CNN’s selective application of Christiane Amanpour’s “be truthful not neutral” mantra continued Saturday’s CNN Newsroom as host Fredricka Whitfield welcomed alleged journalist Rula Jebreal to accuse the Israelis of committing “war crimes” and to attack President Biden from the left, insisting he is also violating the law. However, to make her case, Jebreal had to spread fake news about what it is Israel is actually doing.
Noting the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Washington on Saturday, Whitfield asked, “Already it looks like a pretty sizable turnout to show solidarity for the Palestinian people. How influential do you believe it will be?”
Jebreal didn’t really answer the question, instead choosing to go after the White House:
The real question is will it affect the White House and their consideration, because they seem oblivious to the fact that 66 percent of American voters on both sides of the spectrum, by the way, with, you know, both affiliation, believe we need a cease fire, but also the overwhelming majority of Americans wants President Biden to condition military aid, the $14 billion that he wants to send to Bibi Netanyahu to some kind of mechanism where the warfare that Israel is waging is lawful, is legal, follows international law and they're seeing this is not being done.
The poll Jebreal cites is from the left-wing Data for Progress and is multiple weeks old, but more recently polling shows that half of Americans approve of the way Israel has responded and only 35 percent disapprove.
Cherry-picking polling data was hardly the worst of Jebreal’s rant, as she continued, “Actually, they're seeing also the conversation within the State Department where criticism of these kinds of approaches are being silenced. People are resigning. I mean, the Administration is violating America's own law, the Leahy Law, that indicates that any recipient of military aid cannot violate human rights, civil rights, cannot commit war crimes.”
How is Israel committing war crimes by defending itself? Jebreal attempted to explain, “Yet in the case of Israel, there's a strong indication with the images of bombings of hospitals, of schools, of refugees, of refugees camps, of UNRWA, you know, shelters, you are seeing the indication that there's no proportionality. That, yes, in the name of killing one military leader, they're willing to wipe out entire families and that is the issue at the heart of what leads those protesters.”
In the most notable case of Jabaliya, the strike did not just target a lone commander, it also targeted several Hamas terrorists, a command center, and underground infrastructure. CNN also showed images of the Maghazi Refugee Camp, which has a history of Hamas tunnels that did not end in 2023.
If CNN really cared about facts, it would stop inviting Jebreal on, but don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.
Here is a transcript for the November 4 show:
CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield
11/4/2023
12:26 PM ET
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: Already it looks like a pretty sizable turnout to show solidarity for the Palestinian people. How influential do you believe it will be?
RULA JEBREAL: The real question is will it affect the White House and their consideration, because they seem oblivious to the fact that 66 percent of American voters on both sides of the spectrum, by the way, with, you know, both affiliation, believe we need a cease fire, but also the overwhelming majority of Americans wants President Biden to condition military aid, the $14 billion that he wants to send to Bibi Netanyahu to some kind of mechanism where the warfare that Israel is waging is lawful, is legal, follows international law and they're seeing this is not being done.
Actually, they're seeing also the conversation within the State Department where criticism of these kinds of approaches are being silenced. People are resigning. I mean, the Administration is violating America's own law, the Leahy Law, that indicates that any recipient of military aid cannot violate human rights, civil rights, cannot commit war crimes. Yet in the case of Israel, there's a strong indication with the images of bombings of hospitals, of schools, of refugees, of refugees camps, of UNRWA, you know, shelters, you are seeing the indication that there's no proportionality. That, yes, in the name of killing one military leader, they're willing to wipe out entire families and that is the issue at the heart of what leads those protesters. Some of these protestors are regular students, are kids who are Jewish, who are Muslims, who are Christian, also look at the discourse in Washington and think it's totally detached from the reality on the ground.
