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Israeli Hostages Were Brutally Executed; The Media Told the World That They ‘Died’
Rachel Goldberg-Polin delivering a eulogy at her son’s funeral in Jerusalem on Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Taken by author
There’s not much worse than waking up to the news that six Israeli hostages had been murdered by their Hamas captors just days before their bodies were found by the IDF.
And yet, some media outlets tried to paint their vicious murders as “deaths.” Deaths — as if they passively died of natural causes.
On Sunday, senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq blamed the six hostages’ “deaths” on Israel’s inability to agree to a ceasefire, and the United States’ continued support of “the war of genocide,” based on its “bias” for Israel. He then proceeded to claim they were killed by an Israeli airstrike.
An official autopsy revealed; however, that all six were murdered with several gunshot wounds to the head and other parts of the body just 48 hours prior.
Sure enough, a Hamas announcement on Monday officially declared that hostage guards were instructed on “how to handle” their captives if the IDF comes close to finding or rescuing them. The instructions were put in place after the June 8 rescue mission which brought back four hostages alive from captivity in Nuseirat.
This psychological warfare tactic should make the very real threat obvious.
But of course, just as mainstream media outlets were quick to latch onto their own diminishing buzz words on Sunday, they are still in use even after Hamas’ new “policy” announcement.
Here are some of the disastrous headlines that HonestReporting and others have picked up since the tragic news broke Sunday morning.
This latest headline from the BBC was published overnight Tuesday.
Further, the first sentence of the article says this:
Benjamin Netanyahu has asked for “forgiveness” from Israelis for failing to return six hostages found dead in Gaza on Saturday, as Hamas warned more could be “returned to their families in shrouds” if a ceasefire isn’t reached.
The word deaths or dead changes everything about how this reads. There have been tens of hostages returned dead, and the outcry has not been quite this loud. Hundreds of thousands of protestors filled Israel’s streets, and the country’s largest labor union called for a complete economic strike. It is not just because more bodies were found.
The context missing in these very crucial first words as well as the headline, is that they were murdered by Hamas just before potential rescue. They were alive, some first on the list slated for release in a potential hostage deal. That is the reason for anguish and anger.
This isn’t a political statement, it is just a specificity in order to help readers understand why this is different, what actually happened to them… and where the outrage stems from.
But coverage of the six hostages’ tragic circumstances began with this:
Hersh “has died,” says @CNN in its opening paragraph.
Readers shouldn’t have to wait until the 11th paragraph to learn that, according to the IDF, he and five other hostages, were brutally murdered by Hamas.https://t.co/bdpkcK59yz pic.twitter.com/pnSKYjF7Mr
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 1, 2024
Unfortunately, CNN chose not to lead with the truth, saying Hersh Goldberg-Polin “has died,” referring to his “death” once more, and then quoting an IDF official statement explaining how he was actually murdered by Hamas terrorists just shortly before he was found.
This despicable delaying of facts is misleading, to say the least.
The same can be said of this embarrassingly mild headline from USA Today:
No, @USATODAY, Hersh didn’t just die. He was murdered. By Hamas terrorists.https://t.co/GtxsvbfybJ pic.twitter.com/hEkaZDa60j
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 1, 2024
Did Hersh die peacefully in his sleep or after a long battle with an illness? This headline suggests it.
But alas, he was murdered. By who, we may ask? You would not know the context just from scrolling by the headline on the site’s front page.
Say it: Hersh was brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists after 11 months of captivity.
The article also says that 1,200 Israelis died during the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Does this word have a different connotation than we think?
The IDF and Hostages Families Forum are quoted halfway down the article to clarify it was indeed murder. But why not lead with that?
Despite The New York Times backtracking on this headline below, their initial response was to misquote US President Joe Biden:
President Biden specifically referred to “the hostages killed by these vicious Hamas terrorists.”
Hersh and the others were murdered. But @nytimes even distorts the President’s words to avoid saying it.https://t.co/EJddU57KIh pic.twitter.com/cPljzKZE7R
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 1, 2024
Biden actually said this: “We have now confirmed that one of the hostages killed by these vicious Hamas terrorists was an American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin.” [emphasis added]
There was more.
These CBS and NBC articles not only minimized the circumstances of the hostages’ death in their headlines, but they both misquoted and then completely omitted this part of Biden’s statement completely:
It’s a shame that the media can’t just be accurate. It’s not a complicated story. So why make it so, by playing word games and pushing agendas?
The Campaign to Absolve Hamas on Social Media
Meanwhile, on social media, anti-Israel figures like Muhammad Shehada of Euro-Med Monitor NGO also used mounting domestic Israeli frustration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a weapon to amplify Hamas’ denial of responsibility and put it all on Israel for not closing a hostage and ceasefire deal.
It’s important to note that regardless of Netanyahu’s political narrative, this doesn’t diminish Hamas’ responsibility for committing murder and for starting this war in the first place.
Israeli media is near unanimously blaming Netanyahu & Israel’s gov for the death of the six hostages whose bodies were found yesterday & who were alive until very recently
Israeli media admits: Netanyahu is the one refusing the deal
Why is none of that being reported in the US? pic.twitter.com/rA94esdVKu
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) September 1, 2024
That there is currently political turmoil within Israel over policies concerning the fate of the hostages and the desire of some to pursue continuing military pressure on Hamas is the product of a democratic society still traumatized and trying to come to grips with the impossible dilemmas inherent in this appalling situation.
Compare and contrast with the Palestinian arena, where Hamas never gave its own people any choice when it embarked upon its October 7 massacre, knowing full well that the consequences would be enormous.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Israeli Hostages Were Brutally Executed; The Media Told the World That They ‘Died’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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CIA Director Says More Detailed Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Due in Days
William Burns, nominee for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, testifies during his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 24, 2021. Tom Williams/Pool via REUTERS
The head of the CIA, who is also the chief US negotiator for an end to the Gaza war and release of hostages held by Hamas, said a more detailed ceasefire proposal would be made in the next several days.
After 11 months of conflict in Gaza, CIA Director William Burns said he was working very hard on “texts and creative formulas” with mediators Qatar and Egypt to secure a ceasefire, by finding a proposal which satisfies both parties.
“We will make this more detailed proposal, I hope in the next several days, and then we’ll see,” said Burns, speaking at a Financial Times event in London alongside Richard Moore, head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy agency, in an unprecedented joint public appearance.
Burns added that it was a question of political will and he hoped leaders on both sides recognized “the time has come finally to make some hard choices and some difficult compromises.”
He said 90% of the paragraphs had been agreed but the last 10% were always the hardest.
“My hope is that you know, they’ll recognize what’s at stake here and be willing to move ahead on that basis,” he said.
Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
BACKING UKRAINE
In an joint op-ed for Saturday’s FT newspaper, Burns and Moore highlighted joint efforts to help Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the British spy chief said it was critical the West maintained its support.
Discussing Ukraine’s offensive into the Kursk region of Russia where Kyiv has seized land, Moore called it an “audacious and bold” move to try and change the game.
“It’s too early to say how long the Ukrainians will be able to hang on in there (in Kursk),” he added, saying the incursion had brought the war home to ordinary Russians.
While Burns called the offensive a “significant tactical achievement” for the Ukrainians. But while he said it had exposed the Russian military’s vulnerabilities, he did not see any evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power was weakening.
“It did raise questions on the part of people we could see across the Russian elite about where is this all headed,” he said.
Burns also disclosed that earlier in the conflict he had been sent by US President Joe Biden to meet one of his Russian counterparts to warn him of the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons.
“There was a moment in the fall of 2022 when I think there was a genuine risk of the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons,” the CIA director said. “We’ve continued to be very direct about that. So I don’t think we can afford to be intimidated by that saber rattling or bullying.”
In their op-ed, the spy chiefs also warned about a reckless campaign of sabotage being waged across Europe by Russian intelligence operatives.
“I think Russian intelligence services has gone a bit feral, frankly, in some of their behavior,” Moore said. “The fact that they are using criminal elements shows you that they’re becoming a bit desperate … It’s become a bit more amateurish.”
He added: “Amateurish can actually be more reckless and more dangerous as well.”
The post CIA Director Says More Detailed Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Due in Days first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Blinken to Travel to UK Monday to Discuss Middle East, Ukraine
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint news conference with President of the Dominican Republic Luis Abinader at the National Palace, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, September 6, 2024. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to travel to the United Kingdom on Monday, the State Department said, a week after Britain suspended some arms export licenses with Israel over equipment that could be used in the war in Gaza.
In the trip slated to go through Tuesday, Blinken will open the US-UK Strategic Dialogue, “reaffirming our special relationship,” Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, said on Saturday.
Blinken will also meet with senior government officials to discuss issues including the Indo-Pacific, the AUKUS defense pact between the US, Australia, Britain and the Middle East, and collective efforts to support Ukraine in the war against Russia.
Britain said on Sept. 2 it was immediately suspending 30 of its 350 arms export licenses with Israel, saying there was a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law in Israel’s war with Hamas in the densely populated Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
The administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to succeed him, is under pressure from critics of the war to suspend some arms deliveries to Israel, Washington’s closest Middle East ally. A US official said in July the Biden administration would resume shipping 500-pound bombs to Israel but would continue to hold back on supplying 2,000-poind bombs over concerns about their use in Gaza.
CIA Director William Burns, chief US negotiator for an end to the war in Gaza, said in London on Saturday that a more detailed ceasefire proposal would be made in the coming days.
The post Blinken to Travel to UK Monday to Discuss Middle East, Ukraine first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money
The Jewish Colonial Trust was established on March 20, 1899. The first Zionist bank was the brainchild of Theodor Herzl who understood that funding would be required to make his vision of a Jewish homeland a reality. Each share cost one English pound, the equivalent of $280 today. (Herzl bought the first 1,000 shares which was a […]
The post Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money first appeared on The Canadian Jewish News.
The post Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.