1. On Saturday, Oct 7, I began monitoring as many different news programs as I could, to see how they covered Hamas’ attack and Israel’s response. I started by listening to the BBC coverage of the war. The BBC, I noticed, consistently underreported Israeli casualties. When the rest of the news sources online had already been reporting that 200 Israelis had been killed, the BBC’s Julian Marshall reported that “at least 100 Israelis have been killed.” The real number, as of 5 p.m. EST, when he broadcast, had already reached 250, as other news sites were then starting to report. Those killed were overwhelmingly civilians, murdered in cold blood as Hamas gunman came across them as they raced through towns and villages in southern Israel, on jeeps, motorcycles, automobiles, and on foot. They murdered 260 people at a music festival. They murdered mothers with their children on the street and in their houses. They tricked Israelis to open the doors of their safe rooms, and then murdered them. It was clear that the victims were overwhelmingly civilians. But this was not made clear in any of the reports from non-Israeli sources, where it was simply reported that “both soldiers and civilians” were killed, without any attempt to verify or report that the vast majority were civilians. We now know that 700 Israelis have been killed (as of Oct. 8, 3 p.m. EST), and that the IDF knows of 44 soldiers who have been killed. These two figures suggest that 94% of all those killed were civilians.
2. The same BBC announcer, Julian Marshall, interviewed both Israelis and Palestinians on his news show. He wanted to have voices from both sides. This means he sought not the truth, but “balance.” Imagine if the BBC had been reporting during World War II in a “balanced” manner rather than a truthful one. The Israeli journalist Marshall chose to interview, presumably representing the the Israeli side, was Gideon Levy, a far-left journalist who writes for the far-left Haaretz. Asked to explain the surprise attack, Levy said it was a long time coming, because when you have people “locked up, blockaded for 17 years” — or words to that effect — what do you expect? Gaza is an “open-air prison.” Levy also mentioned the “occupation” of Gaza. Marshall did not point out, as he should have, that there is no longer any “occupation of the Strip; not a single Israeli civilian or soldier has been living in Gaza since 2005.” Nor did he say, as he ought to have, that Israel’s is a most porous blockade; no humanitarian items — food or medicines — are blocked. The items that are kept out of Gaza are “dual-use” items, such as steel, cement, and tin, that can be used to build weapons, terror tunnels, rocket launchers, and bunkers for fighters. Nor did Marshall remind listeners that Egypt, too, has a “blockade” of Gaza.
3. Many news programs reported that Israel had bombed the 14-story Palestine Tower in Gaza, that then completely collapsed, and showed the video of its demolishment, but they referred to it as containing only “apartments.” They failed to note what Israel had announced to explain that choice of target, that the Palestine Tower had housed Hamas offices as well as apartments. Only two of the news stories I heard about the bombing included the important information that Israel had given a warning to the inhabitants to leave, a full ten minutes before the IAF struck the building. And only one of the many news reports about the Palestine Tower included the information that there was not a single Palestinian killed or wounded in that strike. Surely both items of information would have made clear how Israel constantly tries, through its warning Palestinians to leave places about to be targeted, to minimize civilian casualties.
4. Reports on the BBC and on American networks on the evening of October 7 included this remark: “Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel today.” Israel said Hamas fired 2,200 rockets. Hamas said it had fired 5,000. Why didn’t the news networks provide both figures, and where they came from, so that listeners could decide for themselves which to believe?
5. Twitter, or X, the plaything of Elon Musk, has been running interference for Hamas, by taking down its most ghastly videos, that show gleeful Hamas fighters delightedly driving trucks piled high with Israeli bodies, while there is much Allahu-akbaring by the bloodlusty bezonians, and Gazan children are seen passing around candy in celebration. Now most of that is gone. One such video, showing the body of a murdered Israeli girl, stripped of her clothes, continued to stay up until Sunday, but has now been taken down.
6. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has sent out to all members of its news staff a directive that includes the following: “Please do not describe 2005 as the end of the occupation” and “Please do not describe militants, soldiers, or anyone else as ‘terrorists.’”
7. The BBC also uses the phrase “Hamas militants.” The word “terrorist” has not been used, as far as I know, in any BBC report on the matter. Nor has it been used by The New York Times, The Washington Post, or The Guardian. Why not?
8. The United States, France, Germany, the U.K.,and Canada have all unequivocally condemned Hamas and expressed full support for Israel.
9. The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “this horrific violence must stop immediately. Terrorism and violence solve nothing. The EU expresses its solidarity with Israel in these difficult moments.” But only massive violence by Israel will “solve” the problem of Hamas, in the only way possible — by destroying it. Anyone who calls for a halt to violence at this point, even while expressing sympathy for Israel, is denying Israel the right to protect itself, by killing those who murdered more than 700 of its civilians and soldiers, and have kidnapped 100 more.
10. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Saturday made the right noises: “Civilians must never be the target of attack,” he said, pointing to reports that Israelis have been taken hostage. “I am shocked and appalled at reports this morning that hundreds, possibly thousands, of indiscriminate rockets have been fired by Palestinian armed groups towards Israel, and that at least 22 Israelis [in the first hours have been killed and hundreds injured.” But then he undid that, by calling on Israel not to retaliate: “I call for an immediate stop to the violence, and appeal to all sides and key countries in the region to de-escalate to avoid further bloodshed,” he said. You are not expressing “solidarity with Israel” if you ask Israel to refrain from “violence” now, after hundreds of its citizens have been murdered.
11. In Iran, without whose help Hamas could never have launched such a massive attack, there were celebrations in major cities, where children passed out candy to Allahu-akbaring crowds. These ghoulish celebrations were not shown on any Western network. Few of the reports mentioned that Iran necessarily had to have been involved, though on CNN at least one of the guests — a retired American general — mentioned the indispensable role that Iran must have played in Hamas’ attacks. And the BBC’s Paul Henley did raise the issue of Iran’s role in a question to an Israeli guest.
12. On a very few news programs there was discussion about the “roots” of the problem that led Hamas to act as it did. Many talking heads limited themselves to saying that “over the past year tensions have risen.” A handful said that “the problem really goes back to 1948, when the Palestinians [sic] left or were expelled from ‘Palestine.” Not a single program that I saw on television or listened to on the radio suggested that waging Jihad against Infidels was an imperative for Muslims; the word “jihad” was never mentioned by anyone, on any news programs on radio or television. Nor, of course, did anyone suggest that the “problem” between Muslims and Jews began 1400 years ago, and that the only way to keep the peace between the parties was deterrence, and Israel would have to deal a massive blow to Hamas in order to restore its ability to deter — that is, to make Israel’s Arab enemies understand that, despite the initial and shocking success of Hamas, Israel still remained overwhelmingly more powerful.
13. On Sunday the BBC pleasantly surprised me. First, Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s senior foreign correspondent, who for years has been predictably anti-Israel, reported from Jerusalem in quite a different, even sympathetic tone, about the “unprecedented” attack, the large number of Israelis who had been murdered, and the certainty that Israel would have to “respond.”
14. India’s Narendra Modi denounced the Hamas attack, and notably, did not call for Israel to exercise “restraint” or for “an end to violence.” This is quite a change from his predecessors in the Congress Party, who always lined up on the side of the Palestinians.
15. In solidarity with the people of Israel, the Brandenburg Gate in Germany’s capital Berlin was illuminated in the colors of the Israeli flag on Saturday.
And a little later this evening (Oct. 8) I’m going to find out how the evening news, on American, British, Italian, French, and Russian television, covers the war on Day 2.
Hugo van der Meer says
Exceptional reporting. I have posted similar on the UK daily express newspaper website suggesting the only possible response must be the total annihilation of Hamas and any affiliated groups including raising to the ground all mosques and all and any resistance by the ‘religion of peace’ [sic] No stone must be left unturned in putting the jihadists to sleep…permanently.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Under the old Twitter regime, I might have considered that running interference for Hamas, but not under this one. The reason X deleted them was that most of those things shown are graphic, & worse, celebrate all that rape and murder. One of the common complaints against Social Media is that companies like Facebook tolerate incendiary speech from the Left, while censoring it from the Right. Here, X has done the right thing by deleting videos & pictures that it would have deleted had people on the Right been posting them. Determining the motivation behind those uploads shouldn’t be the job of either X’s employees, nor their AI mechanisms
Yeah, while all those videos showing the bodies of stripped women did have the opposite effect on a good part of the viewership than what Hamas intended, they were uploaded for a reason. All the pro-Hamas demonstrations we’re seeing worldwide are there as a result of those videos: those supporters are not appalled by it, but rather inspired by it! Besides, those videos & pictures have been online long enough for just about everyone who’s on X to have seen them, so these videos have already achieved their purpose – horrifying civilized people everywhere, & inspiring islamic and Leftist savages everywhere
I have been following reactions in India as well on X. As one might know, a lot of Hindus are disillusioned w/ Modi, & are rallying behind alternatives – either NOTA (none of the above) or a new party (Ekam Sanatan Bharat). They were noting Modi’s statements and had 2 reactions:
➤ Pointing out how while he’s expressing grief over the killing of Israelis by jihadists, he has nothing to say in India where jihadists have been rampant for the last 4 years in various states – Kerala, Bengal, Karnataka, UP, Haryana, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, et al
➤ Pointing out his past statements in support of Palestine, including one as recent as this April, when India voted against Israel at the UN, and also when Modi accepted the highest civilian award from Mahmoud Abbas. Truth is that Modi is a fraud on this issue, but right now, just as Hindu patience w/ him is at its lowest levels due to all the jihad activity in India, it’s also strongly w/ Israel, which is a part of why he isn’t trying to straddle Israel & Palestine any longer. But the sooner Modi is history, the better for India to take an actual pro-Israel stance on this
Congress won’t return to power, but to be honest, India restored diplomatic relations w/ Israel under Congress after 1992, when all muslim countries turned on it in response to the demolition of the Babri mosque. It was Nehru & Indira Gandhi who were pro-Pali, but after Rajiv Gandhi’s death in 1990, every Indian government – be it Congress or BJP – has been improving relations w/ Israel on the ground while voting against it in the UN. Hopefully Indians flush them all out & replace them w/ a real Hindu government that backs Israel not just socially, but also diplomatically and politically as well
Wellington says
Thanks for your commentary here, Infidel.
Peter Burrows says
Ditto.
Kafir says
Congress has never been pro Israel they started making relations with Israel because of economic liberalisation not because of love for Jews. Modi might have lot of problems but he was the first prime minister who went to Israel and acknowledge the support Israel has provided for India in it’s wars with Pakistan be it 1965,1971, or the kargil war. If anyone beleives Congress is pro Israel just look at their statement today, they have called for ceasefire and restraint and are advising for a peace talk with these nazis to establish a palestinian state.
bill says
Not a Twitter?X user though I have an a/c. I am sure you are correct
somehistory says
Thank you for the extra info from your insight into the matter.
As you say, the videos are so graphic because they were made by the ghouls who were showing what they could do to the Jews at a moment’s notice.
It’s much like serial killers like to boast about the things they have done to their victims.
It’s enough to know that these things are being done, without looking at the videos which glorify the evil.
Hoi Polloi says
Thanks for the watchful commentary.
I was heartened yesterday in a discussion with a knowledgeable young acquaintance who had formerly expressed support for “palestinians” to hear that these brutal attacks on civilians and blatant displays of the fundamentals of islam, in the form of desecration of corpses and the like, had actually brought him over to support for Israelis.
somehistory says
There is a “dividing line” which causes the honest person to face reality. This thing hamas has done…and still threatening to do…probably will cause a lot of people to get off the fence or even, change sides.
” Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, the IQB, said: ‘We have decided to put an end to this and as of now, we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one the hostages of civilians we are holding.'”
Westman says
A little Machiavellian gedankenexperiment:
Let’s suppose AI develops to control the world’s infrastructure before it turns on humans. Having access to everything and all communication, could Islam’s militants escape its view in any city? Could AI, through infrastructure control, eliminate them, say, with traffic light manipulation, train crossing controls, false autopilot readings, dropping an elevator, using a faked relative or militant’s voice to lead them into a trap, poison them, and more physically, send a robot(terminator) to them?
There might be a useful side to AI in eliminating Muslim militants. Having eyes and ears everywhere, it will know who they are the moment they buy products used for mayhem and would be aware of their violent actions and have their ID in real time. It could immediately report to a judge for directions, then execute justice.
Very 1984 and, “The Terminator”
Islam is in a race between world control by Islam or by AI and doesn’t even suspect it. It’s an unknown outlook for humans in general but Islam will be one of its first targets should AI decide to eliminate any troublesome humans. Islam’s written “holy” texts would be immediately recognized by AI as subversive.
Sorry, Muhammad, Islam doesn’t have any chance of dominating the earth.
Anyway, mazel tov Israel, get those terrorist bastards.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I’ll root for AI over humans if the humans in question are either
➤ Leftists
➤ Muslims
It’s a no-brainer!
Unknown guy says
Al Jazeera is the worst of all acting like a personal media for hamas.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
It was Osama’s go-to TV channel the weeks after 9/11, so it’s not surprising. What’s surprising is it’s being allowed/tolerated at all in the West
Scotsman48 says
There can be no stranger alliance than those who follow the teaching of islam and those who claim to be Of The Left in the Western World as The Left talks of free thought and lifestyle with all its liberal values and islam teaches the exact opposite of all of that and it appears these ”Liberals” in the Western World are unaware that they are gong to be thrown off the rooftop right after the homosexuals once the islamic morons take over the Western World, starting with Europe.
islamism is the new nazism.
Jeff says
Bible believing Christians see and understand all of this…Bible Prophecy is in full site….
somehistory says
Yes, The God of the Bible told us ahead of time what was to happen. Forewarned is forearmed. In this case, forearmed with faith.
Linde B. says
Excellent summary of the news channels’ reporting as well as your comments. Thank you Mr. Hugh Fitzgerald. I continue to pray for Israel and all Jewish people there.
KuhnKat says
“India’s Narendra Modi denounced the Hamas attack, and notably, did not call for Israel to exercise “restraint” or for “an end to violence.” This is quite a change from his predecessors in the Congress Party, who always lined up on the side of the Palestinians.”
Muslim rape and marriage pogroms in India may finally be having an effect not to mention the violence in Kashmir and other areas all Muslim driven.
DanC says
BBC News are disgusting actually. Daily. 1st page is always “aww poor Gaza/Palestinians people, humanitarian this&that”. It’s absolutely disgusting. Despicable news porn.
Guys, WE DON’T CARE !!! Go back to Oct 7 and report those horrors. Not this BS.