Famously, the slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print” graces the front page of every New York Times edition. The slogan was coined at the end of the 19th century by the paper’s publisher, Adolph Ochs. Of course, in today’s hyper-globalized world, the slogan is wishful thinking. No paper could realistically cover all the important news stories of the day.
Still, it would be hard to argue that outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and others adequately cover even those stories they do print. They often devote precious space to emotive or opinionated claims, while omitting highly material and relevant information that sheds important new light.
Provided below are three important, but underreported, stories from the week bearing on Israel and the Middle East that media consumers should know.
1) Palestinian Islamic Jihad Really Understands a News Cycle
Is it a coincidence that Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has been slow rolling its fighters’ death announcements while the world’s attention is focused on the military conflict in and around Iran? How did PIJ know this would be the best time to reveal that information when almost no one would pay attention?
Perhaps it’s because many of their dead terrorists were journalists.
On Mar. 20, 2026, PIJ announced that “journalist” Muhammad Abu Haweidi was a commander in PIJ’s Central Military Media Unit. Abu Haweidi was killed by Israel in a Dec. 2023 airstrike, and UNESCO condemned Israel for killing the “journalist” – who was listed as having worked for al-Istiqlal news outlet – on Jan. 12, 2024.
Mohammed Mohammed Nasser Kamel Abu Huweidi (ID#: 803434364, age 29), listed as a journalist for the privately owned al-Istiqlal news outlet, was a commander in PIJ’s Central Military Media Unit. Abu Huweidi was killed in a December 2023 airstrike. pic.twitter.com/xDM5KLMd1k
— Gabriel Epstein (@GabrielEpsteinX) March 20, 2026
PIJ claimed several other “journalists.” Salem Hosni Salem Abu Tayr, a financial manager and photojournalist for PIJ-affiliated al-Quds Today TV, killed in Apr. 2024, was outed as a commander in PIJ’s Military Media Unit. Mohammad Nabil Ibrahim al-Zaq, a PIJ-affiliated al-Quds Today TV journalist, killed in a Nov. 2023 airstrike and known previously by Israel to be a PIJ fighter, was confirmed to be Head of PIJ’s Central Bureau. Hassan Abdulfattah Farajallah, a news presenter and executive at al-Quds Today TV, killed in a Dec. 2023 airstrike, was revealed to be a commander of PIJ’s Mobilization Unit in the Northern Brigade.
There has been a concerted effort by activists as well as academics to depict these and other terrorists as “journalists,” such as in a Birzeit University “research” paper entitled “Media Genocide: Documentation of the stories of the martyrdom of 125 Palestinian journalists during the Israeli war on Gaza in 2023-2024.” Unsurprisingly, the not-very-rigorous-research failed to reveal that any of these “journalists” were members of PIJ.
Some of the other many PIJ operatives whose deaths were announced this week were revealed to be nurses. This was significant because in addition to the libel about Israel having targeted journalists, similar allegations were made about Israel targeting health care professionals.
Fox News is the first major media organization to have reported on this. There, David Adesnik from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) described as “striking” the number of PIJ commanders who operated with civilian cover. He surmised this was evidence of a strategy to infiltrate civilian organizations and ensure outrage at their deaths due to their civilian covers.
At the end of February, The Washington Post covered Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) dubious claim that Israel was killing journalists indiscriminately. They have not updated their coverage despite these revelations.
2) Volkswagen Signals New Chapter with Potential Israeli Defense Firm Partnership
This week, Financial Times reported that Volkswagen (VW) may soon be involved in producing one of Israel’s most famous defense creations: the Iron Dome. Presently, the German car company is negotiating a deal with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (Rafael) which would switch production at one of VW’s factories from cars to missile defense, where it would make various Iron Dome parts.
Rafael hopes to sell the Iron Dome system to governments across Europe looking to shore up their air defenses. The company reportedly selected Germany for its European production because of the country’s strong support of Israel.
Such a partnership would mark the first time since World War II that VW produced weaponry. In 1937, Volkswagen (VW) was founded as part of Hitler’s vision that German families would be able to own a car; and during World War II, the company manufactured vehicles for the Nazis, using more than 15,000 concentration camp laborers.
For decades, VW showed no remorse for its role in the war.
In 1991, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that VW refused to pay reparations, arguing it had no legal obligation to compensate forced laborers. Later that decade, VW somewhat reversed course. The company created a $12 million fund for forced laborers but said it was doing so for moral reasons, not because it felt it had any legal obligation.
Even if this deal does not come to fruition, it could signal a turning point: VW is willing to move on from helping to fuel the Nazi regime that sought to destroy the Jewish people, to helping the Jewish people defend themselves.
This story has been reported in Reuters, The Jerusalem Post, and the Financial Times, but given the amount of other news flooding the airwaves and printing press, it might have been one you missed.
3) Israeli Dark Humor Goes Viral
Israelis are exhausted from this Iran war. Despite the reduction in number of missiles from Iran, many are still woken nearly nightly from sirens telling them to run to their protected spaces. Parents are still home with their children, and they are trying to work remotely. Citizens of the north are even more fatigued, as they run to shelters far more frequently under rocket fire from Hezbollah, as reported in last week’s column by Darcie Grunblatt.
In the middle of the June 2025 Twelve-Day War, The Jerusalem Post published an opinion piece entitled “Humor, Israel’s secret weapon for maintaining morale.” Thankfully, Israelis have been able to access this secret weapon again during the present conflict.
Two men created a hilarious video “begging” the Islamic Republic not to bomb the eyesore that is the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station. The video addresses “rumors” that below the station exists a missile factory, and it shows the location on a map. The twosome pirouette around the most disgusting areas in the bus station and say multiple times in unison (in English), “Please, don’t bomb this place.”
The Jewish sense of humour in hard times is legendary. This message to the Iranian Regime is hilarious.
Please don’t bomb this specific place. pic.twitter.com/0eQt5jEYl6— Daniel (@VoteLewko) March 22, 2026
As it turns out, these two men were not the only ones who thought free demolition services from Israel’s enemies was a smart idea.
Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Russian-Israeli held hostage in Iraq by an Iran-linked militia for over 900 days, also weighed in. In responding to the video, she quipped, “When my kidnappers demanded I give them targets in Israel, I told them there is a secret Home Front base under the [Tel Aviv] Central Bus Station…”