Is the Mainstream Media Fair and Balanced?

Face the Nation moderator, Margret Brennan

I can’t let this pass. This morning as I was watching the Sunday morning talking heads, I was aghast at what I saw on CBS.  Face the Nation moderator, Margaret Brennan  interviewed Jake Sullivan, National  Security Advisor for the Biden administration... and then UNRWA High Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, about the current situation in Gaza.  I do not recall a time where anti Israel bias was more evident than during those interviews.

First she questioned Sullivan why the President isn’t putting more pressure Israel to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza as well as insisting on the  creation of a Palestinian state as a condition of further American support.

And then she took as Gospel UNRWA’s Lazzarini’s comments that Israel has been blatantly guilty of indiscriminately killing civilians and UN relief workers in Gaza in unprecedented numbers.

The obvious implication in those questions is that Israel is in fact guilty of ignoring Gaza civilians as the reason for the high casualty count. And the US is at fault for not making these demands as a condition of further support - as some members of congress were suggesting. 

The fact that she was talking about saving innocent lives makes it seem like she is articulating the higher moral position. Makes her questions seem eminently fair and caring.

And doesn’t the suggestion that the creation of a Palestinian state is seem like the  most just solution to the conflict?  (As if that was the most moral position to have.) Whether she actually believes that is an open question. But even if she does, it is at best the result of journalistic laziness.  

I am sick and tired of journalistic sloppiness. The unvarnished truth about about the issue of civilian casualties is that no country goes to as great lengths as does Israel in trying to minimize civilian casualties. That it does so in the context of an existential war is even more remarkable.

The  reason that there are so many civilian casualties is that Hamas prefers it that way. They deliberately  place themselves is areas that will maximize civilian casualties. Whom they refer to as martyrs! 

She also deliberately ignores the fact that not every Palestinians casualty is a civilian. Hamas does not wear uniforms. Discovering a body wearing civilian clothing is therefore counted as a civilian casualty. Who know how many of those casualties were actually civilians?!  

She ignores how this war began. Which was the most barbaric attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

She ignores the fact that Hamas has openly promised to have more of these kinds of attacks until Palestine is liberated from the river to the sea. Making this a war for Israel's very survival.

She ignores the fact that the vast majority of all Palestinians support Hamas  and what they did on October 7. 

What about her suggestion that the creation of a Palestinian state should be a condition for US support.? 

First of all, who in their right mind would oppose a Palestinian state that would see the end of hostilities? Where both Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace and security in a spirit of mutual cooperation. One that would become a model of coexistence?  Can anyone imagine a better a scenario than where there would be no more wars; no more suicide bombings; no more Intifadas; and no more attacks like the one that precipitated this war?  

The problem is that that scenario is impossible.  Does anyone in the right mind believe that Palestinians in Gaza will suddenly go from supporting the Hamas to becoming Judeophiles? 

4-year old Abigail Edan is among the latest hostages released by Hamas

If there is anyone that should be aware of all of these facts it should be a mainstream media journalist like Brennan who anchors a weekly broadcast and has covered the conflict for years! But she has either been negligent in determining the above mentioned realities - or she is a closet antisemite? I don’t know if she is or not. But she has not done anything to convince me that she isn’t.

On a more positive note, as I write these words, more hostages have been released by the Hamas. That is cause for celebration. But it is a muted celebration because of all the hostages that remain in the hands of Hamas. And because Hamas has not yet been exterminated. Thankfully the Biden administration has not changed its mind in support of Israel’s mission to destroy Hamas. That must happen for the sake of all the Jewish people – and for the sake of the entire civilized world.