War’s impact on civilians is something the media can and should cover. ABC’s decision to positively profile a terrorist shill who proudly advertises calling Israelis “demonic” demonstrates unmistakable bias.
The network’s lapse in judgment by hosting Khalek was further compounded when it posted two other biased videos close in time.
ABC Platformed Rape Denier Rania Khalek Who Called the IDF “Demonic”
On April 9, 2026, ABC News’ Elizabeth Shulze made the troubling choice to invite Rania Khalek to comment on a large IDF operation in Lebanon the prior day.
The decision to profile Khalek is disturbing by virtue of her professional affiliations, support for terrorist organizations, atrocity denial and bigoted vitriol (she has called Israelis “demonic”). It also enabled Khalek to spread misinformation under the guise of “reporting.”
Khalek is a producer and lead host for BreakThrough News (BTN). The outlet, under investigation for potential FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) violations, publishes Chinese Communist Party, Maduro and Cuban regime-aligned content. Khalek was also a long-time contributor and host for “RT” (formerly “Russia Today,” a Russian regime propaganda outlet) and a since-suspended viral video brand “In the Now,” that failed to disclose Russian government ties.
Khalek has repeatedly and publicly refused to condemn the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. She has called reports of that day’s atrocities as well as Hamas’ human shield strategy “lies.” Khalek refers to Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran as foils against U.S. and Israeli “imperialism” in the Middle East, and has whitewashed atrocities in Syria, where the former Assad regime was responsible for the death of more than 200,000 civilians and the displacement of nearly 14 million Syrians (6.8 million internally, the rest abroad) in 14 years.
After describing her perception of the large-scale Israeli strikes on Apr. 8, 2026, Schulze asked Khalek, “In your view, from your vantage point, it was not Hezbollah targets that were under attack?”
Khalek answered, “Absolutely not.” Without qualification, she stated Hezbollah targets were not under attack and the Israeli strikes were “completely indiscriminate.” She claimed Hezbollah was not in the areas where the Israelis operated, as if to say the attacks lacked military purpose. In making such a bold statement, Khalek conveniently omitted the fact that one of the places the IDF operated was Dahiyeh, the very suburb that housed Hassan Nasrallah’s underground bunker, where he and 20 other Hezbollah figures were killed on Sep. 27, 2024.
Meanwhile, the IDF revealed the scope of the attack and the Alma Research and Education Center (Alma) painstakingly detailed the Hezbollah targets that day.
While initially counting 180 Hezbollah operatives killed in the April 8 attack, the IDF later revised its count to 250, including senior Hezbollah commander Hassan Mustafa Nasser and senior intelligence officials Ali Qassem, Abu Ali Abbas and Ali Hijazi. With a death toll of at least 357, Alma calculated (using IDF figures) that at least two-thirds of those killed on April 8 were Hezbollah.
In addition to traditional military targets, the Israelis also conducted targeted eliminations of field operatives, including some in “safe apartments” – using precision munitions to reach targets operating inside residential buildings.
This makes Khalek’s statements all the more irresponsible – and simply false.
Despite Khalek’s well-documented history of having made false claims and reprehensible remarks, ABC did not challenge Khalek whatsoever. They knew, by profiling her, she was sure to provide an anti-Israel narrative to their audience not actually based in fact.
ABC’s Perry Russom Implies Israel is Not Only Attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon
In a video dated on the website as April 10, 2026, ABC News correspondent Perry Russom interviewed spokesperson for UNICEF in Lebanon, Christophe Boulierac. While no video exists on the ABC website of a UNICEF person talking about Israeli children since right after Oct. 7, 2023, Boulierac appropriately talked about the effect on Lebanese children during the military operations there since March 2, 2026.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Russom asked Boulierac, “Do you think Israel is only attacking Hezbollah?”
The implication of this question, to this guest, is that Israel is purposely attacking Lebanese civilians – children. Boulierac responded by rhetorically asking why so many children had been killed, injured and displaced.
ABC’s Marcus Moore Implies Pager Operation Impacted a Large Number of Civilians
On Apr. 9, 2026, ABC News obtained a Lebanese 13-year-old’s selfie video, which captured Israeli strikes in the background. The video then pivoted to ABC’s Marcus Moore who understandably mentioned the impact of war on innocent civilians.
While the Lebanese Health Ministry (run by Hezbollah member Rakan Nassereddine) does not separate civilian from combatant deaths when reporting a casualty count – much like Hamas – recent figures indicate over 2,000 total have been killed in Lebanon by Israel since March 2, 2026. As of April 15, 2026, Israel estimates more than 1,700 were Hezbollah operatives.
Immediately after mentioning the impact of war on civilians, Moore gratuitously commented, “I think back to the time when the Israelis – part of an operation – set off a number of pagers and radios and how a number of people were impacted by that.”
Moore’s implication, of course, is that a significant number of innocent civilians were impacted by the targeted pager [and walkie talkie] operation in September 2024 against Hezbollah operatives. While there were a few, unintended civilian casualties and injuries, the vast majority of those killed or injured were Hezbollah members.
The Result
With these three videos, Russom, Moore and Schulze (by way of platforming Khalek) planted the seed with ABC’s audience that Israel’s intentions are not only to attack Hezbollah, but Lebanese civilians.