Vile: ‘CBS Mornings’ Plays Both-Sides in Marking Three Years Since Oct. 7 Attacks

On Thursday, ABC, CBS, and NBC each had full reports on their lead morning newscasts about the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas terrorists that left nearly 1,200 innocents dead and 251 people taken hostage in the single-largest murder of Jews since the Holocaust. But on the supposedly MAGA-coded CBS, they engaged in vile both-sidesism by expressing near-equal condolences to Gazans who died in subsequent months and years.

Co-host Gayle King’s opening read gave equal time to Israelis and Gazans:

[T]hree years ago today, Hamas unleashed a horrific attack on civilians in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Israel responded with an all-out military offensive in Gaza that killed more than 70,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry run by Hamas.

Senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams initially put more weight on the aftermath of October 7: “The last three years have reshaped the Middle East. War in Gaza, in Lebanon, and now a conflict with Iran. All of it, at least arguably, is connected to what happened on October 7.”

Only then did she put the focus on the Jews who were murdered by Islamist animals, focusing on the particularly galling case of the Bibas family. Even then, however, Williams framed it as political (click “expand”):

WILLIAMS: Israelis seem more determined than ever to regain a sense of security. Shiri Bibas and her sons Kfir and Ariel were kidnapped from the kibbutz where they lived by militants from Gaza. They never made it home.

OFRI BIBAS LEVY: The world forgot what happened here.

WILLIAMS: Ofri Bibas Levy is the aunt of Kfir and Ariel. Like many Israelis, she’s upset over new allegations that there were warnings before October 7 that went unheeded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He denies the claims.

BIBAS LEVY: It’s like a knife in the heart and twisting — twisting it every single time again and again. Why didn’t they do anything — everything to save my family?

Williams then made the pivot to Gazans, giving them the rest of her undivided attention.

“It’s become a heated campaign issue ahead of this month’s general election here in Israel. Across the border in Gaza, they have no say in Israel’s election. But with Israeli forces still operating in their territory and rebuilding efforts apparently stalled, their future may also be impacted by the election result,” she bemoaned.

Her Gaza anecdote put a dead Gazan girl — allegedly by Israeli miliary bullets — on par with the Bibas babies captured and murdered by savages:

We spoke with the grandmother of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl who was killed in 2024 after coming under fire by Israeli forces as her family tried to flee. The Israeli military announced it had launched a criminal investigation in August. But Hind’s grandmother told us she has no expectation of justice from Israel.

“People here in Israel today are remembering the victims of the October 7 attacks. The massacre still casts a long shadow over not just Israel, but the entire Middle East,” she concluded. 

ABC’s Good Morning America had just 75 seconds on the anniversary and, while they didn’t dabble in both-sides-ism, their coverage revolved around the anti-Netanyahu fervor in the country.

Chief international correspondent James Longman quickly acknowledged the “day of mourning and remembrance in Israel at the Nova field where so many young people were killed,” but then shifted to the electoral season underway, with some voters motivated by reports alleging Egyptian and UAE intelligence had given some form of warning to the Netanyahu government (click “expand”):

[T]here’s much more anger here now. Protests began at 6:29 this morning, the minute the attack started on this day three years ago, and they are protests planned across this country today. Convoys of cars and busses are on their way here to the Nova field right now to make their voices heard. And there’s anger because there have been multiple reports in recent weeks by Israeli journalists and others about the warnings Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have either missed or ignored. One claim that the UAE warned the prime minister a week and a half before it happened, but those warnings were not passed on. Another that the head of Egyptian intelligence came to Israel to warn about Hamas preparing something. There’s also outrage about how long it took for security forces to respond. Now, Benjamin Netanyahu has called all this lies and a smear campaign.

Longman then concluded that while Netanyahu has “resisted calls for an inquiry,” the September 30 attempted hijacking of flydubai flight 1073 “is also fresh in people’s minds,” so “[p]eople are worried about security here, and he is up against it ahead of elections later this month.”

In contrast, NBC’s Today still acknowledged what happened in Gaza, but they kept the focus where it deserves, which is on the lives lost.

Co-host Craig Melvin kept it vague: “Also today, a somber milestone in Israel, three years now since the October 7 attacks. The fallout still being felt across the region, though.”

Immediately, chief international correspondent Keir Simmons set the tone that his report was different: “This is the field where 364 people were murdered at the Nova Music Festival. This is still an open wound for Israel. There’s been no commission of inquiry, and the country is still fighting on multiple fronts.”

Simmons continued with a sense of moral clarity: “[A]cross Israel, the nation pausing to remember the deadliest day in its history, when Hamas gunmen stormed Israeli communities along the border of the Gaza Strip. A moment of silence held for the 1,200 killed and 251 kidnapped three years ago.”

After briefly alluding to remarks President Trump made Tuesday about Iran, Simmons had four sentences on destruction in the wider region, mentioning “Iran-backed Houthis” continuing to wreak havoc, the questions about possible warning signs of the October 7 attacks, and the alleged death toll in Gaza from a “level” “landscape.”

That was it. The rest of his nearly three-minute report honored two Israelis who were murdered by Hamas, including Israeli-American Hersch Goldberg-Polin, who later died in captivity (click “expand”):

SIMMONS: The mother of Israeli American Hersch Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage and killed by Hamas terrorists, still has the last texts he sent.

RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN: Hersch, after having his dominant arm blown off, texted us with his other hand, a very simple message, “I love you. I’m sorry.”

SIMMONS: The shelter from where he was taken now a shrine. Three years later, there are still bullet holes and the blasts from hand grenades. Rachel Goldberg-Polin says she still relives those moments, his 328 days in captivity and his execution.

GOLDBERG-POLIN: I don’t think the years make a difference. I think, every morning, I wake up and it’s all over again. Every single morning is the anniversary.

SIMMONS: At the memorial, we find Yuval Golan, who only now has found the strength to visit the place where her cousin was killed.

YUVAL GOLAN [sp?]: She was celebrating life, and I just couldn’t come here.

SIMMONS: They are united in mourning today, Craig. But this is still a country deeply divided, with that election coming to decide the future of Israel.

To see the relevant transcripts from October 7, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).