Hauled over the coals by the media and in the court of public opinion for exercising its right to self-defense against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Israel has been here before.
While the barbarity of Hamas’ atrocities and the intensity of Israel’s military response are unprecedented, there are parallels between Hamas’ actions and the media’s coverage during this war and Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Following that conflict, Australian businessman Robert Magid produced “Eyeless in Gaza,” an award-winning documentary, directed by Martin Himel, that followed journalists who covered the 2014 Gaza conflict, exposing the biased narrative told by international media through authentic footage and interviews with journalists willing to acknowledge the real story behind the stories.
During the current Operation Iron Swords, only a few foreign journalists have been able to enter Gaza embedded with the IDF, meaning that the reporting and footage coming from the ground has been provided by a mixture of Palestinian media employees working for international and Arab media, and other Palestinians armed with cellphones and huge followings on social media. Some of these influencers, who identify as independent journalists, have been and are being exposed in a joint investigation between HonestReporting and the Jerusalem Post.
Despite the difference in on-the-ground coverage between Operation Protective Edge and this current war, a survey of both HonestReporting’s work in 2014 and footage from Eyeless in Gaza (some of which is featured below) show several common themes between both sets of hostilities: Hamas’ entrenchment of its terror infrastructure within the civilian population, Israel being blamed for damage caused by Hamas rocket misfires, the minimization of ongoing rocket attacks against Israel, and blaming Israel for the conflict itself.
Hamas Among Civilians: Palestinians as Human Shields
During Operation Protective Edge, it became clear that Hamas had embedded its terror resources within the civilian population of Gaza, tunneling underneath residential neighborhoods, storing its armaments in protected sites (such as mosques, schools, and hospitals), and firing rockets at Israel from densely populated areas.
This was also corroborated by several foreign journalists who, in their reports, referenced armed Hamas members moving through civilian areas, Hamas’ use of the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as a “de facto” headquarters, and the storing of rockets in a mosque.
(See more from Israeli-Canadian journalist, author and former Associated Press employee Matti Friedman in the video below.)
Two incidents stand out from Operation Protective Edge concerning journalists highlighting Hamas’ use of human shields.
In one incident, a France 24 journalist was doing a live report from next to an UNRWA school when a rocket was fired toward Israel at that very moment.
In the second incident, an Indian TV crew was able to surreptitiously film a Hamas team setting up a firing site and ultimately firing a rocket toward Israel from next to their hotel.
Along with its use of human shields during Operation Protective Edge, there were also reports at the time that Hamas members were stopping both Palestinians and foreigners from escaping to safer areas of Gaza or leaving the Strip altogether.
During this current war, once again, Hamas is cynically using the civilian population of Gaza as human shields.
The IDF has released evidence that Hamas’ main headquarters is located under the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest hospital in the Strip, that it has used women and children as shields to protect Hamas terrorists from approaching Israeli soldiers, and that it continues to indiscriminately fire rockets at Israel from densely populated areas.
In addition, there have been numerous reports of Hamas blocking Palestinian civilians from escaping northern Gaza for the relative safety of the south, including through the use of IEDs on the road leading south.
The IDF released this video showing Hamas military instillations embedded withing the complex of Shifa hospital, Gaza's main medical center. pic.twitter.com/PQsXUSBn7k
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) October 27, 2023
Hamas Misfires, Israel Gets Blamed
In both 2014 and 2023, there were instances of Israel being blamed for the death and destruction caused by Hamas rockets that misfired and fell into Gaza.
In 2014, seven children were killed by an explosion at a playground in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Initially, several media outlets claimed that it had been an Israeli airstrike that caused the explosion, basing themselves on the statements of Hamas and Palestinian witnesses.
However, Israel soon determined that the explosion had actually been caused by a misfired rocket that fell short.
While most of the media then changed their reports to give equal weight to Israel’s and Hamas’ statements, turning it into a he-said-she-said narrative, one Italian journalist was able to confirm Israel’s assertions, tweeting (after he was safely out of Gaza) that eyewitness statements proved it was a Hamas misfire and not an Israeli airstrike.
Similarly, in 2023, an explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital that killed an indeterminate number of people was blamed by Hamas on an Israeli airstrike.
Mainstream media organizations initially spread Hamas’ claims, reporting it as an Israeli airstrike.
Only after the IDF provided numerous pieces of evidence to disprove Hamas’ claims and determined that it was a misfired rocket from Gaza that caused the damage and deaths outside the hospital did some media organizations rectify their reports while others remained purposefully vague on the topic and still others continued to spread the false story that Israel was at fault.
During the current war, between 10% to 20% of rockets fired toward Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad misfire and land in Gaza.
The organizations fired more than 9,200 rockets in total; of those, over 900 have been misfires that landed inside the Gaza strip
(one of those misfired rockets, as you may remember – hit the Al-Ahli hospital) pic.twitter.com/psznwSynCC
— Yaari Cohen (@YaariCohen) November 4, 2023
Media Ignores Hamas Rockets
Another common theme that runs through the coverage of both Operation Protective Edge and Israel’s current war against Hamas is the lack of coverage given to Hamas’ relentless indiscriminate firing of rockets at Israeli civilians.
In 2014, HonestReporting noted several instances where the media either downplayed the number of rockets that were pummeling the Jewish state or published pieces that trivialized their deadly impact.
Similarly, in 2023, HonestReporting revealed that several news outlets either omitted entirely or only briefly mentioned in passing any mention of Hamas’ ongoing rocket fire against Israel. At the same time, these media organizations have dedicated a substantial amount of coverage to Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hamas in Gaza.
By neglecting to properly report on the continued bombardment of Israeli civilian centers by Hamas rockets, the media are creating a dangerous narrative that obscures Hamas’ role in the violence while simultaneously placing Israel’s actions under intense scrutiny.
A reminder that over the past 4 weeks, more than 9000 rockets have been launched toward Israel, each targeting Israeli civilians.#Israelunderattack#StandWithIsrael pic.twitter.com/bXfPyktQhX
— Embassy of Israel to the USA | #IsraelUSA75 (@IsraelinUSA) November 3, 2023
Hamas Attacks, Israel Gets Blamed
Both Operation Protective Edge and the current war were initiated by Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians.
In 2014, it was the kidnapping of three Israeli teens followed by a volley of rockets directed at Israel that led to Israel’s operation in Gaza.
In 2023, it was Hamas’ unprecedented invasion of Israel, massacre of Israeli civilians, and kidnapping of Israelis into Gaza that initiated the current war.
However, in both instances, some sought to remove agency from Hamas, directing their ire towards Israel.
In 2014, HonestReporting highlighted The New York Times’ publication of a piece by Nathan Thrall which argued that the war was due to Israel’s policies.
Similarly, in 2023, there have been those who seek to absolve Hamas of guilt, portraying the brutal Hamas invasion as a natural response to Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza.
This type of simplistic analysis ignores Hamas’ genocidal ideology and places the entire onus for violence between Israelis and the Palestinians on the Jewish State.
As Israeli-Canadian journalist Matti Friedman said following Operation Protective Edge:
If you say that Hamas is antisemitic, if you quote their charter, if you look too closely at what their goals are and who they are, then it would disrupt the narrative according to which Israel is an aggressor and the Palestinians are passive victims who have reasonable goals. Otherwise, we just might conclude that what you have here is a very complicated situation where there is no clear villain and there is no clear victim and there is no clear solution. And that’s not what reporters want.
Rather than a historical documentary from a previous conflict, Eyeless in Gaza now appears to be a prophetic warning to the international media about their reporting on today’s war. And it’s clear that the media have learned nothing from what came before.
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With thanks to Ruth and Robert Magid for permission to feature footage from Eyeless in Gaza.
Photo Credits via Getty Images:
- FADEL SENNA/AFP
- NurPhoto/Corbis
