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Reuters Uses Coverage of Gaza Ceasefire Deal to Reframe the Israel-Hamas War

Families and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, gather to demand a deal that will bring back all the hostages held in Gaza, outside a meeting between hostage representatives and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, January 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

News coverage is often described as “the first draft of history.” And in the case of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, nothing is more true.

As media outlets rushed to summarize the conflict — some successfully and some appallingly — Reuters excelled in the latter category.

The news agency used the Gaza ceasefire deal as an excuse to reframe the entire narrative of the Israel-Hamas war in a way that subtly justified the existence and actions of Hamas — an internationally-designated terror group.

Reuters’ goal was achieved by using biased terminology and one-sided background paragraphs.

And it should come as no surprise given the agency’s Gaza reporters have been exposed by HonestReporting for their cozy relations with Hamas.

Biased Terminology

First, Reuters used the word “detainees” to describe the Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been jailed for years over terror offenses and violence:

Such wording whitewashes the perpetrators of horrific murders and minimizes their crimes. And the fact that this wording is usually used to describe political detainees further contributes to this distortion.

The word “detainees” also hides the fact that, under Israeli law, they are still guaranteed conditions that do not harm their health or dignity — rights that hostages in Hamas captivity have been deprived of.

But that’s only one strategy used by Reuters to subtly shill for terrorists.

One-Sided Information

The second strategy is the sneaky one-sided editing of background paragraphs or sentences, usually referred to as “boilerplates.”

These have an almost “holy” status in news agency reporting on contested issues. They set the narrative and therefore need to be carefully phrased to include the most balanced background information from all sides.

Yet Reuters’ initial story on the Gaza ceasefire deal included the following summary of the war, which clearly didn’t take into account the Israeli victims:

Even more disturbing is the fact that an editor apparently noticed the flaw, because the phrasing was later changed to: “15 months of bloodshed that devastated the Palestinian enclave” instead of “15 months of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.” But it still sounds like some lives are more equal than others to Reuters.

Another example is the biased editing of a background paragraph that set the narrative about what triggered the war — the October 7 massacre.

What has always been described as a breach of the Israel-Gaza border was subtly changed to the breaking of “security barriers,” and the word “border” was removed — creating the impression that the terrorists may have acted legitimately.

This was done in a story about Gaza celebrations by the agency’s veteran Gaza reporter, Nidal al-Mughrabi (who is currently based in Cairo).

But the main Reuters report about the ceasefire agreement, by additional non-Gazan reporters and a larger crew of editors, includes a more accurate boilerplate, with the words “border-area communities”:

This appears to prove the bias of the reporter/editor who quietly deleted the word “border” in the first case. But the paragraph in its entirety is still flawed because it leads with Israel’s “invasion” and not with Hamas atrocities, and also makes the 1,200 victims of October 7 look like they were mostly soldiers.

Cozy with Hamas

Sadly, all of this makes sense because prominent Reuters staffers in Gaza, including al-Mughrabi, have had unethical ties with Hamas for quite some time. So they would not want to publish anything that might risk this relationship.

But these tainted ties, exposed by HonestReporting last September, ring louder now: Our exposure unveiled how al-Mughrabi and his colleagues attended a Hamas event for journalists in 2017, where awards were given by none other than Khalil Al-Hayya — current Hamas leader who promised another October 7 after the ceasefire deal was signed:

Reuters’ Nidal al-Mughrabi (circled) sitting with colleagues behind Hamas’ Khalil Al-Hayya, at a 2017 Hamas event in Gaza.

Reuters’ Mohammed Jadallah Salem receiving an award from Hamas’ Khalil Al-Hayya, at a 2017 Hamas event in Gaza.

In other words, Reuters’ reframing of the narrative cannot be fixed without some serious reshuffling of their compromised Gaza team.

But that won’t happen if the agency wants access to figures like Al-Hayya.

Thus, a vicious circle is created– from the tainted Gaza team to newsroom editors who defer to a distorted narrative that excuses the terrorists out of fear or bias.

The misleading terminology and one-sidedness, particularly in huge stories like the Gaza ceasefire deal, are the subtle tools by which this circle is kept intact so that the first draft of history serves the “right” side.

HonestReporting is a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Reuters Uses Coverage of Gaza Ceasefire Deal to Reframe the Israel-Hamas War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump Says Iran Must Give Up Dream of Nuclear Weapon or Face Harsh Response

Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

President Donald Trump said on Monday he believes Iran is intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the United States and that it must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face a possible military strike on Tehran’s atomic facilities.

“I think they’re tapping us along,” Trump told reporters after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met in Oman on Saturday with a senior Iranian official.

Both Iran and the United States said on Saturday that they held “positive” and “constructive” talks in Oman. A second round is scheduled for Saturday, and a source briefed on the planning said the meeting was likely to be held in Rome.

The source, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the discussions are aimed at exploring what is possible, including a broad framework of what a potential deal would look like.

“Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

Asked if US options for a response include a military strike on Tehran’s nuclear facilities, Trump said: “Of course it does.”

Trump said the Iranians need to move fast to avoid a harsh response because “they’re fairly close” to developing a nuclear weapon.

The US and Iran held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden’s term but they made little, if any progress. The last known direct negotiations between the two governments were under then-President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 international nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned.

The post Trump Says Iran Must Give Up Dream of Nuclear Weapon or Face Harsh Response first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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No Breakthrough in Gaza Talks, Egyptian and Palestinian Sources Say

Families and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas gather to demand a deal that will bring back all the hostages held in Gaza, outside a meeting between hostage representatives and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The latest round of talks in Cairo to restore the defunct Gaza ceasefire and free Israeli hostages ended with no apparent breakthrough, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said on Monday.

The sources said Hamas had stuck to its position that any agreement must lead to an end to the war in Gaza.

Israel, which restarted its military campaign in Gaza last month after a ceasefire agreed in January unraveled, has said it will not end the war until Hamas is stamped out. The terrorist group has ruled out any proposal that it lay down its arms.

But despite that fundamental disagreement, the sources said a Hamas delegation led by the group’s Gaza Chief Khalil Al-Hayya had shown some flexibility over how many hostages it could free in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel should a truce be extended.

An Egyptian source told Reuters the latest proposal to extend the truce would see Hamas free an increased number of hostages. Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, told Army Radio on Monday that Israel was seeking the release of around 10 hostages, raised from previous Hamas consent to free five.

Hamas has asked for more time to respond to the latest proposal, the Egyptian source said.

“Hamas has no problem, but it wants guarantees Israel agrees to begin the talks on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement” leading to an end to the war, the Egyptian source said.

AIRSTRIKES

Hamas terrorists freed 33 Israeli hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees during the six-week first phase of the ceasefire which began in January. But the second phase, which was meant to begin at the start of March and lead to the end of the war, was never launched.

Meanwhile, 59 Israeli hostages remain in the hands of the terrorists. Israel believes up to 24 of them are alive.

Palestinians say the wave of Israeli attacks since the collapse of the ceasefire has been among the deadliest and most intense of the war, hitting an exhausted population surviving in the enclave’s ruins.

In Jabalia, a community on Gaza’s northern edge, rescue workers in orange vests were trying to smash through concrete with a sledgehammer to recover bodies buried underneath a building that collapsed in an Israeli strike.

Feet and a hand of one person could be seen under a concrete slab. Men carried a body wrapped in a blanket. Workers at the scene said as many as 25 people had been killed.

The Israeli military said it had struck there against terrorists planning an ambush.

In Khan Younis in the south, a camp of makeshift tents had been shredded into piles of debris by an airstrike. Families had returned to poke through the rubbish in search of belongings.

“We used to live in houses. They were destroyed. Now, our tents have been destroyed too. We don’t know where to stay,” said Ismail al-Raqab, who returned to the area after his family fled the raid before dawn.

EGYPT’S SISI MEETS QATARI EMIR

The leaders of the two Arab countries that have led the ceasefire mediation efforts, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, met in Doha on Sunday. The Egyptian source said Sisi had called for additional international guarantees for a truce agreement, beyond those provided by Egypt and Qatar themselves.

US President Donald Trump, who has backed Israel’s decision to resume its campaign and called for the Palestinian population of Gaza to leave the territory, said last week that progress was being made in returning the hostages.

The post No Breakthrough in Gaza Talks, Egyptian and Palestinian Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Iranian Foreign Minister to Visit Moscow Ahead of Second Iran-US Meeting

FILE PHOTO: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks as he meets with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Baghdad, Iraq October 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Saad/File Photo

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will visit Russia this week ahead of a planned second round of talks between Tehran and Washington aimed at resolving Iran’s decades-long nuclear stand-off with the West.

Araqchi and US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held talks in Oman on Saturday, during which Omani envoy Badr al-Busaidi shuttled between the two delegations sitting in different rooms at his palace in Muscat.

Both sides described the talks in Oman as “positive,” although a senior Iranian official told Reuters the meeting “was only aimed at setting the terms of possible future negotiations.”

Italian news agency ANSA reported that Italy had agreed to host the talks’ second round, and Iraq’s state news agency said Araqchi told his Iraqi counterpart that talks would be held “soon” in the Italian capital under Omani mediation.

Tehran has approached the talks warily, doubting the likelihood of an agreement and suspicious of Trump, who has threatened to bomb Iran if there is no deal.

Washington aims to halt Tehran’s sensitive uranium enrichment work – regarded by the United States, Israel and European powers as a path to nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is solely for civilian energy production.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Araqchi will “discuss the latest developments related to the Muscat talks” with Russian officials.

Moscow, a party to Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact, has supported Tehran’s right to have a civilian nuclear program.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on vital state matters, distrusts the United States, and Trump in particular.

But Khamenei has been forced to engage with Washington in search of a nuclear deal due to fears that public anger at home over economic hardship could erupt into mass protests and endanger the existence of the clerical establishment, four Iranian officials told Reuters in March.

Tehran’s concerns were exacerbated by Trump’s speedy revival of his “maximum pressure” campaign when he returned to the White House in January.

During his first term, Trump ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic regime.

Since 2019, Iran has far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on uranium enrichment, producing stocks at a high level of fissile purity, well above what Western powers say is justifiable for a civilian energy program and close to that required for nuclear warheads.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has raised the alarm regarding Iran’s growing stock of 60% enriched uranium, and reported no real progress on resolving long-running issues, including the unexplained presence of uranium traces at undeclared sites.

IAEA head Rafael Grossi will visit Tehran on Wednesday, Iranian media reported, in an attempt to narrow gaps between Tehran and the agency over unresolved issues.

“Continued engagement and cooperation with the agency is essential at a time when diplomatic solutions are urgently needed,” Grossi said on X on Monday.

The post Iranian Foreign Minister to Visit Moscow Ahead of Second Iran-US Meeting first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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