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Media Favor Hamas’ Narrative in Coverage of Gaza Hospital Raid
An Israeli tank maneuvers, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, July 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
It’s been a busy news weekend: Israel raided a Gaza hospital and detained hundreds of terrorists.
Media outlets should have reported this fact while giving weight to the Israeli statement showing that Hamas was operating inside the hospital.
Instead, too many opted for the narrative of Hamas, a deceitful terror group, whose health ministry made Israel look like it had intentionally targeted innocent patients.
Three strategies were used to achieve this goal: Provocative headlines, hiding or distorting Israel’s statement, and relying on the accounts of the hospital director, who is a suspected Hamas operative.
Irresponsible Headlines
The worst headlines — from respected outlets such as AP, Newsweek, and NBC News — blamed Israel for “burning” the Kamal Adwan hospital. And like any blood libel, the accusation spread like wildfire.
Never mind that Israel categorically denied it. Never mind that there was no attribution. The damage was done: Most news consumers don’t read much beyond the headline, and for them, Israel was instantly painted as a bloodthirsty monster:
Despite IDF denials, too many media, including @AP, prefer to believe the propaganda and lies spread by Hamas-controlled sources.
Israel is not “burning” hospitals. Period.
See @LTC_Shoshani below.
https://t.co/4kIgbL1JHS https://t.co/9w3rxOEJaj pic.twitter.com/auhDKq7zwN
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 29, 2024
Meanwhile, @NBCNews has no problem parroting the lies of a terrorist organization.https://t.co/4mYfkuXTnN pic.twitter.com/O0YkVwRdrf
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 29, 2024
The source of the libel becomes evident only upon further reading: An unverified claim by the Hamas-run health ministry.
Yet media call it “Gaza’s health ministry” without acknowledging that they “could not independently verify” its claims. This phrase appears to be saved only for Israel’s claims, even if they are backed by evidence.
So why do the media parrot the lies of a terror group? The sad answer is that they must give bylines to their Gaza reporters, who are either biased or would not risk relations with their Hamas sources.
Therefore, if an unbiased editor questions a headline or wants to add Israel’s response at the top, he or she might experience unpleasant pushback from the Gaza crew and never try to act professionally again. If he or she is biased to begin with? Problem solved.
Either way, the truth is lost.
Hiding or Distorting Israel’s Statement
This is precisely what might explain another disturbing issue: The fact that media outlets have buried or distorted Israel’s detailed statement.
That statement included the following points:
- 240 terrorists were apprehended inside the hospital, along with munitions and weapons.
- Hundreds of patients and medical staff were safely evacuated to an alternative hospital.
- Some of the terrorists posed as patients or tried to flee in ambulances.
- The hospital director, who is a suspected Hamas operative, was taken for questioning.
- Hamas terrorists fired anti-tank missiles and RPGs at IDF troops.
Reuters called the 240 suspects simply “Palestinians,” and omitted the claim about terrorists posing as patients, fleeing in ambulances or firing at Israeli soldiers. It also presented Israel’s statement only in the third paragraph.
.@Reuters received a statement from us stating we apprehended 240 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.
Those some 240 terrorists were cross-referenced with multiple intelligence sources of the IDF and ISA. Many of them also admitted being involved in terrorism during… pic.twitter.com/8u4L5LpWsH
— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) December 29, 2024
Similarly, The Guardian addressed Israel’s side only in the 5th paragraph, without mentioning any details about the terrorists’ activity.
And CNN buried some of Israel’s claims in the 7th paragraph.
Relying on a Suspected Terrorist
Meanwhile, the claims media chose to highlight were based on the social media accounts of Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the hospital — who has been detained by the army as a suspected Hamas operative.
That alone should have been enough to automatically compromise Abu Safia’s reliability. Instead, a post shared on his accounts was widely quoted, saying that: “Fire is ablaze everywhere in the hospital” — which may have led to the libelous headlines mentioned above.
Anyone knows that fire can erupt during urban warfare, especially if Hamas operatives fire RPGs and anti-tank missiles at IDF troops (which was barely reported).
Kamal Adwan Hospital Director is a Colonel in Hamas
Israel’s counterterror operation at Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital has sparked major headlines, with false claims of IDF atrocities.
Here’s the scoop: the hospital director, Hussam Abu Safiya, is a Colonel in Hamas
pic.twitter.com/IiuLejiZOs
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) December 27, 2024
But journalists seem to lack common sense when it comes to Gaza coverage.
They ignore the truth, which is simple and clear: Israel does not target hospitals. Hamas hides in them.
No media outlet should be favoring the latter’s narrative.
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 Media Favor Hamas’ Narrative in Coverage of Gaza Hospital Raid first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
i24 News – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that the government would establish an administration to encourage the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
“We are establishing a migration administration, we are preparing for this under the leadership of the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and Defense Minister [Israel Katz],” he said at a Land of Israel Caucus at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “The budget will not be an obstacle.”
Referring to the plan championed by US President Donald Trump, Smotrich noted the “profound and deep hatred towards Israel” in Gaza, adding that “sources in the American government” agreed “that it’s impossible for two million people with hatred towards Israel to remain at a stone’s throw from the border.”
The administration would be under the Defense Ministry, with the goal of facilitating Trump’s plan to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” and the relocation of hundreds of thousands of Gazans for rebuilding efforts.
“If we remove 5,000 a day, it will take a year,” Smotrich said. “The logistics are complex because you need to know who is going to which country. It’s a potential for historical change.”
The post Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30
A general view shows the plenum at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – The Knesset’s (Israeli parliament’s) Special Committee for Foreign Workers held a discussion on Sunday to examine the needs of wounded and disabled IDF soldiers and the response foreign caregivers could provide.
During the discussion, data from the Defense Minister revealed that the number of registered IDF wounded and disabled veterans rose from 62,000 to 78,000 since the war began on October 7, 2023. “Most of them are reservists and 51 percent of the wounded are up to 30 years old,” the ministry’s report said. The number will increase, the ministry assesses, as post-trauma cases emerge.
The committee chairwoman, Knesset member Etty Atiya (Likud), emphasized the need to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for the wounded and to remove obstacles. “There is no dispute that the IDF disabled have sacrificed their bodies and souls for the people of Israel, for the state of Israel,” she said. Addressing the veterans, she continued: “And we, as public representatives and public servants alike, must do everything, but everything, to improve your lives in any way possible, to alleviate your pain and the distress of your family members who are no less affected than you.”
Currently, extensions are being given to the IDF veterans on a three-month basis, which Atiya said creates uncertainty and fear among the patients.
“The committee calls on the Interior Minister [Moshe Arbel] to approve as soon as possible the temporary order on our table, so that it will reach the approval of the Knesset,” she said, adding that she “intends to personally approach the Director General of the Population Authority [Shlomo Mor-Yosef] on the matter in order to promote a quick and stable solution.”
The post Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Sky News Arabia in Damascus, Syria in this handout picture released by the Syrian Presidency on August 8, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Over 1,300 people were killed in two days of fighting in Syria between security forces under the new Syrian Islamist leaders and fighters from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect on the other hand, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday.
Since Thursday, 1,311 people had been killed, according to the Observatory, including 830 civilians, mainly Alawites, 231 Syrian government security personnel, and 250 Assad loyalists.
The intense fighting broke out late last week as the Alawite militias launched an offensive against the new government’s fighters in the coastal region of the country, prompting a massive deployment ordered by new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“We must preserve national unity and civil peace as much as possible and… we will be able to live together in this country,” al-Sharaa said, as quoted in the BBC.
The death toll represents the most severe escalations since Assad was ousted late last year, and is one of the most costly in terms of human lives since the civil war began in 2011.
The counter-offensive launched by al-Sharaa’s forces was marked by reported revenge killings and atrocities in the Latakia region, a stronghold of the Alawite minority in the country.
The post Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.