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Media Painted Israel as Aggressor in Coverage of Hezbollah Commander Targeting
Thousands of Druze mourners in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights attended a funeral procession on July 28, 2024 in Majdal Shams for 11 of the 12 children and teenagers killed in a rocket attack the prior day. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
On Tuesday, July 30, an Israeli airstrike in Beirut eliminated Hezbollah’s most senior military commander, who was responsible for the rocket attack that had killed 12 Israeli children and teenagers in the Golan Heights last weekend.
Fuad Shukr was also the adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and the United States says he played a central role in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 US military personnel.
Despite this, some international media headlines omitted the fact he was targeted, and painted Israel’s strike as an all-out attack on the pastoral suburbs of the Lebanese capital.
Here’s a collection of some of the worst headlines we could find, followed by accurate ones:
Israel targeted senior Hezbollah operative Fouad Shukr, the man behind the deaths of 12 children in Majdal Shams and many other attacks. Yet, some media focused on Israel bombing a “Beirut suburb” instead of him and his crimes.
Here’s a breakdown: pic.twitter.com/c3FHHRQ7tu
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 30, 2024
Israeli “Attack” on Suburbia
The intelligence-based targeting of Shukr took place in the Dahiya suburb of Beirut, which is a Hezbollah stronghold.
Yet Reuters‘ headline made it look like Israel had deliberately attacked housewives on their way to a spa:
Please tell @Reuters that Israel’s strike was on the Hezbollah mass murderer who killed 12 children in Saturday’s soccer field slaughter and not on Teaneck, New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/oVgMtkPqdJ
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 31, 2024
NBC News did the same, while at least mentioning it was a retaliatory strike:
For the Independent, it was a completely unsolicited air strike on Beirut:
And the AP, like the three examples above, omitted the essence of the story — the targeting of a top Hezbollah commander with blood on his hands:
Context and Target
So what would be a better headline?
One that mentions the following elements:
The target of the strike: a top Hezbollah commander.
The reason for the strike: in retaliation for a lethal terror attack.
The location of the strike: Beirut or its suburb– as a geographical locator, not as the essence of the story.
CNN did exactly that:
ABC News did not mention the soccer field massacre in their headline, but at least led with the IDF announcement on Shukr:
And Axios properly reported on the target of the strike:
The conclusion, however, isn’t positive.
As the bad examples above show, respectable media outlets twisted what should have been a straightforward story.
And the question is: why is it so hard to accurately report what happened, where it happened, and why it happened?
If the media won’t tell that story because accurate reporting paints Israel as fighting against evil, then the media is serving terrorists and murderers, and not telling the truth about evil.
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 Painted Israel as Aggressor in Coverage of Hezbollah Commander Targeting 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.