On July 29, CNN Tonight broadcast a segment showing a film clip of Hamas terrorists emerging from a tunnel inside Israel. This footage was put out by Hamas, aired on Al Aqsa TV, and showed the terrorists attacking Israeli soldiers. Host Don Lemon asks correspondent Martin Savidge about the tunnels:

Does this make Israel’s point about the danger it faces?

Savidge replies, “To a point,” before devoting the rest of his time to supporting Hamas’ claim that these tunnels into Israeli territory are legitimate tools of war. Savidge asserts:

The other thing that is interesting by this video, Israel has maintained that these are terror tunnels, in other words, tunnels being used to go after the population of Israel. Yet in this attack, it’s against a military target. And we know last week, the IDF reported that its soldiers were struck from a tunnel before and that in Gaza they say they’re being struck from tunnels.

In each of those cases what I’m pointing out here is that the attacks were on soldiers, which could be considered legitimate targets. So in some ways, this is very compelling in supporting Hamas’ argument that, no, these tunnels are being used to wage a war, not to go after civilians. And the video wouldn’t seem to dispute that.

The correspondent’s understanding of Hamas is shallow and illogical if he truly believes that the video provides “compelling” evidence that Hamas’ tunnels are legitimate war tactics.

Hamas has consistently targeted civilians inside Israel with suicide bombings and other terror attacks as part and parcel of its mission to kill Jews, destroy the Jewish State and wage jihad against civilians. Any claim that Hamas is fighting Israel’s “occupation” is belied by the continued targeting of Jews well within Israel’s pre-67 borders.

Hamas’ charter proclaims that its ultimate mission–”no matter how long it takes”– is to “fight the Jews and kill them” and to replace the Jewish state with an Islamic caliphate.

Hamas rocket and mortar attacks target– not IDF army posts, but –civilian population centers.

Hamas tunnels have been found to emerge near kibbutzim and in other civilian areas.

The Israeli Shin Bet recently exposed a Hamas plot for a massive attack on civilians via the Gaza tunnels to be carried out on the Jewish New Year.

Hamas leaders have repeatedly declared all Israelis to be legitimate targets.

So why does the CNN correspondent parrot a Hamas propaganda line? Can he actually believe that just because some attacks target soldiers, the terror group which is committed to Israel’s destruction would avoid using the tunnels they laboriously dug into Israeli territory to attack civilians?

A The Wall Street Journal photo caption today suggests that perhaps an Israeli woman has faked a rocket attack on her home in Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. The page A5 caption reads:

A resident of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha inspects the damage purportedly caused by rocket fire from Gaza

Unlike several disputed incidents which have caused numerous casualties in Gaza, the fact that Palestinian rockets have targeted and hit Israeli homes is not disputed. As Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum warned earlier this month, Hamas is targeting every Israeli home: “This is not the time for quiet. We have a bank of various targets. An Iron Dome [missile battery] will be needed in every Israeli home.”

So why “purported?” If it wasn’t a rocket attack which damaged this woman’s home, what was it? A cooking experiment that went wrong? A “work accident” involving a home-made rocket? (No, that would be in Gaza.) Self-inflicted damage so as to deceive photographers into believing that her home was struck by a Palestinian rocket, when in fact it wasn’t? The Journal doesn’t say.

When it comes to an Israeli strike on Gaza, however, there’s nothing “purported” about that. A photograph of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike in Gaza appears on the top of the same page, across four columns. (The photograph of the “purported” rocket damage is three columns wide.) Here is the Gaza caption:

Palestinians carry injured men through the streets after an Israeli strike on the embattled Gaza City neighborhood on Shujaiyeh on Wednesday.

Perhaps, like their colleague Carolyn Cole, the photo editors at the Wall Street Journal, are careful to treat all claims about Israeli attacks as fact and all facts about Palestinian attacks as suspect.

Marchers parade in downtown Boston in celebration of Al Quds Day on July 25, 2014. Al Quds Day is a celebration inaugurated by Ayatollah Khoemeini in Iran in 1979, (the year of the Iranian Hostage Crisis), to show disdain and contempt for the Jewish state. (Photo: Dexter Van Zile)

For the past few weeks, Boston has been the scene of several anti-Israel rallies. Protesters at these rallies have demonized Israel and its supporters in some pretty ugly ways. The rallies have been organized by a loose coalition of activists from groups such as Grassroots International and Jewish Voice for Peace. LGBTQ activists, union members and activists from the local Muslim community have also participated in these rallies.

Local television stations and newspapers have inaccurately described the participants at these rallies as “pro-Palestinian.”

The message espoused by activists at these rallies is not “pro-Palestinian,” but anti-Israel and in some instances, anti-Jewish. In addition to promoting the cause of Palestinian nationalism, they have demonized Israel, called for its destruction, and whitewashed acts of terror perpetrated by Hamas, a genocidal organization dedicated to Israel’s destruction. And in some instances, protesters carried signs that were explicitly antisemitic. As the images posted below reveal, the notion that Israel is a pariah state became an increasingly important theme as the rallies progressed.

While one pro-Israel protester was assaulted on July 11, 2014, the hostility evident in the streets of Boston has, thankfully not approached what we have seen in Los Angeles, Berlin or Paris, where violence has erupted. Nevertheless, the animus evident at these events in Boston has been ratcheted up with each successive rally and march.

The first rally, a pro-BDS event which took place on July 9, 2014, was marked by the usual chants of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” an implicit call for Israel’s destruction. The most recent rally, a celebration of “Al Quds Day,” protesters carried signs equating Zionism with Nazism.

Below is a compendium of photos taken at five anti-Israel rallies that took place in Boston during July 2014.

Taken as a whole, the photos will demonstrate that the message espoused at these rallies is anti-Israel, anti-democratic and in some instances, antisemitic. Activists are using their right to free speech in the U.S. to front for Hamas, an organization that is fundamentally hostile to the values that serve as the basis for American civil society. They are also assailing the legitimacy of a liberal democracy in the Middle East.

And they are assailing it because it is the Jewish homeland. This is not human rights or peace activism; it is anti-Zionism.

And when these folks speak anti-Zionism, they speak hate.
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Does intimidation of journalists by Hamas distort coverage of Israel’s “Operation Protective edge” in the Gaza Strip? The Times of Israel reported that it “confirmed several incidents in which journalists were questioned and threatened. These included cases involving photographers who had taken pictures of Hamas operatives in compromising circumstances—gunmen preparing to shoot rockets from within civilian structures, and/or fighting in civilian clothing—and who were then approached by Hamas men, bullied and had their equipment taken away.

“Another case involving a French reporter was initially reported by the journalist involved, but the account was subsequently removed from the Internet.” (“Hamas threatening journalists in Gaza who expose abuse of civilians,” July 28, 2014). Reporting from areas of Gaza under Hamas control is somewhat like reporting from Syria, Iran, China or other closed or partially closed societies. In such place press freedom is a privilege granted by those in power to further their ends, not a right upheld by democratic authorities. This means reports from Gaza under Hamas rule must be considered with some skepticism.

The Times of Israel further reported that: “And it [Hamas] has emphatically limited reporters’ access to aspects of Hamas operations that would reflect to its detriment. One example of this relates to Gaza’s Shifa hospital, the [Israeli] official added. “We know that downstairs there is a Hamas command and control center and that Hamas leaders are hiding there. No reporter is allowed to go anywhere downstairs. They’re only allowed to work upstairs to take pictures of casualties, the pictures that Hamas wants them to take.”

An earlier report by The Jerusalem Post noted that “Several journalists from around the world reported seeing rockets fired from civilian areas in Gaza in recent days, and received threatening tweets in return accusing them of ‘informing’ the IDF” (“Gaza reporters’ tweets: Hamas using human shields”, July 24, 2014) Those tweets were followed by threats:

“Another account, @longitude0 wrote: ‘You are a cretin. Are you working for the IDF’ and “in WWII spies got shot.’ “

More tweets by journalists reveal intimidation attempts:

“On Sunday, Janis Mackey Frayer, a correspondent for Canada’s CTV, tweeted that, while in Gaza City’s Shejaiya’s neighborhood, she ‘saw several Hamas gunmen.

’One passed dressed in a woman’s headscarf … tip of a gun poked out from under cloak.’

She received threats similar to those sent to other reporters.”

In another example, “Harry Fear, a journalist from the UK reporting from Gaza for RT (formerly Russia Today) television, tweeted last week: ‘Early morning Gaza rockets were fired into Israel. A well-known site in W. Gaza City, near my hotel, was among the origins, confirm locals.’

Fear then took on the critics, tweeting soon after that he rejects ‘loaded complaints that I “informed” Israel about the specifics of Gaza military sites…. These sites are well-known among locals and internationals here.

‘Should a journalist only report the noise and ferocity of Israel’s attacks & not the sounds of Gaza’s rockets? Both terrify people,’ he tweeted.

Later that day, Fear tweeted: ‘Al-Wafa hospital has been hit in the last while; injuries reported—this is the hospital with human shields.’ ”

Treating press coverage from Gaza under Hamas influence as equivalent to that from open societies, including Israel and the United States, is potentially misleading. Audiences should understand the implicit warning label attached to coverage from societies under intimidation. — by Ziv Kaufman

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu greets former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg at Ben-Gurion Airport, July 23, 2014. Photo: HAIM ZACH/GPO

Jean-Claude Demirdjian of Los Angeles, a retired Boeing 747 captain whose letters are frequently published in The Los Angeles Times, writes today:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement last week about the Federal Aviation Administration’s brief ban on U.S. flights to Israel — that “there’s no reason whatsoever for the mistaken FAA decision to instruct American planes not to come here” — is wrong. (“FAA caution on Israel flights reflects concern after Ukraine incident,” July 23)

Although Netanyahu believes that the rocket that landed near Ben Gurion International Airport does not make the airport unsafe, he should know that the U.S. Air Force planes that transport Secretary of State John Kerry, contrary to passenger airliners, are equipped with anti-missile defenses. And former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was willing to take a calculated risk by flying in his own plane to Israel.

Commercial airline passengers, on the other hand, have a right to assume that there is no risk of being blown out of the sky. The FAA acted within its mission to provide the safest air travel possible.

Except that Former Mayor Bloomberg, himself a former pilot, did not fly in his own plane to Israel. As was widely reported, including also in The Los Angeles Times, Mayor Bloomberg flew to Israel this month on a commercial El Al flight. The Times’ Timothy M. Phelps and Rebecca Bratek reported July 24 (“FAA caution reflects downing of airliner”):

Kerry at least gave Israel a psychological boost Wednesday, flying in his government jet into Ben Gurion Airport from Egypt. So did former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, on El Al.

While Los Angeles Times editors are free to publish challenges to assertions that commercial flights to Ben-Gurion Airport are safe, they are not free to publish factual misinformation. Stay tuned for news about a correction.

1:30 PM EST Update: The Los Angeles Times has promised to publish a correction tomorrow.

On Friday, we noted that Agence-France Presse reported as fact, in both news articles and photo captions, that an Israeli shell was responsible for at least 15 fatalities in an UNRWA school in the northern Gaza Strip July 24, despite the fact that United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon himself had said: “Circumstances are still unclear.” On Thursday, army officials suggested that an errant Palestinian rocket may have been responsible.

CAMERA staff last week contacted editors to ask if they had information that Ban Ki-Moon did not. If not, they owe their readers a retraction.

While AFP has neither retracted nor produced any substantiation for blaming Israel, today’s story does walk back the unequivocal declaration of Israeli responsibility.

Thus, the French wire service reports today:

A controversial incident on Thursday when a UN school acting as a shelter was shelled, killing 15 people, drew fierce condemnation from Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

The Israeli army confirmed on Sunday it had hit the school, but said it was a “single errant mortar” round, denying that people were killed “as a result of (army) operational activity.

The footage that the army released (below) which it says shows the single errant IDF mortar which hit the Beit Hanoun school Thursday shows that the weapon fell into an empty school yard. Why did the AFP omit this critical information which is highly pertinent to the murky story?

Likewise, the IDF statement regarding the “single errant mortar” was:”The preliminary inquiry and footage indicate that a single errant mortar landed in the courtyard of the UNRWA school, when it was completely empty.” In the AFP’s substantial article, there was not room for an additional five more words: “when it was completely empty”?

See also: UK Media Fail to report evidence contradicting presumption of IDF guilt in UN school deaths

CAMERA’s Hadar Sela, Managing Editor of BBC Watch, a CAMERA affiliate, was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live about media coverage of the current Israel-Hamas conflict.

Hadar Sela, BBC Watch’s Managing Editor, discusses the roles that the mainstream media and social media play in the world of public opinion.

Click here to listen to the interview at 1:51:07 – 1:54:26

Buzzfeed correspondent Sheerah Frenkel sure is able to include a lot of misinformation into a 140 characters!

Earlier today she posted a tweet that read as follows:

Order of events: 3 teens kidnapped->100s of Palestns in WB arrested->revenge attacks on Palestinians->violence along Gaza/Israel border->war

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Churches for Middle East Peace, an umbrella “peace” organization supported by approximately two dozen Christian churches and para-church organizations in the U.S., sure has a funny way of looking at things.

In a bulletin recently sent out by the organization, the organization gives a run down to the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The bulletin, which was titled “Gaza Conflict Escalates” includes the following passage:
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July 30 Update: CNN Corrects: Criticism of Israel from UN, not US, Official

In CNN Newsroom yesterday, Brooke Baldwin mistakenly claims that a top American human rights official accused Israel of war crimes. She erred:

And we are hearing some pretty strong criticism of Israel today. Coming from one of the U.S.’s top human rights officials. The criticism came during an emergency meeting in Geneva.

In fact, no top U.S. human rights official leveled strong criticism of Israel yesterday. The human rights official in question is a United Nations figure, not American. The broadcast immediately goes on to quote Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights:

The right to life of civilians, including children, should be a foremost consideration. Not abiding by these principals amounts to war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Ms. Baldwin most likely simply misspoke — but her error is a substantive, egregious one which requires correction.

The United States is a close ally of Israel which has defended the country’s right to self-defense in the face of rocket attacks and cross-border. Though American officials expressed concern about civilian casualties in Gaza, none even remotely accused Israel of crimes against humanity. The UN Human Rights Council, and Navi Pillay, on the other hand, have a long record of hostility towards Israel, including bizarre, one-sided condemnations of Israel while ignoring far worse abuses around the world.

CAMERA has contacted editors to request a correction. Stay tuned for an update.