CNN’s Jeremy Diamond did not listen to MSNBC’s Jeremy Bash's condemnation of the media for regurgitating Hamas talking points on the destruction of the Gaza hospital as he declared Israel has “a credibility problem,” on Wednesday’s CNN This Morning, something that Palestinian legislator Mustafa Barghouti was happy to repeat later in the show.
Diamond reported how the Israelis “are providing a lot of intelligence that they say that they have gathered, both conversations with Hamas militants and also pointing to some of the facts on the ground, one of the key pieces of information that they said that bolsters their claim is this idea that there was no crater on the ground.”
Seems like an important detail, but Diamond rolled right along, “But amid all of this, we have already watched as the Arab World in particular has already made up their minds about the situation and that is something that Israel is certainly fighting against and fighting against it because they have had a credibility problem in the past including with the killing of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year when the Israeli government initially claimed it was Palestinian militants and not Israeli soldiers who fired on her.”
Let’s be very clear: the Arab World does not care about Shireen Abu Akleh. They have made up their mind because they are ideologically opposed to Israel, they do not care about facts, and their governments have to appease them.
Diamond then played a clip of him asking Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari about that episode, to which Hagari declared, “Because of the importance of credibility, we took the time, took us more than five hours, we wanted to double-check everything, make sure we're credible. Again, we wanted to double-check everything and make sure we're credible opposed to the other events that you mentioned.”
Why CNN keeps welcoming Barghouti back on air despite peddling fake news-conspiracy theories on their network by saying Hamas did not target civilians on October 7 is an open question, but there he was echoing Diamond, “and we urge you to remember the Israeli military lied to the world on many occasions before changing their stories many times, a very good example of that was their denial of killing Shireen-- the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and changing their story four times.”
As for the hospital, Barghouti accused Israel of changing “their story three times but the world doesn't notice that. The first time they said that they strike the hospital because there were militants, Hamas militants hiding there. Then they said that Hamas is taking Palestinian civilians as shields, human shields, then they said it was Jihad and it was a rocket of Jihad. I do not believe any of this nonsense because there are many facts here.”
It should be noted that Israel’s spokesman for Arab media, Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee, responded to a since-deleted Al Jazeera tweet saying the IDF warned people to evacuate the hospital before it was struck by calling such allegations a “lie” and “fake news.”
It would not be the first time Barghouti repeated a lie on CNN given his “credibility problem.” Yet, CNN keeps having him on because “be truthful, not neutral” apparently has its limits.
Here is a transcript for the October 18 show:
CNN This Morning
10/18/2023
6:17 AM ET
JEREMY DIAMOND: Yeah, they certainly do feel the need to make their case. I think they would be doing it regardless of whether or not President Biden was arriving here but certainly there was a greater sense of urgency because the president of the United States was arriving after this horrific bombing of this hospital in which hundreds of civilians are believed to have died and they’re making their case in a number of ways.
They are providing a lot of intelligence that they say that they have gathered, both conversations with Hamas militants and also pointing to some of the facts on the ground, one of the key pieces of information that they said that bolsters their claim is this idea that there was no crater on the ground. But amid all of this, we have already watched as the Arab World in particular has already made up their minds about the situation and that is something that Israel is certainly fighting against and fighting against it because they have had a credibility problem in the past including—
ERIN BURNETT: Yes.
DIAMOND: -- with the killing of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year when the Israeli government initially claimed it was Palestinian militants and not Israeli soldiers who fired on her. I asked the IDF spokesman that question.
Among other incidents the Israeli government initially claimed it was armed Palestinian militants who killed the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh which we know is not true so why should the world trust you now?
DANIEL HAGARI: Because of the importance of credibility, we took the time, took us more than five hours, we wanted to double-check everything, make sure we're credible. Again, we wanted to double-check everything and make sure we're credible opposed to the other events that you mentioned.
…
MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI: People are very angry, and, of course, nothing can be more embarrassing than a deliberate war crime of an Israeli airstrike killing civilians and killing innocent children and women, 500 victims and hundreds of others injured who could die at any moment and let me tell you what we believe is that and we urge you to remember the Israeli military lied to the world on many occasions before changing their stories many times, a very good example of that was their denial of killing Shireen-- the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and changing their story four times. Today they already changed their story three times but the world doesn't notice that. The first time they said that they strike the hospital because there were militants, Hamas militants hiding there. Then they said that Hamas is taking Palestinian civilians as shields, human shields, then they said it was Jihad and it was a rocket of Jihad. I do not believe any of this nonsense because there are many facts here.
One fact is that 57 strikes have already taken place against health facilities, hospitals and clinics in Gaza. This cannot be denied. Another fact is that they warned the hospital, the Baptist church, run by the Anglican Church and warned them to leave and evacuate and they couldn't do that because they couldn't leave their patients to die.
They also attacked and killed no less than 18 Palestinian first aid providers. They also destroyed 23 ambulances with airstrikes and most important, the Israeli air strikes have already demolished 70,000 houses, whole neighborhoods. I cannot understand how President Biden, the head of the most powerful country in the world, continues to accept lies from Netanyahu.
