Famously, the slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print” graces the front page of every New York Times edition. The slogan was coined at the end of the 19th century by the paper’s publisher, Adolph Ochs. Of course, in today’s hyper-globalized world, the slogan is wishful thinking. No paper could realistically cover all the important news stories of the day.
Still, it would be hard to argue that outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and others adequately cover even those stories they do print. They often devote precious space to emotive or opinionated claims, while omitting highly material and relevant information that sheds important new light.
Provided below are three important, but underreported, stories bearing on Israel and the Middle East that media consumers should know this week.
1) New Scrutiny on Pilots Following Fly Dubai Attempted Hijacking
In the wake of what seems to be an ever-expanding investigation into the thwarted hijacking of a FlyDubai flight on Sept. 30, pilots with some airlines are under new, or renewed, scrutiny.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post, in November 2023, United Airlines suspended Capt. Ibrahim R. Mossallam, with pay, after he expressed support for Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre. Mossallem said Hamas’ actions were “brave” and “not unprovoked.”
Despite his troubling support for terrorism, the pilot was quietly allowed to return to work a mere six months later. While senior executives wanted to fire him at the time, Israeli media reported that the pilots’ union successfully intervened on his behalf. Following the Sept. 30 FlyDubai near-disaster, fellow United Airlines’ pilots as well as other employees filed complaints about him, and the airline has once again removed Mossallam from service.
According to reports, in addition to United Airlines, Air France has now also introduced new measures to restrict airline crew members who are citizens of countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, including Pakistanis. Smartwings, the Czech Republic’s largest airline, will also abide by Israeli requirements.
Israel’s restrictions were in place prior to the FlyDubai debacle, but enforcement was clearly not stringent.
An Ethiopian Airlines flight with an Indonesian pilot was the first to be affected by tightened enforcement rules when it was forced to turn back about an hour into the flight. It returned to Addis Ababa and the pilot was replaced, after which it successfully flew to Israel.
2) Navi Pillay’s Co-Genocide Accuser Admits Huge Flaws in Their Commission’s Findings
This week, Israel-hating Navi Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Pillay has a long, checkered past through her involvement with the United Nations, but insofar as matters related to Israel are concerned, she is infamous for being part of the three-person Commission that claimed Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounted to genocide.
One of her co-commissioners, Chris Sidoti, made some stunning admissions during a recent debate in Australia, with military expert Dr. Brian Cox, on whether Israel committed genocide in Gaza. Among them, he admitted that the Commission had not verified a statistic it cited in its report declaring a genocide, from The Guardian, which was that 83% of those killed in Gaza were civilians. This was in stark contrast to Pillay’s statement, as reported by JNS, that that “every fact was verified” by the Commission.
Regarding the destruction of one of Gaza’s largest IVF clinics, which the Commission deemed proof of genocide, the Commission could not keep its story straight, and this was exposed during the debate as well. The Commission told the U.N. General Assembly that the clinic had been hit by air strikes, but six months later, it told a different body that it was probably a shell fired from a tank. At the debate, Sidoti said it was from a tank and he had no recollection of saying it was from an air strike. Except, paragraph 30 of his report says it was air strikes.
And, after describing the extraordinarily high burden of proof to determine a purpose is genocidal (higher than criminal law’s “beyond a reasonable doubt standard” and that the inference be “the only reasonable inference available”), he said that his Commission reached its determination by a much lower standard – that of “reasonable grounds to conclude” – because “[they] are not a court.”
The media reported on Pillay’s receipt of the prize but continues to largely push the notion that the United Nations has deemed the war in Gaza a genocide. Unsurprisingly, only organizations like UN Watch and Jewish outlets have covered the admissions by Sidoti in the debate.
3) Terrorist Collaborators Apprehended by IDF and Shin Bet in Ramallah and Yatta
As reported by Israel National News, on Oct. 13, 2026, the IDF and Shin Bet raided two terror organization offices masked as illegal “charities” in Judea and Samaria (West Bank). During the operations, security forces apprehended five operatives who collaborated with Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). According to the IDF, both organizations were designated as unlawful associations, served as organizational and financial arms of terror organizations and supported terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria.
Per the IDF, the “Addameer Charity Association,” in Ramallah, provides legal assistance to imprisoned PFLP terrorists and is funded by terror organization money. Some of the association’s workers were terrorists who participated in the August 2019 attack, murdering 17-year-old Rina Shnerb.
The IDF also raided the offices of the “Islamic Association for the Care of Orphans,” (IACO) in Yatta. In addition to apprehending people there, Israel National News reported that “materials bearing markings associated with designated Hamas funds were confiscated.” The IDF stated that IACO served as an arm of Hamas and that it transferred funds to Hamas and to families of terrorists and prisoners. Further, the association’s director and other senior officials are previously imprisoned Hamas terrorists.