#CNN

[xtruss]

In Internal Meeting, Christiane Amanpour Confronts CNN Brass About “Double Standards” On Isra-Hell Coverage

Amanpour Expressed “Real Distress” Over Isra-hell, Illegal Regime, Stories Being Changed, While Other Staffers Described a Climate That is Hostile to Arab Journalists.

— Daniel Boguslaw, Prem Thakker | March 1 2024

The CNN logo is seen on the building in Los Angeles, on Nov. 13, 2023. Photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto Via AP

CNN Employees, Including the renowned international news anchor Christiane Amanpour, confronted network executives over what the staffers described as myriad leadership failings in coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, according to a leaked recording of a recent all-hands meeting obtained by The Intercept.

In the hourlong meeting at CNN’s London Bureau on February 13, staffers took turns questioning a panel of executives about CNN’s protocols for covering the war in Gaza and what they describe as a hostile climate for Arab reporters. Several junior and senior CNN employees described feeling devalued, embarrassed, and disgraced by CNN’s war coverage.

The panelists — CNN Worldwide CEO and CNN Editor-in-Chief Mark Thompson, CNN U.S. Executive Editor Virginia Moseley, and CNN International General Manager Mike McCarthy — responded with broad assurances that the employees’ concerns were being heard, while also defending CNN’s work and pointing to the persistent obstacle of gaining access inside the Gaza Strip.

One issue that came up repeatedly is CNN’s longtime process for routing almost all coverage relating to Israel and Palestine through the network’s Jerusalem bureau. As The Intercept reported in January, the protocol — which has existed for years but was expanded and rebranded as SecondEyes last summer — slows down reporting on Gaza and filters news about the war through journalists in Jerusalem who operate under the shadow of Israel’s military censor.

“You’ve heard from me, you’ve heard my, you know, real distress with SecondEyes — changing copy, double standards, and all the rest,” said Amanpour, who was identified in the recording when an executive called her name. “So you’ve heard it, and I hear what your response is and I hope it does go a long way.”

CNN spokesperson Jonathan Hawkins declined to comment on the meeting and pointed The Intercept to the network’s previous statement about SecondEyes, which described it as a process to bring “more expert eyes” to coverage around the clock. “I would add to this that the staff members on this group include Arab staff based outside Israel, and have done since the group was established,” Hawkins said.

Amanpour did not respond to a request for comment.

Like other mainstream news organizations, CNN has faced a flood of internal and external criticism of its coverage of Israel and Gaza since October 7, accused of minimizing Palestinian suffering and uncritically amplifying Israeli narratives. Just this week, CNN described an Israeli massacre of more than 100 starving people who were gathered to get food as a “chaotic incident.” Earlier this month, The Guardian published an extensive story sourced to multiple CNN staffers who described the network’s Gaza coverage as “journalistic malpractice.”

During the February meeting, a half-dozen staffers spoke candidly about concerns with CNN’s war coverage. They said the coverage has weakened the network’s standing in the region and has led Arab staffers, some of whom entered lethal situations to cover the war, feeling as though their lives are expendable.

“I was in southern Lebanon during October and November,” one journalist said. “And it was more distressing for me to turn on CNN, than the bombs falling nearby.”

The Meeting Began as an effort for leadership to discuss editorial priorities. Thompson, in his opening remarks, spoke at length about his vision for evenhanded journalism and reiterated his personal openness to critical exchange and inquiry. “There’s something about the essence of CNN — its brand, what it stands for — which to me is great breaking news, with, right in the middle of the frame, a human being, someone you trust and whose background you know, acting as your guide to what’s happening,” he said.

As soon as the C-suite opened the discussion up to staff questions, the interrogation began.

“My question is about our Gaza coverage,” said the journalist who worked from Lebanon in the fall. “I think it’s no secret that there is a lot of discontent about how the newsgathering process — and how it played out.”

Instead of finding solace in CNN’s coverage of the war, the staffer continued, “I find that my colleagues, my family, are platforming people over and over again, that are either calling for my death, or using very dehumanizing language against me … and people that look like me. And obviously, this has a huge impact in our credibility in the region.”

The journalist posed a question to the executives: “I want to ask as well, what have you done, and what are you doing to address the hate speech that fills our air and informed our coverage, especially in the first few months of the war?”

Thompson responded that he’s generally satisfied with how the network has covered Israel’s war on Gaza, while conceding that “it is impossible to do this kind of story where there are people with incredibly strong opinions on both sides,” without “sometimes making mistakes.” He added that CNN has gotten better at admitting mistakes and trying to correct them and suggested, in response to the staffer’s concerns over dehumanization, that holes in coverage are a consequence of limited access to Gaza.

“I think the fact that it’s been very difficult for us until relatively recently, and even today, to get fully on the ground inside Gaza, has made it hard for us to deliver the kind of individualized personal stories of what it’s been like for the people of Gaza, in the way it has been more possible for us with the story of the families of those murdered and kidnapped by Hamas in the original Hamas attack on Israel,” said Thompson, who answered most of the questions.

If the network had the same access to Gaza as it does to the families of Israeli hostages, he continued, “I believe we would have done the same,” citing a story the network ran about one of its own producers caught in Gaza. “I think that we have for the most part tried very hard to capture the … our job is not to be moral arbiters, it is to report what’s happening.”

Another newsroom staffer chimed in to object to the network’s uncritical coverage of statements by Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. “I think a lot of us felt very strongly about the fact that there were very senior anchors not challenging people like, comments like, the defense minister using what is considered under international law, genocidal language, ‘human animals,’ all of those things that made up the first seven pages of the South African legal case at the ICJ,” referring to the International Court of Justice.

The employee then turned to SecondEyes: “If we want a culture that truly values diversity, we need to be really honest about, nobody gets it right. But we did not have our key Jerusalem producers on that Jerusalem SecondEyes — we didn’t have an Arab on it for some time.”

The staffer went on to say that Muslim or Arab journalists at CNN were made to feel that they must denounce Hamas to clear their names and be taken seriously as journalists. “I’ve heard this, where a number of younger colleagues now feel that they didn’t want to put their hands up to speak up even in the kind of the local Bureau meeting,” the staffer said. “People were taking their names off bylines.”

Thompson interjected, saying that people seemed to be speaking up now and that he welcomes editorial discussions.

Another staffer disputed that characterization and noted that Arab and Muslim journalists walk a difficult line between feeling proud of working for CNN while facing pressure from their families and communities over working for a network with a pronounced pro-Israel bias.

“I think it’s very important for you to know that the degree of racism that those of us of Arab and Muslim descent face inside Israel, covering Israel, was disproportionate — the targeting of us by pro Israeli organizations, and what we had to hear,” another staffer added.

Amanpour chimed in toward the end of the meeting. She praised the reports of Clarissa Ward, Nada Bashir, and Jomana Karadsheh and suggested that CNN should have more experts like them on the ground and in the field, especially at the start of a conflict.

“Bottom line, we do actually have to send experts to these unbelievably difficult, contentious, you know, game-changing stories,” said Amanpour, a veteran war reporter. “It isn’t a place, with due respect, to send people who we want to promote or whatever, or teach. Maybe in the second wave, maybe in the third wave — but in the first wave, it has to be the people who know, through experience, what they’re seeing, and how to speak truth to power on all sides. And how to recognize the difference between political or whatever or terrorist attack, and the humanity, and to be able to put all of that into reporting.”

“For me, video is not a talking head on a balcony in a capital,” Amanpour said. “It just isn’t. To me, video is reportage.”

[i-am-aprl]

So yesterday's powerful case for the genocide was hard to find and not broadcasted on major networks but today's response to yesterday is readily available everywhere? Got it, makes sense.

[news4dzhozhar]

She really doesn't have much room to talk. She has parroted the same BS lies for months, downplayed everything and used dismissive wording to minimize the reality of everything.

[hiba91]

Netanyahu: We did not kill any civilians. Congress: 20-second loud applause.

Israel killed 10 of my family, 7 children and 3 women, in an air attack of 3 missiles. You cursed ones, you murderers

Alaa Shath

[zvaigzdelasas]

South Africa’s genocide case has put the spotlight on a deeper fault line in global geopolitics. Beyond the courtroom drama, experts say divisions over the war in Gaza symbolize a widening gap between Israel and its traditional Western allies, notably the United States and Europe, and a group of nations known as the Global South — countries located primarily in the southern hemisphere, often characterized by lower income levels and developing economies.

Reactions from the Global North to the ICJ case have been mixed. While some nations have maintained a cautious diplomatic stance, others, particularly Israel’s staunchest allies in the West, have criticized South Africa’s move.

The US has stood by Israel through the war by continuing to ship arms to it, opposing a ceasefire, and vetoing many UN Security Council resolutions that aimed to bring a halt to the fighting. The Biden administration has rubbished the claim that Israel is committing genocide as “meritless,” while the UK has refused to back South Africa.[...]

As a nation whose history is rooted in overcoming apartheid, South Africa’s move carries symbolic weight that has resonated with other nations in the developing world, many of whom have faced the burden of oppression and colonialism from Western powers.

Nelson Mandela, the face of the anti-apartheid movement, was a staunch supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its leader Yasser Arafat, saying in 1990: “We align ourselves with the PLO because, akin to our struggle, they advocate for the right of self-determination.”

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that while South Africa’s case is a continuation of its long-standing pro-Palestinian sympathies, the countries that have rallied behind it show deeper frustrations by the Global South.

There is “a clear geopolitical context in which many countries from the Global South have been increasingly critical over what they see as a lack of Western pressure on Israel to prevent such a large-scale loss of life in Gaza and its double standards when it comes to international law,” Lovatt told CNN.

Much of the non-Western world opposes the war in Gaza; China has joined the 22-member Arab League in calling for a ceasefire, while several Latin American nations have expelled Israeli diplomats in protest, and several Asian and African countries have joined Muslim and Arab nations in backing South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ.

For many in the developing world, the ICJ case has become a focal point for questioning the moral authority of the West and what is seen as the hypocrisy of the world’s most powerful nations and their unwillingness to hold Israel to account. [...]

Israel sided with the West against Soviet-backed Arab regimes during the Cold War, and Western countries largely view it “as a fellow member of the liberal democratic club,” he added.[...]

“But the strong support of Western governments is increasingly at odds with the attitudes of Western publics which continue to shift away from Israel,” Lovatt said.

Israel has framed the war in Gaza as a clash of civilizations where it is acting as the guardian of Western values that it says are facing an existential threat.

“This war is a war that is not only between Israel and Hamas,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told MSNBC in December. “It’s a war that is intended – really, truly – to save Western civilization, to save the values of Western civilization.”

So far, no Western countries have supported South Africa’s case against Israel.

Among Western states, Germany has been one of the most vocal supporters of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The German government has said it “expressly rejects” allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that it plans to intervene as a third party on its behalf at the ICJ.

An opinion poll by German broadcaster ZDF this week however found that 61% of Germans do not consider Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip as justified in light of the civilian casualties. Only 25% voiced support for Israel’s offensive.

But it is in Germany’s former colonial territory, Namibia, that it has attracted the fiercest criticism.

The Namibian President Hage Geingob in a statement on Saturday chided Berlin’s decision to reject the ICJ case, accusing it of committing “the first genocide of the 20th century in 1904-1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions.” The statement added that the German government had not yet fully atoned for the killings.

Bangladesh, where up to three million people were killed during the country’s war of independence from Pakistan in the 1970s, has gone a step further to file a declaration of intervention in the ICJ case to back South Africa’s claims, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

A declaration of intervention allows a state that is not party to the proceedings to present its observations to the court.

“With Germany siding with Israel, and Bangladesh and Namibia backing South Africa at the ICJ, the geopolitical divide between the Global South and the West appears to be deepening,” Lovatt said.

Traditionally, the West has wielded significant influence in international affairs, but South Africa’s move signals a growing assertiveness among Global South nations that threatens the status quo, says Adekoya.

“One clear pattern emerging is that the old Western-dominated order is increasingly being challenged, a situation likely to only further intensify as the West loses its once unassailably dominant economic position,” Adekoya said.

19 Jan 24

[intersectionalpraxis]

Just saw your post about the psycho Zionist teacher and 1) great points 2) I haven't seen this reported on any major news network but you just KNOW that had it been a Muslim or Arab teacher with a Palestinian flag, it would be 24/7 coverage nationwide. Clown country.

I tried to find some updated information, but it appears that still no major mainstream or national news centre covered this event apart from one local new station in Georgia. People are losing their jobs for saying "from the river to the sea," and for demanding a ceasefire at protests. If he wasn't white, this would be a breaking story on CNN for at least 24 hours with coverage on the ground at the school with them interviewing or trying to engage with staff and the administration to hold that piece of zionist shit accountable but no... the racist double standards, as you pointed out, are continually perpetuated and reinforced, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

[royal-confessions]

“I may not be her biggest fan but Rania spoke straight up facts on CNN. The GLARING DOUBLE STANDARD is what is infuriating.” - Submitted by Anonymous

““Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family at gunpoint, but it’s okay to shell them to death?” Very well said, Queen Rania 👏 👏 👏” - Submitted by Anonymous

“Queen Rania was right in her CNN interview and she should say it! !” - Submitted by Anonymous

“There’s a lot I can’t stand about rania….but I like her interview with CNN she hit hard at western media for the Israeli bias and stood her ground..,honestly I’ve never seen her that worked up before. Hope to see more actual opinions from rania!” - Submitted by Anonymous

“Respect to Queen Rania for speaking out about the innocent Palestinian civilians who have died as a result of the current war. She's a woman with a big heart because she was able to say this to a huge audience, including the West.” - Submitted by Anonymous

[coochiequeens]

“On November 23, Natalee Bingham, a friend of a Club Q victim, appeared on CNN to refute the shooter’s alleged gender identity. When asked for comment on Aldrich’s “non-binary” identity, Bingham called it “ludicrous,” and claimed “it was obvious” Aldrich was a man based on his appearance.”                                     But I thought you couldn’t assume gender based on appearance?

After it was revealed that a shooter who killed 5 people and injured 25 others at an LGBT nightclub in Colorado identifies as “non-binary” and uses gender neutral pronouns, trans activists took to social media to express disbelief over his self-declared identity.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, opened fire at Club Q on November 19, tragically killing Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump and Ashley Paugh. At least 25 others in the venue were also injured during the incident. Aldrich was arrested at the scene and taken into police custody.

Following news of the mass killings, prominent figures blamed “homophobia” and “transphobia” for the shooting.

California Senator Scott Wiener, who introduced a bill that turns the state into a refuge for youth and parents of children seeking out puberty-halting drugs, went so far as to blame the shooting on the use of the word “groomer” online.

However, a recent court filing revealed that Aldrich identifies as a non-binary individual, and therefore could be considered a member of the LGBTQ community according to his chosen status.

On November 22, Aldrich’s legal team submitted court documents stating that their client prefers use they/them pronouns and goes by “Mx. Aldrich” as opposed to “Mr.” or “Ms.” Aldrich. The shooter also had legally changed his name shortly after his 16th birthday, and was born Nicholas Franklin Brink.

The revelation came after days of fierce online assertions over the shooters motivations, with many trans activists blaming both conservatives and gender critical feminists for the shooting. Some took aim at conservative commentators such as Matt Walsh and Tucker Carlson, with others even directing their ire at children’s author JK Rowling.

“Wow turns out I had never in my life experienced fury until the second I read the sentence ‘the shooter now claims he is non-binary,'” tweeted Gretchen Felker-Martin. Felker-Martin recently published a novelcentered around trans-identified males graphically murdering feminists.

Some reporters even struggled to decide which pronouns to use for the shooter when reporting on the case. One CBS News clip showed reporter Karen Morfitt stumbling over her words as she attempted to use gender neutral pronouns for Aldrich, while CNN presenters speculated that Aldrich wasn’t really non-binary, but was instead setting up his defense case against the hate crime charges. 

On November 23, Natalee Bingham, a friend of a Club Q victim, appeared on CNN to refute the shooter’s alleged gender identity.

When asked for comment on Aldrich’s “non-binary” identity, Bingham called it “ludicrous,” and claimed “it was obvious” Aldrich was a man based on his appearance. 

“It was obvious with the mugshot that’s a man. That’s not a non-binary person because in no way shape or form could they appear as a woman the next day,” Bingham claimed.

Bingham called it “offensive” for a “male” to “play that role,” and reiterated that it was easy to tell Aldrich was not really what he claimed to be.

The clip of Bingham’s appearance began circulating on social media, and many users were quick to point out Bingham’s hypocrisy over not respecting Aldrich’s identity because of his appearance.

Disclosure notice: @Slatzism is the Editor-in-Chief at Reduxx.

“But I thought we can’t tell anyone’s gender until they tell us? Aren’t we just supposed to believe what people say? Fairly sure Natalee is engaging in some double standards here,” one user said in response to the clip.

“Oh so it sounds like we don’t need to declare or recognize pronouns any more, we can just go by looks. Right?,” another user questioned.

The narrative that Aldrich is claiming to be non-binary as a legal maneuver to secure leniency during the trial began circulating across social media shortly after news of the court filing broke. Many trans activists are now claiming that Aldrich is only pretending to be non-binary, citing evidence such as family members using he/him pronouns to describe him on social media. 

Trans activist and alleged sex offender Eli Erlick repeatedly misgendered Aldrich on Twitter and claimed he is “playing the media by lying” about his gender identity.

“Using queer and trans self-determination ethos against us is a disgusting but effective way to further harm our communities.” Erlick stated on Twitter. In the past, Erlickhas criticized those who accurately identify him as male, despite some anecdotal evidence that he leveraged his own self-declared transgender status to avoid criticism for alleged crimes he committed. 

The debate amongst trans activists about Aldrich not being “authentically” non-binary are in contrast with long-standing assertion that trans activists claiming the only requirement to being “non-binary” is to self identify as such.

A viral tweet from September asserted that non-binary people “deserve to be respected without having their identity picked apart.”

The situation with Aldrich resembles recent controversies surrounding non-binary actor Ezra Miller.

Miller, known for his roles in The Flash and We Need to Talk About Kevin, became the subject of international outcry after numerous disturbing incidents came to light.

Miller is alleged to have committed multiple acts of violence against women, some of which were filmed and well-documented. In 2020, Miller was caught on video choking a female fan in Iceland and throwing her to the concrete. Earlier this year, Miller was reported to police by a Hawaiian woman who stated he had hit her in the head with a chair.

Most disturbingly, the mother of a young woman took to Twitter to report that her daughter had been effectively kidnapped by Miller, who had groomed her from when she was a minor, and plied her with illicit drugs.

Environmental activist Sara Jumping Eagle told her followers that her daughter, Tokata Iron Eyes, has not had a phone since January of this year, and that her family has been unable to locate her.

Yet despite all of his controversies, activists on Twitter asserted that Miller’s non-binary identity must be respected regardless of his improprieties. The actor uses the pronouns they/them/it and zir.

Similarly, earlier this year, internet celebrity Christian Weston Chandler, known more commonly as Chris Chan, appeared in court charged with raping his own 79 year old mother. 

During the court proceedings, people on Twitter began posting about the importance of not misgenderingChandler, who identifies as both a woman and a lesbian.

In addition to those outright denying Aldrich’s identity, some claimed it was “suspicious” for him to have begun using they/them pronouns only after his arrest. 

Trans activist and writer Katelyn Burns tweeted: “I just think it’s very convenient that the first time anyone on the planet has ever heard of you preferring they them pronouns is just after you’ve been arrested for shooting up a queer bar.”

But women’s rights advocates were quick to retort by pointing out that criminals identifying as transgender following an arrest, conviction, or incarceration was a relatively common occurrence.

Responding to Burns, one Twitter user wrote: “It’s almost like gender identity ideology allows males to do as they please and then claim trans status to avoid the repercussions. Most (transwomen) in Scottish jails only discovered they were trans after they were arrested. Funny that.”

Many pointed to a study published in the British Journal of Criminology which speculated that “the transitions of transgender people might be an attempt by pedophiles or other sex offenders to access cis-women in the female prison estate.” The same study found that a large percentage of men who identified as women in prison detransitioned upon release. 

“So, the Colorado shooting suspect is identifying as ‘non-binary’ with ‘they/them’ pronouns. Many desperate for this inconvenient info to go away are claiming ‘they’ are just gaming the system. Possibly true. But haven’t gender critical women been warning about this for years?” tweeted podcaster Stephen Knight.

The motive for Aldrich’s horrific actions have still yet to be determined by official investigation, despite the array of online speculation. So far, it has been revealed that the shooter had a traumatic upbringing with both parents having criminal backgrounds.

At 16, Aldrich filed a legal petition in Texas seeking to “protect himself” from his father, who had a criminal history including domestic violence against his mother. Aldrich’s father is an MMA fighter and porn actor who is reportedly addicted to methamphetamine. 

Formal charges are to expected to be brought against Aldrich at his next court hearing, set for December 6.

By Shay Woulahan Shay is a writer and social media content creator for Reduxx. She is a proud lesbian activist and feminist who lives in Northern Ireland with her partner and their four-legged, fluffy friends.

It is possible to mourn the dead and point out the hypocrisy of the TRA response to a shooter with pronouns.

[jordanianroyals]

24 October 2023: Queen Rania of Jordan relayed the Arab World’s shock and disappointment at the world’s “glaring double standard” and “deafening silence” in the face of Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, emphasizing that, despite the prevalent Western media narrative, “this conflict did not begin on October 7th.”

“Most networks are covering the story under the title of ‘Israel at War.’ But for many Palestinians on the other side of the separation wall and the barbed wire, war has never left. This is a 75-year-old story; a story of overwhelming death and displacement to the Palestinian people,” Her Majesty said. “The context of a nuclear-armed regional superpower that occupies, oppresses, and commits daily documented crimes against Palestinians is missing from the narrative.”

In a live interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, conducted remotely from Queen Rania’s offices in Amman, Her Majesty explained that the people of Jordan are united in “grief, pain, and shock” in response to the staggering civilian casualties of the past 18 days of war.

“We've seen Palestinian mothers who have had to write the names of their children on their hands, because the chances of them being shelled to death – of their bodies turning into corpses – are so high,” Queen Rania said. “I just want to remind the world that Palestinian mothers love their children just as much as any other mother in the world. And for them to have to go through this, it's just unbelievable.”

Conveying Jordan’s position, Her Majesty stated that the country has been very clear that it condemns the killing of any civilian, whether Palestinian or Israeli. “That is Jordan's ethical, moral position. And it's also the position of Islam,” she said, explaining that the religion prohibits Muslims to kill a woman, child, or elderly person, to destroy a tree, or hurt a priest.

The Queen stressed that these rules of engagement should apply to all sides, arguing that Israel is committing atrocities under the guise of self-defense.

“6,000 civilians killed so far, 2,400 children – how is that self-defense? We are seeing butchery at a mass scale using precision weapons,” she said, “For the past two weeks, we have seen the indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza: entire families wiped out, residential neighborhoods flattened to the ground, the targeting of hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, medical workers, journalists, UN aid workers – how is that self defense?”

The Queen went on to state that many in the region view the Western world as complicit in this war through the support and cover that it provides Israel. “This is the first time in modern history that there is such human suffering and the world is not even calling for a ceasefire,” Her Majesty said. “Many in the Arab world are looking at the Western world as not just tolerating this, but as aiding and abetting it.”

Elaborating on the plight of Palestinian people, Her Majesty explained, “There are over 500 checkpoints scattered all over the West Bank. You have a separation wall, which is deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice, that has separated the territories into 200 disconnected enclaves. And you've seen the aggressive expansion of settlements on Palestinian land, and those have interrupted the territorial contiguity of the territories and has deemed an autonomous, independent Palestinian state not viable.”

The Queen also mentioned that Israel is in violation of no less than 30 UN Security Council resolutions, which “require it, and it alone, to act to withdraw from territories occupied in 1967, and to stop the settlements, the separation wall, and the human rights violations.” She also underscored that Israel has been designated as an “apartheid regime” by Israeli and international human rights organizations.

Commenting on military solutions to conflict, Her Majesty said: “Victory is a myth that politicians make in order to justify immense loss of life… There can never be a resolution except around the negotiating table. And there's only one path to this: a free, sovereign, and independent Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the state of Israel.”

The Queen also indicated that allies to Israel are doing it a disservice by giving it blind support. “Expediting and expanding the provision of lethal weapons to Israel is only going to expand this conflict. It’s only going to prolong and deepen the suffering,” she said.

Criticizing the role of the media in covering the current conflict, Queen Rania noted the double standard presented when Western interviewers demand that people representing the Palestinian side immediately issue condemnations, requiring them to “have their humanity cross-examined and present their moral credentials.”

“We don't see Israeli officials being asked to condemn, and when they are, people are readily accepted by [claiming] ‘our right to defend ourselves,’” she said. “I have never seen a Western official say the sentence: Palestinians have the right to defend themselves.”

The Queen also discussed the oppression of Palestinian expressions of solidarity in Western democracies, commenting that when people gather to support Israel, they are exercising their right to assembly, but when they gather for Palestine, they are deemed terrorist sympathizers or anti-Semitic.

“Freedom of speech is apparently a universal value, except when you mention Palestine,” Her Majesty said.

(Source: Petra)

[sjerzgirl]

Damning CNN supercut video shows 'stark' evidence of Trump’s 'cognitive decline'

It isn’t “is there a double standard.” There is most decidedly a double standard proving the MSM is anything but LIBERAL. Mainly, though, they aren’t doing their jobs properly, reporting for views rather than news.

[scarz-xo]

It's hard to write to a world that doesn't listen, a world that lives with double standards, I try to write but I just stare at the screen in utter disbelief to what humanity has come to.

Israel has bombed South Lebanon many times yet no one hears about it like at all.

The hatred & targeting of Palestinians all over the world right now just for being Palestinian.

Today Israel targeted & killed the 70 year old Palestinian woman who said she was older than the occupation.

No one is speaking, no one is talking, Biden came out in all his white saviour bullshit tweeting about Palestinian children who have cancer & about how he'll save them & get them proper help when he's the one funding the young children's displacement, the bombing of the hospitals & more

And of course we can't forget the Ukrainian president who should be on the side of Palestine cause they're both getting invaded yet he's with Israel going on & on about how the genocide in Palestine (which he didn't call genocide) takes the attention away from Ukraine.

Cause Apparently it's all about a fight for focus & attention not humanity & peace, but after all we can't forget he was an actor who did a photoshoot during the war so of course he's the best when it comes to having attention & focus on him.

Oh and let's not forget New York Times person Of The Year cause in 2022 it was Zelensky himself:

Cause yeah he's fighting a war against the Russian but this year we have mega pop star Taylor Swift, no Palestinians no, and before you attack me, I'm a major swiftie but this just shows the double standards cause as this year's person is not a Palestinian no, it's the same when people came out for Ukraine's support calling for actions against Russia yet no one is talking about Palestine like Selena Gomez who decided to take a break now but when it was Ukraine she was posting & talking about it.

All of this yet the result we get today is Starvation, no electricity, no water, bombing 24/7, hospitals out of control cause they no longer have the capacity for more, dismembered bodies, belongings getting stolen by the IDF & so so much more & what's worse is the Israeli posts their shit all over social media yet the world pretends it's blind!

Everyone have their eyes and ears covered, everyone is funding, some are not even doing the least as boycotting & you wanna see the result?

Here it is:

They took their clothes in December, tied them up, covered their eyes & preparing them for a mass execution, these are not Hamas or related to Hamas, these are Palestinian men, they're just men, just humans, like our own men, our guy friends, our boyfriends, our husbands, our brothers, out fathers, they're more than just "men" to their people.

But they're getting executed cause the world refuses to listen or see.

I'm so fucking tired over this.

[news4dzhozhar]

CNN Runs Gaza Coverage Past Jerusalem Team Operating Under Shadow of IDF Censor

Whether reporting from the Middle East, the United States, or anywhere else across the globe, every CNN journalist covering Israel and Palestine must submit their work for review by the news organization’s bureau in Jerusalem prior to publication, under a long-standing CNN policy. While CNN says the policy is meant to ensure accuracy in reporting on a polarizing subject, it means that much of the network’s recent coverage of the war in Gaza — and its reverberations around the world — has been shaped by journalists who operate under the shadow of the country’s military censor. 

Like all foreign news organizations operating in Israel, CNN’s Jerusalem bureau is subject to the rules of the Israel Defense Forces’s censor, which dictates subjects that are off-limits for news organizations to cover, and censors articles it deems unfit or unsafe to print. As The Intercept reported last month, the military censor recently restricted eight subjects, including security cabinet meetings, information about hostages, and reporting on weapons captured by fighters in Gaza. In order to obtain a press pass in Israel, foreign reporters must sign a document agreeing to abide by the dictates of the censor.

CNN’s practice of routing coverage through the Jerusalem bureau does not mean that the military censor directly reviews every story. Still, the policy stands in contrast to other major news outlets, which in the past have run sensitive stories through desks outside of Israel to avoid the pressure of the censor. On top of the official and unspoken rules for reporting from Israel, CNN recently issued directives to its staff on specific language to use and avoid when reporting on violence in the Gaza Strip. The network also hired a former soldier from the IDF’s Military Spokesperson Unit to serve as a reporter at the onset of the war. 

“The policy of running stories about Israel or the Palestinians past the Jerusalem bureau has been in place for years,” a CNN spokesperson told The Intercept in an email. “It is simply down to the fact that there are many unique and complex local nuances that warrant extra scrutiny to make sure our reporting is as precise and accurate as possible.”

The spokesperson added that the protocol “​​has no impact on our (minimal) interactions with the Israeli Military Censor — and we do not share copy with them (or any government body) in advance. We will seek comment from Israeli and other relevant officials before publishing stories, but this is just good journalistic practice.”

One member of CNN’s staff who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisal said that the internal review policy has had a demonstrable impact on coverage of the Gaza war. “Every single Israel-Palestine-related line for reporting must seek approval from the [Jerusalem] bureau — or, when the bureau is not staffed, from a select few handpicked by the bureau and senior management — from which lines are most often edited with a very specific nuance” that favors Israeli narratives.

A shaky arrangement has long existed between the IDF censor and the domestic and foreign press, forcing journalists to frequently self-censor their reporting for fear of running afoul of prohibited subjects, losing their press credentials, and potentially being forced to offer public apology. CNN, like other American broadcasters, has repeatedly agreed to submit footage recorded in Gaza to the military censor prior to airing it in exchange for limited access to the strip, drawing criticism from those who say the censor is providing a filtered view of events unfolding on the ground. 

“When you have a protocol that routes all stories through one checkpoint, you’re interested in control, and the question is who is controlling the story?” Jim Naureckas, editor of the watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, told The Intercept. 

CNN’s team in Jerusalem are the “people closest to the Israeli government,” Naureckas added. “In a situation where a government has been credibly accused of singling out journalists for violent attacks in order to suppress information, to give that government a heightened role in deciding what is news and what isn’t news is really disturbing.”

While CNN has used its standing to obtain raw footage of human suffering inside Gaza, it has also pushed out near-daily updates delivered directly from the IDF to its American and international viewers and embedded reporters alongside Israel soldiers fighting in the war.

Early in the war, on October 26, CNN’s News Standards and Practices division sent an email to staff outlining how they should write about the war. 

“Hamas controls the government in Gaza and we should describe the Ministry of Health as ‘Hamas-controlled’ whenever we are referring to casualty statistics or other claims related to the present conflict. If the underlying statistics have been derived from the ministry of Health in Gaza, we should note that fact and that this part of the Ministry is ‘Hamas-controlled’ even if the statistics are released by the West Bank part of the ministry or elsewhere.”

The email goes on to acknowledge CNN’s responsibility to cover the human cost of the war but couches that responsibility in the need to “cover the broader current geopolitical and historical context of the story” while continuing to “remind our audiences of the immediate cause of this current conflict, namely the Hamas attack and mass murder and kidnap of Israeli civilians.”

The email further instructed reporters and editors to “make it clear to our audiences whether either or both sides have provided verifiable evidence to support their claims.”

In a separate directive dated November 2, Senior Director of News Standards and Practices David Lindsey cautioned reporters from relaying statements from Hamas. “As the Israel-Gaza war continues, Hamas representatives are engaging in inflammatory rhetoric and propaganda. Most of it has been said many times before and is not newsworthy. We should be careful not to give it a platform.” He added, though, that “if a senior Hamas official makes a claim or threat that is editorially relevant, such as changing their messaging or trying to rewrite events, we can use it if it’s accompanied by greater context.” 

The language of the directives mirror similar orders from CNN management at the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, when Chair Walter Isaacson ordered foreign correspondents at the network to play down civilian deaths and remind readers that the violence they were witnessing was a direct result of the attacks on September 11.

Also in October, CNN hired a former IDF soldier to contribute writing and reporting to CNN’s war coverage. Tamar Michaelis’s first byline appears on October 17, 10 days after Hamas’s attack on southern Israel. Since then, her name has appeared on dozens of stories citing the IDF spokesperson and relaying information about the IDF’s operations in the Gaza Strip. At least one story bearing only her byline is little more than a direct statement released from the IDF. 

According to her Facebook profile, Tamar Michaelis served in the IDF’s Spokesperson Unit, a division of the Israeli military charged with carrying out positive PR both domestically and abroad. (Last year, the Spokesperson Unit was forced to issue a public apology for conducting psychological operations, or “psyops,” against Israeli civilians.) Michaelis recently locked her profile, which does not indicate the dates of her service in the IDF, and she did not respond to a request for comment. 

“Tamar Michaelis worked with CNN on a freelance basis for a few months last year, and worked in the same way as any freelancer, within our normal guidelines,” the CNN spokesperson wrote. 

CNN’s Gaza war coverage, regardless of where it originates, has been subject to the news organization’s internal review process for reporting on Israel and Palestine. According to an email reviewed by The Intercept, CNN expanded its review team over the summer — as the highly controversial overhaul of Israel’s judicial system moved through Israel’s Parliament — to include a handful of editors outside of Israel, in an effort to streamline the process. 

In a July email to CNN staff, Jerusalem Bureau Chief Richard Greene wrote that the policy exists “because everything we write or broadcast about Israel or the Palestinians is scrutinized by partisans on all sides. The Jerusalem bureau aims to be a safety net so we don’t use imprecise language or words that may sound impartial but can have coded meanings here.” 

But because the protocol could slow down the publication process, Greene wrote, “we have created (wait for it…..)

The Jerusalem SecondEyes alias!”

The CNN spokesperson told The Intercept that Jerusalem SecondEyes “was created to make this process as swift as possible as well as bring more expert eyes to staff it across the day, particularly when Jerusalem is dark.” The spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether CNN has a similar review process in place for other coverage areas.

“Israeli bombings in Gaza will be reported as ‘blasts’ attributed to nobody, until the Israeli military weighs in to either accept or deny responsibility.”

The CNN staff member described how the policy works in practice. “‘War-crime’ and ‘genocide’ are taboo words,” the person said. “Israeli bombings in Gaza will be reported as ‘blasts’ attributed to nobody, until the Israeli military weighs in to either accept or deny responsibility. Quotes and information provided by Israeli army and government officials tend to be approved quickly, while those from Palestinians tend to be heavily scrutinized and slowly processed.”

[crystalis]

The stomach-turning double standards are impossible to ignore.

The western establishment media has been chock full of the most lurid allegations of savagery directed against Hamas, sometimes with little or no supporting evidence. Claims that Hamas beheaded babies or put them in ovens - emblazoned on front pages - were later found to be nonsense.

Accusations against Hamas have been endlessly reheated to paint a picture of a supremely dangerous and bestial militant group, in turn rationalising the carpet bombing and starvation of Gaza’s population to “eradicate” it as a terrorist organisation.

But equally barbarous atrocities committed by Israel - not in the heat of battle, but in cold blood - are treated as unfortunate, isolated incidents that cannot be connected, that paint no picture, that reveal nothing of import about the military that carried them out.

If Hamas’ crimes were so savage and sadistic they still need to be reported months after they took place, why does the establishment media never feel the need to express equal horror and indignation at the acts of cruelty and sadism being inflicted by Israel on Gaza - not five months ago, but right now?

This is part of a pattern of behaviour by the western media that leads to only one possible deduction: Israel’s five-month-long attack on Gaza is not being reported. Rather, it is being selectively narrated - and for the most obscene of purposes.

Through consistent and glaring failures in their coverage, establishment media - including supposedly liberal outlets, from the BBC and CNN to the Guardian and New York Times - have smoothed the way for Israel to carry out mass slaughter in Gaza, what the World Court has assessed as plausibly a genocide.

The role of the media has not been to keep us, their audiences, informed about one of the greatest crimes in living memory. It has been to buy time for US President Joe Biden to keep arming his most useful of client states in the oil-rich Middle East, and to do so without damaging his prospects for re-election in November’s US presidential vote.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin was a madman and a barbarous war criminal for invading Ukraine, as every western media outlet agrees, what does that make Israeli officials, when every one of them supports far worse atrocities in Gaza, directed overwhelmingly at civilians?

And more to the point, what does that make Biden and the US political class for materially backing Israel to the hilt: sending bombs, vetoing demands for a ceasefire at the United Nations, and freezing desperately needed aid?

Worrying about the optics, the president expresses his discomfort, but he carries on helping Israel regardless.

While western politicians and commentators worry about some imaginary existential threat those brief events of five months ago pose to the nuclear-armed state of Israel, Israel is quite literally wiping Gaza off the map day by day, quite undisturbed.

Johnathan Cook, 15 March 2024

[hiba91]

#Repost @wissamgaza

——

In footage published by Al-Jazeera, recorded from a camera mounted on an Israeli forces’ dog, shows Israeli occupation forces releasing the dog inside a residential house in Jabalia refugee camp Northern Gaza Strip ‼️‼️

The dog attacked an elderly Palestinian woman while she was sleeping, severely injuring her. Via @in.visualart

من كاميرا مركبة على كلب بوليسي للاحتلال تُظهر اعتداء الكلب على سيدة مسنة داخل بيتها في جباليا شمال قطاع غزة

[lbanter1]

She had a powerful impact on me

My discomfort in Las Vegas transitioned to awe, followed Swiftly by a “Hell yeah, Taylor.”

By the time I was back home in Oregon, I couldn’t stop thinking about how powerful it was that Swift was so bold. It didn’t stop at that one statement — she delivered a three-hour masterclass in confidence and pride in what she’s accomplished. And I liked it. I think most of us at Allegiant Stadium did. Over the course of this tour, millions of women will watch her share

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

The authors exude bias when they qualify by saying the network “cannot independently verify” a claim. The phrase is used only once in the article:

The IDF claims Hamas operates out of hospitals, calling it a violation of “the strict prohibition under international law against using medical facilities as shields for military operations.” Hamas denies using hospitals as cover. CNN cannot independently verify either claim.

Lest the “either claim” language fool anyone, such qualifications are designed to cast doubt on allegations, which in this case come from Israel, not denials.

But this is so misleading because it doesn’t matter if CNN can independently verify it or not. Israel has produced abundant evidence for its claim, evidence which has been corroborated by independent witnesses and foreign intelligence agencies. How many times does Israel have to produce drone footage showing, in detail, the exact location of terrorist tunnels underneath hospitals? How many videos does the IDF have to release, or Hamas to release itself, showing Hamas fighters using hospital grounds? How many weapons does Israel have to pull out of MRI machines and incubators? What is the standard of evidence CNN requires?

Compare this to some the claims authors do not qualify by stating they could not independently verify. For one, the casualty figures. The network even cites the “Ministry of Health in Gaza” for the claim that “[a] prominent doctor and his daughter, a human rights lawyer, as well as an international football referee” were among those killed during a 24-hour period. But given that Hamas has been caught labeling its own terrorist fighters as “journalists,” or that multiple UNRWA “teachers” were caught participating in Hamas’s atrocities of October 7, was CNN able to “independently verify” these descriptions and numbers?

If CNN is unable to verify, why doesn’t it engage in some journalism and investigate? Why must Israel’s well-documented allegations be “verified,” but allegations against Israel are allowed to escape such scrutiny?

Impartial Journalism?

What might help explain the double standard is the existence of a conflict of interest for one of the authors. The first name listed in the byline is Al Za’anoun, who is identified alongside the other two authors as “CNN.” But CNN hasn’t been Al Za’anoun’s only gig during the current war. He has also been working for WAFA, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority.

The same PA that openly seeks to co-opt journalism for propaganda.

It would be like CNN hiring a reporter from the Iranian regime’s PressTV to cover the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

Just last year, PA president Mahmoud Abbas’s representative to a conference of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS) told the crowd: “In the eyes of His Honor the president, you are the homeland’s soldiers defending the Palestinian national narrative against the Zionist narrative.” Sure enough, the PJS went on to declare that “the top priority of the Palestinian journalist is loyalty to all the Martyrs, loyalty to our people’s just cause.”

The threat of intimidation isn’t imaginary. Nor is the fact that a journalist also works for a foreign outlet any protection. Several years ago, Associated Press reportedly fired a Palestinian cameraman “at the request of Palestinian police who objected to his support for a fellow journalist” that the PA had jailed. A year later, PA forces beat two Washington Post journalists.

If one of CNN’s journalists depends on keeping an interested party, the PA, satisfied with his reporting, how can readers trust they are receiving accurate, contextualized information? How can CNN assure its audience that Al-Za’anoun’s work on behalf of the PA does not taint his work for CNN?

Bonus: Bad CNN Habits Return

CNN’s bad habit of uncritically airing Hamas casualty figures, without mentioning that the figures come from Hamas, is not the only recurring issue.

The outlet is also, once again, laundering Hamas propaganda under the guise of a “humanitarian organization.” As CAMERA documented in October, the network attributed casualty figures to an “aid organization” called “Save the Children.” But, upon a minimal investigation, it became clear that Save the Children was just repeating figures it got from Hamas.

This time, the network used an organization called “Medical Aid for Palestinians” (MAP) for the claim that, “As of February 14, only 11 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning.”

But based on MAP’s statement that CNN links to, the organization isn’t in a position to know this directly. The statement begins with the words, “Reports from the inside…” and does not indicate anywhere that it has firsthand knowledge of the situation. Instead, based on CNN’s own reporting from a day earlier, the figure appears to come from a Hamas spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qidra: “Only 11 out of 36 hospitals are even partially functioning inside the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Ministry of Health spokesperson Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra said last week.”

Yes, the network omitted the Hamas affiliation of the “Ministry of Health” in that article, too.