Last week we wrote about the particular strain of journalistic malady called “denial denial.” Today’s post is a study of a close cousin of denial denial: “denial distortion.”
Thus, CBS dutifully reported that the Israeli military issued a denial regarding Hamas-fueled reports that it had gunned down dozens of civilians at an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip on June 1. But the problem is that the network fudged what it was exactly that the army denied.
Thus, CBS’ Imtiaz Tyab fabricated in the introduction of the June 1 “Sunday Weekend News” broadcast: “The Israeli military denies anyone was killed in the incident, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.” Further down in the broadcast, he offered up a slightly changed variation of the same theme: “Israel had denied any shooting took place today.”
In fact, the IDF never denied that anyone was killed in the incident. Nor did it deny that any shooting took place. Rather, the army denied that its troops fired on civilians in or near the aid distribution site. The IDF’s denial stated:
False reports have been spread In [sic] recent hours, including serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in Gaza.
Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false.[Emphasis in original.]
The IDF is cooperating with the GHF and international aid organizations in order to enable the distribution of aid to Gazan residents—and not to Hamas.
The IDF calls on the media to be cautious with information published by the Hamas terrorist organization, as proven in many previous incidents.
The Israeli military also released drone footage which it said showed Hamas combatants firing on civilians at a different aid distribution site, raising the possibility that Hamas was responsible for the deadly shooting.
Aside from his imprecise strawman reporting of the IDF’s denial, Tyab’s factual liberties also include the number of reported casualties. Regarding the June 1 incident at the food distribution site in Rafah, the CBS journalist intoned: “At least 49 people were killed and over 200 wounded, most suffering from gunshot injuries, according to Gaza health officials.”
In fact, the “Gaza health officials,” also known as Hamas employees, did not cite 49 dead in that disputed incident. On June 1, at 1:53 PM (Israel time) Hamas’ Ministry of Health reported that hospitals across the coastal territories, meaning from various incidents in different locations, received 37 fatalities within the previous 24 hours. The Hamas-employed health officials reported 136 wounded within the same time period, which covered both the Rafah aid distribution site incident along with other deadly events.
So how did CBS’ Tyab reach these inflated casualty figures, which exceeded Hamas’ own notoriously questionable figures for both the dead and wounded? Tyab, who joined CBS after a stint at the Qatari-controlled Al Jazeera, apparently relied on the erroneous reporting of his previous employer without carrying out any independent checking of his own. In this June 1 report, Al Jazeera wrongly reported that the Gaza Ministry of Health reported 49 dead and more than 200 wounded in an Israeli airstrike [sic] on a Rafah aid distribution site.
While Tyab failed to make clear that the Gaza Health Ministry is run by Hamas, or that Hamas is a designated terror organization, his treatment of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation did not get the same pass. He referred to it as “a controversial U.S. and Israeli backed aid distribution center,” and added: “The United Nations and other aid agencies have refused to work with the group, saying it has, quote ‘militarized aid,’ which goes against all humanitarian principles.” Moreover, two days later, on July 3, he dedicated an entire broadcast to “Investigating Aid in Gaza.”
But Tyab’s investigation of aid in Gaza is extremely narrow, singularly focused solely on the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Meanwhile, Tyab completely ignores the abundance of criticism charging Hamas with the militarization of aid. As The New York Times, hardly a news source overly friendly to Israeli information, had reported early in the war (“As Gazans Scrounge for Food and Water, Hamas Sits on a Rich Trove of Supplies“:
As supplies of virtually every basic human necessity dwindle in Gaza, one group in the besieged enclave remains well-stocked: Hamas.
Arab and Western officials say there is substance to Israeli claims of Hamas stockpiling supplies, including desperately needed food and fuel. Hamas, they say, has spent years building dozens of kilometers of tunnels under the strip where it has amassed stores of virtually everything needed for a drawn-out fight. It is a reality that Israel may soon find itself grappling with if it makes good on its threat to invade Gaza.
Several months later, i24 News reported:
Hamas terrorists were caught stealing humanitarian aid then beating the civilians from whom the supplies were stolen, in footage captured by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and released on Monday morning.
IDF reveals footage of #Hamas operatives preventing #Gaza residents from accessing humanitarian aid by diverting these supplies for their own use pic.twitter.com/Vn04rv9Itc
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) December 11, 2023
Yet, despite the mounds of evidence which has accumulated in more than a year and a half of conflict since Oct. 7, 2023, we have yet to find that Tyab or CBS have undertaken any investigative reporting highlighting Hamas’ undeniable militarization of aid.
June 9 Update: CBS Removes Clip From YouTube Page
CBS has removed the video from its YouTube page.