A top U.S. diplomat accused liberal media outlets on Monday of parroting Hamas “propaganda” ahead of a suspected Sunday anti-Israel terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee slammed corporate media outlets for fostering an “antisemitic climate” with their reporting after a man allegedly attacked pro-Israel marchers with an improvised flamethrower on Sunday. Hours before the alleged incident, media outlets such as CNN and The Associated Press (AP) reported that Israel gunned down Palestinians at an aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip, citing local sources whose claims are contested.
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“Reckless and irresponsible reporting by major U.S. news outlets are contributing to the antisemitic climate that has resulted in the murder of two [Israeli Embassy staffers] in Washington last month and the attempted murder and terror attack on a group of pro-Israel demonstrators in Colorado on Sunday,” Huckabee said. “Without verification of any source other than Hamas and its collaborators, the New York Times, CNN, and Associated Press reported that a number of people seeking to receive humanitarian food boxes from the Gaza Humanitarian [Foundation] were shot or killed by the Israeli Defense Forces.”
“We are demanding an immediate retraction of the lies and are appealing to all media sources to act with objective professionalism to cover actual events instead of being a partner of terrorism by blindly following Hamas news releases,” Huckabee said.
The AP and CNN reported in the early hours of Sunday that Israel began firing at a crowd at an aid distribution site, leading to more than 20 deaths, citing witnesses and Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry, archived webpages show. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation released a Sunday statement saying that its aid was disseminated “without incident” and adding that it was “aware of rumors being actively fomented by Hamas suggesting deaths and injuries.”
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The New York Times’ early coverage of the incident said that “it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack,” an archived webpage shows. CNN later updated its story to note that it could not independently verify claims of Israel killing innocent people.
Israel has disputed the claims, saying its troops merely fired “warning shots” on “suspects” who were approaching their position, according to Fox News. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released footage of what it says were masked individuals, not the IDF, firing on civilians in Khan Younis in a separate location from the alleged IDF attack.
Aid sites in the Gaza Strip have been subject to looting for months throughout the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation told the DCNF that it “has delivered nearly 6 million meals in the first week of operations without incident.”
The New York Times and CNN did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment, while the AP defended its work in a statement.
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“The Associated Press stands by its reporting of the deaths overnight Sunday in Rafah, which includes multiple eyewitness accounts, interviews with health and hospital officials and the Red Cross, as well as statements from the Israeli military and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” the AP told the DCNF.
The AP noted that it later included Israel’s video of masked men in Khan Younis in its coverage.
Authorities accused Egyptian illegal migrant Mohamed Soliman of attacking the pro-Israel marchers in Boulder with an improvised flamethrower and Molotov cocktails. Soliman is in custody and now faces a slew of charges, including a federal hate crime charge.
Videos of this episode uploaded to social media appear to show Soliman shouting phrases such as “end Zionists” and “how many children you killed?” The FBI is investigating the incident as terrorism and reportedly searched Soliman’s home on Sunday night.
The Boulder attack, which injured eight people, came weeks after authorities alleged a man fatally shot two Israeli Embassy workers in Washington, D.C., and yelled “free Palestine” during his arrest. Prior to those alleged murders, a Pennsylvania man was hit with terrorism charges for allegedly burning Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home with his family inside in April due to anger over Palestine.
On the day of the D.C. murders, the BBC had reported a claim from a United Nations (U.N.) official — later debunked — that 14,000 Gazan babies could starve to death in the next 48 hours because of Israel’s actions.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
