On Friday morning, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC engaged in acts of cowardice by vaguely tip-toeing through security concerns for Jewish community centers, schools, and synagogues due to what a former Hamas head demanded as a day of jihad and the rampant nature of open anti-Semitism and pro-slaughter of Jews on college campuses.
ABC’s Good Morning America was by far the worst even though they were the only broadcast network to have a story exclusively focused on the college campuses angle.
Nightline co-host Juju Chang’s tease painted this as a both-sides issue instead of noting how large groups of students have gathered to celebrate Hamas and their mass murder Saturday of over 1,200 innocents: “Coming up, though, we have protests erupting on college campuses across the country over the escalating Israeli/Hamas war. We’re live at one campus.”
Tossing to correspondent Selina Wang, Chang kept up this false equivalency that also signaled ABC was mad about pro-Hamas students being canceled:
But now to the battle brewing on college campuses over the crisis in the Middle East. Students taking sides and clashing while some CEOs are now saying they won’t hire people based on their views in the wake of the Hamas attack.
Wang began by stating the obvious that “[c]ollege campuses are deeply divided, including here at Harvard,” but fretted “corporate CEOs are trying to blacklist students whose organizations signed onto a controversial statement.” She focused on Harvard, which had found “itself in the middle of contentious conversation”.
The both-sides-ism continued as she further aired complaints about leftist students facing consequences conservatives have dealt with for years (click “expand”):
WANG: Harvard finding itself in the middle of contentious conversation after its Palestine solidarity groups released a statement signed by more than 30 student groups in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks, saying they held “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all the unfolding violence...[F]or the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open air prison.” CEO’s from major corporations like SweetGreen and FabBitFun calling for the names of the students within those groups to be released.
FABFITFUN CO-FOUNDER AND CEO MICHAEL BROUKHIM: What we wanted to do was try to understand, well, who actually is signing on to that statement and if people are actually signing on to that statement — [SCREEN WIPE] — we would want to make sure that we’re not hiring those individuals.
WANG: Billionaire Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, took to X to share his views writing, “I have been asked by a number of CEO’s if Harvard would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter...so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of its members.”
She spent the majority of the piece sympathizing not with Jewish students distraught by their classmates cheering the largest single loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust or feeling unsafe for being Jewish, but with the students doing the celebrating of murder under the guise of Palestinian nationalism.
“The backlash also raising safety concerns. This truck going around Harvard’s campus naming people who were allegedly part of the groups that signed the statement. I spoke with several Palestinian students who asked that we not show their faces out of fear for their safety,” she said.
How bad was it? Wang fretted that Palestinian students feel “scared to mourn” losses in Gaza “in public” and “[o]ne student had the gall to argue it was Palestinians who were being “wiped off the map” by Israelis.
“Meanwhile, her Jewish students and classmates — they are also grieving. Both communities are feeling targeted and unsafe. The visceral emotions here a microcosm of the heated debates across America,” she later concluded.
On the security threats, correspondent Trevor Ault was vague and hyped the Palestinian rally in Times Square as likely “to be...peaceful” (even though the rhetoric won’t be) (click “expand”):
GIO BENITEZ: Back here at home, police are bracing for potential violence, monitoring the situation very, very closely. Trevor Ault is in New York here with more on that. Good morning, Trevor.
AULT: Good morning, Gio. So, ABC News has confirmed that every major city’s police department across the United States is on an enhanced state of alert and that is certainly the case in New York City. The NYPD has actually cancelled officers’ vacations and told them to get ready to work 12-hour shifts ahead of what could be some very tense moments at a number of demonstrations. There’s one going to be scheduled here at Baruch College later today. This is a pro Palestinian march towards Times Square. It’s expected to be a peaceful demonstration, but with this issue, as you might imagine, emotions and tensions are set to run very high. And, since the Hamas attack, there have been a number of instances of violence among individuals. Authorities assure us, so far, there is no large scale, credible threat of an attack happening in New York City. Still state officials here in New York are telling synagogues, they’re telling religious schools to maybe consider holding their services virtually today just in case. Of course, this is not just New York. In D.C., Capital Police say they are stepping up their security. Even the FBI says they are aware of these threats of the potential day of rage. They say they’re working with state and local partners, officials all over the country. They want to remain vigilant, even though they say there is no large scale credible threat, Juju.
CHANG: So much tension.
NBC’s Today wasn’t any more courageous.
“On alert. Security being ramped up in cities across the U.S. this morning. Some Jewish schools closed after Hamas calls for a day of anger from supporters around the world. We’ll have the very latest,” said co-host Savannah Guthrie in a tease.
Co-host Hoda Kotb had the lead-in to correspondent Stephanie Gosk’s report: “Meantime cities across the country are increasing security this morning after a call for a day of anger by a former leader of Hamas.”
Why, Hoda, are there concerns in the U.S.? What kind of people would want to follow the lead of a terrorist? Care to explain?
Gosk made this all seem very serious, but she too beat around the bush (click “expand”):
GOSK: know, we’ve been watching the police presence ramp up at synagogues like this and other Jewish locations and now we’re being told that some schools are even closed today or have gone remote out of an abundance of caution after that former Hamas leader called for protests around the world today. This morning, at synagogues and Jewish schools and businesses nationwide, security is beefed up. According to multiple law enforcement officials, authorities are monitoring increased threats online, but adding, none of them are specific and credible. One major cause for concern? The former head of Hamas calling for a global day of anger today against Israel, encouraging neighboring countries to join the fight. [TO MONAHAN] We’ve had moments of elevated security risks with specific concerns about the Jewish community in the past. Is this moment different?
TERRY MONAHAN: This moment is very different. This is unprecedented.
GOSK: Former New York City Police Chief Terry Monahan says law enforcement is keeping a sharp eye out for any threats, but they’re also asking the public to be vigilant and report anything suspicious.
MONAHAN: This is the biggest risk that, I think, law enforcement has been faced when it comes towards the idea of counterterrorism since 9/11.
(....)
GOSK: On New York’s Long Island, police briefing rabbis about their security plans, as the Jewish community prepares for the first sabbath and Saturday services since Hamas’s deadly attack.
CHABAD OF PORT WASHINGTON RABBI SHALOM PALTIEL: We’re not going to allow fear to paralyze us. It’s never good to do that.
GOSK: One rabbi whose congregation includes more than 1,200 families says their doors will be open this weekend.
YOUNG ISRAEL WOODMERE RABBI SHALOM AXELROD: I encourage our Jewish population who usually doesn’t come to synagogue this sabbath come out strong and let everyone know that, just because Hamas tries to eradicate Jewry from thus world, it’s not going to happen.
Only twice did Gosk allude to the role of colleges, but she predictably played it off as something pro-Hamas and pro-Israel students were guilty of a coarsened debate: “It all comes as protests have popped up this week in cities and on college campuses, occasionally becoming flash points between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.”
At the end of her piece, she made a vague allusion to “an assault and arrest at Columbia University” on Thursday and predicted “a significant police presence” at “a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square.”
CBS Mornings only at 71 seconds to tread carefully around the idea that a segment of the American populace is not just sympathetic to Hamas terrorists, but supportive of the attacks and willingly to show it.
Co-host Nate Burleson warned that “cities...are stepping up their security” as “the former head of Hamas asked people to hit the streets calling it, ‘a day of rage’ in support of Palestinians.”
Correspondent Catherine Herridge also played it vague, citing “[t]he barriers...back up here on Capitol Hill” and how, “[i]n the last 48 hours, CBS News has reviewed multiple internal law enforcement bulletins warning of the potential for domestic violent extremism.”
To see the relevant transcripts from October 13, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
