On Monday, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS Mornings greeted those starting their work weeks with more propaganda and sob stories looking to curry sympathy for the Palestinians and Hamas and against Israel as part of a wider, decades-long narrative to ‘both sides’ the conflict.
CBS Mornings continued its reign as the worst among the “big three” morning news shows of ABC, CBS, and NBC. Co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King fretted that Israel’s likely “massive invasion of Gaza” was going to bring misery to Palestinians as “thousands of...civilians” have “no place to go”.
Reporting from Israel (where he has two teenage kids living with his ex-wife), co-host Tony Dokoupil said “[w]e’ve all been troubled by the pictures coming out of there over the weekend,” but added he’s “never seen quite this level of dreadful anticipation” in the 17 years he’s been coming to Israel.
Foreign correspondent and seemingly unofficial Hamas mouthpiece Imtiaz Tyab bemoaned what’s been a weeks-long “complete Israeli siege on the Palestinian territory, depriving all 2.3 million people, half of which are children, Tony, of all incoming food, water, electricity, and fuel, triggering a massive humanitarian crisis” with Israel being responsible for “rain[ing] misery across Gaza.”
Reporting from the West Bank, he eagerly reported that “[t]he fury here isn’t just at Israel and its bombardment of Gaza, it is also at President Biden who they say has given Israel unconditional support.”
Translation? It’s that Biden has voiced support for Jewish people. State that instead, Imtiaz.
Tyab offered the story of one Palestinian who died in the West Bank to paint an odious image of Israelis (click “expand”):
TYAB: Since Hamas’s deadly rampage two weeks ago, 95 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, bringing the total to over 250 this year alone according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the highest death toll here in at least two decades. Twenty-four-year-old Palestinian-American, Hadil Al-Katan’s husband, Omer is among those who were killed in West Bank violence before the Hamas attack. Their town, Turmus Ayya where two-thirds of residents are American and mainly from the Michigan area came under attack in June from mass Jewish settlers, according to the Israeli military. Katan was shot in the chest while trying to defend his home.
HADIL AL-KATAN: We were happy, we loved each other. We have kids. He loved his kids. I never expected something like this to happen to my peaceful family. You know, we were peaceful.
TYAB: Now as well as the West Bank, it’s Gaza where the death toll continues to climb at an astonishing rate. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, since fighting began two weeks ago, 5,087 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, that’s many civilians killed in just the last 24 hours alone, Tony.
DOKOUPIL: Disturbing to look at, one has to remember it’s also disturbing to live it. We can imagine. Imtiaz Tyab for us once again. Imtiaz, thank you very much.
Speaking to IDF soldiers, Dokoupil channeled ABC’s Ian Pannell in a viral exchange from October 11. In one question, he argued Americans were “horrified” by Hamas’s “attack...but” are “also very concerned with the pictures they see coming out of Gaza — the rubble, the children, the women.”
“As a rescue helicopter pilot, what do you think when you see those pictures,” he wondered.
The anonymous soldier was clear:
I think that no one in Israel, and I emphasize in Israel likes to see civilians get killed. That being said, the situation that we are facing is impossible. Our objective is to minimize the number of casualties on the Palestinian side.
Speaking to another soldier, Dokoupil put the onus on Israel to keep civilians safe, not Hamas to keep their fellow Palestinians out of harm’s way: “If this war leads to fighting in Gaza — in Gaza City, it is expected to be bloody and brutal. How do you win while also protecting civilians, the innocent in Gaza?”
This soldier hit back: “Look, war is not an easy thing. War means loss, and we will do all we can to protect our country, whatever it takes.”
In the second half-hour, Dokoupil had an interview with Emily Rauschenberger, an American married to a Palestinian and mother of five who’s now unable to get out of Gaza even though it was supposed to be a brief trip to see his side of the family.
Over on ABC, Pannell fretted Israeli strikes meant “hundreds of civilians are also being killed,” but correctly added the caveat that such a total came from “the Hamas-run health authorities.”
“Overnight, Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp hit. The health ministry saying more than 40 were killed...most of them women and children. Rescuers clawing through the rubble...Young children rushed to the hospital,” Pannell added
After touting the work of supposed journalists in Gaza, Pannell peddled this insane claim that’s reminiscent of one he forwarded early in the conflict: “Hospitals there on the brink of collapse. One doctor forced to use household vinegar as an antiseptic.”
“[H]ospitals in Gaza...are running out of power..The situation on the ground remains dire,” he explained in the second hour.
To see the relevant transcripts from October 23, click here (for ABC) and here (for CBS).
