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CNN Segment Claims Israeli Hostages Were 'Released'

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  June 10, 2024 5:30 PM

Over the weekend, the IDF rescued four hostages that Hamas took on October 7 from Israel into the Gaza Strip. While such a rescue was cause for celebration, terrorist sympathizers used it as an excuse to lament the situation, and the mainstream media also had quite the questionable framing. CNN his under fire for a chyron reading that the hostages were "released," when they were in fact rescued from the "civilians" in Gaza holding them captive.

The chyron, which is also listed as a topic discussed on Saturday morning per the CNN transcript, is that "Gantz Postpones News Conference After Hostage Release," referring to opposition leader Benny Gantz. 

Such framing wasn't a one time thing. Throughout the segment, the hostages were referred to multiple times by multiple CNN employees as having been "released," when in reality they were rescued. IDF commander Arnon Zamora gave his life as a result, and the mission has been named after him. To say that the hostages were "released" would imply that Hamas let them go. 

As was brought up later on by Ian Bremer, president of the Eurasia Group, that's not quite the case. "I mean, every other country in the world is looking for a ceasefire. It's looking for an end of the fighting, and it's looking for all of the hostages to be released. Hamas doesn't support that, unless they find a way to continue to survive. And the Israelis, and not just the prime minister, but the entire Israeli population, wants to see Hamas destroyed," he explained, though he too used the term "released."

Such phrasing was hardly the only issue during the segment. As Guy also touched upon earlier on Monday, CNN also sent out alerts about the death toll in Gaza, with the network citing "a spokesperson at the Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital." 

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"Obviously, in Israel, this is being met with much jubilation, but the scenes from the hospitals in Gaza are really quite disturbing. Blood on the floor of hospitals that are full to capacity, the morgues full as well," CNN Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman lamented. Hamas uses hospitals for their operations, but the segment focused on so-called civilians being treated at such hospitals. 

Nic Robertson, the international diplomatic editor of CNN, also discussed the matter "from the Palestinian perspective inside Gaza."

The rescue mission potentially complicates the likelihood of a ceasefire, the segment also discussed, which President Joe Biden and his administration have been aggressively pushing for. "So from a Palestinian perspective, the consequences of a hostage recovery mission, rescue and recovery mission like this is again going to push the dynamic of hostage negotiations away from the table, because it is going to inflame passion. So I think the short answer is, it makes it harder to achieve a ceasefire deal right now, at least," he went on to say.

The narrative about civilian casualties came up as well. Explaining how the IDF conducted the rescue mission, Robertson noted there were "then back then, dozens upon dozens of civilian casualties in the vicinity, as the IDF sort of fought its way out of the situation." It's worth asking how many of those "civilians" were killed by Hamas, and doubt ought to be cast on the narrative of "civilian casualties" if the IDF had to fight their way out of there. 

Speaking of Biden, Wedeman did bring up a fitting talking point in how this has been affecting Biden as he seeks reelection while dealing with members of his far-left, anti-Israel base. 

"Obviously, I think the United States is eager just to bring this war to an end. It has cost President Biden politically among his base. It is sort of an open wound. I've covered basically every war between Israel and its neighbors and those it controls in the occupied territories now for decades," Wedeman said, using choice language. "But this is by far the longest war, the war that has generated more anger, bitterness and division, and certainly for the United States, now that we are in the ninth month of this war with a huge death toll and disruption on in every sense really, the United States needs to push as hard as possible to finally bring this war to an end."

The president is especially looking to win the key battleground state of Michigan, and has become increasingly anti-Israel as a result. That state continues to look among the most competitive when it comes to the key battlegrounds. 

Further, as our sister site of Twitchy highlighted, CNN was also criticized at great length for claiming that Abdullah Al-Jamal, who was holding hostages in captivity was killed. He wrote for the Palestinian Chronicle and also had pieces published with Qatari owned Al Jazeera, a Hamas propaganda outlet rejecting such an affiliation -- though they admit Al-Jamal wrote pieces for them. 

CNN ended up taking the side of Al Jazeera, putting out a headline claiming "Israel alleges journalist held hostages in Gaza, without providing evidence."