With friends like these: Earlier this week, the Treasury Department sanctioned a sham Palestinian charity, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, over its work with terrorist organizations like Hamas and the PFLP. Addameer has worked with entities in the United States, too—namely elite universities including Harvard, Yale, and Columbia.
Addameer describes itself as a “civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners.” It actually supports the PFLP, a terrorist group that took part in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Treasury said when it sanctioned the group. Away from the Middle East, our Alana Goodman reports, Addameer “has a long history of partnering with prominent colleges and student groups to push unverified allegations against Israel.” The group’s 2019 annual report, for example, touts meetings with its “friends and partners” at Columbia Law School. Harvard Law School partnered with Addameer in 2022 to submit a joint report to the United Nations accusing Israel of “apartheid.”
“Addameer officials also speak regularly at U.S. campus events,” writes Goodman. “Last year, the University of Chicago’s Student Justice for Palestine and the Organization of Black Students hosted an event featuring the group. Barnard College also hosted two Addameer members in 2018. Columbia University’s Center for Palestine Studies held events with the organization in 2020 and 2021.”
Tehran tries to flex: Iranian defense minister Aziz Nasirzadeh emerged from a Wednesday cabinet meeting with a message: The Islamic Republic had “successfully tested a missile carrying a two-ton warhead, with excellent results.” Iran’s “operational forces are fully equipped,” he boasted.
Nasirzadeh’s remarks were reported in Iranian state media, so take them with a grain of salt. Still, his posturing comes as Tehran threatens to attack U.S. military installations—and as nuclear negotiations appear to be faltering.
First, Donald Trump told the New York Post he’s “much less confident about reaching a deal.” Then, on Wednesday, the State Department authorized preparations to evacuate its embassy compound in Iraq and pull non-essential personnel stationed in Kuwait and Bahrain. Shortly thereafter, the Associated Press reported that the next round of nuke talks, tentatively scheduled for this weekend, look “increasingly unlikely” to happen. Finally, around 8 p.m., CBS News reported that “US officials have been told Israel is fully ready to launch an operation into Iran.”
“Trump has repeatedly vowed to green-light military action if negotiations fail,” writes our Adam Kredo. “Gen. Michael Kurilla, head of the United States Central Command, confirmed before Congress on Tuesday that he has ‘provided the secretary of defense and the president a wide range of options’ to strike Tehran’s nuclear sites.”
READ MORE: Iran Announces Test of Missile With Two-Ton Warhead Amid Threats of Attacks on US Outposts
Donie ducks into hiding: Donie O’Sullivan is a senior correspondent for CNN. He purports to be an expert on political “extremism,” having secured an Emmy nomination for his series MisinfoNation: Extreme America, in which he traveled “around the country meeting far-right extremists with a long history of hate.” For whatever reason, our Andrew Stiles writes, “O’Sullivan has been remarkably uninterested in covering the ongoing outbursts of left-wing violence in this country.”
“Over the past three weeks,” writes Stiles, “two Israeli embassy officials were gunned down by a radical leftist shouting ‘Free Palestine,’ more than a dozen peaceful protesters (including a Holocaust survivor) were injured in a makeshift flamethrower attack carried out by an illegal immigrant who said he wanted to ‘kill all Zionist people,’ and violent hooligans in Los Angeles have rioted in support of illegal immigration by looting stores, setting fire to cars, and hurling bricks at police officers.
“During that time, O’Sullivan produced just one lousy segment for CNN. Three days after the firebomb attack in Boulder, Colo., he traveled to Denver (less than an hour away) to cover the defamation trial of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. He appeared on the failing network several times last week to discuss the public feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Yet observers have taken note of O’Sullivan’s glaring absence as left-wing extremists wreaked havoc in Los Angeles. Perhaps in an effort to provide proof of life, the journalist logged onto his X account and reposted his colleague Brian Stelter’s absurd comments about how the ‘unrest’ in Los Angeles was being blown out of proportion by ‘fake content’ from ‘unvetted social media accounts.'”
In other news:
- Hamas “brutally attacked” a bus carrying members of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the aid group, which said in a statement that “there are at least five fatalities, multiple injuries, and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage.” Hamas recently teased attacks on the foundation’s aid sites.
- Marco Rubio “is pushing to investigate whether Harvard University violated federal sanctions by collaborating on a health insurance conference in China” that included members of a blacklisted paramilitary group, the New York TImes reported. You can read more about the conference and the group here.
- A viral video claiming ICE raided an elementary school graduation ceremony in LA ended up being totally false. We expect a Brian Stelter report on the dangerous misinformation ASAP.
This article was originally published at freebeacon.com
