ADL leader calls out MSNBC's coverage of Hamas, while on MSNBC
Jonathan Greenblatt implored MSNBC to get 'the story right,' objecting to the language used to describe Hamas terrorists during their morning network coverage of the conflict in Israel.
The editorial board of the New York Post published a scathing condemnation of MSNBC and the liberal media broadly for its "shameful" coverage of the terrorist attacks against Israel, accusing the news organizations of having "run interference for Hamas."
The Post began Wednesday's editorial by citing a heated exchange between MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell and an Israeli mother whose children were abducted by Hamas.
Despite the agony the mother is facing, Mitchell asked her to react to the "attacks against Gaza" as part of Israel's response to the unprovoked atrocities. The mother fired back, telling the MSNBC host, "You’re looking for a symmetrical situation… I can’t be sympathetic to animal human beings — well, they’re not really human beings — who came into my house, broke everything, stole everything, took my children from their bedrooms and took them to the Gaza Strip. Israel has never done that, and it will never do [it]. So there is no symmetry."
"Precisely correct: Between Israel and Hamas, there is no symmetry," the editorial board said. "And there never will be, no matter how hard the US left tries to pretend otherwise."
An Israeli mother of two kidnapped children scolded MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell for suggesting there's "symmetry" between Hamas' actions and Israel's military response on Gaza. (Screenshot/MSNBC)
The paper echoed the condemnation from NewsNation host Dan Abrams, who ripped MSNBC's "shameful pandering to their far left audience," singling out Ayman Mohyeldin, Ali Velshi and Mehdi Hasan for their anti-Israel stance, with one of them claiming the attacks were the result of Israel's "failed policies," to which Abrams replied, "This is not a both-sides story, period."
"But the false equivalence drawn by MSNBC — which has called Hamas terrorists ‘militants’ or ‘fighters’ hundreds of times since Saturday — is common among legacy outlets," the Post wrote. "Like the New York Times, which unforgivably was referring to Hamas killers as ‘militants’ as late as Monday; the Gray Lady went so far as to briefly use the correct word, ‘terrorists,’ and then stealth-edit it to read 'gunmen.'"
"Impartiality is impossible in the face of pure savagery," the editorial board later continued. "It’s impossible to defeat evil unless you name it. It’s beyond shameful that these crucial institutions refuse to do so."
MSNBC did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
For several days, MSNBC's animosity towards Israel was made apparent by many of its on-air commentators. Velshi complained there had been "no nuance or recognition" of Israel's treatment of Palestinians and Hasan attempted to garner sympathy for residents of Gaza who live in "horrific conditions" without mentioning Hamas' role in creating them.
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, Ayman Mohyeldin, Ali Velshi and Mehdi Hasan were called out by the New York Post editorial board for their biased coverage against Israel. (Getty Images)
Things reached such a boiling point that even Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt, a self-admitted fan of MSNBC, called out the network's bias against Israel on its own airwaves.
"I must say I love this show, and I love this network, but I’ve got to ask, who’s writing the scripts? Hamas?" Greenblatt asked on Monday's "Morning Joe."
"The people who did this, they are not fighters, Jonathan [Lemire]. They are not militants. I’m looking right at the camera, they are terrorists. It is a barbarian who rapes and brutalizes women, who kills children in front of their parents and then brings them over to Gaza," Greenblatt continued, later pleading, "Please stop calling this a retaliation. This is a defensive measure against an organization that is committed to one thing: Killing Jews. Not a peaceful resolution of a conflict. But murdering Jews. And if you’re wondering if I’m exaggerating, please, I beg of you, everyone watching, and everyone at this network: Just watch the footage."
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called out MSNBC's coverage of the Hamas terror attack on Israel. (Screenshot/MSNBC)
The death toll has risen to over 1,200 Israelis and thousands more injured following Hamas' attacks. More than 150 have been taken as hostages to Gaza.
The Biden Administration confirmed Wednesday that 22 Americans were among the murdered and another 17 remain missing. It is unclear how many Americans are among the those being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
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