Throughout the current Israel-Hamas war, NewsNation has taken several opportunities to put the liberal media in its sights and call them out for their terrible coverage of the conflict. And during Monday’s Dan Abrams Live, Abrams was joined by fellow NewsNation host Leland Vittert and together they landed mighty body blows against their liberal competitors for parroting Hamas-generated talking points about the number of civilians supposedly killed in the fighting.
During his opening monologue, Abrams noted the obvious “if the Israelis wanted to kill civilians, it would make getting Hamas leaders a lot easier, and many, many more civilians would be dead already.” There was also the obvious double standard of which side was called “war criminals” despite the fact that “Hamas is intentionally operating out of the hospitals and the mosques…”
Abrams also played a soundbite of MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin to show that there were elements of the liberal media that were so anti-Israel that they were blaming Israel for the October 7 terrorist attack. “And here's the important point: the vast majority of those who are criticizing Israel would have done it no matter what the response was from Israel,” he admonished.
Further along, Abrams rattled off a series of liberal media outlets that were breathlessly peddling claims from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Health Ministry that over 10,000 civilians had been killed:
And yet too many in the media are still treating the “Gaza Health Ministry” as a credible source. Once again, many media organizations taking them at face value today when they reported that the number of civilian casualties in Gaza has now passed 10,000 since the start of the conflict. Look at these headlines. Associated Press, quote, “Israeli forces cut off north Gaza to isolate Hamas, as Palestinian deaths surpassed 10,000.” Reuters: “Gaza death toll tops 10,000; U.N. calls is a children's graveyard.” NPR: “The death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000 as the conflict enters its second month.” It goes on and on.
“And by the way, it’s on the left-leaning cable networks as well,” he added with a soundbite of MSNBC’s Chris Jansing spewing the same lies.
Vittert joined Abrams and proposed that the outlets that insisted on using the “Health Ministry” as a source “want to believe this and it plays into the narrative of Israel is the aggressor in this terrible civilian death toll inside of Gaza.”
He made the point that when the liberal media reported those numbers, they never reported “how many Hamas fighters have died.” “You never see anybody in the Hamas uniform brought into a Gazan hospital. And that's because the Hamas fighters always fight in civilian clothes,” he pointed out.
“You know Hamas is lying by the fact that their lips are moving,” he added.
Abrams backed him up by explaining how the United Nations helped to sell Hamas’s lies to the world. “You get the Health Ministry giving them to the U.N. and the U.N. then reporting what the Health Ministry said through the auspices of the U.N. and now the numbers have effectively been laundered,” he said.
To round out the segment, Vittert slammed the liberal media for tossing out journalistic ethics to keep Hamas as a source: “I know no other circumstance in which a source routinely is proven to be demonstrably false over and over and over again and editors and publishers would still allow reporters to go with that source with the exception of times, it's criticizing Israel.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
NewsNation’s Dan Abrams Live
November 7, 2023
9:0813 p.m. Eastern(…)
DAN ABRAMS: Because if the Israelis wanted to kill civilians, it would make getting Hamas leaders a lot easier and many, many more civilians would be dead already.
Look, these civilian deaths are a serious concern to everyone who cares about human rights. But that's mostly on Hamas. Hamas is intentionally operating out of the hospitals and the mosques, firing rockets as well from there, Israel tries to respond, they get called war criminals.
And here's the important point: the vast majority of those who are criticizing Israel would have done it no matter what the response was from Israel. Remember even here at home, literally the day of the attack, many are already blaming Israel well before they went into Gaza like this host on MSNBC.
[Clip of MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin blaming Israel for the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas]
(…)
9:10:41 p.m. Eastern
ABRAMS: I’ve been saying for weeks that the media needs to stop running with information from “Gaza Health Ministry” [Uses air quotes]. It's an agency which may seem officials sounding. It's actually, of course, run by Hamas. And you would think the media would have learned, at least from the recent fiasco, right? So many outlets immediately took the Palestinian Health Ministry’s word that an Israeli air strike was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians at a Gaza hospital. Only to have that completely debunked within a few days.
And yet too many in the media are still treating the “Gaza Health Ministry” as a credible source. Once again, many media organizations taking them at face value today when they reported that the number of civilian casualties in Gaza has now passed 10,000 since the start of the conflict. Look at these headlines. Associated Press quote, “Israeli forces cut off north Gaza to isolate Hamas, as Palestinian deaths surpassed 10,000.” Reuters: “Gaza death toll tops 10,000; U.N. calls is a children's graveyard.” NPR: “The death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000 as the conflict enters its second month.” It goes on and on.
And by the way, it’s on the left-leaning cable networks as well.
[Clip of MSNBC host Chris Jansing parroting 10,000 deaths number]
(…)
9:13:07 p.m. Eastern
ABRAMS So, talk to us about how they play with these numbers, right? They say 10,000 they didn't get the backing of the U.N. saying, “Oh yeah, you know, we think that these numbers are generally right.” How did they end fudging them?
LELAND VITTERT: Well, it goes back to what you said Dan, which is: full me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me. And what we're seeing is a media that is all too willing to accept anything that comes out of – and you put it in air quotes yourself – the “Palestinian Health Ministry.” It's because people want to believe this and it plays into the narrative of Israel is the aggressor in this terrible civilian death toll inside of Gaza.
What’s interesting when you see all these numbers is you never how many Hamas fighters have died. And I'm not sure if the control room has any of the video outside the Palestinian hospitals where we always see the people being brought in and they always looked like civilians. You never see anybody in the Hamas uniform brought into a Gazan hospital. And that's because the Hamas fighters always fight in civilian clothes.
So, it is impossible to know what of these numbers are true and what of they're not. You remember the 500 people who died at the hospital that was allegedly hit by Israel. Well, we now know that they had that number out almost quicker than you could count to 500. So, you start with how they fudge them. They just make them up. You know, Hamas is lying by the fact that their lips are moving.
ABRAMS: And I worry sometimes that, you know, there are a lot of people who will tell you, “Well no, no, no, the U.N. numbers are often exactly the same as the Health Ministry. But it often seems to me it's kind of circular, Right?
VITTERT: Right.
ABRAMS: You get the Health Ministry giving them to the U.N. and the U.N. then reporting what the Health Ministry said through the auspices of the U.N. and now the numbers have effectively been laundered.
VITTERT: Well, you laid it out perfectly in your open. The U.N. had like what, 14 resolutions condemning Israel and five condemning the rest of the world. Despite that the massive atrocities that we know they're going on around the world. This is the same U.N. that has Iran on its Human Rights Commission. Okay?
So, the idea that the U.N. years is a fair broker of information. This is the same U.N. who the U.N. folks allegedly on the ground in Gaza are the ones who keep saying, “we're running out of fuel, we’re running out of fuel, we’re running out of fuel” and the lights in the hospital are still on. And Hamas has all the fuel.
So, it's very difficult to take anybody who has clearly skin in this game at face value. The one thing I think that is interesting here and this is a change from when I was there. I spent 4 years based in Jerusalem, covered a lot of Gaza wars and a lot of conflict in the Middle East.
The one thing that's happening is the Israelis are given putting out receipts, day in and day out. Hamas says, “Oh, you hit our hospital.” They say, “No, no, no. Here's the drone video showing that it’s Palestinian Islamic Jihad misfire hitting the hospital. Hamas claims “you in an ambulance.” Israel provides footage of people with guns getting in the ambulance. Israel says Hamas is firing from mosques and schools and Israel puts out video of rocket launchers inside mosques and schools.
What I think is interesting is takes us back to the very beginning is, Israel says things in backs it up with many layers of evidence. They could be wrong. They could not telling the truth, but they have a substantial amount of receipts, and the media goes, “Well, Israel claims.”
ABRAMS: Right. Right.
VITTERT: Then Hamas puts out these sort of the wildly speculative things that have been proven time and time again to be fraudulent. The U.N. backs him up on things that has been proven time and time to be incorrect. And the media takes them at face value.
I know no other circumstance in which a source routinely is proven to be demonstrably false over and over and over again and editors and publishers would still allow reporters to go with that source with the exception of times, it's criticizing Israel.
ABRAMS: Leland Vittert. Thank you. Appreciate it.
