Jeremy Scahill, the National Security correspondent for the left-wing The Nation magazine, appeared on HuffPo Live and ranted that Israel is responsible for “war crimes” in which “child after child” is killed. The hyperbolic Scahill also accused the U.S. media of reporting only Israeli propaganda.
Scahill, who has been on past crusades against oil companies and capitalism, appeared on HuffPost Live on July 23 to discuss his latest topic of how the U.S. maintains and operates its terrorist watchlist. But during the interview, HuffPost’s Alyona Minkovski segued into the situation in Gaza. Her question of how the U.S. media are reporting Israel’s actions in Gaza set Scahill off on a hyperbolic, anti-Israel rant.
“We could say this every time I come on your show and talk to you: we’ve hit all-time lows with media coverage in this country,” Scahill began. “When you look at what’s happening right now in Gaza, this is a massive massacre and one epic series of war crime after war crime, child after child being killed.”
That wasn’t the end of his attack on Israel. The liberal journo went on to decry the “constant bombardment” Israel is visiting on Gaza. Naturally, he didn’t once note that Hamas started the bombing with more than a decade of missile attacks on Jewish children and families.
Scahill got even more vicious with his name-calling during his biased assessment of Israel’s actions, saying, “We’re talking about a nuclear powered nation that has a history of systematically killing Palestinians, indiscriminately targeting civilians and civilian institutions.”
“Israel is gratuitous in its disproportionate use of force against the Palestinians,” Scahill insisted. But once again, he refused to balance his claims with the truth, such as the fact that Israel warns civilians that they should leave specifically targeted Hamas facilities. What other nation has ever warned civilians to leave a targeted area?
Scahill then went on to charge that the U.S. media are protecting Israel. “Israeli propagandists are largely given carte blanche to say what they want on American television with very little pushback,” he said.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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