During the 3:00 p.m. ET hour on Tuesday, MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing delivered breaking news from the Middle East that terrorists in the Gaza Strip had launched a rocket attack against Israel. The report claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being rushed offstage during a campaign event made the otherwise failed attack a “very public success.”
“And believe it or not, we have more breaking news. This time out of Israel, where the IDF is now confirming rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip,” Jansing announced. Reporting from London, NBC News chief global correspondent Bill Neely noted that “rather dramatically” the attack interrupted “an election rally in the southern city of Ashdod” for Netanyahu.
“You can see the video there of the election rally....the bodyguards that always surround Benjamin Netanyahu, ushering him offstage,” the reporter pointed out. Despite explaining that “no one was injured” and Netanyahu returned “a few minutes later” to continue the rally, Neely saw a huge propaganda win for Palestinian militants:
We haven’t seen this kind of scene with an Israeli leader who has been directly ushered away as a result of a rocket attack....You know, symbolically, to see an Israeli leader ushered off a stage like this, well, they will be cheering in many parts of the Gaza Strip....as a result of this very high-profile, very public success, you could call it, by whichever militant group it was, that fired these rockets.
Jansing concluded: “Because, as you say, at the very least it caused a dramatic scene and it will cause a lot of tension in that region again.”
Generally media coverage shouldn’t talk about people “cheering” when a world leader and room full of his supporters are forced to take cover during rocket attack. MSNBC shamefully took the act of violent extremism and somehow tried to paint it as a campaign stumble for Netanyahu.
Here is a transcript of the September 10 segment:
3:21 PM ET
CHRIS JANSING: And believe it or not, we have more breaking news. This time out of Israel, where the IDF is now confirming rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip. NBC News chief global correspondent Bill Neely joins me now with more. What do we know about this, Bill?
BILL NEELY: Yeah, good afternoon, Chris. And rather dramatically, it involves Israel’s longest leader, the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He was addressing an election rally in the southern city of Ashdod – remember, there is an election in Israel in exactly a week’s time – when rocket sirens went off, warning of an attack from Gaza, not far away.
You can see the video there of the election rally. And in a moment, you’re going to see, there they are, the bodyguards that always surround Benjamin Netanyahu, ushering him offstage. As he went, he was asking the people, the audience who were there, to stay calm. Now, just within the last few minutes, the Israeli Defense Forces have confirmed that rockets were fired from Gaza. And indeed that they intercepted two of those rockets. No one was injured. And a few minutes later, Benjamin Netanyahu went back into that auditorium and continued his election rally.
Rather dramatic. He’s a man who’s fighting for his political life. We haven’t seen this kind of scene with an Israeli leader who has been directly ushered away as a result of a rocket attack. And one wonders what the reaction will be. Israel often responds forcefully to these kind of rocket attacks.
You know, symbolically, to see an Israeli leader ushered off a stage like this, well, they will be cheering in many parts of the Gaza Strip and the IDF will presumably – and politically, Benjamin Netanyahu may want to – hit back as a result of this very high-profile, very public success, you could call it, by whichever militant group it was, that fired these rockets. Chris?
JANSING: Because, as you say, at the very least it caused a dramatic scene and it will cause a lot of tension in that region again. Bill Neely, thank you for that report, on the same day that there’s been a change at the top of the national security team here in the U.S. Bill Neely, thank you.
