Stop the presses!

(JNS) — On March 24, Al Jazeera posted a video on YouTube that accused the Israel Defense Forces of raping Palestinian women during their recent operation in Shifa Hospital. IDF Arabic spokesman Lt.-Col. Avichai Adraee immediately and categorically rejected the rape claims. The next day, the Al Jazeera video was removed without comment or retraction. 

A subsequent post on X by Yasser Abu Hilalah, Al Jazeera’s former managing director, admitted that the rape accusations were fabricated and that the woman who made the claims, Jamila al-Hissi, admitted that she lied. She “justified her exaggeration and incorrect talk by saying that the goal was to arouse the nation’s fervor and brotherhood.”

Stop the presses! That expression is used to indicate that something consequential has suddenly taken place, demanding an immediate revision of the publication’s reporting. The presses are stopped so the breaking news can be included.

Sadly, the false report of IDF rape was treated as a stop-the-presses moment, but the admission that it was false was not. Al Jazeera eagerly broke the rape story without any credible evidence or responsible fact-checking. Scores of outlets around the globe picked it up and ran with it. Yet when the accusation was proven false, there was no official retraction or correction. The report was merely removed and Hilalah quietly admitted on X that the allegations were lies.

Tragically, fabricated reporting is not really news anymore. It has become so commonplace that the term “fake news” has permeated our cultural lexicon. We are hardly surprised when a major media outlet purveys blatant propaganda and/or patently false information. The consequences are minimal and the outlet is rarely held responsible. 

Yet tremendous damage is done through this sort of fake journalism. The public should be outraged. “Stop the presses” should be the demand of those of us who refuse to be manipulated by irresponsible and malign media forces.

By the time the Al Jazeera video was removed, the fiction of IDF rape had been accepted as fact by countless people around the world who were all too anxious to believe it. The removal of the story will do nothing to undo the damage it has already caused. Hissi’s attempt to “arouse the nation’s fervor and brotherhood” was more successful than she could have hoped. Al Jazeera’s broadcast of her lie was not only irresponsible; it was criminal. It fanned the flames of the conflict and increased the likelihood of further violence not just in Israel, but against Jews around the world.

This is certainly not the first time lies about the war in Gaza have been promulgated by a major media outlet without proper vetting and Al Jazeera is certainly not the only guilty party. 

On Oct. 17, 2023 at the beginning of Israel’s operation against Hamas, Gaza’s Al-Ahli hospital was hit by a deadly blast that was immediately blamed on the IDF by The New York Times, The Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde and other major outlets. Protests against Israel erupted in cities around the world. So did antisemitic attacks. 

Yet within days, the evidence proved that the blast was caused by a Palestinian rocket launched towards Israel and most media sources were forced to issue retractions and/or corrections. The New York Times issued a publisher’s note on Oct. 23, writing that it had “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified.”

Why were the editors of the Times and so many of their colleagues willing to “rely too heavily on claims by Hamas” and why do they continue to do so?

In spite of repeated incidents of proven deception, the media continues to give credence to Hamas. Though Hamas is known to mangle the truth regularly—even denying the rape and torture they themselves filmed and posted to social media on Oct. 7—the casualty figures reported by media outlets worldwide are supplied by the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas. Though it has been revealed that scores of UNRWA aid workers are Hamas operatives, the U.N. and its mouthpieces have continued to parrot narratives proven to be outright propaganda.

While the networks and journals that buy and distribute lies are culpable in fueling and perpetuating the conflict, the audience of media consumers that accept and regurgitate these mistruths are also complicit. It has been proven time and again that Hamas and its allies cannot be believed; that they will say or do whatever they deem necessary to achieve their goals of erasing all Jews from Israel; and that they have no regard for international law or basic human morality. We have even begun to see increasing numbers of courageous Palestinian civilians who have had the courage to speak out against Hamas and the draconian cruelty with which it controls and oppresses its own people.

What will it take for us to admit that we have been subject to a long and complicated campaign of deceit, an empire of lies? The facts are there for anyone who wants to analyze them objectively: Not only the history of treaties and agreements agreed to by Israel and violated by the Arabs who have continually refused coexistence; not only the documented  Palestinian textbooks and children’s programming that brainwash the next generation to hate and murder their Jewish neighbors; not only the testimony of Muslims from around the world about the vicious lies they were told about Jews throughout their upbringing and the awakening they experienced when they actually interacted with Jews and Israelis as adults; but also the very clear examples of fabrications that are regularly supplied to the media only to be retracted when they are proven false.

Hissi’s deceit was remarkable not because it was uncommon, but because it has been admitted so publicly. As it turns out, the reason for the admission was not any compunction or contrition. It was that Hamas decided her lie was working against it. Evidently, the threat of IDF soldiers raping civilians resulted in many Palestinians fleeing the area towards the south, thus depriving the terrorists of the human shields they rely on. A Hamas spokesperson assured the populace that the rape allegations were untrue so they would stay put and continue to provide cover.

Had Hamas not denied the story, it is difficult to believe Al Jazeera would have removed the video and retracted the story. Clearly, the media is complicit. Unfortunately, this is not breaking news. It’s standard procedure. It is up to us to stop the presses from manipulating us and fomenting further conflict.