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It’s Not ‘Israel’s War in Gaza’ — It’s the Israel-Hamas War; But the Media Is Trying to Harm Israel
A youth march calling for the return of the kidnapped in Gaza. Organized by the youth of Kfar Aza. December 27, 2023.
What should we call the current conflict between Israel and Hamas?
In a war between two nations, a hyphenated noun phrase, like the “Spanish-American War” and the “Iran-Iraq War,” is the way to go.
Even though the terrorist organization that runs the Gaza Strip is not a nation state, logic dictates that we should call the conflict now approaching the one-year mark either the “Hamas-Israel War” or the “Israel-Hamas War.”
But the world’s media has taken sides, so instead of logical, objective language, journalists and editors have concocted a way to indemnify Hamas and blame Israel for the conflict by calling it “Israel’s war in Gaza.” It is a disingenuous phrase, and it is ubiquitous.
The most virulent of Israel-hating media outlets take it a step further with the term “Israel’s war on Gaza” (The Middle East Eye, The Electronic Intifada, and Al-Jazeera), but “Israel’s war in Gaza” is the term of choice among the establishment left-wing media.
CNN, naturally, is always ready with “The latest on Israel’s war in Gaza,” or a warning about how “Israel’s war in Gaza has exposed a deepening global divide.”
The Associated Press in January published its “Key takeaways from the U.N. court’s ruling on Israel’s war in Gaza.”
The New York Times might avoid the term in its headlines, but from its mainstay writers like Thomas Friedman to its daily briefings, it is very comfortable with the phrase.
April was a busy month for the phrase as, ABC explained how “Israel’s war in Gaza became a political flashpoint,” PBS declared that “Israel’s War in Gaza becomes a major U.S. election issue,” and NPR showed “How 6 months of Israel’s War in Gaza have upended the Middle East.”
Also in April, no less than seven scribes at USA Today co-authored a story titled “30,000-plus lives lost: Visualizing the death and destruction of Israel’s war in Gaza,” while Axios announced that the “Tide turned sharply against Israel’s war in Gaza.”
In May, Reuters wrote about a “Nurse in New York fired after calling Israel’s war in Gaza ‘genocide’” and NBC tweeted a dire warning that, “Students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza have faced disciplinary action including suspension or expulsion. They may also face financial setbacks, experts say.”
In June, Vox looked to the future with “the next phase of Israel’s war in Gaza, explained.”
In August, a Washington Post headline screamed: “More than 40,000 killed in Israel’s War in Gaza, Health Ministry Says,” noting in the article that “the 40,000 figure is probably an undercount.”
Currently, The Washington Post seems to be in league with The Electronic Intifada, as it has begun labeling its war coverage the “Israel-Gaza War,” as though Israel is at war with the entire Gaza Strip rather than Hamas, ignoring the facts that Israel has established safe-travel zones, provided relief, and even sent texts to Gazans telling them that to avoid areas where attacks against a Hamas command centers will occur.
British outlets also prefer the term “Israel’s war in Gaza.”
The BBC began an article in December with the sentence, “Israel’s war in Gaza may take ‘more than several months,’” and The Guardian frantically warned in January that “Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe.”
Politico gave Elizabeth Warren a platform to bloviate with the headline, “Elizabeth Warren says she believes Israel’s war in Gaza will legally be considered a genocide.”
Popular specialist outlets prefer the term too.
At Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Shtayyeh pontificates on “The Best Way to End Israel’s War in Gaza,” while the Atlantic Council ominously warns that “For Israel’s war in Gaza, vengeance is a downward spiral.”
Ten days after the Hamas attack, The Economist published a war news briefing titled “Mapping Israel’s War in Gaza.” In November 2023, it treated its readers to a piece ominously titled “The pace of Israel’s war in Gaza far exceeds previous conflicts.”
Israel’s most popular left-leaning outlet, Haaretz, ran an article in March with the title “Even Jews Who Oppose Israel’s War in Gaza Can’t Escape It.”
Niche outlets also get in on the action.
The scientists at Scientific American worry that “Israel’s War in Gaza Is Creating Enormous Hidden Health Problems.”
In February, The New Statesman pondered “The fractured reality of Israel’s war in Gaza.”
The Coalition for Women in Journalism ran a piece in August titled, “I have been forcibly displaced 12 times by Israel’s war in Gaza.”
On the far left, Slate wonders, “Is Israel’s War in Gaza Strengthening Hamas?” while the loonies at Mother Jones worry about “The Staggering Carbon Footprint of Israel’s War in Gaza.”
If the phrasing of “Israel’s war in Gaza” is familiar, it should be.
The nearly identical term has seeped into the media culture since February 2022 when “Russia’s war in Ukraine” became the term universally used to describe what might otherwise be called the “Russia-Ukraine War.”
Virtually every outlet that uses the term “Israel’s war in Gaza” also uses the term “Russia’s war in Ukraine,” including Reuters, the Associated Press, The Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, ABC, PBS,NPR, Vox, Axios, and Politico.
The British media too (the BBC, and The Guardian) call it “Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
The term is also favored by the popular specialist outlets, including Foreign Affairs, Atlantic Council, and The Economist.
And niche outlets also use the term, including Scientific American, Nature, Slate, Mother Jones, The New Statesman, and the Coalition for Women in Journalism.
The parallels here are unavoidable and wrong. The term “Russia’s war in Ukraine” fits because Russia invaded Ukraine. It was the belligerent party that launched a war of aggression, largely against civilians.
The term “Israel’s war in Gaza,” however, does not fit because it implies that Israel rather than Hamas is the belligerent party, when in fact Hamas broke a ceasefire with Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hamas was the belligerent party that launched a war of aggression, largely against civilians.
For most of the media, the phrasing is meant to be a subtle, almost subliminal way to blame Israel for the war.
Objectively, the media should use the term Robert Satloff uses at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy uses: the “Hamas-Israel War.”
Better yet, “Israel’s effort to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas.”
Better still, though a bit wordy, “Israel’s attempt to free Israeli and American hostages from the terrorist organization Hamas.”
Israel is winning on the physical battlefield where terrorist cowards lurk in subterranean Gaza abusing their captives, but it is losing on the verbal battlefield where keyboard cowards lurk in newsrooms and dingy cubicles, abusing their readers with Newspeak blather and agitprop bias.
Chief Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Political Correspondent A.J. Caschetta is a principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a fellow at Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum where he is also a Milstein fellow. A version of this article was originally published by IPT.
The post It’s Not ‘Israel’s War in Gaza’ — It’s the Israel-Hamas War; But the Media Is Trying to Harm Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Samidoun designated as a terrorist group by Canadian and U.S. governments
In a major victory for Canadian Jewish communities, leaders, and advocacy organizations, Samidoun—the Vancouver-based group also known as the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network—has been formally designated a terrorist entity by […]
The post Samidoun designated as a terrorist group by Canadian and U.S. governments appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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More Than 8 in 10 Americans Support Israel Over Hamas, Harvard Poll Finds
US President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly in New York City, Sept. 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
An overwhelming majority of Americans support Israel over the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, according to a new Harvard-Harris poll.
The poll, conducted from Oct. 11-13, revealed that the American public wants Israel to prevail in its ongoing military campaign in Hamas-ruled Gaza. The data also indicated that the American people believe the Jewish state should continue to prosecute the war until it achieves its objectives, including the permanent removal of Hamas from the Gaza strip and the release of the remaining hostages kidnapped from southern Israel last October.
According to the poll, Americans support Israel over Hamas by a margin of 81-19 percent. This represents a slight uptick from September, when 79 percent of Americans indicated support for Israel over the terrorist organization. Among respondents that follow the war “closely,” 81 percent similarly indicated support for Israel and 19 percent support Hamas.
The poll also showed a generational divide on Israel. Americans over 65 support Israel over Hamas by a staggering margin of 94-6 percent. Those aged 35-44 support the Jewish state over the terrorist group by a margin of 74-26 percent. Young Americans aged 18-24 are far more divided on the conflict, with 57 percent supporting Israel and 43 percent supporting the Hamas terrorist group.
The Jewish state also enjoys strong support across party lines, according to the poll. An overwhelming 85 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Democrats said they support Israel. Meanwhile, 15 percent of Republicans and 24 percent of Democrats indicated they back Hamas.
A commanding majority of voters also said they believe that Israel should strike a ceasefire deal with Hamas after it achieves its key military goals. Among respondents, 68 percent believe a ceasefire “should happen only after the release of all hostages and Hamas being removed from power.” Only 32 percent of Americans support an “unconditional ceasefire that would leave everything in place as is.”
Most Americans also believe that the Hamas terrorist group should no longer be allowed to run Gaza. According to the poll, 81 percent of Americans believe Hamas should be “removed from running Gaza.” In contrast, 19 percent believe the terrorist group should be “allowed to continue to run” the Palestinian enclave.
The polling results show that Israel enjoys robust support among the American public despite a barrage of media criticism leveled at the Jewish state.
The results came amid growing pressure on the Biden administration by far-left progressives to adopt a tougher posture against the Jewish state. However, the data suggests that adopting such an approach toward the Israel-Hamas war, such as imposing a US arms embargo on Israel, might harm the Democrats in November’s US elections.
According to the poll, Americans believe Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will be more “effective” on resolving the Israel-Hamas war than Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by a margin of 47-37 percent.
The post More Than 8 in 10 Americans Support Israel Over Hamas, Harvard Poll Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Sham Charity’: US, Canada Sanction Anti-Israel Samidoun Network as Fundraiser for Palestinian Terror Group
Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate in front of Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck, New Jersey, US, on March 10, 2024. Photo: Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
The US and Canada announced on Tuesday that they jointly imposed sanctions on Samidoun, explaining that the prominent anti-Israel group has been operating as a “sham charity” fundraising for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist group.
“Organizations like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups,” Bradley Smith, the US Treasury Department’s acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement. “The United States, together with Canada and our like-minded partners, will continue to disrupt those who seek to finance the PFLP, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations.”
The US Treasury Department said in its announcement that the PFLP “uses Samidoun to maintain fundraising operations in both Europe and North America” and that it was also “designating” Khaled Barakat, a member of both Samidoun and the PFLP’s leadership.
“Together, Samidoun and Barakat play critical roles in external fundraising for the PFLP,” the department said.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government in a coordinated effort listed Samidoun as a terrorist entity under its Criminal Code.
“Canada remains committed to working with our key partners and allies, like the United States, to counter terrorist organizations and their fundraisers,” Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement. “Today’s joint action with the US sends a strong message that our two nations will not tolerate this type of activity and will do everything in our power to ensure robust measures are in place to address terrorist financing.”
Samidoun, which identifies itself as a “Palestinian prisoner solidarity network,” is a radical anti-Israel advocacy organization that has taken part in pro-Hamas protests across the West, including in the US, Canada, and countries in Europe.
Germany banned Samidoun, whose demonstrations in Berlin have featured cries of “Death to the Jews,” in the days following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.
Samidoun previously described the Oct. 7 atrocities as an act of “heroic Palestinian resistance” and recently hosted a webinar for a Hamas official who pledged that the Palestinian terrorist organization will repeat its slaughter of Israelis “again and again” to bring about the Jewish state’s “annihilation.”
However, Samidoun, which is based in Vancouver, Canada, purports to organize demonstrations, organize campaigns, and provide resources that inform the public on the supposed plight of Palestinian prisoners.
“We work to raise awareness and provide resources about Palestinian political prisoners, their conditions, their demands, and their work for freedom for themselves, their fellow prisoners, and their homeland,” the group claims on is website.
The PFLP gained prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s for pioneering armed hijackings of airplanes and has also been involved in suicide bombings, shootings, and assassinations. For decades, the group has attacked Israeli and other Western targets. Just last year, the PFLP posted pictures and videos online showing its participation in and support of the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel.
Samidoun and Barakat were sanctioned on Tuesday for “being owned, controlled, or directed by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the PFLP,” according t the US Treasury Department.
As a result, any property or other entities they may own or have interest in, directly or indirectly, that are in the US or in the possession or control of Americans are “blocked” and must be reported to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The sanctions also prohibit Samidoun and Barakat from engaging in any property-related transactions with people or entities located or incorporated in the US.
The post ‘Sham Charity’: US, Canada Sanction Anti-Israel Samidoun Network as Fundraiser for Palestinian Terror Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.