History has again repeated itself as the dominant media have so far ignored the finding released on Monday that over 80 percent of those killed by the Israeli military over the past couple of months in Gaza have been identified as affiliated with terrorist groups.
The left-leaning media outlets that talked up the likelihood that the Israelis were mostly killing peaceful civilian protesters have ignored the development just as they did after the wars that occurred in 2009 and in 2014.
On Wednesday's America's Newsroom on Fox News Channel, longtime correspondent Eric Shawn informed viewers at 10:04 a.m. Eastern: "A study by an Israeli intelligence think tank says, of 112 Palestinians killed, 93 were terrorist operatives or affiliated with the terrorist group -- 63 Hamas, 21 Fatah."
Reading from the report prepared by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, he added:
IDF soldiers did not shoot indiscriminately at innocent residents but instead at terrorist operatives. These operatives were the dominant factor among those in the front line who tried to break into Israeli territory while burning tires and throwing pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails ... shooting attacks were carried out and IEDs were planted by armed terrorist squads.
The dominant media similarly handled its coverage of the 2014 war with repeated claims that most Palestinians killed were civilians, but then ignored the release of a December 2014 report that estimated that 55 percent of those killed by the IDF were combatants. In January 2015, a second report put the number at 52 percent.
According to a Nexis search of the evening newscasts, morning newscasts, and Sunday talk shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC, from July to August 2014, there were at least 36 times when a reporter or anchor claimed that most of those killed by the Israeli military were civilians, citing either the United Nations or the Gaza Health Ministry.
Additionally, of those 36 times, there were nine times when the number was claimed to be a "vast majority" or "overwhelming majority," or large numbers like 70, 75, or 80 percent were cited as the percentage of deaths that were civilians.
On CNN's flagship three-hour morning show, New Day, it was claimed nine times by reporters that most Palestinian deaths were civilians -- of which, there were four times when it was claimed to be 70 or 80 percent. On FNC's Special Report with Bret Baier, reporters five times claimed that most killed were civilians, but refrained from ever claiming it to be an overwhelming majority.
And, going back to the 2009 war, as previously documented by NewsBusters, there was an incident in which the media reported on the IDF damaging a United Nations school where civilians were taking shelter, as the media pushed claims that 44 people -- mostly civilians -- had been killed.
But, when an IDF investigation concluded that only 12 people on school grounds were killed -- all outside of the school -- and all but three were Hamas members, the new information was ignored by the media.
And, as for the total number of Palestinian deaths for the entire 2009 war, about 70 percent were identified as combatants. So, by now, the dominant media should be highly skeptical of any claims that mostly civilians are being killed by the Israeli military.
