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Israel Attacked Terrorists in Qatar — and the Media Attacked Israel
Vehicles stop at a red traffic light, a day after an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders, in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
On Tuesday, September 9, Israel targeted those who sought its destruction and planned the barbaric October 7, 2023 massacre.
Israel launched the daring attack on the Hamas leadership in their Qatari safe haven, after their ongoing refusal to agree to a Gaza ceasefire deal and in the aftermath of a deadly terror attack in Jerusalem, which Hamas claimed responsibility for.
But the media still shilled for Hamas by making Israel look like a rogue state attacking a key diplomatic player and destroying any chance for peace.
News outlets used three methods to achieve this goal:
- Direct accusations
- Subtle differentiation between a “legitimate” Hamas political wing and its military one
- The glorification of Qatar as a business hub rather than a terrorist hub
The Independent and The Washington Post shamelessly employed headlines that portrayed Israel as the regional bully and an aggressor randomly attacking other Middle East countries in a bid for regional domination.
Let’s be clear, @washingtonpost: The only country that Israel has attacked, in self-defense, is the one that has pledged to annihilate it – the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Israel has not waged war against states; it has specifically targeted the terrorists operating within them. https://t.co/S2xExYa1Ko pic.twitter.com/W5XXzuQU4u
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 10, 2025
Sky News even blamed Israel for a previous attack on Qatar, although the Iranian regime carried it out:
Does anyone else apart from @SkyNews remember the first time Israel launched a strike on Qatar?
No, neither do we.
Sky News, delete this nonsense. pic.twitter.com/Iy3qtjV5XP
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 9, 2025
After we publicly highlighted it, Sky quietly rectified its faux pas with no acknowledgment of the correction.
Meanwhile, the Economist was worried that attacking the very terrorists who ordered the mass murder of Jews on Oct. 7 was “a bridge too far” and that Israel had “crossed a line:”
Why, @TheEconomist, is it only Israel attacking terrorists that is a “bridge too far?”
Why is it only Israel that has “crossed a line?”
Did Hamas not cross a line on Oct. 7, or does The Economist draw the line when it comes to one country only? pic.twitter.com/YSZ6nhKpZW
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 10, 2025
And the BBC’s security correspondent called Israel’s surprising act of self defense “a campaign of score settling:”
TWISTED: Trust @BBCNews‘s security correspondent to express the “fear” that Israel would take out a bunch of terrorist leaders.
And to portray the wholly understandable & legitimate Israeli response to Oct. 7 as “a campaign of ‘score settling’.” pic.twitter.com/3Des2ftClC
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 10, 2025
NPR and The Wall Street Journal took the subtle approach of creating a false dichotomy between Hamas’ military and political wings — although the entire group is internationally designated as a terror organization.
Reminder to @WSJ: Hamas has a history of attacking Israeli civilians.
All funded and planned by Hamas’ so-called “political leaders,” i.e. terrorists. pic.twitter.com/P6CANgkrIP
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 9, 2025
No, @NPR, Israel actually said that it targeted the Hamas leadership.
Because Hamas is a terrorist organization, and its “political office” is no different from its military infrastructure.
Terrorists who wear suits and live in luxury in Doha are still terrorists. pic.twitter.com/s9jaGmgAt7
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 9, 2025
This naive approach depicted the targeted Hamas leaders as legitimate officials simply because they carried pens and wore suits instead of AK-47s and green headbands.
They may not have got their hands dirty but this does not absolve them from orchestrating numerous bloody terror attacks, including the slaughter and kidnapping of thousands of people in Israel on October 7, 2023.
9/
Hamas’s Doha cabal ran it all: money, propaganda, deal-blocking, strategy. The same men filmed celebrating Oct 7 as Israelis were slaughtered. These weren’t “politicians.” They were terrorists. And Israel just targeted them. pic.twitter.com/vRCnppA3Sk— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 9, 2025
Finally, many outlets decried the violation of Qatar’s sovereignty, painting it as a peace-seeking state focused on business and regional cooperation, rather than a patron of terrorists.
The New York Times went as far as calling Qatar “a safe haven for business and tourism in a volatile region,” while it was, in fact, a safe haven for the region’s top jihadists.
Until a short time ago, Qatar was also a safe haven for terrorists.
But @nytimes just can’t see it. pic.twitter.com/rZNYx37PCg
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 9, 2025
How can this media distortion be explained? Why is a facade of legitimacy conferred upon terrorists in suits?
There are only two possible answers: Either the media believe the facade the terrorists want to sell, or they are carrying out an anti-Israel agenda.
Both options are detrimental to professional journalism, as well as to basic human ethics.
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.
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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.