Israel is currently embarked on the most successful counterterrorist campaign in history. In a span of months, the Jewish state has taken out the leaders of both Hamas and Hezbollah—the two terrorist groups that most threaten Israel’s existence—as well as their successors. And in a daring operation, Israel turned Hezbollah’s communications systems against the group, exploding hundreds of walkie talkies and pagers used and worn by its operatives.
But Israel’s foes have an ace up their sleeve: the press.
It has now been more than a year since the Hamas-led invasion of Israel, in which Iranian-backed proxies murdered more than 1200 people and took hundreds, including Americans, hostage. When adjusted for population, the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel inflicted far greater civilian casualties than the September 11, 2001 attack by al-Qaeda. Indeed, it was the largest slaughter of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust.
Israel responded by launching a military incursion into the Gaza Strip, from which the Jewish state had unilaterally withdrawn from nearly two decades ago, and which Hamas has controlled ever since. More recently, Israel carried out a limited ground operation into Lebanon, de facto ruled by Hezbollah, Iran’s foremost proxy. Like Hamas, Hezbollah calls for Israel’s destruction. The Lebanese-based terror group has been ceaselessly launching missiles into Israel for more than a year, murdering and wounding dozens while Israel largely focused on operations against Hamas in the south.
No other nation would be expected to tolerate genocidal terrorist groups on its borders. And after October 7, Israel won’t. Indeed, it can’t. For Israel, October 7 was an epoch-defining moment; a cataclysm that has shuffled priorities and reordered the Middle East. Israel will never be the same again.
Yet, despite enduring the unimaginable, the Jewish state is held to a different standard—by policymakers and press alike.
The United Nations and a host of faux human rights organizations like Amnesty International have condemned Israel. Indeed, the UN itself has materially aided Israel’s enemies. Employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) have, by the UN’s own admission, taken part in the October 7 massacre. Hamas has used UNRWA facilities—even UN vehicles—to plot and perpetrate attacks. And to Israel’s north, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has failed to enforce UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701 that call for Hezbollah’s disarmament. Evidence has also emerged showing that Hezbollah has turned entire communities in southern Lebanon into villages of human shields, even using houses to launch Russian-made missiles. This, under the nose of the UN “peacekeepers” tasked with preventing war. Hezbollah has constructed a massive war machine—more than 150,000 precision guided missiles according to some estimates—while the UN has looked the other way. The UN has gifted the terror groups with undue legitimacy. But it’s not alone in providing them with cover.
Indeed, arguably no entity has helped Hamas and Hezbollah more than the press. The media is a key weapon in their arsenal.
(Note: Read the rest of this Nov. 8, 2024 essay at the Washington Examiner Magazine)