A CNN article on a series of violent events in Israel over the last couple of days is another unfortunate demonstration of media outlets omitting important context. In Kareem Khadder, Hadas Gold, and Ibrahim Dahman’s September 20 article, “Six Palestinians killed by Israeli military in three separate incidents over 24 hours,” the journalists irresponsibly omit the involvement of Palestinian terror groups and their use of religious buildings for military purposes.
The article begins by stating, “Six Palestinians have been killed and dozens injured by Israeli military fire in three separate incidents…” The next sentence reiterates: “Four people were killed…as a result of a Tuesday evening Israeli military incursion into the Jenin refugee camp…” Yet not once does the article mention that all four of those Palestinian fatalities have been claimed by either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.
Later in the article, the authors reference a “video [which] appeared to show a mosque minaret in the camp taking direct fire.” They omit that the same video also clearly shows a Molotov cocktail being thrown from the minaret.
Just another day in Jenin using a minaret like a clock tower for deranged gunmen. pic.twitter.com/IV8LPck1dP
— The Mossad: Satirical, Yet Awesome (@TheMossadIL) September 19, 2023
The first omission leaves readers without the context that Israel was not shooting random Palestinians, but rather was engaged in a gunfight with terrorists. The second omission conceals from readers that those terrorists were exploiting a religious building for military purposes and instead gave the decontextualized impression that Israeli forces were firing on a mosque for no reason. This is plainly biased and deficient reporting.
The article goes on to make an absurd description of another one of the violent events. According to CNN:
Separately in Gaza, on Tuesday afternoon, one Palestinian man was killed and several others injured by Israeli fire across the Gaza border fence during regular protests being held along the border for the past week, where demonstrators throw explosive devices, burn tires, and sometimes shoot weapons at Israeli forces on the other side.
It is plainly inaccurate, and frankly absurd, to describe those who “throw explosive devices” and “shoot weapons” as “demonstrators” engaged in a “protest.”
CNN’s obsessive and slanted reporting continues to leave its audience without important information necessary to understand events. Notably, the omissions all work to downplay and omit the terrorism and violence being waged against Israel, instead highlighting only the decontextualized responses of the Israeli Defense Forces.