Over the last two days, Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and the Islamic Palestinian jihad coordinated to launch hundreds of missiles and other projectiles at Israeli civilians to cause maximum carnage. According to The Times of Israel, Tuesday, the massive rocket attack was responsible for 108 Israeli casualties. But the Palestinian friendly broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) couldn’t be bothered to report the figure.
Monday evening was the first opportunity for the networks to report on the attacks and, at the time, ABC’s World News Tonight was the only one to rise to the occasion. But come Tuesday, none of ABC’s news programs (morning or evening) covered the attacks. NBC continued their complete blackout while CBS’s morning and evening shows found time to mention the attacks.
While Univision was on the only Spanish-language network to mention the attacks against Israel, they too ignored the massive casualty figure.
While CBS managed to cover the missile attacks, they ignored the massive casualty number. “In the Middle East tonight eight people are dead after a significant flare-up of violence between Israel and those living in Gaza,” announced anchor Jeff Glor at the start of the segment. But that death number only took count of the Israeli Defense Force reconnaissance mission that went awry deep in the Gaza Strip and sparked the latest round of attacks (7 Hamas militants, 1 IDF officer).
In his report, CBS international correspondent Charlie D’Agata’s only notation of the effects of the barrage on Israeli civilians was of one house that was hit with no casualties:
This is what it looks like when one of those random Hamas rockets hits an Israeli house in an ordinary neighborhood. It blew a hole in the living room wall, where a woman was watching television when she heard the siren. She begged her son, Dor Baney, to come with her to a reinforced safe room.
In contrast, he mourned: “This is what Palestinians in Gaza were facing today: Widespread destruction after the Israeli military targeted 160 sites.”
Yet, The Times of Israel also reported that “[a]t least 108 people were hospitalized in Israel over the past two days for wounds and shock caused by the massive rocket bombardment of Israeli towns by Gazan terror groups.” Not included in the number was a Palestinian man who was killed when a Hamas rocket struck a building in the Israeli border town of Ashkelon.
“Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon said Tuesday it has treated 93 people who were hurt in the rocket fire, including two who were moderately wounded, 46 who were lightly wounded, and 44 who were treated for shock,” The Times added.
The network blackout of Israeli casualties came just a few months after they wept for Hamas militants who were gunned down while trying to invade Israel.
When the U.S. moved its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem back in May, Hamas had people storm the border fence, reportedly leading to the deaths of over 60 people. The networks claimed they were all civilians and pushed a debunked claim that a baby was killed.
Two days later, a Hamas spokesperson appeared on their state-run TV system and claimed 50 of the 62 people killed were members of the terrorist organization while others were members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The networks moved on from the story after that revelation.
So, the liberal networks will mourn for militants but not Israeli civilians.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
November 13, 2018
6:40 p.m. EasternJEFF GLOR: In the Middle East tonight eight people are dead after a significant flare-up of violence between Israel and those living in Gaza. Charlie D’Agata is in the Israeli city Ashkelon near the border with the Palestinian territory tonight.
[Cuts to video]
CHARLIE D’AGATA: Israeli air strikes lit up the sky over Gaza in an escalation not seen here since 2014. Retaliation, the military says, for more than 460 rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel.
ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCE SPOKESMAN: Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad made a deliberate decision to try to maximize damage inside Israel and to kill Israeli civilians.
D’AGATA: Gaza has been under the control of Palestinian Islamist Hamas since 2007 and stepped up attacks after an alleged botched Israeli commando mission inside Gaza left one Israeli officer and seven Palestinian fighters dead.
The southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, is just eight miles from Gaza, making it an easy target. This is what it looks like when one of those random Hamas rockets hits an Israeli house in an ordinary neighborhood. It blew a hole in the living room wall, where a woman was watching television when she heard the siren. She begged her son, Dor Baney, to come with her to a reinforced safe room.
That used to be your bed.
DOR BANEY: Yeah, that used to be my bed, as you see.
D’AGATA: It may have saved both their lives. Just two minutes before the explosion, he was in the shower.
BANEY: Yeah, that's-- I don't know, that's my luck.
D’AGATA: It's a pretty close call.
BANEY: Yeah, that's a close call, exactly.
D’AGATA: And this is what Palestinians in Gaza were facing today: Widespread destruction after the Israeli military targeted 160 sites.
[Cuts back to live]
While Hamas announced a cease-fire today, the Israelis aren't ready to go that far. The cabinet ordered the military to continue operations as necessary, but stopped short of calling for a new offensive. Jeff.
GLOR: Charlie, thank you.
