‘Shame on int’l media’
US publication The New York Times issued on Monday an unprecedented admission that it had ‘relied too heavily on claims by Hamas’ in its reporting of an explosion at a Gaza hospital
Expression of support About 1,000 people made up of Israelis, Filipinos, Jews and Christians came together in solidarity with the State of Israel. A convoy of vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles with Israeli flags and blue and white balloons passed through the main streets of Metro Manila. | photograph courtesy of Israel Embassy
As the conflict between the state of Israel and the Hamas terror organization intensifies, international media coverage has thus far been described as dismal and heavily slanted against the Jewish nation.
Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss cited as an example the Hamas missile attack on the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, which was hit directly a few days after the 7 October attack by a rocket fired from Gaza, resulting in Israeli deaths and injuries.
In contrast, an explosion on 17 October at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City that resulted in a massive number of fatalities and injuries was splashed all over broadcast and print media and was immediately blamed on an Israeli air strike, a narrative peddled by Hamas.
Investigations by Israel and the United States proved that a missile launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Gaza-based terror group more radical than Hamas, had misfired and landed on the hospital grounds.
"Nobody in the media reported that an Israeli hospital was bombed in Ashkelon, which had so many patients injured and killed. The rockets were shot at the hospital. No media picked it up and condemned nobody," Fluss lamented during an interview with Daily Tribune editors.
"So, for me, this incident is a shame on the international media. These news (outfits) and (media) people sort of still live with this image that it is the ratings that must (dictate the news coverage)," Fluss said.
New York Times sorry
US publication The New York Times issued on Monday an unprecedented admission that it had "relied too heavily on claims by Hamas" in its reporting of an explosion at a Gaza hospital.
The newspaper issued the statement five days after running a headline on its front page, above the fold, reading: "Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say."
"The Times' initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast," according to NYT's editor's note.