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Reuters Carpet Bombs the Truth with Biased Reporting Against Israel
An Israeli flag flies in Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, following the ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, as seen from Metula, northern Israel, Dec. 3, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov
Is Reuters carpet bombing its vaunted Trust Principles that promise news consumers “integrity, independence and freedom from bias”?
Indeed, in recent coverage of Israel’s war against both Hamas and Hezbollah, Reuters journalists launched multiple strikes against the media outlet’s stated commitment to “unbiased and reliable news.”
For example, in their Nov. 28 article, Reuters’ Laila Basam, Tom Perry, and Maya Gebeily falsely referenced Israel’s “carpet bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs” (“Still counting its dead, Hezbollah faces long road to recover from war“).
Carpet bombing refers to a campaign which “seeks to destroy every part of a wide area.” If Israel had carpet-bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, the entire area would be destroyed and fatalities would have reached the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.
But as previous Reuters coverage indicates, Israeli attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs were highly focused, targeting specific buildings, and not the entire area.
Reuters reported on Oct. 1, for instance, that a single high-rise building was hit in one such attack:
Israel carried out two attacks on Beirut on Tuesday afternoon, striking the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital and the city’s southern entrance, two security sources said.
A high-rise building was hit in the city’s Jnah area, the sources said.
The Israeli military said it was targeting the Lebanese capital and had carried out a “precise strike.”
Likewise, on Nov. 23, Reuters reported on Israeli attacks against Hezbollah targets, as opposed to total annihilation of the suburbs: “The Israeli air force also struck Hezbollah targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the group’s stronghold, the Israeli military said.”
Similarly, Reuters reporting on Nov. 13 referred to Israel warning civilians to evacuate and then striking specific Hezbollah targets in the area, a focused attack not even remotely resembling the flattening of the entire area:
The Israeli military pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs with airstrikes on Tuesday, mounting one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the Hezbollah-controlled area, and struck the middle of the country where more than 20 people were killed.
Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs starting in midmorning. After posting warnings to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s Dahiyeh area and later said it dismantled most of the group’s weapons and missile facilities.
If Israel had carpet-bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut, there would be nothing left there aside from rubble.
But Reuters’ own photographic coverage demonstrates that this is clearly not the case.
The Nov. 24 Reuters image below shows that the vast majority of buildings are completely intact.
Five hours of CGTN Europe Nov. 26 footage of the view overlooking Beirut’s southern suburbs before the ceasefire went into effect also shows attacks against specific buildings, and not wholesale destruction of the entire residential area.
While CAMERA informed Reuters editors about the egregiously fallacious claim days ago, the media outlet has yet to correct. With one billion global news consumers exposed to Reuters daily, the media outlet’s civilian casualties — those on the receiving end of its false “carpet bombing” libel — are widespread.
Reuters also subjects its readers to unfounded mayhem and confusion, obscuring the actual outlines of the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire agreement.
The ceasefire agreement is perfectly clear that Hezbollah is to be disarmed and is forbidden to deploy south of the Litani River. It also states explicitly that Israel has up to 60 days to withdraw its forces from Lebanon. Nevertheless, in a recent article, “With Israeli tanks on the ground, Lebanese unable to bury dead,” Hamuda Hassan and Ahmed Fahmy concealed these keys points of the deal.
Instead, in their abbreviated characterization of the ceasefire, they say only that the agreement “stipulated an end to fighting so residents on both sides of the border could return home.” Further, in describing the alleged hardships Lebanese say they face upon return to their villages in the south, the reporters falsely imply that Israel’s current presence in southern Lebanon is a violation of the deal:
The ordeal highlights the bitterness and confusion for residents of southern Lebanon who have been unable to return home because Israeli troops are still present on Lebanese territory.
Israel’s military has issued orders to residents of 60 southern towns not to return home, saying they are prohibited from accessing their hometowns until further notice.
The U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal grants both Lebanon and Israel the right to self-defence, but does not include provisions on a buffer zone or restrictions for residents.
Given that Israel’s military presence in southern Lebanon is permitted for nearly two more months, the smoke and mirrors reference to a lack of provisions on buffer zone and restrictions falsely implies that Israel is in violation of the agreement. That fabrication is the underlying narrative of the entire article.
Reuters’ sustained assault on unbiased and reliable news extends southwards from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip. In his article this week, Nidal al-Mughrabi reports dubious and notoriously unreliable Hamas-supplied fatality statistics as fact, without any attribution: “Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians, injured many others, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble” (“Israel kills 14 people in northern Gaza, orders evacuation in south“).
When it comes to Israel’s verified Oct. 7 victims, in contrast, al-Mughrabi fastidiously attributes the information, as if the data cannot be independently confirmed:
Israel launched its campaign in the densely populated Palestinian enclave after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Reuters took another shot at its unbiased news promise when it dropped key information from its Nov. 30 headline: “Israel says it killed Oct. 7 attack suspect who worked for US-based charity.”
By the next day, the updated version of the same story, carrying the same url as the original article, contained less — not more — information, stating: “Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed two aid workers.” How does the headline’s omission of the aid workers’ alleged participation in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks against Israel serve Reuters’ Trust Principles?
In contrast, the Associated Press’ headline clearly notes Israel’s information that the targeted Gazan participated in the Oct. 7 massacre: “Israeli strike in Gaza kills World Central Kitchen workers. Israel says 1 was an Oct. 7 attacker.”
News providers face a challenge, wrote chairman of Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company Kim Williams in 2018. “[T]hey must earn the confidence of their clients through convincing efforts to strengthen credibility.” A convincing initial effort towards strengthening credibility would be to forthrightly correct the absurd carpet bombing libel.
As for recovery of trust, integrity and freedom from bias, cessation of scorched-earth journalistic skewing in favor of Hamas and Hezbollah is a good place to start.
Tamar Sternthal is the director of CAMERA’s Israel Office. A version of this article previously appeared on the CAMERA website.
The post Reuters Carpet Bombs the Truth with Biased Reporting Against Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Members Suspected of Plotting Attacks Go on Trial in Germany
View of the courtroom as Judge Doris Husch presides over a trial for defendants accused of acting as foreign operatives for the Hamas terrorist group in Europe, in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Four Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe went on trial in Berlin on Tuesday, in what prosecutors described as the first court case against terrorists of the Islamist group in Germany.
The Hamas members were detained in late 2023 on suspicion of planning attacks, German prosecutors said at the time.
“For the first time in Germany, suspects are facing charges of having participated as members of the foreign terrorist organization Hamas,” prosecutor Jochen Weingarten told Reuters.
He added the defendants were accused of seeking to locate a secret weapons depot in Poland for possible attacks, while receiving orders from the deputy commander of the Qassam Brigades in Lebanon.
According to previous statements by prosecutors, the defendants are also accused of operating other weapons caches in Europe.
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Israel Looks to Extend Phase One of Gaza Truce as Long-Term Deal Proves Elusive
Israeli military jeeps maneuver in Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, Feb. 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel is considering an extension of the 42-day truce in Gaza as it seeks to bring home the remaining 63 hostages, while putting off agreement on the future of the enclave for now, Israeli officials said.
The initial phase of the ceasefire deal, launched with the backing of the United States and the help of Egyptian and Qatari mediators on Jan. 19, is due to end on Saturday and it remains unclear what will follow.
“We are being very cautious,” Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told reporters in Jerusalem, when asked whether the truce might be extended without the start of talks on a second phase which would include difficult issues such as a final end to the war and the future governance of Gaza.
“There wasn’t a particular agreement on that, but it might be a possibility,” she said. “We didn’t close the option of continuing the current ceasefire, but in return for our hostages, and they have to be returned safely.”
If no agreement is reached by Friday, officials expect either a return to fighting or a freeze in the current situation in which the truce would continue but hostages would not return and Israel may block the entry of aid into Gaza.
Two officials who have been involved in the ceasefire process told Reuters that Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas have not engaged in negotiations to finalize an agreement over phase two of the ceasefire which will have to bridge wide gaps between the two sides to be concluded.
“I think it’s unrealistic to see something like that forming within a few days,” Haskel said. “This is something that needs to be discussed in depth. This is going to take time.”
The deal, which included the release of 33 Israeli hostages in return for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from some of their positions in Gaza, has survived numerous hiccups.
So far, 29 Israeli hostages – plus five Thais – have been released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, with the bodies of four more hostages, initially due to be handed over on Thursday, still to come.
There is now a standoff over the release of more than 600 Palestinians, which Israel has delayed, accusing Hamas of breaching the agreement by making a public show of the handover of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Hamas official Basem Naim said progress could not be made while the prisoners were still being held but that Hamas was committed to a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Haskel said she hoped a solution would be found to secure the handover of the final four in the next few days.
WITKOFF DUE IN ISRAEL
Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy, is expected in Israel on Wednesday to continue discussions on the second stage, opening the way to a final end to the war in Gaza.
Negotiations over the second phase, intended to secure the release of the remaining hostages and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, had been meant to start this month, 16 days after the start of the truce.
Qatar’s prime minister flew to Florida on Feb. 6 and met Witkoff to discuss the “full implementation” of phase one and “to kick-start negotiations for the second phase,” according to an official briefed on the talks.
But officials in the ceasefire process say that so far none of the principal negotiators have met face to face since the first phase was agreed last month and there is little clarity on options for the “day after.”
“This is the day after Gaza, after the war in Gaza and what’s going to happen there, and so we are continuing that channel with the Americans,” Haskel said.
The fighting in Gaza was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which Israel said about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken as hostages back to Gaza.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
Israel has said Hamas cannot have any role in the future running of Gaza and has rejected a role for the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas has said it will not necessarily demand that it remain in charge of the enclave, which it has governed since 2007, but that it must be consulted.
Arab states, which are likely to have to shoulder much of the financial burden of rebuilding devastated Gaza, have been struggling to come up with a proposal of their own but are expected to demand a role for the Palestinian Authority.
Uncertainty increased after Trump proposed moving all the Palestinians out of Gaza to make way for a US waterfront development project, a plan that was endorsed by the Israeli cabinet but rejected by Arab states and Palestinians.
The post Israel Looks to Extend Phase One of Gaza Truce as Long-Term Deal Proves Elusive first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Soccer Team Pays Tribute to Murdered Bibas Family With Special Orange Jerseys
A special jersey created by Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. to honor Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas. Photo: Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C./Instagram
The professional Israeli soccer team Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv FC honored the late Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, who were murdered by Hamas terrorists, by wearing special orange jerseys that featured their images during Monday night’s game
On the front of the bright orange jerseys was a drawing of Shiri, 32, hugging her two red-headed sons. All three family members were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, held captive in the Gaza Strip, and then brutally murdered. Their names were written in Hebrew underneath the drawing on the jersey, which also had a Hebrew message on the front that said: “We will not forget, and we will not forgive.” Three black hearts appeared under the image of Shiri and her boys.
Additionally on the jersey was a special logo that Bnei Yehuda created for Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, who was also kidnapped and survived Hamas captivity.
The team’s traditional logo is orange and features a standing lion that has one paw on a soccer ball and another paw holding a Star of David. In honor of the Bibas family, the team added to the lion’s chest an image of a ribbon that symbolizes a call for the return of all the hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Above the lion there was a message in English that read “We Will Never Forget,” and below the animal it read, “Bibas Family.”
“Bnei Yehuda is the orange group of Israel,” the team said in an Instagram post. “Our color symbolizes community, commitment, and family, and when the whole world was exposed to Ariel and Kfir’s ginger hair, the connection was instantaneous. Tonight, the color orange takes on an even deeper meaning — not only our identity, but also our way of remembering, honoring, and perpetuating.”
The club also announced that it will rename two teams in its youth department to further honor the Bibas children. The teams will be called “Bnei Yehuda — Kfir Bibs Tel-Aviv” and “Bnei Yehuda — Ariel Bibs Tel-Aviv.”
The team said, “As a club with a huge soul and heart, we decided to perpetuate the name of Ariel and Kfir in a way that will stay for generations.”
Eliran Oved, the manager of Bnei Yehuda, said the bright orange color of the jerseys “will always remind us to remember, not forget, and continue to embrace our community with genuine love.”
Bnei Yehuda players wore the special jerseys during Monday night’s game against Hapoel Ramat Hasharon. Bnei Yehuda won the game 2-0 and dedicated the victory to the Bibas family. Yarden Bibas later thanked the team for honoring his late wife and children with the special jerseys, saying it gave him “goosebumps” to see.
Ariel was 4 and Kfir was 10 months old when they were murdered in November 2023 during Hamas captivity, according to the Israel Defense Forces. They were held hostage in Gaza for 503 days, and their bodies were returned to Israel last week on Thursday. Hamas claimed they returned Shiri’s dead body that same day, but after the body’s return to Israel, forensic examination showed that it did not belong to her. Hamas turned over her real body to Israel on Saturday.
Forensics examination of Kfir and Ariel’s bodies revealed that Hamas terrorists killed the brothers “with their bare hands,” said IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. “Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood,” Hagari explained. “The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”
Abducted when he was 9 months old, Kfir was the youngest hostage kidnapped by terrorists from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the youngest to have been killed. Shiri’s parents, Margit and Yosi, were also murdered by Hamas during their deadly rampage across southern Israel. Three generations were murdered by Hamas terrorists that day, as well as the Bibas family dog. Yarden was kidnapped but released by Hamas on Feb. 1 as part of a ceasefire agreement between the terrorist group and Israel. Sixty-three hostages are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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