Yesterday afternoon, US time, a huge explosion rocked a crowded hospital in Gaza, reportedly killing hundreds. The 'Health Ministry' in the territory -- better known as Hamas, the terrorist organization that just slaughtered 1,300 Jews a week-and-a-half ago -- immediately blamed Israel, as Hamas is wont to do. Despite a long history of Hamas lying and killing Jews, and despite Israel's longstanding and extensive efforts to avoid civilian casualties (including 'roof knocks' and evacuation warnings), much of the news media reflexively rushed to uncritically report the terrorists' accusation. By the time even some of the resulting dust had settled, the narrative that the Israelis had bombed the hospital had zoomed around the world.
The narrative was extremely premature, and was quickly called into serious doubt by emerging and growing evidence that the culprit for the blast was an errant rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists, intended for Israel. But by the point that facts were starting to get checked, these headlines and news alerts had already been pushed out to countless millions, all over the world:
Media outlets around the globe were quick to run Hamas’ headlines—without fact checking.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 17, 2023
We now know that an Islamic Jihad rocket aimed at Israel misfired and hit the hospital in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/DzJgsbxS4i
A number of governments followed suit:
So far the Governments of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Qatar have all Blamed the Israeli Air Force for the Explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital.
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 17, 2023
Why did the IDF feel confident in asserting, just hours later, that the explosion for which they'd been blamed was caused by "an Islamic Jihad rocket" that "misfired and hit the hospital"? The aforementioned emerging and growing evidence. For instance, an anti-Israel network appearing to have aired the rocket barrage in question as it happened, live, and other footage:
Again, fog of war caveats, but this seems like pretty compelling video bolstering Israel’s assessment of what happened: https://t.co/WXymg3Ngb9
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 17, 2023
Surveillance camera footage from Netiv Haasara shows a large barrage of rockets being launched from northern Gaza, followed by a massive blast in the Strip, apparently caused by a failed projectile. pic.twitter.com/PdNCbks02r
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 17, 2023
This would appear to be some additional independent confirmation:
GeoConfirmed ISR-PAL.
— GeoConfirmed (@GeoConfirmed) October 17, 2023
A missile launched by Palestinian Groups exploded mid-air and one of the pieces fell on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital's yard.
31.504822, 34.46169
Before reacting READ our thread.https://t.co/qbpUGQk89o
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There's also this:
This is shaping up to be an unmitigated debacle for the news outlets whose instinct was to run with Hamas’s version of events. https://t.co/JVn0iykJKj
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) October 17, 2023
The Israeli official said that Israel had passed signal intelligence on the explosion to US intelligence.
— Zachary Cohen (@ZcohenCNN) October 18, 2023
Signals intelligence includes intercepted communications and other forms of data collected through various means.
This signals intelligence -- intercepted chatter of terrorists discussing what happened, apparently verified by the US -- represents one of several smoking guns implicating Palestinian terrorists and exonerating Israel. President Biden has now asserted Israel's innocence on the matter. Indeed, after daybreak in Gaza, the damage appeared much less dramatic than had been initially reported, strongly suggesting that immediate casualty figures from Hamas were lies (a blow to people who rushed out with inaccuracies and also suggested that only Israeli weaponry could have caused such damage). The public relations damage was done, however, and accuracy was secondary to an appalling number of people, including certain members of Congress. It shouldn't be too hard to guess which ones:
“Israel just bombed…”
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 17, 2023
This reckless, explosive, highly-disputed-to-debunked claim has been live on this person’s feed for three hours and counting. She is a member of Congress. https://t.co/ounYAFhJ1c
Will this become another deleted Israel smear tweet from this person? https://t.co/Lp2wrngxjo
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 17, 2023
"Israel just bombed." "Gravest of war crimes." Even this morning, with definitive countervailing evidence available and still mounting, both tweets remained live. When it comes to anti-Semitic blood libels and anti-Israel misinformation, these two have boundless appetites. I'll leave you with some frightening, real-world consequences of false, highly-combustible information zooming all across the world (some have wondered if the size and scope of these 'spontaneous' protests were too vast to be fully organic), as well as a dark observation about when certain figures do, and do not, rush to judgment:
Greece pic.twitter.com/xSH6bvaS13
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 17, 2023
Barcelona, Spain pic.twitter.com/V3tqpLyGZw
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 17, 2023
Liberal friend points out that the Squad went radio silent for days when Hamas committed atrocities, but jumped on Twitter in minutes when they thought they could blame one on Jews. https://t.co/aem38Mq46Z
— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 17, 2023
It took Tlaib days to somewhat clarify that she opposes Hamas beheading Jewish infants, though she didn't even muster a condemnation of Hamas in doing so. Atrocious:
Jews suffered the most significant massacre since the Holocaust 11 days ago. Then a week+ of people celebrating or downplaying the massacre. And now, media and many others took the word of a terrorist org to blame Jews for murders committed by those trying to kill more Jews.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 18, 2023
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