"At least 31 Palestinians killed after Israeli forces open fire near Gaza aid distribution center, Palestinian officials say" screamed the tickers on CNN, and with minor variations, on BBC, Sky News, and most world media on Sunday.
The headlines folded into stories of a 'massacre' at one of the aid distribution sites opened by The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Of course, any discerning reader would know that "Palestinian officials," "Palestinian Ministry of Health" – or any of the other euphemisms that the international media uses, like the Gaza Health Ministry, local officials in Gaza, or our favorite - Gaza’s Civil Defense - is doublespeak for… Hamas.
That’s the same Hamas that perpetrated the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, on October 7, 2023, that precipitated the current hostage crisis and the ongoing war in Gaza aimed at ending the rule of the barbaric terror organization in Gaza.
The response of the GHF, the organization that has distributed close to six million meals in its first week of operation to hungry Gazans, appeared far below the headline and the claim.
“There was no gunfire in the (distribution) center and also not in the surrounding area” and “All aid was distributed today without incident. We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated,” were deemed to be less credible than the claims of Hamas.
Media irresponsibility causes rise in antisemitism
Only some 12 hours after the reports on international media with the blaring, unsubstantiated headlines about the Israeli atrocities, the IDF Spokesman’s Office released the official Israeli side of what happened.
That’s half a day, or an eternity in the steroid-powered media frenzy that typifies most media organizations' lust for headlines. The damage had been done.
The combination of once respected organizations like CNN, NBC, and the BBC taking what Hamas says at face value, and Israel’s inability to relay the truth in real time creates a recipe in which Israel is demonized again and again.
The media’s irresponsibility in taking the word of a terror organization in order to create a sensational headline and boost their online clicks isn’t just unprofessional, it’s dangerous.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee tied the inaccurate stories and ones like it that have regularly appeared since the IDF invasion of Gaza to the rise in antisemitism.
Referring to last month’s deadly shooting of two Israelis in Washington DC and to Sunday’s firebombing of a pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado – both accented with calls to "Free Palestine" – Huckabee attacked the “reckless and irresponsible reporting” by CNN, as well as the New York Times and AP, about Israel’s blame for the Gaza aid shooting.
“These reports were FALSE,” Huckabee wrote, saying that the only source of the stories was “Hamas and its collaborators.”
This blind, one-sidedness, made no easier by the IDF’s delay in presenting the facts, throws shadows when an incident actually occurs in which Israel may be culpable.
On Tuesday, the IDF acknowledged that it shot at several suspects who advanced towards troops about half a kilometer from a GHF aid distribution site, after initially firing warning shots on Tuesday, the military said. The suspects were seen deviating from the designated access routes at the site, according to the IDF, and it was looking into reports of casualties. The IDF noted that the shooting occurred about half a kilometer from the aid center.
The response came much more quickly than the Sunday incident, showing that the IDF is aware that delays in responding are damaging.
War is conducted in a fog, and the truth can be murky. However, the world media’s tendency to assume that Israel is responsible for any atrocity that Hamas attributes to it is indicative of the coverage of the Gaza war in general. Most stories about destruction in Gaza now rarely even mention the 58 hostages being held by Hamas, let alone the October 7 attack. And when they do, it’s like a footnote that is totally disconnected from the Israeli ‘aggression’ that’s the main focus of the vast majority of stories.
The blood libel conducted against Israel over the weekend regarding the aid center shooting is bound to have far-reaching repercussions, some of which will be felt in the US, Europe, and anywhere that Jews stand proudly for Israel.