OPINION

CNN’s Terror-sided Reporting

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

CNN’s continuous reporting of terrorist attacks on Israel as “demonstrations” and “protest movement” is a regurgitation of terrorist propaganda, which serves to ameliorate terrorism. CNN's intentional omission of the anti-Semitic vitriol that accompanies the terrorist acts, such as "burn the Jews," "kill Jews," and "tear their hearts," is disturbingly suspicious. This type of one-sided reporting to enhance the public acceptance of terrorism is terror-sided reporting.

Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists at the Gaza border, have fired over 100 rockets and mortars into Israel this past month. Twice they have struck kindergarten playgrounds, which were fortunately without children at the moment of impact. They have also manufactured firebomb kites which they send into Israel to “burn the Jews.” Palestinian terror kites have started more than 450 fires and have caused millions of dollars of damage in Israel. The fires have destroyed more than 6,000 acres of farmland, engulfed public parks, damaged irrigation systems, inflicted harm on livestock, and burned down nature sanctuaries. CNN's take on these acts of aggressive terrorism: “use of kites by Gazan demonstrators” as part of a “protest movement.”

The kites are frequently decorated with swastikas and messages such as “DIE JEWS.” The Palestinians run around screaming “KILL THE JEWS” and “BURN THE JEWS” as they launch the terror kites into Israel.

What are their intentions? Well, we can read the kites and hear their screams. Do these acts appear to be “demonstrations,” is this a "protest movement"? No. This is hateful violence, and these are terrorist attacks on Israelis. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar confirms these terrorist intentions in an April 6 speech, in which he calls on the “protestors” to “take down the border and we will tear their hearts from their bodies.” 

Yet, when reporting on Gaza "protestors," CNN.com does not discuss the intent to murder Israelis and Jews. Instead, CNN reporting is focused on the propaganda ideology that this is all about peace

More interestingly, CNN.com seems to have refused to write about the “kill Jews” motives entirely, even though the recent spike in Palestinian terrorism has been ongoing for over three months, and the intent to kill Jews has been the pervasive goal of these “demonstrators.” CNN similarly does not appear to have ever reported on Sinwar's “tear their hearts” statement.

In this video, IDF shows maps posted by Hamas on their Great Return March social media, illustrating where Israeli towns and homes are located and showing paths of how to get there from the border. A “protestor” named Mohammed told Washington Post that their goal is to “get inside” and to do “whatever is possible, to kill, throw stones.” Washington Post also reported that two other men carried large knives and said they wanted to kill Jews on the other side of the fence. Other terrorists are seen on video running around the border screaming, “KILL THE JEWS!” The professed mission of Hamas is to kill Jews and overtake Israel.

Go ahead and do a word search on CNN.com for the terms kill and jews in the same article. You will not find anything in 2018. That is because CNN did not report it. Could this be an error or oversight? No. CNN engaged in significant coverage of the Palestinian “protest” and plight. Check for yourself — search for the terms Palestinian and Israel and look at how many articles come up for 2018.

CNN even takes a step further and helps to camouflage terrorist lies by not reporting the truth after their lies unravel. Last month, CNN.com reported that a baby was killed by Israeli tear gas. This turned out to be a Palestinian lie. The baby was eventually, and quietly, removed from the list of their dead because that baby died of a pre-existing medical condition. Hamas paid that baby's family to tell media that the baby died from Israeli tear gas inhalation. CNN didn’t report on the lie. Similarly, earlier this month, CNN reported that a paramedic was killed by “Israeli snipers while providing first aid to injured protesters at the fence.” In response, IDF released a video of this nurse standing at the violent border, declaring herself a “human shield,” throwing a gas canister toward Israel. CNN has not updated their story to include the nurse’s actual activities at the border. 

In fact, CNN.com has never reported on the lies spread by Hamas and the Palestinians to achieve their goals, which the terror group had been doing since it was formed. “Hamas lies systematically, instructing civilians to misinform the foreign press. It lies habitually, with a formidable record of mendacity from previous conflicts. And it lies guiltlessly, convinced that the objectives of ‘resistance’ supersede quaint notions of truth-telling,” writes Oren Kessler for U.S. News & World Report

I have continuously called out CNN for this type of unobjective, fake news, one-sided reporting. I am now giving it a new name: terror-sided reporting.  

Why does CNN continue to act as the propaganda arm of terrorism? Why does CNN ignore their malicious, anti-Semitic desire to kill Jews? Did CNN fall for Hamas lies, or are there other motives? Maybe CNN gets their motivations from the same place where CNN gets their vocabulary, Al Jazeera, which uses the terms “demonstrator” and “protest movement” to ameliorate terrorism as they intentionally vilify Israel.

We need to hold CNN accountable for terror-sided reporting.