said on Instagram that it supports the “<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C_WntvnPe2D/?img_index=5">right of Palestinians to carry out armed struggle,</a>” and “unequivocally states that the Zionist state of Israel has <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C9yDEB3PJv6/?img_index=5">no right to exist</a>.” 
Pines was so invested in defending the anti-Israel group that he resorted to academic misconduct, sending a Jewish critic what he said was original &#8220;faculty research&#8221; from Middle East scholars on campus that proved that the Palestinian flag was not objectionable. The Daily Wire found that what he called the &#8220;consensus opinion from these faculty scholars,&#8221; whom he claimed he personally consulted with, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-maryland-president-plagiarized-from-chatgpt-to-justify-anti-israel-oct-7-rally">actually came from ChatGPT</a>.
That misrepresentation spurred The Daily Wire to check Pines&#8217; past academic work for plagiarism, and it found that nearly one-third of a 5,000-word paper was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-maryland-president-copied-rocket-science-paper-from-aussie-student">copied and pasted from an Australian student</a>, who was never referenced anywhere in the paper. There was evidence that Pines (or his co-author) had not accidentally mixed up someone else&#8217;s work with their own, because the British spellings in the Australian version had — with one exception that was missed — been changed to the American versions.
Pines acknowledged &#8220;recurrent language&#8221; but denied misconduct, and the state&#8217;s university system opened a review into his academic integrity. Ten months later, the review panel has <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;opi=89978449&amp;url=https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/higher-education/university-of-maryland-darryll-pines-plagiarism-AHZESFHKN5HA5DLTEF32CER46E/">issued no findings</a>.
The University of Maryland did not answer The Daily Wire&#8217;s questions, but said in a statement that &#8220;the litigation in federal court has been mutually resolved through a settlement agreement with no admission of liability by the University.&#8221;
&#8220;UMD SJP is a registered University student organization in good standing which has had more than 100 events on campus since October 7, 2023, for which it consistently followed the University’s policies and procedures governing such events,&#8221; it added. &#8220;The University reiterates its support for the First Amendment and particularly making campus space available for individuals and groups of all viewpoints to share their opinions pursuant to its Guidelines for Expressive Activities and the First Amendment. The University takes very seriously its responsibilities for the safety and security of all University students and other members of its community.&#8221;
A top senator this week <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-long-investigate-cair-for-ties-to-terrorists">called</a> for CAIR&#8217;s tax-exempt status to be examined due to its &#8220;ties to terrorists.&#8221;

UMD Students for Justice in Palestine / Instagram

University of Maryland Will Pay Anti-Israel Group That Planned Campus Rally On October 7

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According to United Nations data, 88.7% of the organization&#8217;s aid trucks have been looted in Gaza since May 19.
Data shared by the United Nations&#8217; 2720 Mechanism for Gaza show that of the 2,604 trucks that collected aid at border crossings, 2,310 were intercepted “peacefully by hungry civilians or forcefully by armed actors,” during transit.
Only 300 trucks, just 11.5%, successfully reached their intended destinations.
A spotlight on the data comes as Israel continues to face allegations of blocking aid to Gaza. <a href="https://info.un2720.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UN figures show</a> that Israel approved 112 aid requests in June and denied 38.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-slams-senate-democrats-over-calls-to-defund-gaza-humanitarian-foundation?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=State+Department+Slams+Senate+Democrats+Over+Calls+To+Defund+Gaza+Humanitarian+Foundation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">STATE DEPARTMENT SLAMS SENATE DEMOCRATS OVER CALLS TO DEFUND GAZA HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION</a>
A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-new-footage-shows-un-convoy-driving-into-mob-of-gazans-casualties-reported?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+New+Footage+Shows+UN+Convoy+Driving+Into+Mob+Of+Gazans%2C+Casualties+Reported" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video obtained</a> by The Daily Wire shows a chaotic scene in southern Gaza last month, as more than a dozen UN aid trucks enter a dense crowd along the Morag route. As the convoy attempts to pass through, a mob swarms the vehicles, climbing aboard and looting the supplies.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
EXCLUSIVE: A new video obtained by The Daily Wire shows a chaotic scene in southern Gaza last Thursday, where Gazans swarm and loot a U.N. aid convoy.
The IDF says it received reports of casualties in the same area and on the same day involving aid trucks. <a href="https://t.co/TP0hhl0bms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/TP0hhl0bms</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1950605086058598840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
Of the 44,650 tons offloaded at the crossings, UN trucks have picked up only 35,968 tons. This leaves 8,682 tons of aid sitting in the sun awaiting transport — a situation heavily criticized by both Israel and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which accuse the UN of failing to efficiently distribute its aid.
Due to the bottleneck and constant looting of UN trucks, GHF has repeatedly offered to help the UN distribute aid, but the offer has gone unanswered. Instead, the UN has continued <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/well-break-your-legs-un-accused-of-mafia-type-response-to-u-s-led-gaza-relief-efforts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to vilify</a> the group.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-trump-says-he-doesnt-believe-israel-is-committing-genocide-in-gaza?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=WATCH%3A+Trump+Says+He+Doesn%E2%80%99t+Believe+Israel+Is+Committing+Genocide+In+Gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EXCLUSIVE: NEW FOOTAGE SHOWS UN CONVOY DRIVING INTO MOB OF GAZANS, CASUALTIES REPORTED</a>
GHF <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/witkoff-and-huckabee-tour-gaza-humanitarian-foundation-site-as-group-distributes-100-millionth-meal?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Witkoff+And+Huckabee+Tour+Gaza+Humanitarian+Foundation+Site+As+Group+Distributes+100+Millionth+Meal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hit a milestone</a> last week by distributing its 100 millionth meal since launching operations to feed Gazan civilians on May 26.
According to GHF, their aid boxes include enough food to feed a family of 5.5 three times a day for 3.5 days. Items vary depending on availability, cost, and other factors, but are built off of similar ingredient lists used by other humanitarian groups.
GHF is responsible for carrying out President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-orders-humanitarian-aid-delivered-gaza?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=15&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Sends+Aid+To+Gaza.+Israel+Will+Not+Distribute+It." target="_blank" rel="noopener">aid initiative</a>, which aims to deliver humanitarian aid directly to Gazan civilians while preventing Hamas from intercepting supplies — a challenge that has persisted since the war began.
On Monday, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-trump-says-he-doesnt-believe-israel-is-committing-genocide-in-gaza?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=WATCH%3A+Trump+Says+He+Doesn%E2%80%99t+Believe+Israel+Is+Committing+Genocide+In+Gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump said</a> that he does not believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
​​<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/united-kingdom-threatens-to-recognize-state-of-palestine-if-israel-doesnt-agree-to-ceasefire?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=United+Kingdom+Threatens+To+Recognize+%E2%80%98State+of+Palestine%E2%80%99+If+Israel+Doesn%E2%80%99t+Agree+To+Ceasefire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNITED KINGDOM THREATENS TO RECOGNIZE ‘STATE OF PALESTINE’ IF ISRAEL DOESN’T AGREE TO CEASEFIRE</a>
“I don’t think it’s that. They’re in a war,” Trump responded to a reporter who asked him if he’s seen evidence of genocide in Gaza.
Trump added that the United States is making serious efforts to help get goods into Gaza.
“We’re putting up money to get the people fed,” he said, likely referring to the GHF site. “We don’t want people going hungry, and we don’t want people to starve.”
Israel has denied that there is mass starvation in the Gaza Strip, and has vowed to help increase food aid.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad recently released videos of severely-malnourished hostages, including one of Evyatar David, who the terror organization forced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hamas-forces-emaciated-israeli-hostage-to-dig-his-own-grave?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Hamas+Forces+Emaciated+Israeli+Hostage+To+Dig+His+Own+Grave" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to dig</a> his own grave.
“This is the grave I think I’m going to be buried in. Time is running out,” David said in the video.
Hamas claimed that the hostages were receiving the same amount of food as the general population in Gaza. However, a moment in the propaganda video appeared to contradict that assertion, showing the muscular arm of a Hamas terrorist handing a can to the visibly emaciated David.
Hamas has reportedly barred the Red Cross from delivering food to hostages unless Israel permanently opens humanitarian corridors and suspends all air traffic during such deliveries, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-863225" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Jerusalem Post reported</a>.

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United Nations Says 89% Of Their Gaza Aid Trucks Have Been Looted Since May

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