WaPo: Telling Lies, Letting Schweet Little Lies Slide

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File

Ed, David, and I have all written about some aspect of the alternate joint US-Israeli aid program underway in Gaza right now. American contractors have set up a relief system to get food into the area and are predicting that they will be able to feed over half of the residents, hopefully by the end of the week.

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What has so upset the rest of the world - everyone from Hamas to the UN to the American and British 'journalists' covering the never-ending conflict - is that the two countries are managing this effort on their own, without any United Nations or non-governmental organization (NGO) assistance or interference.

For Hamas, that has been a real-time threat, as it impacts both their black-market for selling the free relief supplies so generously provided to them for hoarding and retail profit by their compatriots at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). But it also impedes their ability to funnel easily available foodstuffs and supplies to keep their terrorist army and their dependents well-fed and on the ball.

 When the senior Hamas mouthpiece based in Beirut found out about the plans, he exhorted starving Gazans not to eat the Jew food. Palestinians needed to keep starving in solidarity with the terrorists' cause, and really. According to this Hamas orifice, the Americans and Jews were only feeding Gazans to make it easier to ship them off to another country. Said Hamas leader himself looks as if he's never missed a meal for any cause, but that's beside the point.

As Ed noted, the new aid game plan could put such a pinch on Hamas that it might be a game changer, but there are still games to be played before any progress is made.

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On Sunday, as crowds gathered at the US/Israeli distribution site, shots rang out, bullets flew, and bodies fell. It didn't take the Hamas ministry of BS more than fifteen minutes to get a lie spread around the world that Israeli soldiers at the site had opened fire, unprovoked, on innocent, starving Palestinians simply waiting for a handout.

Every major news organization on the planet was screaming 'Israeli army slaughters Gazans' within minutes, from CNN to the BBC and in between.

It took five precious hours to be released, but security footage from the distribution site itself showed nothing.

...Quoting the Palestine Red Crescent Society, CNN wrote: “‘Crowds of citizens headed to receive food aid’” from a site in the Rafah area, when Israeli forces opened fire,” leaving at least 26 Palestinians dead. 

Ok, and where did the number come from? Hamas—as it always does. Speaking to the AFP, Hamas spokesman Mahmud Bassal said: “The number of martyrs from the massacre at the American aid center in Rafah has risen to at least 22, with more than 120 wounded, including children.” 

As of writing, Hamas has raised the number to 31. 

And the media ran with it—because why question Hamas when you can blame the Jews? 

There’s just one problem: Security camera footage from the aid distribution site at the time of the alleged massacre was released.  

Watch it for yourself in the reply to this post: You’ll see no shooting and no injures. 

IDF soldiers in the area also made clear: Not only was there no shooting, but they were prohibited from firing at armed men near the Salah a-Din Highway—because there were thousands of Gazans in their vicinity. 

And there’s another problem: The IDF responded to the accusations, but only five hours after reports of the massacre—which were spread by the world’s largest media outlets—first surfaced. 

What did the military say? “At this time, we are unaware of injuries caused by IDF troops’ fire within the [humanitarian aid] distribution site,” adding that “the matter is still under review.” 

While such delays are often due to ensuring the correct procedures take place—not incompetence—not for the first time in this war, the IDF has responded to grave accusations that carry international implications with too little, too late.

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Front page lies.

Evening news lies. CBS didn't add 'the Israelis deny' until days later.

David had an excellent breakdown of how the stories spun out of control. It went from IDF soldiers firing to Israeli tanks opening fire on the crowds before gradually and grudgingly, small acknowledgments of 'Not exactly' were slipped into headlines or paragraphs, while making sure the listener or reader still was aware the aid program was 'controversial.'

But only controversial because they'd decided it was so.

In the meantime, astonished Palestinians are taken aback at the thought that the food the Jews and Americans are providing is for them. For free. No strings - take it home and eat.

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WE NEED THIS FOOD

CONTROVERSIAL FOOD BECAUSE IT'S FREE

Some media outlets have been a little slow to get their corrections out, though. Even as enraged, incoherent anti-Semitics try to burn Americans alive in the name of Gaza. 

You think they'd be more concerned about the accuracy of inflammatory material.

CBS wasn't. They just changed up their report yesterday, and used a sly 'Israel has denied responsibility, saying it had only fired warning shots...'

We see you flea bitten dawgs.

And then there's the guardians of Dark Dead Democracy.

What a gem of a 'correction' they've just put up on X.

...The background: Early versions of the article on Sunday stated that Israeli troops had killed more than 30 people near a U.S. aid site in Gaza, with the headline attributing the action to “health officials.”  

The article failed to make clear if attributing the deaths to Israel was the position of the Gaza health ministry or a fact verified by The Post. The article and headline were updated on Sunday evening making it clear that there was no consensus about who was responsible for the shootings and that there was a dispute over that question.  

While statements from Israel that it was unaware of injuries and that an initial inquiry indicated its soldiers didn’t fire at civilians near the site were included in all versions, The Post didn’t give proper weight to Israel’s denial and gave improper certitude about what was known about any Israeli role in the shootings. The early versions fell short of Post standards of fairness and should not have been published in that form.

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The Post's 'fairness standards' - did you catch that?

What a hoot.

I wonder if someone in the D.C. bureau smelled the burning Boulder Jews as Free Free Palestine rang in the acrid air? Maybe it triggered a CYA rethink.

It certainly didn't trigger any 'fairness standards.'

They'd have to have them first.



 

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David Strom 12:00 PM | June 05, 2025
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