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CNN Breaks Its Credibility Over Breaking the Silence Accusations
CNN logo. Photo: Josh Hallett / Flickr
If CNN wishes to be treated as a serious journalistic outlet, it should engage in serious journalism.
Unfortunately for the network and its audience, this is not what CNN’s Mick Krever, Jeremy Diamond, and Abeer Salman did for their latest story, “The Israeli military has used Palestinians as human shields in Gaza, soldier and former detainees say.”
Once again, CNN journalists make — in their own words — a horrific allegation against Israeli soldiers. Predictably, the allegation — that Israeli soldiers are using Palestinians as human shields — is short on credible evidence.
Instead of acting like professional journalists, the authors act as partisan activists like the ones making the accusation.
Krever, Diamond, and Salman’s allegation relies largely on the testimony of a single, unnamed Israeli soldier and three pictures. The article also references “five former detainees” who were allegedly used as human shields, but the names and stories are provided for only three.
According to the soldier’s anonymous testimony, his unit was ordered by an intelligence officer to use two Palestinians as human shields. He also claims the practice of human shielding “was so common in the Israeli military that it had a name: ‘mosquito protocol.’”
Anyone curious as to the truth would immediately have several basic questions. Did CNN reach out to the rest of the soldier’s unit to verify his story? The soldier claims that “he and his comrades refused to carry on with the practice.” If he was not the only one uncomfortable with the practice, then surely other members of his unit might be willing to verify his claims.
On that note, why doesn’t CNN identify the soldier’s unit so other members can either verify or contradict his story?
Furthermore, if the practice is so common, did CNN reach out to any other soldiers who served in Gaza to ask about the “mosquito protocol”?
What about the mysterious intelligence officer mentioned? Who was he? What was his unit and rank? Why are no further details provided to assist the audience in determining the credibility of the story?
None of these basic questions are answered.
Instead, the journalists outsourced their job to a partisan activist organization known for advancing dubious and false claims against Israeli forces: “CNN was connected with the soldier by Breaking the Silence, an organization that provides a forum for Israeli soldiers to speak out and verifies their testimony.”
But Breaking the Silence is a notoriously unreliable source of information known for anti-Israel activism, such as promoting boycotts and sanctions against Israel. It has been funded, for example, to encourage “diaspora Jewish communities to voice their opposition to the occupation” and to “increase opposition in the international arena to Israel’s prolonged occupation…”
More importantly, Breaking the Silence is known for making outlandish accusations based on flimsy evidence and by using underhanded tactics. The testimonies of its witnesses have often been directly contradicted by the other members of the units in question.
Krever, Diamond, and Salman omit all of this about their key source of information, and instead misleadingly depict it as simply a whistleblower organization. Worse, they appear to have made no independent effort to verify anything about the conveniently vague but emotionally charged story given to them by activists.
Even more dubious than the testimony, however, is the photographic “evidence” provided by Breaking the Silence which, CNN claims, “[depicts] the Israeli military using Palestinians as human shields in Gaza.”
The images do nothing of the sort. They simply show IDF soldiers in proximity to what appear to be Palestinian detainees.
The first two images simply show detainees in seated positions while nearby Israeli soldiers are in similarly relaxed positions, clearly outside of any combat situation. Whereas the article claims the “human shields” were used to search for booby traps or terrorists, all three detainees in the two images are blindfolded and thus incapable of searching for anything.
The third image, which CNN calls “haunting,” simply shows two soldiers walking toward a third individual standing in some rubble. Though CNN’s caption claims it shows “two soldiers urging a Palestinian forward,” it is entirely unclear how CNN can infer such gesturing from the photograph.
Simply put, there’s nothing about the photographs that even hint at human shielding. How CNN arrived at the conclusion that they do is baffling.
Of all the questions raised by Krever, Diamond, and Salman’s article, the most important is, “how did this story get past the editors in its current state?”
Unfortunately, the article is just the latest example of slanted and dubious journalism. This certainly isn’t the first time the network, and these reporters, have made serious allegations against Israel on the basis of thin or questionable evidence.
That these same reporters also regularly downplay or outright ignore credible evidence of serious allegations against Palestinians, as Salman did earlier this week, points to the obvious problem: a lack of objectivity.
David M. Litman is a Research Analyst at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).
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Torah cover honouring fallen IDF soldier leads to magical series of encounters in Montreal
Sometimes, says Rabbi Zolly Claman, all the cosmic tumblers fall into place—and something truly magical happens. The leader of Montreal’s Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem (TBDJ) was looking forward to […]
The post Torah cover honouring fallen IDF soldier leads to magical series of encounters in Montreal appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Radiohead Frontman Thom Yorke Confronts Anti-Israel Fan From on Stage During Melbourne Concert
Thom Yorke of The Smile is performing during The Smile Live in Europe 2024 Tour at Cavea of Auditorium Parco della Musica, in Rome, Italy, on June 24, 2024. Photo: Domenico Cippitelli via Reuters Connect
Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead and The Smile, abruptly walked off stage during his solo concert in Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday night after having a heated exchange with an audience member, who interrupted the show to voice his opposition to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
During a pause between songs at Yorke’s second sold-out show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, an audience member shouted at him as he stood on stage, as seen in a TikTok video taken during the incident. The audience member claimed, without evidence, that 200,000 people have already been killed in the Gaza Strip, half of them children. He yelled at the British rocker, “How can you be silent? How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?” as seen in footage obtained by The Age.
Yorke responded, “Hop up on the f—king stage and say what you wanna say. Don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. You wanna piss on everybody’s night? OK, you do. See you later, then.” He then took off his guitar and left the stage.
Other members of the audience then began booing, shouting at the anti-Israel protester and expressing frustration after Yorke walked off stage. They also chanted for Yorke, and a few minutes later he returned to perform the night’s final song, the Radiohead hit “Karma Police,” according to The Age.
@makzym8 Melbourne night 2. Guy then got got by the Karma Police #radiohead #thomyorke #melbourne ♬ original sound – Maxim
Radiohead has performed in Israel several times, most recently in 2017, despite facing intense pressure to boycott the Jewish state as part of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. At the time, Yorke called the harassment from BDS supporters “extremely upsetting,” “deeply disrespectful”, and “offensive.” He also took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to defend the band’s decision to play in Israel that year.
“Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government,” he wrote. “We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We don’t endorse [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any more than [former US President Donald] Trump, but we still play in America. Music, art ,and academia is about crossing borders not building them, about open minds not closed ones, about shared humanity, dialogue, and freedom of expression.”
This summer, Yorke’s bandmate, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, was criticized and threatened by BDS supporters for performing with Israeli artist Dudu Tassa and his band in Tel Aviv. Greenwood, who is married to Israeli visual artist Sharona Katan, responded by saying that efforts to boycott Israeli artists “feels unprogressive.”
“No art is as ‘important’ as stopping all the death and suffering around us. But doing nothing seems a worse option,” he explained. “And silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel doesn’t seem like any way to reach an understanding between the two sides of this apparently endless conflict.”
The post Radiohead Frontman Thom Yorke Confronts Anti-Israel Fan From on Stage During Melbourne Concert first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Calls Mount for Chicago Public School Board President to Resign for Antisemitic Comments
The Chicago skyline seen from Lake Michigan. Photo: Mr.TinDC/Flickr
Jewish groups and Chicago officials are demanding the resignation of the city’s new president of public schools, citing his lengthy history of making what critics described as antisemitic comments about Jews and Israel.
Twenty-six aldermen in Chicago issued a letter on Wednesday stating that they were “deeply troubled” by Chicago Public School Board President Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson’s “antisemitic and pro-Hamas comments.”
“The thousands of Jewish families who send their kids to Chicago Public Schools deserve representation who values them and does not express hate towards the Jewish community. We call on Rev. Johnson to apologize and step down from his position immediately,” the letter continued. “This situation is a failure of leadership and judgment on the part of Mayor [Brandon] Johnson and his executive team. Earlier this month, Mayor Johnson told reporters his appointees would be thoroughly vetted before they were sworn in. It is clear that did not take place.”
The aldermen went on to argue that in the months following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Johnson “crossed major red lines” by peddling antisemitic and incendiary rhetoric on social media. The aldermen condemned Johnson for “his explicit support for Hamas” and “collectively blaming all Jews for Israel’s military decisions.”
Johnson’s defense of the Oct. 7 slaughter as an “absolute right” is “disqualifying from public service,” according to the letter, which slammed the new school board chief for weaponizing the war in Gaza against Jewish city officials by writing, “My Jewish colleagues appear drunk with the Israeli power and will live to see their payment.”
Johnson came under fire after Jewish Insider reported on his vocal support for Hamas on social media, where he also compared Jews to Nazis.
“The Nazi Germans’ ideology has been adopted by the Zionist Jews,” Johnson wrote in February.
“The Israeli government offers a renewal of Nazi language once directed toward European Jews, ‘savages, dogs, vermin,’” he later posted in March.
Defending Hamas’s Oct. 7 murder spree, he wrote, “I have been saying this since October 2023. People have an absolute right to attack their oppressors by any means necessary!!!”
Johnson also shared a video by anti-Israel writer Miko Peled which voiced support for the Oct. 7 attacks. He encouraged his “Jewish friends” to react to the video
“The single most direct video that has crossed my feed,” Johnson wrote. “I invite my once Jewish friends to respond to this video with honesty, integrity, and morality.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said the appointment of Johnson was “offensive and insulting to a Jewish community reeling from the attacks of this weekend and increased antisemitism over the past several months.”
The American Jewish Committee’s branch in Chicago also called for Johnson’s resignation, as did other Jewish groups.
Meanwhile,the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest said of Johnson: “It is incomprehensible that someone with these antisemitic views was appointed to lead the Chicago Public School system, designed to promote education, coexistence, and inclusion.”
Johnson said he would not resign but on Wednesday apologized, saying he was “deeply sorry for not being more precise and deliberate in my comments” and acknowledging that some of the social media posts that he shared “could be construed as antisemitic.”
“Let me start by apologizing to the Jewish community for the remarks I posted, which were clearly reactive and insensitive,” Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ in an interview. “Since that time, I have asked for and received feedback from my Jewish friends and colleagues who helped me be more thoughtful as I addressed these sensitive matters.”
The push to oust Johnson came amid ongoing controversy over the city of Chicago’s response to the shooting of an Orthodox Jewish man in the city last Saturday.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who sparked outrage among the Jewish community earlier this year when he referred to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza as “genocidal,” released a statement on the shooting that made no mention of the victim being Jewish. In the statement, Johnson said that “our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the victim and his loved ones from this weekend’s shooting incident that took place in Rogers Park.”
The victim, 39, was shot by a 22-year-old gunman, Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, in an area of Chicago home to many Orthodox Jews, according to police. The attacker reportedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” during a gunfight after being confronted by law enforcement.
Abdallahi was charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder, seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm toward a police officer or firefighter, and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm.
Community leaders expressed outrage over Abdallahi not being charged with a hate crime among the other felony charges. Many took particular aim at Johnson for his response.
“The victim was a Jewish man, who was wearing traditional Jewish garb, walking to a Jewish place of worship on the Jewish day of rest,” said Chicago’s 50th Ward Alderman Debra Silverstein in response to Johnson’s statement. “Don’t erase his identity and don’t try to minimize the fear and anxiety my community feels after this attack. We’re scared and we need to know that our mayor has our back.”
The Chicago Jewish Relations Community Council similarly slammed Johnson for his statement, saying that the mayor “failed to identify that the victim was a Jewish man, in a densely populated Jewish neighborhood, going to synagogue for Shabbat morning prayers.”
“What will it take for you to acknowledge the Jewish community?” the organization added.
The post Calls Mount for Chicago Public School Board President to Resign for Antisemitic Comments first appeared on Algemeiner.com.