The unprecedented multi-front attacks on Israelis carried out by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7th (both the Sabbath and a Jewish holiday) included thousands of missile attacks, the indiscriminate murder of over 1,200 Israelis (mostly civilians) and the wounding of thousands more, the bombing of an ambulance and over 100 kidnappings, including of children – videos of which are hard to stomach.
This is our latest compilation of British media errors, omissions, distortions and propaganda in their coverage of the war:
Guardian op-ed suggests that Hamas mass murder of Jews was understandable
A Guardian op-ed by Daphna Baram (“I was in Israel when Hamas attacked – now we must reflect on the senselessness of killing and being killed”, Oct. 11) in effect, justified the Hamas mass murder of Jews
What we couldn’t imagine, but always knew: that if you keep 2 million people in the largest concentration camp on Earth and bomb to death thousands of them on occasion, you create a volcano that is bound to erupt in your face one day, causing horrific atrocities in its wake.
We’ve complained to Guardian editors arguing that this can be interpreted as a justification of the mass murder of Jews by a proscribed terrorist group, asking that the morally revolting passage be removed and an apology issued.
IMPRESS regulated British Muslim news site 5 Pillars posts pro-Hamas propaganda
Islamist website @5Pillarsuk has published what can best be described as Pro Hamas propaganda.
Their video shows Jews being abducted by Hamas along with false claims that "primarily we're seeing the resistance attack the military outposts"
Hamas slaughtered babies. pic.twitter.com/ZNOdkIGTZL
— Harry's Place (@hurryupharry) October 10, 2023
Note that supporting a proscribed terror group is illegal in the UK> We’ll be complaining to IMPRESS.
Sky news guest ‘contextualises’ the mass murder of Jewish civilians
An unchallenged @SkyNews guest repeatedly says viewers must “look at the context” of the attacks in Israel.
Over 1,000 innocent Israelis have been murdered. Women raped, babies beheaded.
In what world can this ever be justified?@SkyNews, what have you got to say? https://t.co/lxelcZJFIY
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) October 10, 2023
Economist Middle East journalist Gregg Carlstrom says Israel no different than Hamas in ‘murdering babies’
.@TheEconomist journalist claiming there's a moral equivalence between Hamas terrorists intentionally slaughtering Jewish babies in their cribs and the unintentional killing of Palestinian children by an army which is targeting Hamas terrorists. https://t.co/ubHGXxFAQP
— CAMERA UK (Formerly UK Media Watch and BBC Watch) (@CAMERAorgUK) October 11, 2023
Guardian op-ed peddles lie of Jewish “storming the mosque”
An op-ed by Guardian columnist Moustafa Bayoumi (“The double standard with Israel and Palestine leaves us in moral darkness”, Oct. 11) included the following to claim that the Hamas massacre of over 1,200 Israelis was NOT unprovoked.
What exactly counts as a provocation? Not, apparently, the large number of settlers, more than 800 by one media account, who stormed al-Aqsa mosque on 5 October
It’s a real shame that this needs to be stated, but Jews have not (and have never) “stormed the mosque”. The “stormed the mosque” lie represents a trope used by anti-Israel activists and extremists to characterise any peaceful visit to the Temple Mount, the holiest Jewish site. The broader claim by the columnist, that Hamas had some justification for the massacre of innocent Jews, is staggering.
We’ve complained to Guardian editors.
Financial Times editor blames Israel for the Hamas massacre
An op-ed in the Financial Times by Kim Ghattas (“All involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict should heed the warnings of 1982″, Oct. 10) engaged in victim blaming. In a piece that largely focuses on why the writer thinks it would be counter-productive for Israel to eliminate Hamas, she also adds this:
At its core, the current conflict is about the longest occupation in modern history, one that leaves the Palestinians dispossessed while Israel quests relentlessly for its security.
First, Israel hasn’t “occupied” Gaza since 2005. But, more importantly, it’s staggering to see yet another example of erasing the agency of the terror group Hamas, while blaming the victims (or, their government) for the atrocity that took place over the weekend. Hamas is an antisemitic extremist group dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state. That’s the major root cause of the conflict.
Financial Times US editor claims Hamas had few other options but to murder 1,200 Jews
Also at the Financial Times, their US editor Edward Luce, in an op-ed (“Biden, Netanyahu and America’s choice”, Oct. 11), similarly blamed the victims:
There is no contradiction between reviling terrorism and tackling its roots.Both the following statements are true: Hamas has plumbed new depths of bestial cruelty; Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel has starved non-violent Palestinian alternatives.
…
Last Saturday’s killing was horrific, yet should come as no surprise. Gaza, as others have remarked, is the world’s largest open-air prison. Netanyahu has deprived Palestinians of hope for the future and peaceful outlets to express their frustrations
The assertion that Hamas’s plans for a peaceful solution to the conflict were stymied by Israel, which then resulted in the terror group ‘expressing their frustrations’ by murdering 1,200 Jews, is as risible as it is contemptable.
