Originally Authored at TheFederalist.com
Legacy media lies surrounding the bombing of a Gaza hospital are endangering Americans aboard, as Islamic demonstrators throughout the Middle East were reported outside several Middle Eastern U.S embassies on Tuesday evening.
After reports began surfacing Tuesday morning that a missile hit a Gaza-based hospital, regime-approved media wasted no time regurgitating baseless claims issued by Hamas — an Iranian-backed terror group — that Israeli forces fired the missile. Whether it was The New York Times or Associated Press — the latter of which once shared office space with Hamas in Gaza — the media narrative was set: Israel blew up a hospital filled with unarmed civilians, and Hamas’ word is not to be questioned.
Unsurprisingly, evidence has since emerged suggesting it was Hamas, not Israel, that was responsible for the explosion. Even President Joe Biden begrudgingly admitted as much during his trip to Israel, saying, “It appears as though it was done by [Hamas],” before then giving credence to anti-Israeli activists’ false accusations (“But there’s a lot of people out there not sure”).
By the time the truth came to light, however, the damage was already done. Hundreds of Islamic demonstrators waving so-called “Palestinian” flags surrounded the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday evening, prompting law enforcement to “deploy tear gas” to disperse the crowds. According to the New York Post, the anarchy began hours after Hezbollah — another Iranian-backed terrorist organization — “called for ‘a day of unprecedented anger’” in response to the Gaza hospital incident. Demonstrators also swarmed France’s Beirut-based embassy.
Lebanon was hardly the only country in which Western nations’ embassies faced threats of violence over the media’s hospital lies. During a large anti-Israel demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq, dozens of demonstrators reportedly attempted to cross a bridge leading to “an area that houses Iraqi government offices and several embassies, including the US embassy – but security forces prevented them from doing so.”
Demonstrators also attempted to breach the Israeli embassy in Jordan, while Iranians gathered outside the French and British embassies in Tehran, chanting, “Death to France, England, America, and the Zionists.”
Benghazi 2.0?
By producing baseless lies that dishonestly paint Israel as the immoral aggressor in the Israeli-Hamas conflict, corporate “journalists” are all but asking for another Benghazi-like attack on Americans stationed throughout the region. For context, the Benghazi attack occurred in 2012, when Islamist militants launched a terrorist attack against the U.S. embassy in Libya. Four Americans died during the bombardment, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
In an attempt to cover up the Obama administration’s failures in addressing known security threats to the embassy, then-United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice falsely claimed in numerous interviews that the attack, as described by Fox News, was “the result of an anti-Muslim video made by an American.” Of course, the media were more than happy to amplify Rice’s unsubstantiated assertions.
It doesn’t take a political science major to recognize that peace in the Middle East is extremely fragile and can be toppled in the blink of an eye. So, while legacy media may find it all fun and games to play dress-up as Hama’s propaganda arm, reckless “reporting” on the Israeli-Hamas conflict places actual American lives at risk.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood