Palestinian Flag Raising Ceremony in Paterson, New Jersey

Mamdani rips ‘genocide’ in Palestine at St. Patrick’s Day event — after he botches answer on unified Ireland

By
Matthew Fischetti and
Emily Crane
Published March 17, 2026
Updated March 17, 2026, 9:58 a.m. ET


Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday compared the plight of the Irish to the “genocide” in Palestine — as he used a St. Patrick’s Day celebration to rip the “deafening silence from so many” on the Israel-Hamas war.

The Democratic socialist dropped the Gaza-related remarks as he hosted Ireland’s former President Mary Robinson for breakfast at Gracie Mansion to kickstart the Big Apple’s annual St. Patrick’s Day festivities — though neither mentioned the plight of Iranians under brutal theocratic rule.

“Who can better understand those who weep than those who have been made to weep for so long? The story of the Irish, both in Ireland and in New York City, is at one time a story of oppression, of subjugation, and of discrimination,” Mamdani said.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani used a St. Patrick’s Day celebration to rip the “deafening silence from so many” on the Israel-Hamas war.

Robert Miller for NY Post

He went on to laud Robinson, who was the first female president to lead Ireland in the ’90s, for her human rights record and history of standing with Palestine.

World Council of Churches calls on governments to hold Israel accountable for violations of international law

The World Council of Churches' new campaign called “From Condemnation to Consequences” aims to pressure governments to hold Israel accountable for its deepening occupation of the West Bank and its accelerated program of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

By Jeff Wright 

 March 11, 2026



Scenes showing the widespread destruction of buildings and infrastructure caused by Israeli attacks during the Gaza genocide in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. February 22, 2026. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)


Last week, the World Council of Churches (WCC), headquartered in Geneva, launched a month-long campaign titled “From Condemnation to Consequences.” The program calls its member churches—clergy leaders and lay alike—to hold Israel accountable for its failure to fulfill its obligations under international law.

George Sahhar, Advocacy Officer in the Jerusalem Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches, tells Mondoweiss. “When attention is focused on the war in the Middle East, we want the world to see that human rights violations by Israel against Palestinians continue, and that annexation is ongoing and deepened.”

During a webinar introducing the March 4-31 campaign, Kenneth Mtata, WCC Program Director for Life, Justice and Peace, said, “[O]ur campaign needs to remain focused on the commitments that the churches have made together, with all their partners, to see how we move from the statements and condemnation of the occupation and annexation of Palestine, and to try to translate this into concrete changes and transformation.”

“When attention is focused on the war in the Middle East, we want the world to see that human rights violations by Israel against Palestinians continue, and that annexation is ongoing and deepened.” 

George Sahhar, Advocacy Officer in the Jerusalem Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches

Mamdani hosts Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for Ramadan dinner at Gracie Mansion (Update video)

Amanda Hurley

Tue, March 10, 2026 at 10:24 AM EDT

The Brief

• NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife hosted Mahmoud Khalil and his family at the Gracie Mansion this past weekend.
• It comes one year after the former Columbia University graduate was arrested by ICE.
• The Palestinian activist has since been freed, but his deportation case remains tied up in court.

NEW YORK CITY - New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student arrested by ICE last year, and his family for Ramadan dinner at the mayor's residence this weekend.

What they're saying

Mamdani posted a photo of the dinner to social media on Monday, stating that he and his wife invited Khalil, his wife and their son to break their fast together.

The dinner also marked the one year since the Palestinian activist was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside his apartment in New York City.

"For Mahmoud Khalil, this past year has been marked by profound hardship—and by profound courage," Mamdani said in the photo caption. "And yet, even in the face of that cruelty, there has also been beauty. New Yorkers raising their voices in solidarity. A city refusing to look away. Mahmoud won his freedom, and a father was finally reunited with his child."

PM Shehbaz leaves for Washington to attend Trump's 'Board of Peace' meeting on Gaza

Sources say premier is expected to hold one-on-one meeting with Trump during his stay in US

By
Web Desk

February 18, 2026



Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) speaks with US President Donald Trump at the “Board of Peace” meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026 in Davos on January 22, 2026. — AFP


Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif departed for the United States on Wednesday to attend the inaugural global summit of the Board of Peace (BoP), hosted by US President Donald Trump in Washington on February 19.

The prime minister left for Washington from London, where he had arrived on Tuesday for a brief two-day stay following the conclusion of his official visit to Austria.

The sources said PM Shehbaz would have a one-on-one meeting with host President Donald Trump during his stay in Washington, The News reported last week.

They said that one of the key goals of the Washington meeting was to mobilise funding for Gaza’s reconstruction. More than 20 countries, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Argentina and Hungary, are members of the board.

Last month, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said that Pakistan would continue to engage with international efforts aimed at peace and security in Gaza.

“Pakistan will remain engaged with international efforts for peace and security in Gaza, leading to a lasting solution to the Palestine issue in accordance with United Nations resolutions,” he said.

US names Rubio, Tony Blair, Kushner to Gaza board under Trump's plan

By Kanishka Singh

January 16, 202611:40 PM EST



Palestinians move past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the war, in Gaza City, January 16, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Summary

• Trump names himself 'Board of Peace' chair under October plan
• White House to announce more board members in coming weeks
• Gaza has had a fragile ceasefire since October

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The White House on Friday announced some members of a so-called "Board of Peace" that is to supervise the temporary governance of Gaza, which has been under a fragile ceasefire since October.

The names include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Trump is the chair of the board, according to a plan his White House unveiled in October.

Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas signed off on Trump's plan, which says a Palestinian technocratic body will be overseen by the international board, which will supervise Gaza's governance for a transitional period.

Many rights experts and advocates have said that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory's governance resembled a colonial structure, while Blair's involvement was criticized last year due to his role in the Iraq war and the history of British imperialism in the Middle East.

The White House did not detail the responsibilities of each member of the "founding Executive board." The names do not include any Palestinians. The White House said more members will be announced over the coming weeks.

Pope Leo XIV doubles down on insistence for 2-state solution to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Pope Leo XIV talks to reporters aboard an aircraft on his way to Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (Andreas Solaro/Pool Via AP)

By Nicole Winfield | Associated Press
PUBLISHED: November 30, 2025 at 1:08 PM CST | UPDATED: November 30, 2025 at 1:14 PM CST


ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Leo XIV doubled down Sunday on the Holy See’s insistence on a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying in his first airborne news conference that it was the “only solution” that could guarantee justice for both sides.

Leo made the comments as he flew from Istanbul to Beirut for the second and final leg of his maiden voyage as pope. Though Leo has been fielding journalists’ questions at informal gatherings at his country house, the brief encounter marked his first news conference as pope and followed the tradition of his predecessors of using his foreign trips to engage with the media.

Because of the short flight, the news conference was limited to two questions from Turkish journalists. When Leo returns to Rome on Tuesday, the encounter will presumably be longer.

Zohran Mamdani's Plot To Rebuild New York's Deep State

Zohran Mamdani's Plot To Rebuild New York's Deep State

By Ian Haworth

November 18, 2025 

After New York City inexplicably voted in favor of Zohran Mamdani — the sporadically grinning communist whose love for Hamas and other terrorist groups includes his outspoken desire to illegally arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — onlookers might be counting down until the Ugandan-born mayor who became an American citizen in 2018 is finally thrown out of his office.

But with someone like Mamdani in control, New York doesn't just have a leadership problem. It has a quickly developing foundation problem.

The rise of radical politicians such as Mamdani is not simply a case of one far-left ideologue winning an election in a deep-blue city. If Mamdani was merely another Democratic Socialist with an aggressive social media game, New Yorkers could just roll their eyes and wait him out. But Mamdani isn't waiting. He's building, he's embedding, he's institutionalizing his anti-American worldview, through a deliberate, generational effort to seize the institutions that define our cities, states or our nation in order to remake them in a way that will long outlast any single elected official.

The latest example of this sordid strategy? Palestinian-American and Democratic Socialist Aber Kawas, who has Mamdani's backing as candidate for the New York State Assembly, according to the New York Daily News.

Pope Leo meets Palestinian president, calls for two-state solution to "end the conflict" in the Middle East

By Chris Livesay

November 6, 2025 / 11:36 AM EST / CBS News

Rome — Pope Leo XIV met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican on Thursday, marking their first in-person encounter since the Chicago native was chosen to lead the Catholic Church in May. The two had spoken previously on the phone.

The hour-long meeting, described by the Holy See as "cordial," focused on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and renewed calls for a two-state solution, a position the Vatican has consistently promoted as the only viable path to peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The talks came nearly a month after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took hold in Gaza, bringing a fragile calm following two years of conflict that began with Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.

According to a Vatican statement, both leaders agreed on "the urgent need to provide assistance to the civilian population in Gaza," and to "end the conflict by pursuing a two-state solution," which would see an independent Palestinian state created alongside Israel.

Pope Leo XVI meets with President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas during an audience at the Apostolic Palace, Nov. 6, 2025, in Vatican City.Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty

Abbas' visit also marked the 10th anniversary of the "Comprehensive Agreement" signed in 2015 between the Holy See and the State of Palestine — which saw the Vatican, like a rising number of countries, formally recognize Palestinian statehood.

Shrinking Palestinian Christian Population Wary of Cease-Fire

HEATHER M. SURLS


“As people, we can live together … because this is what Jesus asked us to do.”

One of the Palestinian prisoners released in the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

CHRISTIANITY TODAYOCTOBER 16, 2025

Zain Jaafar / Contributor / Getty

To get from her home in Bethlehem to her college and workplace in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, Christine Awad had to pass through the only Israeli checkpoint connecting the northern and southern parts of the West Bank. Without this barrier and the traffic it forms, the drive would take 20 minutes. With it and the increased restrictions after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants, Awad’s commute every morning and evening until the end of her employment in June could stretch into a two-hour journey.

Every time she reached the checkpoint—one of the West Bank’s 849 checkpoints, road gates, and obstacles—Israeli soldiers climbed onto the bus. Sometimes they checked passenger IDs. Other times they demanded riders hand over unlocked phones and searched their contacts, messages, and photos. Sometimes they ordered commuters to get off the bus to undergo further inspection. Once a female friend of Awad’s was taken inside a booth and strip searched.

“You have no agency,” Awad, a Palestinian Christian, said of these interactions. “You can’t say no. You can’t refuse.”

Awad, now a graduate student at Bethlehem University, described passing through checkpoints as both scary and normal. The daughter of a Presbyterian pastor, Awad has lived her whole life under Israeli occupation—a term used to describe Israel’s military control of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, areas that would constitute a future Palestinian state.

Protests erupt around the world as Israel intercepts Global Sumud Flotilla

Death and bombs have upper hand in Gaza-Catholic priest

Death and bombs have upper hand in Gaza-Catholic priest

Story by VRG

Death and bombs have upper hand in Gaza-Catholic priest© Provided by ANSA

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 19 - Father Gabriel Romanelli, the priest of the Catholic Holy Family parish in Gaza, spoke of the death and destruction taking place in the enclave on Friday in a video message transmitted in Naples Cathedral for the feast of the city's patron, Saint Januarius (San Gennaro). "The situation continues to be very serious throughout the Gaza Strip with the bombings," he said. "A war situation continues and the death that has already taken away tens of thousands of people continues: more than 18,000 children have been killed and the hostages still have not experienced the right to live in freedom, the wounded and the sick still have no possibility of treatment because the hospital lacks everything. The weapons have taken over." Romanelli said that he was staying put after Israel launched its offensive to take control of Gaza City on Tuesday, when the Vatican said Pope Leo XIV had telephoned him to express his "concern" and assure him of his "prayer and closeness". Romanelli was among several wounded in a strike by Israeli forces on the Holy Family Catholic Church that killed three people in July. Before his death in April, Pope Francis had spoken by phone nearly every day with Romanelli to check up on the Gaza parish following the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. (ANSA).

Source

Final Stage of Vuelta Cancelled After Pro-Palestinian Protesters Clash W...

Rashida Tlaib hit with House censure threat, accused of 'celebrating terrorism' in pro-Palestinian speech

Rep Buddy Carter's censure accuses Tlaib of 'vilifying her colleagues, endangering the lives of Jewish people, and celebrating terrorism'

By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News
Published September 3, 2025 10:00am EDT


'The Five' co-hosts discuss 'Squad' member Rashida Tlaib refusing to say whether she condemns 'children's heads being chopped off' by Hamas terrorists.

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is facing a GOP-led censure resolution on Wednesday after her fiery remarks at a pro-Palestinian conference.

Tlaib spoke at the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit over the weekend, when she condemned both Democrats and Republicans for supporting Israel as its military campaign in Gaza continues.

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., who introduced the measure, accused Tlaib of "vilifying her colleagues, endangering the lives of Jewish people, and celebrating terrorism."

"Her conduct is beneath that of a civilized person, let alone a member of Congress. I am calling on the House of Representatives to censure her remarks and put Democrats on notice for enabling and cheering on antisemitism in their own party," Carter told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan, during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 6, 2024. (Getty)

The evolution of the Vatican-Palestinian relations through the years

Mahmoud Khalil vows to continue activism after release | REUTERS

Georgetown scholar recalls terror and ‘mockery of due process’ in immigration jail

A Georgetown University scholar who was targeted for deportation by the Trump administration said he was terrified during his time in immigration jail. Badar Khan Suri was released on bond last week as his lawsuit against the U.S. government’s deportation case continues.

BY OLIVIA DIAZ AND BEN FINLEY
Updated 6:34 PM EDT, May 23, 2025Share


ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — One of the lowest moments of Badar Khan Suri’s two months in federal custody was being crammed onto an airplane with hundreds of other shackled prisoners.

The Trump administration was trying to deport the Georgetown University scholar over statements he made against Israel’s war in Gaza. The guards wouldn’t say where they were headed, but the Indian national was convinced it was out of the United States.

Then Khan Suri had to use the plane’s bathroom. He said the guards refused to unshackle his wrists.

“They said, ‘No, you have to use it like this or do it in your trousers,’” Khan Suri recalled of the trip, taking him to a Louisiana detention center. “They were behaving as if we were animals.”

Khan Suri, 41, was released on bond last week as his lawsuit against the U.S.'s deportation case continues. In an interview with The Associated Press, he spoke Thursday of a cramped cell, crowded with other detainees, where he waited anxiously, fearful about what would happen next.

He also addressed the Trump administration’s accusations that he spread “Hamas propaganda.” Khan Suri said he only spoke in support of Palestinians, who are going through an “unprecedented, livestreamed genocide.”

“I don’t support Hamas,” he said. “I support Palestine. I support Palestinians. And it is so deceiving for some people who just publish canards ... They will just replace Palestine with Hamas.”

Yet, because of his comments, he said U.S. authorities treated him as if he had committed a high-level crime. Fellow inmates said his red uniform was reserved for the most dangerous offenders.

“I said, ’No, I’m just a university teacher. I did nothing,” Khan Suri recalled.

Still, there were rays of hope. He said more than a hundred people from the Georgetown community wrote letters on his behalf to the federal judge overseeing his case, including some who are Jewish.

A crowd also greeted him when he arrived back in the Washington, D.C., area.

“Hindus, Jews, Christians, Muslims — everyone together,” said Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow who studies religion, peace and violence. “That is the reality I want to live with. That’s the reality I want to die for. Those people together.”

In a statement to the AP on Friday afternoon, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin refuted Khan Suri’s allegations of lack of due process and inhumane treatment.

McLaughlin said Khan Suri was in communication with attorneys “within hours of his arrival at the facility” and did not have to sleep on the floor. She said Immigration and Customs Enforcement “takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously.”

Yet another Pathetic Palestine Protest May 17, 2025

The Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement

Even before President Trump was re-elected, the Heritage Foundation, best known for Project 2025, set out to destroy pro-Palestinian activism in the United States.

  The Heritage Foundation headquarters in Washington, D.C.Credit...Jared Soares for The New York Times


By Katie J.M. Baker
May 18, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET

In late April, the Heritage Foundation dispatched a team to Israel to meet with power players in Israeli politics, including the country’s foreign and defense secretaries and the U.S. ambassador, Mike Huckabee.

The conservative Washington-based think tank is best known for spearheading Project 2025, a proposed blueprint for President Trump’s second term that called for reshaping the federal government and an extreme expansion of presidential power.

Now the Heritage contingent was in Israel, in part, to discuss another contentious policy paper: Project Esther, the foundation’s proposal to rapidly dismantle the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States, along with its support at schools and universities, at progressive organizations and in Congress.

Drafted in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel in 2023 and the mounting protests against the war in Gaza, Project Esther outlined an ambitious plan to fight antisemitism by branding a broad range of critics of Israel as “effectively a terrorist support network,” so that they could be deported, defunded, sued, fired, expelled, ostracized and otherwise excluded from what it considered “open society.”

Project Esther’s architects envisioned outcomes that at the time might have seemed far-fetched. Curriculum it believed to be sympathetic to a “Hamas support” narrative would be taken out of schools and universities, and “supporting faculty” would be removed. Social media would be purged of content deemed to be antisemitic. Institutions would lose public funding. Foreign students who pushed for Palestinian rights would have their visas revoked, or be deported.

Victoria Coates, a former deputy national security adviser and the vice president at the Heritage Foundation who oversees Project Esther.

Credit...Jared Soares for The New York Times

Turkish Student's Arrest Sparks Outrage: Visa Revoked!