MSNBC national security analyst Jeremy Bash may be a former Democratic CIA official, but that did not stop him from ripping the media on Tuesday’s The 11th Hour for “breathlessly, word for word” repeating Hamas propaganda that the destruction of a Gaza hospital was caused by an Israeli airstrike.
Host Stephanie Ruhle simply wondered, “Jeremy, how do you think this explosion changes things?”
Being a good Democrat, Bash began by praising President Biden “for boldly going and standing by an ally. We’re, just, obviously ten days after the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust and he's been so resolute, so morally clear, and for him to go to Tel Aviv, go to Jerusalem, go to the war cabinet, and sit down with Israeli leaders and show solidarity, I think, is an incredibly important message.”
Addressing Ruhle’s question, Bash declared, “Now, to Ben [Rhodes]'s point, the reaction on the Arab street is a critical factor that is playing out at this hour. But why was there this reaction on the Arab street? It's because for some reason, the news media ran out there and took the word, lock, stock and barrel, of a Hamas ministry spokesperson that, of course, it was an Israeli airstrike before there was any evidence.”
Bash is correct to condemn the media, but the “reason” is that truth doesn’t matter for those people. They are either ideologically anti-Israel or they’re so desperate to appear neutral and sympathetic to the Palestinians that they end up repeating terrorist propaganda.
Moving on, Bash conceded he doesn’t know what happened, but there’s good reason to not trust Hamas, “Now, I agree, at this hour, we don't know, the IDF has put out a radar track showing the missile from Islamic Jihad flew right over the hospital. They also say there is a SIGINT intercept of Islamic Jihad fighters, talking about firing this rocket. So we don't have the evidence, and I take the point earlier, we may never know.”
Returning to the media, Bash reiterated, “But the fact that it was reported breathlessly, word for word, from Hamas which obviously has no credibility, I mean they told your—they told Richard Engel they’ve released the hostages. If there was no airstrikes within one hour, your reporter just gave a set-up piece in which she said there’s been no airstrikes here for three hours. So where are the hostages? They’re nowhere to be found.”
Speaking of evidence, as night has become day, photographs of the blast site have emerged that are inconsistent with an airstrike. Defense editor at The Economist, Shashank Joshi, who is not someone inclined to uncritically accept IDF press releases, also notes the damage is not inconsistent with Hamas weapons, as some anti-Israel voices tried to argue online:
Some are claiming Hamas munitions could not cause the damage seen at Al Ahli hospital. This assumption seems unwarranted. The physical damage is fairly limited, in some ways: "within 10m of the impact site there are cars which appear mostly undamaged." https://t.co/6c05taNNL6
— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) October 18, 2023
All the more reason why the media rushing to repeat Hamas propaganda was a grave mistake.
Here is a transcript for the October 17 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
10/17/2023
11:14 PM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Jeremy, how do you think this explosion changes things?
JEREMY BASH: Well, first, I give President Biden tremendous credit for boldly going and standing by an ally. We’re, just, obviously ten days after the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust and he's been so resolute, so morally clear, and for him to go to Tel Aviv, go to Jerusalem, go to the war cabinet, and sit down with Israeli leaders and show solidarity, I think, is an incredibly important message.
Now, to Ben's point, the reaction on the Arab street is a critical factor that is playing out at this hour. But why was there this reaction on the Arab street? It's because for some reason, the news media ran out there and took the word, lock, stock and barrel, of a Hamas ministry spokesperson that, of course, it was an Israeli airstrike before there was any evidence.
Now, I agree, at this hour, we don't know, the IDF has put out a radar track showing the missile from Islamic Jihad flew right over the hospital. They also say there is a SIGINT intercept of Islamic Jihad fighters, talking about firing this rocket. So we don't have the evidence, and I take the point earlier, we may never know.
But the fact that it was reported breathlessly, word for word, from Hamas which obviously has no credibility, I mean they told your—they told Richard Engel they’ve released the hostages. If there was no airstrikes within one hour, your reporter just gave a set-up piece in which she said there’s been no airstrikes here for three hours. So where are the hostages? They’re nowhere to be found.
So, I don’t think we can credit Hamas. This is a dicey situation. I credit the president for going, and hopefully there’ll be calm, humanitarian relief inside the southern part of the Gaza Strip and the U.S. can transmit a message of strength and resolute support for Israel at this time.
