HonestReporting
type: channel
description: Exposing anti-Israel media bias
date: 2026-06-09T12:53:43Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
generator agent: https://wordpress.org/
items: Anonymous Sources, Viral Claims: How Weak Reporting Fueled a Narrative About Israeli Espionage
items: Why Writing for HonestReporting Strengthened My Case for Aliyah
items: How Hezbollah Pushed Israel and Iran Back to the Brink of War
items: From the Gulf to Israel: The Iranian Regime’s Campaign of Regional Aggression
items: “Near the West Bank”? How the Media Framed a Terror Attack
items: CNN’s Troubling Pattern: Access, Terrorists, and Anti-Israel Narratives
items: ▶ The Emoji Guide to Modern Antisemitism
items: How Drop Site News Sanitizes Hamas and Hezbollah for Western Audiences
items: Gaza Flotilla: The Global Outrage That Stopped at Libya’s Border
items: Why Are Hezbollah’s Casualties Being Ignored by the Media?
items: ▶ Israel Isn’t at War With Lebanon. It’s at War With Hezbollah.
items: ▶ How Qatar Bought a Seat in America’s Classrooms
items: If It’s Genocide, Why Can It Wait Until 2029?
items: Breaking the Silence: The Media’s Go-To Source for Unverified Allegations Against the IDF
items: How a Terror Attack Photo Became an Iranian Assassination Plot
items: ▶ Drake’s “Free Palestine” Lyric Says More About Celebrity Clout Than Gaza
items: Candace and Ana: When the Horseshoe Comes Full Circle on The Jews
items: How the Gaza Photo Factory Turned Eid Into Another PR Stunt

Anonymous Sources, Viral Claims: How Weak Reporting Fueled a Narrative About Israeli Espionage
type: item
creator: Chaim Lax
date: 2026-06-09T12:53:43Z
subject: Featured
subject: News Critiques
subject: Speech
subject: espionage
subject: Iran
subject: NBC News
subject: New York Times
subject: United States
description: Key Takeaways: Both NBC News and The New York Times broke a story that the Pentagon has raised the threat of Israeli espionage due to an alleged ramp-up in Israeli efforts to spy on senior Trump administration officials. Both stories were based on allegations from unnamed officials and purported reports that the outlets did not […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: Both NBC News and The New York Times broke a story that the Pentagon has raised the threat of Israeli espionage due to an alleged ramp-up in Israeli efforts to spy on senior Trump administration officials. Both stories were based on allegations from unnamed officials and purported reports that the outlets did not verify before publishing their “exclusive” stories. This is the latest example of how a weak story with credibility issues becomes legitimized by mainstream media outlets and then spread as a factual narrative throughout social media. One of the most viral Israel-related stories to emerge over the weekend was a claim spread by NBC News and amplified by The New York Times: that Israel has intensified efforts to spy on senior Trump administration officials, particularly those involved in negotiations with Iran, and that concerns about Israeli espionage have been elevated within the U.S. Defense Department. The story quickly spread from mainstream media into social media, where the usual cohort of anti-Israel accounts seized upon it as confirmation of long-held accusations about Israeli misconduct and duplicity. The claim was circulated by figures across the American political spectrum, including Republican Representative Thomas Massie, AIPAC Tracker, conspiracy theorist Max Blumenthal, former Trump administration official Joe Kent, and anti-Zionist agitator Shaiel Ben-Ephraim. But behind the headlines and salacious narrative, is there any evidence to actually support these allegations? Depending on how one assesses the reporting, the story may amount to little more than unverified claims that have been spun into a major controversy for views. Israel targeting senior U.S. officials cannot be accepted by our government. This is not standard practice, especially considering the fact that Israel survives on our defense funding & diplomatic top cover. Until we actually take away the support we give Israel they will… https://t.co/xaXW9ruK5x pic.twitt…

Why Writing for HonestReporting Strengthened My Case for Aliyah
type: item
creator: Ben M. Freeman
date: 2026-06-08T14:32:17Z
subject: Featured
subject: Speech
subject: aliyah
subject: Indigeneity
subject: Jews
subject: Judaism
description: Key Takeaways: Most misunderstandings about Israel begin with misunderstandings about the Jewish people, their history, and their indigenous connection to the Land of Israel. My work with HonestReporting reinforced a conclusion I had already reached through years of studying Jewish identity: Jews are a people, not a religious community. Making Aliyah is not a departure […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: Most misunderstandings about Israel begin with misunderstandings about the Jewish people, their history, and their indigenous connection to the Land of Israel. My work with HonestReporting reinforced a conclusion I had already reached through years of studying Jewish identity: Jews are a people, not a religious community. Making Aliyah is not a departure from my work. It is the continuation of a journey rooted in Jewish peoplehood, Jewish self-determination, and the belief that the Jewish people have a homeland. After living in Britain for most of my life, I am making Aliyah and moving to Israel. For many years, my work has focused on Jewish identity, Jewish peoplehood, and Jewish indigeneity. Since last year, I have also written for HonestReporting, analyzing headlines, examining news reports, and challenging inaccurate or distorted coverage of Israel. On the surface, that work is about journalism. In reality, it is about something much deeper. The Story Beneath the Headlines By the time I began writing for HonestReporting, I had already spent years exploring questions of Jewish identity, Jewish peoplehood, and Jewish indigeneity. Through writing and researching Jewish identity, I had become increasingly convinced that one of the challenges facing Jews stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of who we are. My work at HonestReporting reinforced this. Again and again, I encountered coverage that treated Israel as though it existed in a historical vacuum. Zionism was frequently discussed without reference to the Jewish people from whom it emerged. Israel was portrayed as an inexplicable anomaly: a colonial project, a foreign implant, a state whose existence required constant justification. The deeper I looked, the more I realized that many debates about Israel were not really about borders, governments, or policies. They were debates about who Jews are. At HonestReporting, we often focus on correcting factual errors. We challenge misleading headlines,…

How Hezbollah Pushed Israel and Iran Back to the Brink of War
type: item
creator: Chaim Lax
date: 2026-06-08T14:11:58Z
subject: Featured
subject: In Focus
subject: Speech
subject: Hezbollah
subject: Iran
subject: Lebanon
description: Key Takeaways: The latest eruption of clashes between Israel and Iran did not suddenly arise out of the blue – they are a direct result of Hezbollah’s continued belligerence and ceasefire violations. Since October 8, 2023, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in multiple rounds of fighting and ceasefires. Even during the ceasefires, Hezbollah continued to […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: The latest eruption of clashes between Israel and Iran did not suddenly arise out of the blue – they are a direct result of Hezbollah’s continued belligerence and ceasefire violations. Since October 8, 2023, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in multiple rounds of fighting and ceasefires. Even during the ceasefires, Hezbollah continued to violate them, attack Israeli forces and civilians, and test the boundaries of Israel’s response to the terror group’s intransigence. While Hezbollah and Iran may claim that they are defending the Lebanese people, it is clear that their anti-Israel attacks are for their own benefit and not for the benefit for the people of Lebanon. Over the past 24 hours, the Islamic Republic of Iran has fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel for the first time since a fragile ceasefire between the United States, Israel, and Iran came into effect on April 8, 2026. In response, Israel has carried out strikes on strategic targets inside Iran. As of this writing, it remains unclear whether the latest violence will develop into a broader regional war or whether tensions will once again subside. To understand how Israel and Iran arrived at this point, however, it is necessary to look beyond Tehran and Jerusalem. The immediate catalyst for the current escalation can be found in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah spent months violating ceasefire agreements, rebuilding its military infrastructure, and ultimately reigniting its war against Israel. While media coverage often portrays the current crisis as a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran, Hezbollah’s actions played a critical role in setting the stage for the latest round of fighting. 1/@AP has published a timeline tracking hostilities between Iran, Israel, and Lebanon. While the chronological sequence of events is accurate, the presentation heavily strips away crucial context, resulting in a skewed narrative of the conflict. pic.twitter.com/cvP2biC2Sm — HonestReporting (@Honest…

From the Gulf to Israel: The Iranian Regime’s Campaign of Regional Aggression
type: item
creator: Sharon Levy
date: 2026-06-08T12:48:08Z
subject: Featured
subject: News Critiques
subject: Speech
subject: Gulf States
subject: Hezbollah
subject: Iran
description: Key Takeaways: Over the past several days, the Iranian regime has fired missiles and drones at Gulf states. After Hezbollah broke the ceasefire with Israel, the IDF struck targets in Beirut. The Iranian regime then fired missiles toward Israel, claiming it was doing so in “defense” of Lebanon. The Iranian regime is only acting with […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: Over the past several days, the Iranian regime has fired missiles and drones at Gulf states. After Hezbollah broke the ceasefire with Israel, the IDF struck targets in Beirut. The Iranian regime then fired missiles toward Israel, claiming it was doing so in “defense” of Lebanon. The Iranian regime is only acting with its own interests in mind. It did not fire missiles to defend Lebanon, but rather to protect Hezbollah and continue the pursuit of its own interests, no matter what country it harms. On June 7, 2026, Iran once again fired ballistic missiles at Israel, claiming the attack was carried out “in defense” of Lebanon following Israeli strikes in Beirut. Almost immediately after the first missiles were launched, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi shared an image of the Iranian and Lebanese flags on social media, signaling that Tehran was portraying the attack as an act of solidarity with Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/8vpGXiayxz — Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) June 7, 2026 The Iranian Regime’s Recent Actions in the Gulf Yet even before launching missiles at Israel, Iran had already been escalating its military activity elsewhere in the Middle East. Since the beginning of June, the regime has intensified attacks across the Gulf region. On June 3, Kuwait International Airport was struck by Iranian missiles, killing one person and injuring several others. Days later, Iran launched another round of missiles toward both Kuwait and Bahrain. As of June 6, 2026, the Gulf Research Center reported more than 7,000 Iranian missile and drone attacks against Gulf states since the ceasefire took effect. According to the data, nearly 3,000 attacks targeted the UAE, more than 1,000 each targeted Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, while Bahrain faced more than 700 attacks. Iranian attacks on the GCC states and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the post-ceasefire phase (as of Jun 6, 2026): A total of 7,069 attacks, including missiles and drones, reflecting a clear e…

“Near the West Bank”? How the Media Framed a Terror Attack
type: item
creator: Simon Plosker
date: 2026-06-08T11:35:15Z
subject: Featured
subject: News Critiques
subject: Speech
subject: Associated Press (AP)
subject: CNN
subject: France 24
subject: Israeli Arabs
subject: Reuters
subject: Terrorism
description: Key Takeaways: Media reports downplayed terrorism and omitted key facts. Several outlets failed to identify the attack as terrorism or clearly state that an Israeli Arab targeted Jewish Israelis inside sovereign Israeli territory. Geography was used to frame the story. AP and other outlets highlighted the attack’s proximity to the West Bank, introducing context that […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: Media reports downplayed terrorism and omitted key facts. Several outlets failed to identify the attack as terrorism or clearly state that an Israeli Arab targeted Jewish Israelis inside sovereign Israeli territory. Geography was used to frame the story. AP and other outlets highlighted the attack’s proximity to the West Bank, introducing context that can imply the violence was connected to location rather than anti-Jewish terrorism. Coverage distorted the identity of the perpetrator. CNN and France 24 described the attacker as a “Palestinian citizen of Israel,” despite evidence that most Israeli Arabs do not primarily identify as Palestinian and despite the term’s broader political implications. One Israeli man was killed, and five others were wounded after an Israeli Arab carried out a shooting spree in central Israel on Sunday. International media coverage followed a familiar pattern: failing to clearly identify the attack as terrorism while omitting crucial details about both the perpetrator and the victims. But this latest attack also highlighted another troubling tendency in media coverage of violence against Israelis: the impulse to contextualize or even implicitly justify attacks based on geography. When Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria are victims of Palestinian terrorism, their murders are too often presented as an inevitable consequence of where they live. Even children and babies, who have no say in where they are born or raised, are frequently stripped of their civilian status. As HonestReporting has previously documented, the label “settler” is routinely used as a means of dehumanization. What made some of Sunday’s coverage particularly striking was that the attack took place well within sovereign Israeli territory. Two men in their 30s were shot at a gas station near Kochav Ya’ir. A 31-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman were shot at the entrance to Tzur Yitzhak. Two more men were wounded outside Tzur Natan, one of whom, 55-year-o…

CNN’s Troubling Pattern: Access, Terrorists, and Anti-Israel Narratives
type: item
creator: Sharon Levy
date: 2026-06-07T14:42:57Z
subject: Featured
subject: News Critiques
subject: Speech
subject: CNN
description: Key Takeaways: CNN repeatedly grants sympathetic platforms to terrorists and Iranian regime officials without meaningful scrutiny. This includes recent interviews with a Hezbollah operative and Mohsen Rezaei, the senior military advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. In both interviews, the CNN journalists did not question the statements provided by the interview subjects, raising concerns […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: CNN repeatedly grants sympathetic platforms to terrorists and Iranian regime officials without meaningful scrutiny. This includes recent interviews with a Hezbollah operative and Mohsen Rezaei, the senior military advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. In both interviews, the CNN journalists did not question the statements provided by the interview subjects, raising concerns about how access to Iran and Hezbollah-dominated areas are given and maintained. Together, these two pieces paint a broader picture of how CNN is prioritizing access over rigorous journalistic standards. Are two weeks of reporting filled with propaganda interviews with terrorists and agenda-driven narratives merely a coincidence? Or are they part of a larger – and far more problematic – pattern? Looking at CNN’s recent coverage raises precisely these questions. A Meet-And-Greet With Hezbollah “Elusive” is perhaps not the first adjective a rational and neutral news outlet would use to describe Hezbollah. Yet, that is exactly how a Hezbollah “fighter” is described by CNN’s Isobel Yeung in an exclusive interview published this past week. In the interview, Hezbollah is recast through the lens of a legitimate organization seeking to protect Lebanon from occupiers. Hezbollah’s standing as a terrorist organization and its role in destabilizing Lebanon as it drags the country into countless wars are not acknowledged in the interview. Nor are the civilians who have lost their lives because of the terrorist threats Hezbollah poses. 1/ This might be one of the most disturbing CNN segments on Hezbollah you’ll see this year. A Hezbollah terrorist is cast as an “elusive fighter” in a soft‑focus human‑interest profile – not as a member of a US‑designated terrorist organization. pic.twitter.com/P5RcbZTeCW — HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 5, 2026 Instead, Yeung focuses her questions on why her interview subject joined Hezbollah, how the death – or “martyrdom” as the terrorist…

▶ The Emoji Guide to Modern Antisemitism
type: item
creator: HonestReporting Staff
date: 2026-06-07T11:01:23Z
subject: Speech
subject: Videos
subject: Antisemitism
subject: Social Media
description: Antisemitism online does not always come in the form of slurs. Increasingly, it hides behind memes, coded language, and even emojis. What looks like a harmless symbol can carry a very different meaning in online communities that traffic in conspiracy theories and anti-Jewish hate. A juice box emoji, for example, is often used as a […]
encoded: Antisemitism online does not always come in the form of slurs. Increasingly, it hides behind memes, coded language, and even emojis. What looks like a harmless symbol can carry a very different meaning in online communities that traffic in conspiracy theories and anti-Jewish hate. A juice box emoji, for example, is often used as a stand-in for the word “Jews.” A nose emoji plays on antisemitic stereotypes that have existed for centuries. Other symbols reference historical slurs or even mock the Holocaust. The goal is not subtlety. It is plausibly deniable hate speech. By replacing words with symbols, users can spread antisemitic messages while avoiding moderation systems or accountability. Many people encountering these emojis have no idea what they mean. That ignorance is exactly what allows the code to spread. Once a symbol becomes recognizable within certain online communities, it can be deployed across social media platforms to target Jews, amplify conspiracy theories, and normalize antisemitism. The internet has given old prejudices new packaging. The language changes, the symbols evolve, but the underlying message remains the same. Recognizing these codes is an important first step in understanding how antisemitism adapts and survives in the digital age. Found this video interesting? Follow the HonestReporting page on Facebook to catch more videos, and read articles debunking news bias and smears, as well as others explaining Israel’s history, politics, and international affairs. Click here to learn more!

How Drop Site News Sanitizes Hamas and Hezbollah for Western Audiences
type: item
creator: Chaim Lax
date: 2026-06-04T14:08:07Z
subject: Featured
subject: News Critiques
subject: Speech
subject: Drop Site News
subject: Hamas
subject: Hezbollah
subject: Nika Soon-Shiong
description: Key Takeaways: Drop Site News has increasingly amplified Hezbollah propaganda, promoting the terror group’s narratives, military claims, and media content to a Western audience The outlet has a documented history of providing platforms to contributors linked to terrorist organizations and of legitimizing Hamas, Hezbollah, and other extremist groups. Despite its record of extremist advocacy, Drop […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: Drop Site News has increasingly amplified Hezbollah propaganda, promoting the terror group’s narratives, military claims, and media content to a Western audience The outlet has a documented history of providing platforms to contributors linked to terrorist organizations and of legitimizing Hamas, Hezbollah, and other extremist groups. Despite its record of extremist advocacy, Drop Site News has gained credibility among influential commentators and mainstream institutions, helping blur the line between journalism and propaganda. “Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem vows ‘third liberation’ of Lebanon, rejects disarmament as Israeli project.” “Hezbollah says it carried out 41 military operations on June 1 as fighting intensified across southern Lebanon and northern Israel.” “Israel, which has been getting hammered by daily Hezbollah FPV drone strikes on military sites and command centers, is lashing out by escalating attacks on Lebanese civilian areas.” While these might sound like dispatches from Hezbollah itself, they are actually excerpts from posts by Drop Site News, a popular “independent” media outlet that has increasingly adopted pro-Hezbollah rhetoric on social media for its nearly half a million followers since the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed terror organization reignited on March 2, 2026. Over the past several weeks alone, Drop Site News has repeatedly amplified Hezbollah’s messaging, celebrated its military operations, or framed the terror group’s campaign against Israel in sympathetic terms, even as the conflict continues to endanger both Lebanese and Israeli civilians. Examples include: Publishing an extensive summary of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem’s Resistance and Liberation Day speech attacking both Israel and the Lebanese state. Sharing a translation of Hezbollah’s daily report detailing attacks on Israeli forces and northern Israeli communities. Claiming that Israel is being “hammered” by Hezbollah and is responding b…

Gaza Flotilla: The Global Outrage That Stopped at Libya’s Border
type: item
creator: David Lange
date: 2026-06-04T13:24:41Z
subject: Featured
subject: Speech
subject: Gaza flotilla
subject: Libya
description: Key Takeaways: When Israel legally intercepted the flotilla, the press erupted with wall-to-wall coverage; when Libya violently crushed the land convoy, the global media went completely silent. Western capitals immediately summoned Israeli ambassadors to demand explanations, yet not a single country formally challenged Libya for assaulting participants and disappearing negotiators Flotilla organizers exposed their true […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: When Israel legally intercepted the flotilla, the press erupted with wall-to-wall coverage; when Libya violently crushed the land convoy, the global media went completely silent. Western capitals immediately summoned Israeli ambassadors to demand explanations, yet not a single country formally challenged Libya for assaulting participants and disappearing negotiators Flotilla organizers exposed their true agenda by downplaying Libya’s detentions when compared to Israel’s The anti-Israel world has spent months in hysterics over the treatment of participants in the various flotillas attempting to reach Gaza. When Israel intercepted participants attempting to breach its naval blockade, we were told this was a crime against humanity. Governments demanded explanations. Media outlets devoted endless coverage to fanciful allegations of mistreatment. Social media was flooded with claims that these “peaceful humanitarians with aid” had fallen victim to that patented “Israeli brutality.” Then something interesting, albeit predictable, happened. The activists encountered Libya, and suddenly everyone seemed a lot less interested. The Interception and Detention by Israel On May 18-19, Israeli naval forces intercepted a 54-vessel flotilla in international waters off Cyprus, enforcing Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza. From Israel’s perspective, the blockade serves a security function: preventing weapons and contraband from reaching Hamas and ensuring humanitarian aid flows through designated land crossings where materials can be inspected to prevent diversion. The ships were boarded, and all participants were swiftly taken to Israeli ports. From there, they were processed through formal military and state immigration channels, placed into detention centers, and systematically deported from the country within 2-3 days. The Detention in Libya While the Israeli detention was unfolding, a complementary mission was underway by land. The Global Sumud Land Convoy had launche…

Why Are Hezbollah’s Casualties Being Ignored by the Media?
type: item
creator: Sharon Levy
date: 2026-06-04T12:03:42Z
subject: Featured
subject: News Critiques
subject: Speech
subject: casualty figures
subject: Hezbollah
description: Key Takeaways: In international reporting, casualty numbers from Lebanon rarely break down the civilian to combatant deaths. The IDF has targeted 2,500 Hezbollah terrorists, making the civilian-to-combatant ratio roughly 1:3, an incredibly low ratio for modern and urban warfare. By omitting Hezbollah’s casualties in their reports, the media misrepresents the war in Lebanon, as Israel […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: In international reporting, casualty numbers from Lebanon rarely break down the civilian to combatant deaths. The IDF has targeted 2,500 Hezbollah terrorists, making the civilian-to-combatant ratio roughly 1:3, an incredibly low ratio for modern and urban warfare. By omitting Hezbollah’s casualties in their reports, the media misrepresents the war in Lebanon, as Israel is portrayed as intentionally targeting civilians. Throughout the Israel-Hamas war, the media consistently relied on the Hamas-run Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza to provide casualty figures, frequently taking its claims at face value without examining their reliability. This was especially problematic because the MoH deliberately refused to distinguish between combatants and civilians. The reason was clear: By collapsing civilians and terrorists into a single casualty count, Hamas could maximize international sympathy while advancing the narrative that Israel was deliberately targeting innocent civilians. A similar pattern is now emerging in Lebanon. Since March 2, 2026, after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel and joined the Iranian regime’s attack on the Jewish state, the IDF has conducted extensive operations aimed at removing the terrorist threat along Israel’s northern border and beyond. Yet when casualty figures appear in major international media outlets, the numbers are typically reported as a single undifferentiated total. As in Gaza, Hezbollah operatives are rarely separated from civilians. The IDF recently revealed that it has targeted 2,500 Hezbollah operatives since the war resumed in March. This is in addition to the 7,000–8,000 Hezbollah terrorists reportedly killed since October 8, 2023. According to the IDF, these losses amount to roughly one-third of Hezbollah’s pre-war fighting force. Meanwhile, as of June 1, 2026, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported approximately 3,300 total fatalities. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-399121 size-full" src=…

▶ Israel Isn’t at War With Lebanon. It’s at War With Hezbollah.
type: item
creator: HonestReporting Staff
date: 2026-06-04T08:20:40Z
subject: Speech
subject: Videos
subject: Hezbollah
subject: Lebanon
description: When headlines describe the fighting on Israel’s northern border as a war between Israel and Lebanon, they leave out the most important detail: Israel is not fighting the Lebanese people. It is fighting Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization that has spent years building a military force inside Lebanon that rivals or exceeds the power of […]
encoded: When headlines describe the fighting on Israel’s northern border as a war between Israel and Lebanon, they leave out the most important detail: Israel is not fighting the Lebanese people. It is fighting Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization that has spent years building a military force inside Lebanon that rivals or exceeds the power of the Lebanese state itself. Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah has launched rockets, drones, mortars, and anti-tank missiles at northern Israel. The attacks have killed Israeli soldiers, damaged homes, and forced roughly 60,000 civilians to evacuate communities near the border. For many Israelis in the north, daily life has been replaced by sirens, shelters, and uncertainty. Families have been displaced for months. Children have grown up far from their homes and schools because Hezbollah chose to open a second front against Israel after October 7. At the same time, Hezbollah continues to operate from within Lebanon, embedding military infrastructure among civilian areas and using the country as a base for Iran’s regional agenda. The group’s actions have placed both Israelis and Lebanese civilians at risk. The conflict is often framed as a dispute between two countries. In reality, it is a fight against a heavily armed terrorist organization that has turned southern Lebanon into a launchpad for attacks on Israel. That distinction matters. Because when Hezbollah fires at Israeli communities, it is not only endangering Israelis. It is also dragging Lebanon deeper into a war that many ordinary Lebanese never chose. Found this video interesting? Follow the HonestReporting page on Facebook to catch more videos, and read articles debunking news bias and smears, as well as others explaining Israel’s history, politics, and international affairs. Click here to learn more!

▶ How Qatar Bought a Seat in America’s Classrooms
type: item
creator: HonestReporting Staff
date: 2026-06-03T12:27:45Z
subject: Featured
subject: Speech
subject: Antisemitism
subject: Qatar
subject: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)
subject: Terrorism
subject: United States
description: Key Takeaways Qatar has funneled an estimated $100 billion in undocumented money into American universities, and campuses that accepted funds experienced up to 300% more antisemitic incidents than those that did not. ISGAP has documented Qatari funding of K–12 curricula used in over 8,000 American schools — materials that erase Israel from the map and strip […]
encoded: Key Takeaways Qatar has funneled an estimated $100 billion in undocumented money into American universities, and campuses that accepted funds experienced up to 300% more antisemitic incidents than those that did not. ISGAP has documented Qatari funding of K–12 curricula used in over 8,000 American schools — materials that erase Israel from the map and strip Jewish and Christian history from the Middle East. ISGAP’s research was instrumental in the U.S. government’s designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization — a move with international ramifications for how Western countries treat Brotherhood-linked institutions and funding. When Elie Wiesel helped found the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) in 2003, he told his colleagues they were not living in a time of great urgency. They were living in a time of great emergency. That was 23 years ago: before October 7th, before the campus encampments; before the new mayor of New York City was a college student at Bowdoin, founding a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. Wiesel saw it coming because he had seen it before. What Dr. Charles Asher Small has spent the last two decades proving is that the emergency did not arrive by accident. It was paid for. The Late Night That Started Everything In 2012, Dr. Small was pulling an all-nighter at Stanford, wired after finally finishing a long-overdue book manuscript. Unable to sleep, he was aimlessly browsing the internet when he stumbled across an email from a vice president at Yale University. The administrator’s tone struck him as antisemitic. He Googled him. What he found was a thread that, once pulled, never stopped unraveling. The Yale official had worked for a pharmaceutical company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. That company was owned by the Ben Mahfouz family. President Clinton had ordered a military strike on one of their chemical factories in Sudan for supplying weapons to terrorists. From there, Small traced a net…

If It’s Genocide, Why Can It Wait Until 2029?
type: item
creator: Ben M. Freeman
date: 2026-06-02T14:44:41Z
subject: Featured
subject: Speech
subject: genocide
subject: International Court of Justice
subject: South Africa
description: Key Takeaways: The genocide accusation against Israel remains an allegation, not a fact. Despite years of confident assertions from activists, politicians, and media outlets, no court has concluded that Israel is committing genocide. South Africa’s request for an 18-month extension undermines claims of urgency. If genocide is the most immediate and grave crime in international […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: The genocide accusation against Israel remains an allegation, not a fact. Despite years of confident assertions from activists, politicians, and media outlets, no court has concluded that Israel is committing genocide. South Africa’s request for an 18-month extension undermines claims of urgency. If genocide is the most immediate and grave crime in international law, the willingness to delay proceedings for years raises obvious questions about the strength of the case. The evidence points away from genocidal intent. Israel’s efforts to warn civilians, establish evacuation routes, and facilitate humanitarian corridors are difficult to reconcile with the claim that it is seeking to destroy the Palestinian people. The Contradiction of Urgency Genocide is humanity’s worst crime. The word evokes some of history’s darkest chapters: the Holocaust, Rwanda, Cambodia, and Srebrenica. It describes not only mass death, but the deliberate attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Because of the enormity of the crime, accusations of genocide have traditionally carried extraordinary weight. If a genocide is taking place, urgency is not optional. Every day matters. That is why the latest development in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel is so revealing. In seeking a lengthy extension to submit its reply, South Africa has unintentionally clarified what it tried to obscure. If it truly believed Israel was committing genocide, delay would be intolerable. Yet the state that has spent two years insisting a genocide is underway has now agreed to a timetable that could push further proceedings well into the next decade. The message is difficult to ignore: There is no emergency because there is no genocide. South Africa’s baseless “genocide” case at the ICJ is collapsing. South Africa has requested an extraordinary 18-month (!) extension to submit its arguments. The written submissions will not end before 2029. All the claims of “urgency” ha…

Breaking the Silence: The Media’s Go-To Source for Unverified Allegations Against the IDF
type: item
creator: Sharon Levy
date: 2026-06-02T12:16:30Z
subject: Featured
subject: In Focus
subject: News Critiques
subject: Speech
subject: Breaking the Silence
subject: IDF
description: Key Takeaways: Breaking the Silence is frequently cited in the international media for its soldiers’ testimonies claiming intentional misconduct in the IDF. The media presents Breaking the Silence as a neutral, non-profit organization, omitting that it has an explicit anti-Israel agenda and has a history of false, misleading, or unverifiable testimonies. The result is an […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: Breaking the Silence is frequently cited in the international media for its soldiers’ testimonies claiming intentional misconduct in the IDF. The media presents Breaking the Silence as a neutral, non-profit organization, omitting that it has an explicit anti-Israel agenda and has a history of false, misleading, or unverifiable testimonies. The result is an inaccurate picture of the IDF and the wars it fights. Because of the dramatic nature of the testimonies provided by Breaking the Silence, the media is quick to highlight them without additional verification, creating the impression that anonymous claims constitute facts. Throughout Israel’s history, IDF soldiers have worked to defend the country against those seeking its destruction. The terrorist organizations Israel faces today not only openly declare their intent to eliminate the Jewish state, but have repeatedly embedded themselves within civilian infrastructure and committed war crimes in pursuit of that goal. The IDF, operating under a strict code of ethics and operational guidelines, is tasked with preventing atrocities such as the October 7 massacre from happening again. Yet some Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work to undermine public confidence in the military by portraying soldiers as participants in immoral and systematic misconduct. Among the most prominent is Breaking the Silence, which describes itself as an organization of former soldiers seeking to “expose the public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories.” In practice, Breaking the Silence has become a conduit for allegations against Israeli soldiers and military policy, relying heavily on anonymous testimonies and broad claims that are often impossible to independently verify. The organization’s influence on international media coverage is significant. From June 2025 through May 2026, HonestReporting.ai Labs found that Breaking the Silence or soldiers affiliated with the group were quoted 27 time…

How a Terror Attack Photo Became an Iranian Assassination Plot
type: item
creator: David Katz
date: 2026-06-02T09:59:27Z
subject: Featured
subject: Photo Bias
subject: Ethan Levins
subject: photo bias
subject: Terrorism
description: Key Takeaways: A photograph from the May 31 terror attack at Gush Etzion Junction was repurposed online to support a false claim about an assassination in Beersheba. The same image appeared in reporting by veteran Israeli journalist Amit Segal and later in posts by anti-Israel social media influencer Ethan Levins, but with entirely different descriptions […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: A photograph from the May 31 terror attack at Gush Etzion Junction was repurposed online to support a false claim about an assassination in Beersheba. The same image appeared in reporting by veteran Israeli journalist Amit Segal and later in posts by anti-Israel social media influencer Ethan Levins, but with entirely different descriptions of the event. The episode demonstrates how authentic photographs can be detached from their reporting chain and reassigned to entirely different narratives. On the evening of May 31, a Palestinian terrorist carried out a vehicular ramming attack at the Gush Etzion Junction south of Jerusalem. Israeli police, the IDF, the Magen David Adom paramedic service, and multiple Israeli media outlets reported that the attacker drove into civilians waiting near the junction before being shot and killed at the scene. Among the wounded were two teenage girls, including a 17-year-old who sustained serious injuries. As the attack unfolded, Channel 12 chief political analyst Amit Segal published a sequence of updates on his Telegram channel documenting the developing situation through casualty reports, operational updates, and official confirmations. One of those updates included a photograph from the scene showing a silver Peugeot with severe front-end damage, deployed airbags, a crushed front-right side, police tape stretched across the foreground, and security personnel gathered around the vehicle under floodlit streetlights. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-399040 " src="https://honestreporting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IMG_3183.jpg.optimal.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="1119" srcset="https://honestreporting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IMG_3183.jpg.optimal.jpg 1123w, https://honestreporting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IMG_3183-161x300.jpg.optimal.jpg 161w, https://honestreporting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IMG_3183-549x1024.jpg.optimal.jpg 549w, https://honestreporting.com/wp-cont…

▶ Drake’s “Free Palestine” Lyric Says More About Celebrity Clout Than Gaza
type: item
creator: HonestReporting Staff
date: 2026-06-02T09:43:44Z
subject: Speech
subject: Videos
subject: anti-Israel activism
subject: Celebrities
subject: Hollywood
subject: pro-Palestinian
description: Drake has spent years trading shots with rivals, but his latest target surprised many: DJ Khaled. On a new track, Drake references criticism aimed at Khaled for refusing to publicly say “Free Palestine.” The lyric revived a debate that has followed Khaled since October 7, when activists began pressuring him to take a more outspoken position […]
encoded: Drake has spent years trading shots with rivals, but his latest target surprised many: DJ Khaled. On a new track, Drake references criticism aimed at Khaled for refusing to publicly say “Free Palestine.” The lyric revived a debate that has followed Khaled since October 7, when activists began pressuring him to take a more outspoken position on Gaza. In one widely shared clip, Khaled was asked to say the slogan on camera. His response was simple: “Peace and love to everybody.” For many activists, that was not enough. The episode highlights how discussion of the conflict has increasingly become a loyalty test. Public figures are expected to repeat specific slogans, and those who refuse often face backlash regardless of their background or personal connection to the issue. That is what makes Drake’s intervention so striking. Rather than adding meaningful insight into a complex war, the lyric reduces the conversation to a celebrity feud and a political catchphrase. Lost in the process are the realities of the conflict itself: the October 7 massacre, the hostages taken into Gaza, the role of Hamas in starting the war, and the suffering experienced by both Israelis and Palestinians. Political slogans can be powerful, but they can also flatten complicated issues into social media soundbites. When celebrities use them as ammunition in personal disputes, the result is less awareness and more performance. The war in Gaza is not a branding opportunity. Turning it into one may generate headlines, but it does little to help the people actually living through it. Found this video interesting? Follow the HonestReporting page on Facebook to catch more videos, and read articles debunking news bias and smears, as well as others explaining Israel’s history, politics, and international affairs. Click here to learn more!

Candace and Ana: When the Horseshoe Comes Full Circle on The Jews
type: item
creator: HonestReporting Staff
date: 2026-06-01T13:30:56Z
subject: Featured
subject: Ana Kasparian
subject: Antisemitism
subject: Candace Owens
description: Key Takeaways: The political extremes are converging on anti-Israel narratives. The Owens–Kasparian conversation shows how hostility toward Israel increasingly bridges left-right divides. Antisemitic conspiracies are being reframed as legitimate critique. Tropes about Jewish power and Israeli manipulation are being repackaged as political analysis. Alternative media is helping normalize anti-Jewish rhetoric. Fringe distortions are being presented […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: The political extremes are converging on anti-Israel narratives. The Owens–Kasparian conversation shows how hostility toward Israel increasingly bridges left-right divides. Antisemitic conspiracies are being reframed as legitimate critique. Tropes about Jewish power and Israeli manipulation are being repackaged as political analysis. Alternative media is helping normalize anti-Jewish rhetoric. Fringe distortions are being presented as “independent thinking” rather than dangerous falsehoods. Candace Owens and Ana Kasparian agree on almost nothing. Except, it turns out, the Jews. Owens has built her brand on right-wing populist provocation and increasingly conspiratorial commentary. Kasparian rose to prominence as one of progressive media’s most recognizable voices on The Young Turks. Ordinarily, these are not two commentators one would expect to find in close agreement. Yet when the conversation turned to the Jewish state, their supposed ideological distance collapsed entirely. Their recent 90-minute discussion offered a revealing illustration of a phenomenon that has become increasingly common in modern politics: hostility toward Jews serving as a bridge between ideological opposites. This is the horseshoe theory in action. The phenomenon is not new. For years, anti-Israel rhetoric has demonstrated a unique ability to unite otherwise opposing political camps. The language may differ depending on the audience. On one side, it is often framed through anti-establishment suspicion of elite influence. On the other, through the language of anti-colonialism and progressive liberation politics. But the destination is often the same. View this post on Instagram A post shared by HonestReporting (@honestreporting) The “Zionist Lobby” Conspiracy https://honestreporting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Candace-3.mp4 The Owens-Kasparian conversation offered multiple examples. At various points, Owens attributed both Australia’s decision to deny her entry and her depa…

How the Gaza Photo Factory Turned Eid Into Another PR Stunt
type: item
creator: David Katz
date: 2026-06-01T11:16:31Z
subject: Featured
subject: Photo Bias
subject: Al Jazeera
subject: Gaza
subject: photo bias
description: Key Takeaways: Eid images from Gaza followed a familiar pattern already seen during Ramadan, weddings, hospital ceremonies, and other highly publicized events throughout the war. The question is not whether the events occurred, but how they were organized, photographed, and distributed to global audiences. Some of Gaza’s most powerful visual moments appear less spontaneous than […]
encoded: Key Takeaways: Eid images from Gaza followed a familiar pattern already seen during Ramadan, weddings, hospital ceremonies, and other highly publicized events throughout the war. The question is not whether the events occurred, but how they were organized, photographed, and distributed to global audiences. Some of Gaza’s most powerful visual moments appear less spontaneous than they first seem, raising important questions about coordination, access, authority, and narrative production. For much of this war, international audiences have been presented with a succession of highly symbolic images emerging from Gaza: families breaking Ramadan fasts beside shattered mosques, Christmas celebrations staged among rubble, graduation ceremonies held inside damaged hospitals, and wedding portraits framed against destruction. Now Eid has joined that visual catalogue. Images distributed by Anadolu Agency, AP, and other outlets showed worshippers gathered among ruins, praying beside collapsed buildings and damaged mosques. Drone footage captured rows of people stretching through debris-filled streets, while photographs of children carrying balloons through the wreckage added a further emotional dimension to the coverage. The images were undoubtedly striking, and it is not difficult to understand why they travelled so quickly across international media platforms. But beyond their immediate emotional impact lies a question that is almost never addressed in the accompanying coverage: how exactly do these moments become such polished global media products? <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-398803 " src="https://honestreporting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-31-at-13.50.43.png" alt="" width="500" height="609" srcset="https://honestreporting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-31-at-13.50.43.png 821w, https://honestreporting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-31-at-13.50.43-246x300.png 246w, https://honestre…