Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer slammed CNN for its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Dermer took issue with a report by CNN International Correspondent Karl Penhaul on Thursday’s “OutFront” regarding a rocket that hit a UN-run school in Gaza that omitted evidence that Hamas hide rockets in schools.
“It would be a disservice for your viewers for a reporter from Gaza not to mention that in the last week we had two different UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] schools where we had actually rockets found in the schools and handed over to Hamas… that’s publicly available information. It’s kind of an important fact for your reporter to mention,” he said.
Dermer continued, “He may have wanted to mention a statement that was made by, not by the Israeli Ambassador, not by the spokesman of the IDF, but the UN Secretary General yesterday. And I want to read you what he said yesterday. Not last year, yesterday. ‘The Secretary General is alarmed to hear that rockets were placed in an UNRWA school in Gaza and that subsequently these have gone missing. He expresses his outrage and regret at the of placing of weapons in a UN-administered school. By doing so,’ now listen, Erin, to exactly what he says, ‘by doing so, those responsible are turning schools into potential military targets and endangering the lives of innocent children, UN employees working in such facilities, and anyone using the UN schools as shelter.’”
He asked anchor Erin Burnett, “Do you not think that it’s relevant to report on CNN that the Secretary General of the United Nations yesterday warned against the use of UN schools and shelter for rocket missile depots of Hamas?… I’ve been listening [to] two hours of reports on CNN… I have not heard a single person say what I just said to you now, and I think that that does a disservice to your viewers.”
When asked, “Would Israel have taken the time to confirm that those children were out of the school before you fired, send someone in to look, or do you think it’s okay that you issued the warning and then just went ahead and fired?” Dermer shot back, “I think you have no basis for making the statement that you just made. Of course we wouldn’t fire directly… there’s a good chance that it may have been a Hamas rocket that hit it.”
(h/t The Right Scoop)
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