Posted on 05/16/2021 10:04:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Israel Defense Forces took down a building in Gaza yesterday that housed media outlets, including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. Breathless journalists across the globe decried the move as an attempt to suppress coverage of their “atrocities.” But Israel claimed the building held an important Hamas command and control center, about which media pretended to know nothing.
According to Red State:
Prior to hitting the building, the IDF warned the media outlets and others in the building to get out before they took down the building.
Some in media were upset that Israel took out the building. But as we noted, how could media not know that Hamas had an operation going on in the building, if they were sharing the building with them? What’s their explanation for that?
Now, the AP is responding to all this and saying in a statement that they are “shocked and horrified” that Israel would target their building. Their CEO is also claiming that they had no idea that Hamas was in the building, even though the AP has been there for years.
Could it be true that a “news” organization in Gaza where Hamas is not only in charge but also the most newsworthy topic—and therefore the predicate for the AP’s presence there in the first place—NOT know that the terrorist organization shared a building with their journalists? The statement by their CEO seems to suggest this very ignorance:
AP CEO: "AP’s bureau has been in this building for 15 years. We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We'd never knowingly put our journalists at risk."
https://t.co/8UOXMXqwc2 pic.twitter.com/cd4nJFBEiL— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) May 15, 2021
We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza. They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit.
The Israeli government says the building contained Hamas military intelligence assets. We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence. AP’s bureau has been in this building for 15 years. We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.
This strike is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time.
The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what transpired today.
As I posted on Twitter yesterday, the Associated Press CEO is either a liar or an idiot:
If the @AP knew they shared a building with Hamas, they are liars for claiming ignorance.
If they didn't know they shared a building with the most newsworthy organization in the land they were covering, they are idiots and may be the worst journalists in history.
— JD Rucker (@JDRucker) May 16, 2021
As it turns out, they’re liars AND bad journalists. An Atlantic story from 2014 from the last major escalation of tensions in Gaza appears to indicate at the time Associated Press reporters in the building were well-aware that Hamas operated right next to them.
When Hamas’s leaders surveyed their assets before this summer’s round of fighting, they knew that among those assets was the international press. The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby—and the AP wouldn’t report it, not even in AP articles about Israeli claims that Hamas was launching rockets from residential areas. (This happened.) Hamas fighters would burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff—and the AP wouldn’t report it. (This also happened.) Cameramen waiting outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City would film the arrival of civilian casualties and then, at a signal from an official, turn off their cameras when wounded and dead fighters came in, helping Hamas maintain the illusion that only civilians were dying. (This too happened; the information comes from multiple sources with firsthand knowledge of these incidents.)
Common sense tells us a group of seasoned reporters tasked with keeping tabs on Hamas in Gaza would be not only aware of the terrorist organization’s presence in the building but likely consider it a good thing as it allowed them easy access for reporting. To say journalists didn’t know Hamas was there is like a food critic not knowing his apartment was above an Italian restaurant. All it takes is a nose for spaghetti, or in this case, news.
Then, there’s the Biden administration’s role. Why haven’t they told the Associated Press and the rest of the world what they know to be true, that Hamas did operate out of the building? Our own intelligence has been well-aware of this fact for some time. In case they didn’t know, Israel briefed the Biden administration on the fact.
“We showed them the smoking gun proving Hamas worked out of that building,” a source close to Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said. “I understand they found the explanation satisfactory.”
From the newest intern in Gaza to the CEO, everyone involved with covering Hamas at the Associated Press was 100% aware that the terrorist group operated out of their building. Their claims of universal ignorance are an assault on journalistic integrity.
Now we know why the commie media is always licking Hamas’s a@@..Hamas..media..same thing
Let’s see if faux news even bothers to report on this fact. Newsmax will run with it, hopefully a lot of other major conservative news and blogs etc will also.
Israel should wreck every single terrorist supporting Leftist media in the Gaza. Kudos to them for doing with AP, etc.
A news organization with investigative reporters didn’t know who was in the building with them.
Not a chance in Hades do I believe that.
Don’t need proof..
if they didn’t know then they are inept at their job..... however if they did know, they are partisan.....
I can’t believe this has to be said, but if you operate out of the same building as a vicious terrorist organization, you’re putting yourself at risk. When that terrorist organization starts lobbing rockets at innocent people in Israel, pushing things towards the brink of war—the danger grows. It’s the nature of journalism in a hot zone.
It’s nothing new. It’s like The Associated Press operating in Nazi Germany. We’re talking about this because Israel launched an airstrike that leveled a building in Gaza that also contained Al-Jazeera and Associated Press offices.
In fact, Israel shared intelligence with the US showing how Hamas operated inside the same building with the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera in Gaza.
Officials in more than one government office confirmed that Joe Biden’s phone call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday was, in part, about the bombing of the building, and that Israel showed Biden and American officials the intelligence behind the action.
Also, a former AP reporter noted that Hamas operated in and around the building back in 2014, which shreds the statement from AP’s CEO who said that he had no idea Hamas was around the building or something.
AP knew, our 'intelligence' knew, Israel knew and probably the Chinese and Russians...
Liars. Liberals do nothing but lie. They lie to themselves, they lie to us, they lie to everyone around them. They are good for nothing. A waste of flesh.
There should have been no warning. Or they should have warned Hama 3 times without follow-through and then bombed them after the 4th warning to kill the doubters and the over-courageous.
Enjoy. The proof you wanted....
The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby—and the AP wouldn’t report it, not even in AP articles about Israeli claims that Hamas was launching rockets from residential areas. (This happened.) Hamas fighters would burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff—and the AP wouldn’t report it. (This also happened.) Cameramen waiting outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City would film the arrival of civilian casualties and then, at a signal from an official, turn off their cameras when wounded and dead fighters came in, helping Hamas maintain the illusion that only civilians were dying.
Enjoy. The proof you wanted....
Maybe The AP and Hamas have Morphed together.
Move away from AP bldgs.
AP reporting on behalf of AP..........like that’s going to be believable. I suspect their reporters were born or raised in Gaza.
I’ll take them at their word. This amazing news gathering organization never had a clue it shared a building with the terrorist government in Gaza. Very inquisitive bunch this “AP”. Lol
OK thanks- the cameramen videotaping wounded arriving is good, but the rest amounts really to an ‘eyewitness account of what happened and can be denied by the ap unfortunately. If there was video proof of hamas threatening the staff, this would be solid proof that they couldn’t deny, and would be forced to address.
I’m not discounting the eyewitness at all, and it’s good that this story is out there, but the left are scum and wiggle out of everything. Would be nice to have video proof that the AP was ordered by hamas. But even then, facts don’t mean much anymore, like when the officerwas forced to shoot the girl that was stabbing someone. The left just ignored the facts and accused the cop of murder. The left are shameless liars.
Later.
The ONLY reason AP claims there was no Hamas in the building was to bait Israel into proving there were.
That would then reveal HOW Israel knew, compromising their methods and tech.
Israel didn’t take the bait.
The AP lies. Period.
I’m sorry the building was destroyed.
I’m also sorry there was no loss of life.
5.56mm
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