If the frequency with which NPR’s “State of the World” podcast reported on a country or conflict represented its percentage of land mass, one would think Israel occupied nearly a quarter of the globe. Despite Israel (including Gaza and the West Bank) consisting of 0.0001 percent of the world’s land mass, it was the subject of 24 percent of the almost 260 “State of the World” podcast episodes in 2025.
While one could argue that the oversized attention given to this tiny country was due to the war, Russia and Ukraine combined made up less than nine percent of “State of the World” episodes in 2025 (and combined, more than 11 percent of the world’s land mass). Sudan, the civil war which has fueled what the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants has labeled “the largest displacement crisis in the world,” garnered the attention of a meager two percent of “State of the World” episodes during the same time period.
NPR is energetic when it wants to be — its written and broadcast coverage of Israel plentiful and vociferous, with a predilection for anti-Israel guests and topics. Indeed, when NPR sat down for the second time with Hamas leader Bassem Naim on “State of the World” in mid-December 2025, it became clear NPR was looking to endear listeners to Naim yet again, rather than pose any tough questions.
In contrast to NPR’s harsh words for actors in other conflicts (e.g. describing former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as having “engaged in massive fraud to steal elections,” and “despised” by most Venezuelans, and referring to Assad’s regime as a “corrupt dictatorship” and a “web of control and corruption,”) NPR offered calm, almost passive exchanges with Hamas.
Why did NPR get lax when faced with the leader of the terrorist organization group responsible for launching the war on Oct. 7, 2023? What are listeners to make of the fact that the only interviews of leaders this podcast conducted in 2024 and 2025 were of this Hamas terrorist?
In NPR’s first interview of Bassem Naim on “State of the World,” which aired on Aug. 13, 2024, Aya Batrawy gave the terrorist legitimacy and esteem when she described him in Qatar as “one of Hamas’ top political leaders” and a “German-educated surgeon and former health minister from Gaza,” in the style reminiscent of how The Washington Post first referred to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar.” In fact, in the final months of President Biden’s administration, Naim was sanctioned pursuant to Executive Order 13224, originally signed by President Bush in September 2001 as a means to impede terrorist funding.
Batrawy’s interview of Naim, an unrepentant terrorist, was extremely soft. Batrawy failed to press Naim over his non-answers when questioned about Hamas’ practice of human shielding. When Naim said he did not regret the Oct. 7, 2023, massacres, admitting only to some “mistakes,” Batrawy similarly failed to press him on those “mistakes.” She further failed to ask why he did not regret the intentional killing and kidnapping of babies, children, elderly, or women in Israel.
At the conclusion of the segment, Batrawy asked him, “How do you see this ending?” Naim responded with a question: “You mean about this round of the conflict or generally?”
And, cut. Batrawy ended the segment with absolutely no response from Naim on either version of the question. The abrupt ending epitomized the incomplete journalism that characterized the entire interview.
The second Naim interview on “State of the World,” 16 months after the first interview and less than 13 months after Naim was slapped with sanctions by the United States, was no less timid.
After NPR finished expressing its admiration for establishing terrorist headquarters in swanky, Qatari suburbs, listeners were told that Hamas was willing to lay down its weapons for some period of time and that Hamas had one more Israeli hostage body to turn over (yet Naim was never asked about this).
Hamas was “willing to negotiate” over its weapons, reported NPR’s Daniel Estrin. Ready “not to use [weapons]” for “five, seven or 10 years as long as we are not attacked,” Naim said. But the U.S.-sanctioned terrorist clarified that Hamas would not disarm without negotiations towards a Palestinian state.
With the more than 60 “State of the World” episodes about Israel and/or Gaza in 2025, NPR could not think to ask any of the following questions of Naim:
- Why does Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist organization, have an office in Qatar?
- Who pays for Hamas’ expenses in Qatar in violation of international law?
- What does Naim have to say about the fact that he has been subject to sanctions by the United States for more than one year?
- If Hamas is ready not to use their weapons for five, seven or 10 years, what happens at the end of that period of time?
Estrin told NPR listeners that “[they] asked the Hamas officials about their decision to launch the attack which killed around 1200 people on October 7th two years ago, given the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed” in the ensuing war. There is no indication of who the “Hamas officials” were that Estrin referred to, insinuating that perhaps there were other Hamas officials present at the interview that were not identified by NPR and perhaps exerting control over what could be asked and/or answered. In the question NPR claims to have posed to these officials, listeners are also left wondering why NPR did not include the fact that 251 people were also kidnapped in addition to the 1200 people killed and many more injured.
Estrin reported that Naim responded that Hamas should not be held responsible for Israel’s response. Naim was recorded as saying “history didn’t start on October 7th” and then he proceeded to accuse Israel of genocide.
Estrin did not press Naim one bit. Instead, Estrin politely asked Naim if Hamas “achieved the goals it laid out in its October 7th attack.” What these goals were, Estrin never elaborated. However, Naim was recorded as saying that Oct. 7, 2023, “achieved some of the goals of the Palestinian people,” overtly stating that Oct. 7, 2023, brought Palestinians “back to the top of the world’s agenda and turned public opinion against Israel, even in the U.S.” According to Naim, that was “a strategic win and irreversible.”
There was no pushback from Estrin, who dutifully played his part in Hamas’ cynical “public opinion” game. Instead, NPR simply went quiet, gave Hamas its “win,” and ended the interview there.
Will NPR’s “State of the World” branch out in 2026, or will it default to regularly bashing Israel and glorifying terrorists? CAMERA will be listening.