An Al Jazeera cameraman mourned as a journalist killed by Israel was also a Hamas sniper operative, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Ahmed Washah was killed Saturday in central Gaza after an Israeli drone targeted a home in the Bureij refugee camp. Al Jazeera and multiple media outlets described him as a cameraman for Al Jazeera Mubasher, Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language live channel. Al Jazeera said two other people were also killed and others were wounded. But the IDF says Washah was not simply a journalist and was targeted in the strike because he was “a terrorist in Hamas’ military wing who served as a sniper operative.” The IDF also said Washah had recently advanced sniper attack plans and worked alongside his brother, Mohammed Washah, whom the military described as a key terrorist in Hamas’ rocket and weapons production headquarters. Ahmed was reportedly killed alongside Siba’i Abu Hasna, a member of Hamas’ Shadow Unit, which is responsible for guarding hostages kidnapped into Gaza. Ahmed was widely presented as an Al Jazeera cameraman killed by Israel. While leaving out his ties to Hamas, NBC News reported that Ahmed was an Al Jazeera cameraman killed by Israel and noted that his brother Mohammed, an Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent, was killed in a separate Israeli strike in April. Al Jazeera, meanwhile, said Ahmed became the 12th network employee killed by Israel and said he had covered numerous stories for the outlet, including what Al Jazeera described as “several massacres” committed by Israel in Gaza. The IDF posted publicly that Ahmed “served as an Al Jazeera photojournalist” while simultaneously operating as a Hamas sniper. The IDF also described Mohammed as “a key terrorist in Hamas’ rocket and weapons production headquarters” and said he also operated “under the guise of an Al Jazeera journalist” before he was killed in April. After the IDF’s claims about Ahmed were challenged online, it posted a photo of his apparent military ID and a video showing him firing a rifle into the air.  That context has received less attention from the legacy media than the initial description of Ahmed as a journalist killed by Israel. A Google AI Overview shown for a simple search of “Al Jazeera journalist” described Ahmed as “an Al Jazeera cameraman who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza” and listed him among “recent notable and slain journalists from the region.” The summary does not mention the IDF’s claim that he was a Hamas sniper operative. The same pattern appeared in headlines from major outlets. NBC headlined its article, “Al Jazeera cameraman killed in Gaza months after his journalist brother died in a separate strike.” The Guardian’s headline read, “Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmed Wishah killed in Israeli strike on Gaza.” An Associated Press report carried by NDTV also identified Ahmed as an Al Jazeera cameraman killed in an Israeli strike. The report said the Israeli military asserted that Ahmed had been part of Hamas’ military wing and had posed a threat to troops in the area. Al Jazeera has denied Israel’s claims about Ahmed, according to NBC News, and condemned his killing, calling it an attempt by Israel to silence and intimidate journalists. NBC also reported that a source close to Hamas told the Committee to Protect Journalists that Ahmed had no affiliation with the organization. Prominent anti-Israel figures, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, portrayed Ahmed as a journalist killed by Israel while criticizing the IDF. “More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since the so-called ceasefire,” Mamdani said Monday. “Even an Al Jazeera journalist, Ahmed Washah, was killed this past Saturday by an Israeli strike.” Mamdani did not mention the IDF’s claim that Washah was a Hamas operative. The IDF’s claim does not erase reports that Ahmed worked for Al Jazeera. But those reports also do not erase the IDF’s claim that he served in Hamas’ military wing and had recently advanced sniper attack plans against Israeli troops. Since the first reports described Ahmed as a journalist without including Israel’s claim that he was also a Hamas sniper, many readers were left with a narrow version of the story. Israel’s account presents a very different version of the strike than the one circulating online. 

Establishment Democrats fear an “earthquake” after far-Left socialist candidates swept the New York congressional primaries. A trio of candidates, including two avowed democratic socialists, backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, defeated establishment-backed Democrats on Tuesday, igniting fears that the results could damage the party’s national image.  “People who do not support the [Democratic Socialists of America] wring their hands at cocktail parties, while the DSA is organizing,” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) told Axios.  “Economic insecurity, climate change, and immigrant injustice are all real problems, and alternative solutions must be offered,” he added. “It’s time for a great deal of hard work to out organize the extremists on the right and the left!” Far-Left Democratic socialists Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier both declared victory in their respective primary races. Avila Chevalier is a self-described “prison abolitionist” and opposes deporting any illegal immigrants. The Mamdani-backed Brad Lander also defeated incumbent New York Rep. Dan Goldman.  Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY) described the outcome as a “tough night.”  Another unidentified House Democrat told the outlet that the results were a “huge defeat” and could cause an “earthquake,” adding that “calling it a headache is an understatement.”  “Appeasement doesn’t work. You have to be tough,” the House Democrat added. “Nancy Pelosi brought a machine gun to a knife fight. You can’t win with these guys by playing patty cake.” Senior Democrats told Axios they were worried about the results.  “Holy sh*t,” a senior House Democrat said. “Buckle up.” Jaime Harrison, the former chair of the Democratic Party from 2021 to 2025, posted on X after the results were in that people who “hate” the Democratic Party should not run in its races.  “I say this with no ill will or animosity: if you hate the Democratic Party, then please don’t run for our nomination,” he said. “Don’t use our resources. Don’t rely on our volunteers. Don’t use our infrastructure. Don’t ask Democrats to invest their time, money, and energy in your campaign. Focus on building the party you actually support.”  Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman also decried the results.  “It’s just been the dancing days of the dirtbag Left with some of these candidates [being] outrageous,” Fetterman said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. “You have candidates [who want to] abolish ICE, abolish the police, abolish the border.”

Wikipedia has permanently blocked one of its founders from editing the site after he launched a campaign to make it more ideologically balanced — a move that critics say exposes a deeper problem: the platform’s well-documented liberal tilt is now being baked directly into the AI engines that hundreds of millions of people rely on for information. Larry Sanger, who coined the name “Wikipedia,” drafted its original rules, and co-launched it with Jimmy Wales in 2001, was banned indefinitely after creating WikiProject Intellectual Diversity, an effort to restore what he called the site’s original commitment to neutrality. Sanger had urged groups historically underrepresented among Wikipedia’s editors — including Hindus and American conservatives — to become more involved. He was blocked within days. Sanger described the process as a “kangaroo court” run by a “mob or a blob,” with no formal charges, no designated prosecutor, and no real opportunity to defend himself. He noted the bitter irony that one of his nine proposed reforms had specifically called for ending the practice of indefinite blocking, which he considered “draconian.” The ban was pushed primarily by an anonymous editor known as TarnishedPath — the same editor who engineered a year-long freeze on Wikipedia’s “Zionism” article locking in language critics say equates Jewish self-determination with ethnic cleansing, and who had campaigned to label J.K. Rowling as anti-trans on her Wikipedia page. Wikipedia’s own administrators had just banned TarnishedPath from the entire Israel-Palestine subject area — yet the editor remained influential enough to drive Sanger’s ouster. The episode illustrates what Sanger has called the site’s real power structure: not its 262,000 claimed contributors, but a small circle he identifies as just 62 administrator accounts belonging to leadership groups, 85% of whom operate anonymously. Wikipedia’s source reliability ratings tell a similar story — CNN, The New York Times, the BBC, and the Southern Poverty Law Center are rated green for “generally reliable,” while Fox News, Newsmax, and the Federalist are rated red for “generally unreliable.” The consequences of that institutional lean now extend far beyond Wikipedia itself. A June 2025 analysis by Profound, which tracks citations across major AI platforms, found that Wikipedia accounts for nearly 48% of ChatGPT’s top citations. Google AI Overviews and Perplexity draw heavily from the same source. Academic research confirms the concern. A University of Stuttgart study published in 2025 found that major large language models — including various versions of GPT — consistently display mild to strong Left-leaning bias across politically sensitive topics, even when questions are framed to elicit conservative responses. Crucially, the researchers argue this isn’t accidental: the very process of “aligning” AI to be safe and helpful encodes liberal assumptions about harm, fairness, and truth, tilting outputs toward progressive conclusions by design. The result is a feedback loop. A Left-leaning Wikipedia shapes AI training data. AI systems absorb and amplify that tilt. Users who trust those systems to deliver neutral information receive something far less balanced than advertised — with no visible warning label in sight.

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** Across the country, Americans are preparing their 4th of July cookout menus and making stops at their local fireworks stands as the excitement surrounding America’s 250th birthday ramps up. But in typical fashion, left-wing media outlets are doing everything they can to trivialize the patriotic moment.  Last week, the Atlantic published an article about international travelers visiting America for the first time to attend the World Cup. Several visitors have recently gone viral for praising aspects of American culture, such as one Japanese man who recommended everyone go to Texas Roadhouse for the “absolute best” ribeye or a Swedish girl declaring that she had “the best food ever” at a local Indiana diner. However, as one might expect from legacy media, the Atlantic’s article “The Feel-Good Story of the World Cup is Too Good to Be True” argues that this is all a facade. It points out that certain influencers who have been a part of the pro-America trend are actually acting for selfish reasons. It argues that the aforementioned Swedish girl is a social media influencer, therefore dismissing her affection for America although she has repeatedly insisted that her “enthusiasm for American culture is genuine.” The article also cites the X user Nobunaga, who had been posting AI generated content praising America. Although Nobunaga’s posts were done in jest, the Atlantic mocked patriotic Americans for responding to the posts with enthusiasm. The New York Times published a similar article, “World Cup Fans in the U.S. Are Sightseeing at… Buc-ee’s and Bass Pro Shops?” that mocked American culture for being “mundane.”  The success of these World Cup fans’ posts reveals that Americans are desperate for patriotic messages. They are sick of hearing that America is “dark, aggressive, and lawless,” as described by the Atlantic less than six months ago. They are sick of allegedly neutral journalists claiming America has a “white cultural problem” or that they live in a “misogynist country.” They are sick of social media posts by Democratic party leaders, such as Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, that refer to America as a “malignant clown show.”  The mainstream media can’t stomach the patriotic messages World Cup tourists are so eager to share. Videos of travelers trying BuzzBallz outside of a 7-Eleven and thanking America for being “so friendly and so accommodating” are making the media seethe. They spent years trying to push the narrative that American culture was inherently toxic. They fixated on divisive propaganda, alleging the U.S. was racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, bigoted, and evil. They have desperately tried to pretend that the love of international travelers is nothing more than vapid consumerism. Unfortunately, that narrative falls flat as videos emerge of tourists belting out the U.S. national anthem or dancing together in the middle of Central Park. The international love for America isn’t born from a mythologized “consumer culture.” It’s a reaction to American glory. As tourists pour in from across the globe and experience the joys of American culture firsthand, legacy media outlets are being forced to watch their web of lies get exposed.  One of their worst lies has targeted the rising social media star Freddy. The soccer fan from Germany has earned three-quarters of a million followers after posting about his experiences across America, from Waffle House to NASA. He has shown nothing but love to America, profusely thanking cities for their hospitality. Naturally, the Atlantic tried to speculate that this was all a fabrication, alleging that his content isn’t genuine and that his posts don’t “reflect reality.” The article’s author speculated about his intentions and criticized him for remaining anonymous. It’s pretty crazy to believe that his entire posting journey is, as the author insists, an attempt to fulfill what “professional influencers dream of.” It’s even crazier to realize that mainstream media and their liberal audiences can’t comprehend the notion that somebody could genuinely love America. The Left can’t fathom that America is actually good.  The simple truth underlying this wave of media criticism is that liberal elites hate American culture. They have spent a long time sneering at middle America for watching football on Sundays, listening to Johnny Cash, and making the best BBQ in the world. They have isolated themselves in universities and progressive institutions, distancing themselves from the working-class citizens they claim to represent. They don’t want people like Freddy drinking slushies at Buc-ee’s or enjoying an Astros game. They don’t want people to gush about Walmart or get excited over free refills. They don’t want people to realize that America is the greatest country on earth. The story of the 2026 World Cup isn’t “too good to be true”; the story of the 2026 World Cup proves that America represents everything that is good and true. *** Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is a senior contributor at New Guard Press, a publication she joined while attending Hillsdale College.

The Trump administration is looking to breed a new class of pro-America refugees with the help of a new patriotic curriculum, The Daily Wire has learned. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has partnered with PragerU to provide newly arrived Afrikaner refugees escaping racial persecution in South Africa with videos and literature on American history and values as part of a new “patriotic welcome package.” President Donald Trump has prioritized the admission of Afrikaners, members of South Africa’s persecuted white minority, and recently increased the annual refugee cap to roughly 17,500 to bring more of them to the United States. Several Afrikaner refugees brought to the United States by Trump recently told The Daily Wire that up until now, federally funded resettlement agencies have provided videos as part of their cultural orientation to American life that taught them how to shower, use a toilet, and brush their teeth. The refugees, who largely speak English and are accustomed to such cultural norms, were shocked by the material. The content is provided to refugee aid nonprofits through the International Rescue Committee’s SettleIn initiative and is funded by HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), as previously reported. Adriaan, an Afrikaner refugee who arrived in December, said he and his peers “laughed at a lot of these videos and made comedic remarks because they pointed out the obvious regarding not going to the bathroom outside and how to use a microwave oven.” Courtesy of HHS The new welcome packets include a copy of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and The White House’s 1776 Report on America’s founding, according to HHS. “On the 250th anniversary of our great nation, it is my honor to welcome Afrikaner refugees to the land of freedom and opportunity,” HHS Administration for Children and Families Assistant Secretary Alex J. Adams said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire. “America has long been strengthened by individuals and families who come here seeking safety, stability, and the chance to build a better future. The Trump administration is proud to now connect refugees with resources that will support their transition to American life and help them learn of the freedoms, responsibilities, and opportunities that make this nation great,” Adams added. PragerU’s vice president of kids programming Dzana Homan, who came to the United States as a refugee from communist Yugoslavia, is behind the program’s launch. She said the hope is “to tell” refugees “this color blind America values story about how did this country begin and what is it that makes it so special.” “There’s nothing right now that is provided frankly and when you look at what has happened thus far with America’s immigration, including myself, it is very hard to find information, especially for this day and age that is succinct, that is truthful … and then also celebration of America, I think that’s the important part,” Homan said. “You want new immigrants to see America in the right light,” she said. HHS will give each newly arrived refugee family a tablet with the PragerU app installed with all the pro-America content, Homan said. Each family will also receive two books: “Lwazi’s Hard Lesson,” the story of a black South African boy living through racial tensions in the post-apartheid era, and “The Honest Book of America’s Founders,” which tells the story of America’s founding. PragerU also launched “Welcome to America,” a landing page for refugees to watch 25 short videos including “A Moral Case for Capitalism” hosted by former European Parliament member Daniel Hannan, “The Government Doesn’t Make Money — You Do” hosted by business advisor Carol Roth, and “Do You Understand the Electoral College?” hosted by expert Tara Ross. The playlist also features videos hosted by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, PragerU co-founder Dennis Prager, and retired Navy SEAL officer Jocko Willink. “Welcome to America. You’ve arrived to a nation built by people who came searching for freedom, opportunity, and a fresh start — just like you,” the website reads. “These short videos will introduce you to America’s history, values, and how this country works, so you can feel confident, informed, and ready to build the life you came here for. With content for every age, your whole family can learn together,” it adds. The website also features children’s content from kindergarten to sixth grade “and up” discussing the themes of Independence Day, Thanksgiving, the Bill of Rights, and George Washington. “PragerU is already the go-to source for millions of Americans seeking inspiring and educational content about our nation’s history and values,” PragerU CEO Marissa Streit said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire. “Now, we are proud to help new Americans learn about and appreciate our great country.” PragerU provided all the content for the program free of charge, Homan said. ORR will distribute the new materials to refugees starting Wednesday.