Hamas

Arab Winter: AP Minimizes Visibility of Morsi's Dictatorial Power Grab in Egypt
By Tom Blumer | November 23, 2012 | 9:16 AM EST

So what's more important, the fact that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was involved in brokering a Gaza-Israeli peace deal which appears to be more than sightly tilted in Hamas's direction, or the fact that Morsi has opportunistically seized nearly dictatorial powers?

They're arguably equal, but if compelled to choose, I believe most readers here would contend that because of the difficulties seen throughout human history in undoing such things, Morsi's power grab is more important. The Associated Press doesn't share that evaluation. In its summary of "10 Things to Know for Friday" the wire service notes the "peace" accord but not the power grab:

NBC: Israel Warning Gaza Citizens to Evacuate 'Felt Like a Cruel Trick'
By Brad Wilmouth | November 22, 2012 | 7:28 PM EST

On Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, as Richard Engel informed viewers that the Israeli military drops leaflets in Gaza to warn civilians when airstrikes are about to happen so they can evacuate to safety, the NBC correspondent still managed to put a negative spin on the warnings that are meant to diminish civilian casualties. After recounting that frightened civilians frantically left from their homes, Engel observed:

ABC, CBS Show Hamas Dragging Dead Body, ABC Suggests 'Savagery' is 'Inevitable'
By Brad Wilmouth | November 22, 2012 | 6:46 PM EST

Tuesday's CBS Evening News showed a video clip of Hamas terrorists dragging the body of a suspected informant for Israel through the streets of Gaza, and Wednesday's ABC World News showed a photograph of the dragging.

But ABC correspondent Alex Marquardt seemed to provide a bit of cover for Hamas as he inserted commentary suggesting that it is "inevitable" that some "participants" in such a war would resort to such "savagery," as if brutality were normally out of character for the terrorist group. Marquardt: (Video of ABC below)

CBS Incorrectly Claims Hamas Was Elected to Power in Gaza
By Brad Wilmouth | November 22, 2012 | 5:20 PM EST

One of the recurring myths sometimes repeated about the Gaza Strip's relationship with Hamas is that the terrorist group gained control through the electoral process. On both the Monday and Tuesday editions of the CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley devoted a brief segment to providing background information on the Gaza Strip. And, on both nights, he erroneously suggested that Hamas came to power through election. (Video below)

All Kidding Aside: The Onion Only Empathizes With Plight of Palestinians
By Ryan Robertson | November 20, 2012 | 12:10 PM EST

The satirical newspaper The Onion is generally non-political and at times it has had some good conservatively-slanted humor pieces, like this gem from April 2009. But when it comes to the ongoing violence in Israel, The Onion has just proved it doesn't have many layers of complexity.

Celebrities Facing Harsh Criticism Online for Their Support of Israel
By Ryan Robertson | November 19, 2012 | 4:34 PM EST

Out: hateful tweets to black actresses supporting Romney for president. In: hateful tweets to celebrities tweeting their support for Israel in its struggle against the Palestinian terrorist network Hamas.

The conservative website The Blaze, noted that comedian Jon Lovitz -- who famously lashed out earlier this year about President Obama's determination to hike taxes -- and reality show star Kim Kardashian were harassed this past weekend with profanity-laced tirades and death wishes.

ABC's Amanpour Suggests Israel Caused Too Many Civilian Casualties in 2009 Gaza War
By Brad Wilmouth | November 17, 2012 | 8:41 PM EST

On Thursday's World News on ABC, as correspondent Christiane Amanpour discussed the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Amanpour seemed to presume that Israel created an unreasonable number of civilian casualties during the late 2008/early 2009 war in Gaza, even though the Israeli military concluded that the overwhelming majority of Gaza residents killed were members of the Hamas terrorist group.

After anchor Diane Sawyer asked what the role of the United States would be as an ally of Israel, the ABC correspondent responded:

ABC Relays Terrorist Claim: 'We Wouldn't Fire Rockets If Israel Wasn't Killing Us'
By Brad Wilmouth | November 17, 2012 | 7:47 PM EST

On Friday's World News on ABC, correspondent Alex Marquardt relayed without question a claim by "one of the militant groups behind" the rocket attacks on Israel that they "wouldn't fire rockets if Israel wasn't killing us," even though almost 700 rockets had already been fired out of Gaza into the Jewish state between January 1 and November 5, well before Israel's recent sustained military campaign began.

Islam’s Media Apologists Keep Excusing, Ignoring Violence
By Lauren Thompson | September 14, 2012 | 11:46 AM EDT

On Sept. 11, 2012, riots erupted in Egypt, Libya and now Yemen, ostensibly over what the media call an anti-Muslim Youtube video made in America. In Benghazi, militants murdered the United States ambassador to Libya and three U.S. diplomats.

American blood was shed and mobs of Muslims continue to burn American flags and chant “Death to America!” around multiple U.S. consulates. It’s a scene that’s played out on almost a regular basis. A media story (about flushing Korans or other slights to Islam real or imagined) provides some pretext and the “Arab Street” explodes with raging mobs. The ambassador’s death is what sets the current situation apart.

NPR Publicizes Students' Campaign Backed By Left Wing Organization
By Matthew Balan | May 9, 2012 | 6:26 PM EDT

On Tuesday's All Things Considered, NPR's Claudio Sanchez spotlighted the efforts of college students who, with the assistance of the "liberal Center for American Progress," are lobbying Congress for an extension of low interest rates on their Stafford loans. While Sanchez did find a critic of the politicization of the loan issue, he came from another left-leaning organization, the Brookings Insitution.

All of the correspondent's soundbites came from the CAP-backed students and from Mathew Chingo of Brookings, with none coming from conservatives/Republicans. Sanchez noted how the students visited Senator Rob Portman and identified him as "a Republican from Ohio," but omitted that he is considered a possible running mate on the 2012 Republican presidential ticket. He also played up how one student was "upset about something one of the senator's staff members said," but failed to get the other side of the story.

Daily Beast's Beinart Blames Israel for No Peace with Palestinians, Promotes Boycott of Settlements
By Brad Wilmouth | March 30, 2012 | 6:18 AM EDT

Plugging his new book, The Crisis of Zionism, on Thursday's The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, the Daily Beast's Peter Beinart - formerly of Time magazine - advanced the irrational view that it is the Israeli government and those who support the existence of Jewish settlements in the West Bank who are the obstacles to peace with the Palestinians. (Video below)

Ynet News: Hamas Joined Brotherhood 'As Early As Two Months Ago'; NYT's Kristof Hardest Hit
By Tom Blumer | December 11, 2011 | 8:43 AM EST

A pathetic, obsequious act  on the part of an establishment press member was exposed as utterly foolish mere days after its appearance.

On Wednesday (for Thursday's print edition), New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote glowingly of "Joining a Dinner in a Muslim Brotherhood Home." He swallowed a lot more than food while he was there, as the following excerpts indicate (bolds are mine throughout this post):