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How the Washington Post Turned a Feel-Good Story into an Anti-Israel Attack

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Robert Satloff - I have never seen a story quite like the Washington Post piece headlined "Israel's war with Hamas separates Palestinian babies from their mothers." The Post labels its news coverage of the conflict "Israel-Gaza War" - an editorial decision which implies Israel is at war with Gaza, rather than the more accurate "Israel-Hamas War" - the term used by the New York Times. The gist of the 31-paragraph piece in the news section is that several dozen Palestinian mothers and premature infants have been separated because of the war, the latter all cared for in hospitals in Israel or the West Bank. No one dies in this story; these Palestinian babies are all safe and protected. Indeed, the journalists could have written a wholly different story - "Despite war, Gazan babies safe and protected in Israeli and West Bank hospitals" - but they opted to focus on the alleged distress of the mothers instead of the well-being of the babies. I say "alleged" because only one mother was quoted by full name, who was reached by phone in Gaza. In a war filled with death, the Washington Post took a fundamentally good news story about premature babies from Gaza cared for by compassionate people across enemy lines and turned it into a horror story, with diabolical Israelis lurking overhead. The writer is executive director of The Washington Institute.
2023-11-23 00:00:00
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