Number of Palestinians rescued: one. Better than zero, but for a great nation this is pitiful. I wonder how many Palestinians the Biden administration rescued? Other nations? I wonder if Special...
Number of Palestinians rescued: one. Better than zero, but for a great nation this is pitiful.
I wonder how many Palestinians the Biden administration rescued? Other nations?
I wonder if Special Operations Association of America would be a good choice for charitable donations? Are there are any organizations doing similar work that would be a better choice?
At least 148 people were evacuated from Gaza by a group (HEAL Palestine ) that helped them get medical humanitarian visitor visas prior to the suspension of that Visa for Palestinians in August of...
At least 148 people were evacuated from Gaza by a group (HEAL Palestine ) that helped them get medical humanitarian visitor visas prior to the suspension of that Visa for Palestinians in August of this year.
And genuinely it seems to have been suspended because Laura loomer said... Honestly, I don't want to go read what she said. It was probably shitty and racist. That is since January of 2024 and there were a number of other visitor visas. Both medical and non-medical that could have functioned get people out but it's not clear how many we're actually refugees from Gaza versus other people with Palestinian passports.
A Palestinian woman whose son serves in the U.S. Navy was secretly evacuated from war-torn Gaza in recent weeks after an intervention by the Trump administration and the Israeli and Jordanian governments, according to people familiar with the matter and correspondence reviewed by The Washington Post.
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For Ahlam Firwana, 59, the escape to safety required $10,000 in donated transportation costs, sophisticated software to monitor her movements amid the Israeli military’s ongoing assault, and the direct involvement of senior U.S. officials who helped secure agreements from the governments of Jordan and Israel to facilitate the woman’s departure from Gaza.
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Firwana’s son, Navy Petty Officer Younis Firwana, 32, joined the military in 2023 seeking a path to U.S. citizenship. After the Gaza war began that October, his mother and six siblings faced ever-increasing danger and privation, he recalled in an interview. In 2024, the family’s seven-story home was leveled in the bombardment. Food and medicine grew scarce.
“They had a point,” he said, “where they were eating birdseed.”
The evacuation of U.S. citizens from Gaza has been a contentious issue since the war began after Hamas militants staged a deadly, coordinated attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinian Americans and their families have complained since then that the United States was not doing enough to ensure the safe exit of U.S. citizens from Gaza, with some suing the Biden administration in December.
Maria Kari, a lawyer representing some of those families, said the situation has become more dire under President Donald Trump. In August, the State Department announced that it would halt visitor visas for people from Gaza. The decision was made days after far-right activist Laura Loomer reacted to video of Palestinian children and their caregivers arriving at an airport in San Francisco by labeling the program a “national security threat.” Loomer holds outsize influence with the president, though she has no official role in the administration.
The children and spouses of U.S. citizens have seen their requests for evacuations denied based on national security grounds, according to accounts from lawyers and human rights groups.
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In early September, Younis Firwana was connected with Special Operations Association of America, a veterans organization that has supported the legal evacuation of roughly 1,100 people from Gaza since the war began, including the mother of a U.S. soldier.
Alex Plitsas, a member of the veterans group and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, assembled a team to help the Firwana family. Among them was Steve Gabavics, a retired Army colonel who served in Jerusalem from 2001 to 2004 as chief of staff for the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Plitsas also enlisted the help of Morgan Ortagus, Trump’s deputy special envoy to the Middle East and herself a Navy reservist, who connected the team with top officials at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan. Another member of the group notified the National Security Council of planning, according to messages reviewed by The Post.
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In mid-September, Israel ordered the entire population of Gaza City to evacuate amid an intensifying offensive. As conditions grew desperate, the hired transport plan had to be scrapped. Instead, one of Firwana’s sons located a vehicle and started driving his mother toward the gate.
They didn’t get very far, as the roadways were clogged with people trying to flee. With the help of her daughter, Firwana completed the last nine miles on foot — protected from above by surveillance assets and the airstrike stoppage.
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For now, Ahlam Firwana remains in Jordan, awaiting visa approval. Her son said he is eager to help the rest of his family leave Gaza, but must await a slow-moving and opaque visa application process.
Number of Palestinians rescued: one. Better than zero, but for a great nation this is pitiful.
I wonder how many Palestinians the Biden administration rescued? Other nations?
I wonder if Special Operations Association of America would be a good choice for charitable donations? Are there are any organizations doing similar work that would be a better choice?
At least 148 people were evacuated from Gaza by a group (HEAL Palestine ) that helped them get medical humanitarian visitor visas prior to the suspension of that Visa for Palestinians in August of this year.
And genuinely it seems to have been suspended because Laura loomer said... Honestly, I don't want to go read what she said. It was probably shitty and racist. That is since January of 2024 and there were a number of other visitor visas. Both medical and non-medical that could have functioned get people out but it's not clear how many we're actually refugees from Gaza versus other people with Palestinian passports.
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