(PatrioticPost.com)- Over the weekend, Israel leveled a high rise in Gaza that housed an operations center for the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists. This high rise also housed the offices of the Associated Press and the Qatari-funded al Jazeera.
Despite the IDF providing ample warning for people to vacate the building, outraged Western news outlets framed this targeted airstrike as an attack on journalists – a framing the Biden Administration appears to be following.
In his call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, President Biden expressed concern over the safety of journalists – as if the IDF didn’t take measures to ensure the safety of those journalists.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken contacted Gary Pruitt, President and CEO of the Associate Press to offer “unwavering support for independent journalists and media organizations around the world.”
That’s all well and good, but again, the IDF provided forewarning that the airstrike was coming in order to protect the lives of the journalists who shared an office building with the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hamas.
It is common knowledge that Hamas locates their operations in civilian areas, using innocents as human shields against potential retaliation from Israel. No doubt this objective played a part in the selection of this high rise.
After Saturday’s airstrike, Gary Pruitt released a statement claiming AP had no idea Hamas operated out of their building.
“We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,” said AP’s Pruitt in his statement. “This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”
Either the AP and Pruitt are terribly bad at this journalism thing, or they’re liars.
As it turns out, they’re liars.
In a 2014 feature at The Atlantic, journalist Matti Freidman wrote that the AP were well aware of Hamas’ presence in the building, but chose not to report it.
“The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby,” the article states, “and the AP wouldn’t report it.’
Despite this, the Biden Administration considers Saturday’s strike on this Hamas headquarters a major strategic mistake – believing it will turn public opinion in the US against Israel specifically because news organizations worked in that building as well.
But really, other than journalists who think Trump supporters chanting “CNN Lies” is a grave threat reporters, how much change in public opinion will there be?
