4 Politicians and Media Outlets Giving Biased Reports Of The Israel Conflict

Conservative News DailyMay 19, 2021

After Palestinians rioted at the Temple Mount on the anniversary of Israel’s 1967 takeover of Jerusalem, Islamic terrorist groups are launching rockets into the city for the first time in seven years.

The Israel Defense Forces state that terror groups in the Gaza Strip fired over 200 rockets and mortar shells toward Israeli territory between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, and that hundreds more have been fired since. The Iron Dome defense system successfully intercepted over 90% of the rockets launched at populated areas.

As Israel strikes back and carries out a campaign to eliminate Hamas targets that threaten civilians, Left-leaning American politicians and media outlets are framing the conflict as primarily an act of aggression by Israel.

Here are some examples.

Ilhan Omar

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) dubbed Israel’s self-defense an “act of terrorism.”

“Israeli air strikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of terrorism. Palestinians deserve protection,” Rep. Omar tweeted. “Unlike Israel, missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome, don’t exist to protect Palestinian civilians.”

Conservatives were quick to point out the biased nature of Rep. Omar’s comments.

“Iron Dome was specifically built because of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israelis,” noted Ben Shapiro. “Palestinians don’t need Iron Dome if Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PA stop engaging in terrorism against Israel.”

Iron Dome was specifically built because of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israelis. Palestinians don’t need Iron Dome if Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PA stop engaging in terrorism against Israel. https://t.co/c94syN1s40

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 10, 2021

“As families & people of the Jewish faith are taking refuge in bomb shelters from a rain of missiles coming from Hamas, a member of Congress dares to call Israel’s defense of their citizens an act of terrorism,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). “Omar’s anti-Israel beliefs are a threat to freedom in the Middle East.”

As families & people of the Jewish faith are taking refuge in bomb shelters from a rain of missiles coming from Hamas, a member of Congress dares to call Israel’s defense of their citizens an act of terrorism.

Omar’s anti-Israel beliefs are a threat to freedom in the Middle East https://t.co/6TdMc4S0xs

— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) May 11, 2021

Rep. Omar followed up with another tweet affirming her earlier stance.

“Many will tell you Israel has a right to defend itself, to safety and security, but are silent on whether Palestinians have those rights too,” she noted. “Until we can defend the rights of Palestinians just as we do Israelis, we have no leg to stand on when it comes to justice or peace.”

In the past, Rep. Omar’s comments about Jewish groups in the United States have landed her in hot water — even among fellow members of the Democratic Party. For instance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned Rep. Omar’s insinuation that pro-Israel sentiment in the United States is produced by lobbying groups.

“Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share,” said the Democratic leadership in a statement. “But Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive.”

Rashida Tlaib

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) framed the conflict in a similar light as Rep. Omar.

“I was 7 years old when I first prayed at the Al Aqsa with my sity. It’s a sacred site for Muslims. This is equivalent to attacking the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, or the Temple Mount for Jews,” she stated on Twitter.

Rep. Tlaib then called out President Biden for his purported lack of action: “Israel attacks it during Ramadan. Where’s the outrage @POTUS?”

I was 7 years old when I first prayed at the Al Aqsa with my sity. It’s a sacred site for Muslims. This is equivalent to attacking the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, or the Temple Mount for Jews.

Israel attacks it during Ramadan. Where’s the outrage @POTUS? https://t.co/Q4gGBrCOof

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 10, 2021

On May 10, Rep. Tlaib called Israel an “apartheid system” on MSNBC.

“Palestinians on the ground have been telling us for decades that their homes have been demolished, they have been targeted, that violence has been met by Israeli-led forces under Netanyahu’s racist policies,” she commented. “What we’re really telling Palestinians fighting apartheid is the same thing being told to my fellow black Americans across our country here that are fighting against police brutality. There’s no form of acceptable resistance to state violence except for the denial of people’s dignity.”

“We need to stop and look at the fact that our own country is enabling it with billions of dollars every year being issued to Israel, even though they are promoting racism and dehumanization,” she continued.

Again, Rep. Tlaib demanded that President Biden lead efforts to denounce Israel: “I have yet to hear anybody from the Biden administration declare that our money will not be used to degrade, dehumanize and kill or evict people out of their homes.”

Along with Rep. Omar — her colleague and fellow “Squad” member — Rep. Tlaib has been condemned for anti-Semitic sentiments.

In late 2019, the two reshared a cartoon of them being silenced by President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The image — drawn by Carlos Latuff, who once placed second in Iran’s “International Holocaust Cartoon Contest” — earned the Congresswomen criticism from the Anti-Defamation League.

CBS

Along with members of Congress, legacy media outlets are deemphasizing Palestinian terrorists’ role in the conflict while focusing upon the actions of Israel.

For example, CBS ran an article entitled “Israel strikes Gaza, Hamas fires rockets after hundreds of Palestinians wounded in clashes.”

“Israel’s army on Monday said it launched airstrikes on Gaza in response to rockets fired by Hamas militants after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a religious site in Jerusalem,” read the article’s first paragraph. Rather than beginning with the riot on the Temple Mount, the author chose to start by naming the Israeli Defense Forces’ response. The author likewise failed to mention that up to thirty-one Israeli civilians have been hurt by terrorists’ rockets.

The article presents a more sympathetic voice to the Palestinian side of the story. For instance, the author says that “young Palestinians protested what they saw as Israeli authorities disrupting their religious and social traditions” and mentions “an Israeli plan to evict several Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem.”

It is not until the sixth paragraph that the reader learns about the riot on the Temple Mount — an event that the article describes as “a crackdown on worshipers.”

HuffPost

For their article, HuffPost chose the title “At Least 24 Palestinians Killed As Israel Launches Airstrikes On Gaza” — a choice that frames Israeli military as the aggressors.

“Israel unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza early Tuesday, hitting the high-rise home of a Hamas field commander and two border tunnels dug by militants, as Hamas and other armed groups fired dozens of rockets toward Israel,” reads the article’s first sentence. It likewise began with Israel’s response to the terrorist threat, implying that Israel was the initial aggressor.

As with the CBS article, HuffPost refrained from using the terms “riot” or “rioters.” Instead, they call the Palestinians on the Temple Mount “residents of Arab communities” who “staged overnight demonstrations” in “one of the largest protests by Palestinian citizens in Israel in recent years.”

As Ian Haworth remarked in his recent op-ed, “By intentionally blurring the timeline, the media are — again — trying to imply that Israel are the aggressors, or that there exists some moral equivalency between the actions of the Israelis and Palestinians.”

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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