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AP, Reuters & AFP Recycle Tedious ‘Israel Ruined Christmas’ Narrative
An artwork dubbed “scar of Bethlehem” by street artist Banksy is displayed in the Walled Off hotel in Bethlehem, December 22, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma.
As billions of Christians around the globe prepare to celebrate Christmas, the world’s biggest news agencies have been scrabbling around for an angle to cover the Christmas celebrations in the Holy Land.
And they’ve found one.
This year, Reuters tells us in a recent headline, will be the “worst Christmas ever” in Bethlehem.
According to Reuters, the birthplace of Jesus Christ will be deserted because the “war has scared away tourists and pilgrims from the Palestinian town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.”
Meanwhile, the Associated Press said it would be a “subdued Christmas” in Bethlehem after “officials in Jesus’ traditional birthplace decided to forgo celebrations due to the Israel-Hamas war.”
“The cancellation of Christmas festivities, which typically draw thousands of visitors, is a severe blow to the town’s tourism-dependent economy,” the AP noted.
In a similar vein, Agence France Press (AFP) predicted subdued celebrations, explaining that as the “war between Israel and Hamas rages around 100 km (60 miles) away in Gaza — leaving thousands of Palestinians dead and nearly two million displaced and trapped in a humanitarian catastrophe — Christmas will be a muted affair in the occupied West Bank.”
The issue with these articles is that they all sound far too familiar.
In fact, it seems that scarcely a December passes without the wire agencies warning that Christmas has been spoiled in Israel.
In 2021, for example, Reuters announced that in Bethlehem there would be a “muted Christmas with few pilgrims to bring cheer.”
In 2020 — during the Coronavirus pandemic — the Associated Press lamented how the spread of the virus had “rob[bed] biblical Bethlehem of Christmas cheer.”
And a couple of years before that, the AFP was hand-wringing about a “subdued Christmas Eve in the historic birthplace of Jesus” as “Jerusalem tensions overshadow Christmas in Bethlehem.”
As you can see, a pattern is emerging: every year, the world’s biggest wire agencies, which supply news copy to thousands of organizations around the world, suggest Christmas celebrations in the Holy Land have been ruined.
What’s more, such articles more often than not imply Israel is responsible for wrecking the holiday, with this year’s slew being no different.
For example, AP notes that Israel has restricted access to Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns following the Hamas attacks on October 7, which it says has resulted in long lines of motorists waiting at checkpoints.
The agency goes on to observe how Bethlehem’s Christmas celebrations have “long been a barometer of Israeli-Palestinian relations,” and references how “celebrations were grim in 2000 at the start of the second intifada… when Israeli forces locked down parts of the West Bank in response to Palestinians carrying out scores of suicide bombings and other attacks that killed Israeli civilians.”
Without being stated directly, the insinuation is clear: Israel is to blame for responding to Palestinian terrorism — and not the Palestinian terrorists whose murderous actions necessitated a response in the first place.
As Israel battles Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip who launched the horrifying terror attack on October 7, the emphasis by the world’s leading news agencies is on how Israel’s prolonging the war has disrupted festive celebrations — and not the fact that Hamas is ultimately responsible having launched the unprovoked attack on innocent civilians in the first place, and that it continues to indiscriminately fire rockets at Israeli towns and cities.
It is lazy and, sadly, predictable journalism: the recycling of the same angle as previous years with the distortion of facts to fit that skewed narrative.
A “humbug” — as popularized by the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol — refers to someone who is deceptive or likely to mislead.
Bah humbug indeed!
The post AP, Reuters & AFP Recycle Tedious ‘Israel Ruined Christmas’ Narrative first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.