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Media Outlets Use Daring Israeli Rescue of Hostages to Shield Hamas, Attack Israel

Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Hare, two Israeli hostages who, according to the Israeli military, were freed in a special forces operation in Rafah, Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, reunite with loved ones at the Sheba Medical Center, in Ramat Gan, Israel, February 12, 2024, in this still image obtained from a video. Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY

Early on Monday, February 12, news outlets reported that Israel had rescued two hostages from Hamas captivity in Gaza.

But instead of sticking to the facts of the daring overnight raid in Rafah — which happen to justify Israel’s claim that the southern Gaza city is a Hamas stronghold — prominent news sites framed the story in a way that minimized the terror group’s role and presented Palestinians as the victims.

The result inverted reality: Positive news was portrayed as negative and good became evil.

Such framing, which subtly cast doubt on the worthiness of the Israeli rescue operation, was achieved by using one or more of the following tactics:

Selectively using the word ‘”freed” instead of “rescued.”
Uncritically emphasizing the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes during the raid.
Adding lengthy paragraphs focusing on the plight of 1.4 million displaced Gazans in Rafah, and their fear of a potentially imminent Israeli invasion.
Ignoring Hamas altogether.

The Guardian, for example, packaged the first two points in a headline that reads: “Two Israeli hostages freed in Rafah, says IDF, as Palestinians report dozens of deaths.”

Who freed the hostages? Hamas? Islamic Jihad? An invisible force? Unclear.

Using the word “freed” rather than the value-laden “rescued” muddies the dramatic nature of the Israeli operation and whitewashes Hamas. That’s because it blurs the lines between the two sides and can also be mistakenly attributed to the terror group, as seen above.

But what’s worse is the added framing of Palestinian casualties — some of whom are undoubtedly terrorists killed in the raid.

And it’s not just in the headline.

The first paragraph of the story leads with the Palestinian death toll, according to “Gaza health officials,” who don’t differentiate between terrorists and civilians:

At least 50 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on the southern city of Rafah, according to Gaza health officials, as the Israeli military said it had freed two hostages during a raid by special forces on the city.

The rest of the story — except for 2.5 paragraphs dedicated to the Israeli hostages — includes 18.5 paragraphs on the suffering of displaced Palestinians in the area, amid global warnings against a looming Israeli invasion of Rafah.

It is not clear why such background paragraphs don’t include any information on Hamas’ entrenchment amid or under the civilian population of the city, particularly in light of the fact that Israeli hostages had been held in an apartment building there.

The Guardian’s story was partly based on a Reuters report, which also used “freed” in its headline and framed the Israeli operation with unverified casualty numbers that serve the Palestinian narrative:

We’ve fixed your headline, @Reuters. The hostages were rescued, not “freed.”

But who are the “67 killed”? Israeli soldiers killed many terrorists and came under heavy fire during the rescue operation.https://t.co/sgHVRC3OPY pic.twitter.com/IlMSdQhXn7

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 12, 2024

Unlike Reuters, the Associated Press and the BBC did use the verb “rescue.”

But they framed their headlines similarly:

And the live coverage page of the BBC still led with the lethal Israeli strikes:

Voice Of America (VOA) went further and did not even mention the Israeli rescue operation in its headline about the Rafah strikes:

It’s been some 9 hours since it was publicly announced that Israel had rescued two hostages from Rafah.

But the headline and story below are still the lead on the @VOANews website.https://t.co/2AkmWqS1GM pic.twitter.com/Fi1u5X643P

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 12, 2024

VOA’s story starts with what seems to be random Israeli air strikes that killed tens of Palestinians sheltering in Rafah. Again, no context is provided, nor is there any critical caveat about the problematic source for Gaza’s casualty figures:

Israeli airstrikes Monday hit the southern city of Rafah, killing at least 67 people according to local health officials in the area of the Gaza Strip where 1.4 million civilians have already fled to in order to escape the war.

Residents described heavy bombing, with the Israeli strikes hitting several houses and mosques.

It’s not until the third paragraph that VOA mentions the Israeli rescue operation, although it is almost glossed over as a mere coincidence:

“…the strikes coincided with a mission that rescued two Israeli hostages who were being held by Hamas militants.

NBC News also made the Israeli airstrikes look like an indiscriminate bombing of Rafah, unrelated to the fact that Hamas had been holding the Israeli hostages there:

Some media outlets didn’t just change words or add context.

National Public Radio, for example, completely omitted Hamas from its story about the Israeli rescue operation.

It did not mention Hamas even once, as if the Israeli forces had been fighting an unidentified enemy:

The Israeli military said on Monday that special forces rescued two Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Heavy airstrikes were conducted during the operation and there were initial reports that Palestinians were killed in the strikes.

Disturbingly, NPR relied on a military report that clearly identified Hamas as the group that kidnapped the hostages on October 7, while its terrorists killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted some 240 others.

Why did NPR ignore that?

Whatever the reason, the result is the whitewashing of the murderers responsible for taking the hostages in the first place.

Indeed, it’s possible to sum up by repeating the cliche that framing is everything.

But it shouldn’t be.

Journalists should avoid it and simply report the facts accurately.

They should also be aware of the ramifications of their words, especially when these words are used to minimize evil — the evil of a terror group that holds hostages while using innocent civilians as a human shield.

And when journalists fail to do so, news consumers deserve to know that they are being misled.

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 Outlets Use Daring Israeli Rescue of Hostages to Shield Hamas, Attack Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Father of Israeli Wounded in New Orleans: ‘Part of his Skull is Missing’

A member of the National Guard Military Police stands, in the area where people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, Jan. 2, 2025. PHoto: REUTERS/Octavio Jones

JNS.orgIn an interview, Israeli Hagai Levin described the impact of the injuries sustained by his son Adi, a member of the IDF Armored Corps, during the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans by an ISIS-inspired terrorist who murdered 14 people and wounded dozens of others. The terrorist also died.

“His state fluctuates, but I’m optimistic. I’ll bring my son home. His life will change—he’ll have metal rods in his arms and legs, an open head wound and part of his skull is missing,” Hagai said.

“There are still injuries we’ll fully understand only in a month when we begin the head rehabilitation process. But he’ll return to us, and for that, we’re moving our home from the Golan Heights to Tel Aviv to be closer to Tel HaShomer Hospital [Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan].”

Adi remains bedridden, as does his friend and fellow IDF soldier Y. (who chooses to remain anonymous out of safety concerns). “I miss everyone terribly and am deeply grateful to the Jewish community here for their support,” Y. said.

The pair’s visit to New Orleans was part of a planned three-month road trip that took them from Nebraska to Los Angeles and then on to Texas and Louisiana. They did not make it to their planned destination of Florida.

Having seen the security camera video of the attack, Hagai said that the vehicle driven by Shamsud-Din Jabbar “hit Adi head-on, crushing his legs and head, dragging him along the road, and pushing his friend to the side.”

While praising the hospital as operating at an “incredible standard” and saying that “we are receiving exceptional care,” Hagai said that “despite their travel insurance, a single day of hospitalization here costs roughly the equivalent of the entire annual budget of Israel’s healthcare system combined. The expenses will exceed a million dollars.

“We are facing a long recovery ahead. He’s spent two weeks in the emergency room and will need several months in rehabilitation with complex surgeries. We won’t return to Israel before April.” Hagai said.

The post Father of Israeli Wounded in New Orleans: ‘Part of his Skull is Missing’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Netanyahu Hosts Trump Envoy on Gaza Hostage Talks

Steve Witkoff, founder of the Witkoff Group, gestures during a rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, in New York, US, Oct. 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

JNS.orgPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Saturday afternoon with President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, in what was described as a “surprise visit” to discuss the multilateral negotiations with Hamas for the release of Israeli hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza.

Witkoff arrived in Israel after talks in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Channel 12 cited a “senior Israeli” saying that Trump has been personally involved in the matter over the last couple of days, expressing his desire to urgently cement a deal before he enters office on Jan. 20.

Netanyahu is expected to hold a security assessment after which he will decide whether to send an Israeli delegation to Doha headed by Mossad and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chiefs David Barnea and Ronen Bar, respectively.

According to Ynet, “additional progress” has been made in the negotiations but disagreements remain.

The report mentioned the transition from stage one of the proposed truce—a “humanitarian” phase of releasing hostages—to stage two as the main hurdle. The sides are arguing about legal wordings and each is insisting on keeping a degree of “freedom of action,” Ynet reported.

Qatari-owned, London-based newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed quoted a senior Hamas official as saying, “The final vision of the agreement is finished. There are arrangements between the mediators regarding the announcement of the agreement. We are all waiting for the envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to arrive in Doha and render his approval for the latest amendments.”

However, various Arab- and Hebrew-language reports gave conflicting reports on whether Hamas agreed to hand over a list of live hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

During a press conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, Witkoff, a Jewish businessman and longtime friend of the president-elect, expressed optimism about the ongoing discussions.

“I believe they’re doing an excellent job in Doha,” Witkoff said. “I’m hopeful that by the [Jan. 20] inauguration, we’ll have positive news to share on behalf of the president. It’s really the president’s vision, his reputation, and his words that are driving these negotiations. So, hopefully, everything will come together, and lives will be saved.”

When asked whether a deal could be reached before his inauguration, Trump said, “There better be.” He reiterated his stark warning about the fallout for Hamas if the hostages are not released.

The post Netanyahu Hosts Trump Envoy on Gaza Hostage Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Los Angeles Issues New Evacuation Orders as Thickening Smoke Causes Health Emergency

Flames rise from a structure as the Palisades fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, California, US, Jan. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ringo Chiu

i24 NewsThe Palisades fire raging in the Los Angeles region shifted east on Friday night, triggering new evacuation orders and further aggravating the titanic health and safety emergency in America’s second largest city.

Palisades is the largest of six simultaneous wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles County neighborhoods stretching across an area larger than San Francisco since Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and damaging or destroying around 12,000 structures. The numbers are expected to rise once it is safe enough for firefighters to conduct house-to-house searches.

The LA Department of Public Health said it had declared a local health emergency and issued a public health officer order in response “to the widespread impacts of the ongoing multiple critical fire events and windstorm conditions.”

The statement further said that “the fires, coupled with strong winds, have severely degraded air quality by releasing hazardous smoke and particulate matter, posing immediate and long-term risks to public health.”

Allegations of leadership failures and incompetence were flying, with Governor of California Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass singled out for opprobrium.

Newsom ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants ran dry, calling it “deeply troubling.”

Los Angeles fire chief, Kristin Crowley, said city leadership failed her department by not providing sufficient funds for firefighting. She also pointed out the lack of water. “When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” she said.

The post Los Angeles Issues New Evacuation Orders as Thickening Smoke Causes Health Emergency first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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