In a republished version of its “Gilad Shalit Fast Facts,” CNN provides readers with a timeline of events surrounding the abduction and eventual release of the Israeli soldier who was held captive in the Gaza Strip for five years beginning in 2006 by the US-designated Hamas terrorist group.
While CNN goes out of its way to mention the gender of a tranche of Palestinian prisoners released in 2009 by the Israeli government, simply because Hamas released a proof of life video of Shalit, at no point does the outlet describe the violent offenses committed by any of the 1,027 Palestinians eventually freed as part of a comprehensive prisoner swap deal.
The word ‘terrorist’ does not appear once in the “Fast Facts.”
While Shalit’s release made headlines around the world (see here, here, and here), the exchange ignited a heated internal debate in Israel because 454 of the Palestinians set free were described by authorities as having “blood on their hands,” with a full 280 of them serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis.
CNN itself covered this aspect of the story back in 2011.
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Fast forward a decade and the network has erased this reality.
For example, 20 years ago this week, Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi orchestrated the deadly suicide bombing at a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem that killed 15 civilians and injured more than 100. She was among those released in the Shalit deal.
Another one of the freed prisoners, Yahya Sinwar, is currently Hamas’ leader in the Gaza Strip. Sinwar spearheaded Hamas’ rocket assault against the Jewish state during the 11-day conflict in May, when the terror group launched some 4,300 rockets at Israeli cities and towns. Twelve Israeli citizens and an IDF soldier were killed. An additional 312 civilians and three soldiers were wounded.
Evidently, nor were many of the Palestinians released repentant. Indeed, following the murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014, an event that precipitated a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli security forces rearrested over 50 Palestinian terrorists who had been freed in exchange for Shalit.
And consider this: According to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Israeli forces in 2013 alone thwarted more than forty terror attacks planned by Palestinians released in the Shalit deal concluded only two years earlier.
Nor is it the first time that HonestReporting has called out CNN for omitting crucial context from one of its “Fact Facts.”
By burying the truth about the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, CNN is minimizing the sacrifices Israel made to secure one of its citizens, which is further evidence of the extreme value the Jewish state places on life.
All the while, it’s whitewashing Palestinian terrorism.
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Featured Image: Palestinian prisoners released as part of deal that freed Gilad Shalit via Getty Images
