After an explosion at a hospital in the terrorist enclave of Gaza on Tuesday, the liberal media sprinted to push the unverified and unsupported allegations by Hamas that an Israeli airstrike targeted the facility and killed hundreds. But despite the video evidence that the blast was the result of an errant rocket being fired from Gaza, CBS Evening News threw its weight behind the terrorist group and suggested Israeli airstrikes brought “terror” to Gaza.
Anchor Norah O’Donnell opened the show by lamenting that the explosion also destroyed “hope” that President Biden’s visit to Israel could bring relief to Gazans. She also announced that “Israel is denying responsibility” as if it was theirs at all, adding: “...their intelligence shows it was caused by failed rocket launch by the group Islamic Jihad.”
It’s worth noting that while O’Donnell called the group “Islamic Jihad,” the group’s full name was Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Now, why would she drop the first word?
And yet she repeated the unsupported claim it was an “airstrike” that hit the hospital. “Throughout this conflict, civilians have taken refuge around hospitals and schools in hopes of avoiding the near-constant air strikes from above, and tonight, that safety shattered,” she proclaimed.
Times of Israel military correspondent Emanuel Fabian had aggregated multiple videos that seemingly confirmed that a rocket attack was indeed occurring when an errant rocket flew off and fell short in Gaza around the time and place of the hospital blast.
Later in the segment, international correspondent Charlie D’Agata put little stock in Israel’s evidence that a PIJ rocket was responsible. Instead, he gave a megaphone to Hamas to blame Israel and the United States. “Hamas blamed Israel, saying the strike is the result of what they call unlimited U.S. support for Israel,” he reported.
D’Agata also noted “It triggered international condemnation. Egypt, Qatar, Iran, Jordan, and Turkey among the countries who have denounced the air strike.” But that piece of information was worthless because all of those countries hated Israel and Jews anyway.
If it wasn’t clear enough that he was blaming Israel for the hospital explosion, he directly tied it to other airstrikes Israel had carried out; speaking in truly hyperbolic terms:
The hospital disaster has only heaped more misery and bloodshed on Gaza where horrific scenes, after a series of Israeli air strikes, have taken the level of sheer human suffering and soaring death toll to a next level.
He later added that the airstrikes on Hamas targets “sent shockwaves of terror, creating more death, even as they raced to save lives.” Of course, there was no mention that the Israel Defense Forces always warned civilians to leave an area before a strike while Hamas was on record telling them to stay.
D’Agata framed Israel as out of control as he lamented that “Reigning in Israeli retaliation in an effort to avoid enflaming the entire region, is among the biggest challenges facing President Biden as he visits here in a show of solidarity with Israel.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
October 17, 2023
6:31:59 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: We begin tonight with the breaking news that is reverberating around the world. When President Biden announced his trip to the Middle East, there was hope that his meetings with both Israeli and Arab leaders could result in relief to Gaza and the release of American hostages. Tonight, that hope has faded.
We’re learning new details tonight about an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City. The Palestinian Health Ministries as hundreds of people killed, many more injured. Take a look at some of these images. Women and children in the aftermath, waiting for treatment, terrified. The hospital just hit and overwhelmed.
Now, Hamas is blaming an Israeli air strike, but Israel is denying responsibility, saying their intelligence shows it was caused by failed rocket launch by the group Islamic Jihad.
Throughout this conflict, civilians have taken refuge around hospitals and schools in hopes of avoiding the near-constant air strikes from above, and tonight, that safety shattered.
(…)
6:34:41 p.m. Eastern
CHARLIE D’AGATA: Hamas blamed Israel, saying the strike is the result of what they call unlimited U.S. support for Israel. It triggered international condemnation. Egypt, Qatar, Iran, Jordan, and Turkey among the countries who have denounced the air strike.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in the Jordanian capital, has declared three days of morning in response to the hospital strike.
Protests erupted in the West Bank and in Jordan, where security forces used tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters trying to storm the Israeli embassy.
The hospital disaster has only heaped more misery and bloodshed on Gaza where horrific scenes, after a series of Israeli air strikes, have taken the level of sheer human suffering and soaring death toll to a next level. In Rafah, terrified children cried out as frantic residents scrambled among the rubble in search for survivors. Some children unable to make any sound at all.
CBS news producer in Gaza, Marwan al-Ghoul witnessed the worst of it.
MARWAN AL-GHOUL: I saw dozens of killed people and dozens of injures. Not enough ambulances. No civilian defense. The people here tried to all of their best to take of the injuries by their hands.
D’AGATA: More explosions sent shockwaves of terror, creating more death, even as they raced to save lives. Reigning in Israeli retaliation in an effort to avoid enflaming the entire region, is among the biggest challenges facing President Biden as he visits here in a show of solidarity with Israel.
(…)
