The repellent coordinated terrorist attacks Saturday by Hamas on the state of Israel on Saturday, targeting both soldiers and citizens for rape and murder and kidnapping. But in its ongoing live coverage the New York Times consistently refused to call the Hamas terrorists, using the less dramatic word “militants,” which is standard practice for the paper. It’s the same word the paper just used in a news story to describe GOP opposition to Democrats. The Times has a long and pathetic history of parroting the propaganda of the death-and-rape-cult Hamas.
The Times was only willing to quote Israelis accurately calling the invaders terrorists, without using the word itself, as in this headline from live coverage which goes from “terrorists” to “militants”:
‘There were terrorists inside’: An Israeli recounts how militants invaded his village.
The coverage at times minimized the atrocity occurring in Israel, either by smothering the gory details of rape and kidnapping, and the parading of corpses of Israeli women by Hamas thugs, or by changing the subject to diplomacy, while denying that President Biden’s unfreezing of $6 billion in frozen Iranian oil revenue could possibly help Hamas purchase weaponry, even though Iran is the group’s biggest funder.
Reporter Neil Vigdor was adamant in his defense of Biden, arguing Republicans had “seized” on the issue to hurt the president, as if Biden’s political standing was the most important thing about Saturday’s atrocity.
Republican presidential candidates seized on the Hamas attack on Israel Saturday to try to lay blame on President Biden, drawing a connection between the surprise assault and a recent hostage release deal between the United States and Iran, a longtime backer of the group.…In exchange for the release of five Americans held in Tehran, the Biden administration agreed in August to free up $6 billion in frozen Iranian oil revenue funds for humanitarian purposes. The administration has emphasized that the money could be used only for “food, medicine, medical equipment that would not have a dual military use.”
A senior Biden administration official responded to the comments by Mr. Trump -- as well as to criticism by other Republican candidates -- by calling them “total lies” and accusing the politicians of having either a “complete misunderstanding” of the facts or of participating willingly in a “complete mischaracterization and disinformation of facts.”
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley put that kind of ignorant argument to bed, noting that money is fungible.
Haley: I actually think it was irresponsible for Secretary Blinken to say that the $6 billion doesn't weigh in here. I mean, let's be honest with the American people and understand that Hamas knows and Iran knows they're moving money around as we speak because they know $6 billion is gonna be released.
More terrorist evasion was committed by journalist Raja Abdulrahim, who found excuses for Hamas during live coverage:
Palestinians in Gaza have been living under a suffocating 16-year land, air and sea blockade by Israel, and backed by Egypt, that has led to nearly 50 percent unemployment and deteriorating living conditions, medicine supply and infrastructure. More than two million Palestinians live there. Some residents gathered along Gaza’s northern border to cheer the return of Palestinian fighters from armed groups who were part of the surprise attack, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“Fighters” is an even weaker word that “militants,” lending the Hamas thugs false legitimacy.
