Fighting the media battle amid the Israel-Hamas war - comment

• Published date: 08 March 2024
• Author: STEVE LINDE
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Perhaps the best example is the explosion in the car park of al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on October 18, 11 days after the surprise Hamas assault and Israel's declaration of war. Without hesitation, many news organizations published the Hamas Health Ministry's claim that the blast had been caused by an Israeli airstrike, killing 471 people and wounding 342

By the time it became clear that the IDF's assessment – that it had probably been the result of an errant rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) at Israel – was correct, it was too late. The damage had been done. Israel was portrayed in the media as a careless aggressor and the Gazans as helpless victims. As the Wikipedia entry on the incident notes, it triggered massive protests in the Middle East and across the world. Jordan even canceled a summit on the war set to be hosted by King Abdullah, with US President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, after Abbas said he would not attend in protest of the Israeli action.

The truth of the Gaza hospital bombing

The Anglican Diocese that manages the hospital later reported that the actual death toll had been closer to 200. It was a tragedy, to be sure, but not a war crime perpetrated by Israel. Leading media outlets issued corrections, clarifications, and apologies.

Several days after BBC correspondent Jon Donnison told viewers on the evening of the incident, "It's hard to see what else this could be, really, given the size of the explosion, other than an Israeli airstrike or several airstrikes," BBC's deputy director of news Jonathan Munro conceded it had made a mistake in its live coverage. The BBC issued an apology on October 23, saying: "We accept that even in this fast-moving situation, it was wrong to speculate in this way about the possible causes, and we apologise for...