How the media fails the Jews and the West
Several stories popped up this week that reinforce how lazy, corrupt, and distorted the Western media has become.
"In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature [...] they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie..."
(Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. I, Chap. X, )
1. The Gangs of Aurora, Colorado
In the Fall of 2024, stories emerged of Venezuelan gangs overrunning Aurora. Colorado. This story rested on video surveillance and, given its alignment with the Presidential election campaign, quickly morphed into a tale by Trump that alleged foreign actors, specifically the President of Venezuela, Victor Maduro, were staging an invasion.
On September 15, 2024, the New York Times published a story with the lead “How the False Story of a Gang ‘Takeover’ in Colorado Reached Trump”. Initially, the mayor of Aurora confirmed the video “evidence,” but later backtracked when lurid tales of gun-toting thugs eating pets became a staple of a new loop on Fox News. Once Trump ran with the account that the notorious gang, Tren de Aragua, had invaded Aurora, and used this example to justify a crackdown on migrants from Mexico, the political battle lines became set. The NYT article concluded that the entire episode was false, but that challenges existed triggered in part by the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, sending the flood of border crossers north to “sanctuary” cities.
Fast forward to July 3, 2025, and an update in America’s “paper of record,” as the New York Times bills itself, based on more complete and validated evidence, confirms the existence of a large and violent cadre of young men involved in criminal activity and often resolving differences with gunfire.
Two elements of the second story are interesting. First, it confirms that much of the criminal activity is gang-related. Second, it fails to mention the prior study of 9 months earlier, which dismissed this possibility and intimated that the false narrative fed the campaign of the candidate Trump to double down on the promise to control the border and expel “illegal immigrants” (sic, undocumented residents, if you prefer). It would be refreshing if the media acknowledged their haste instead of eliding it.
As media tales go, this is far from the most egregious, but it does illustrate how challenging it is to detect bias when historical context is forgotten.
2. An American in the West Bank (sic Judea and Samaria)
In recent months, hardly a week passes without an account of how some rabid right-wing settlers have caused mayhem in the “West Bank” (sic Judea/Samaria). Before delving into this, why do I correct the term “West Bank,” especially since I am confirming the practice of the extreme right in Israel, which insists on the biblical nomenclature? It is simple. It was Jordan that imposed the name “West Bank” on this region of Israel (affirmed by the UN in 1948) after it conquered the area in 1949. The rationale was simple – they wished to diminish the historical connection of the Jews to their biblical origin. Most of the “action” in the Bible occurs in Judea and Samaria, with the exceptions being the years of exile in Egypt and Babylon.
When Jordan occupied Judea and Samaria in 1948, it set about ethnic cleansing the area, displacing Jews from ancient sites such as Safed, Hebron, Bethlehem, Shiloh, and East Jerusalem. It eradicated physical traces of Jewish settlements, razing synagogues (some 58) and schools and using gravestones for construction and roads. It did not do this to other religious groups, such as Christians, professing to respect freedom of religion, for everyone except, of course, the Jews.
So, when Israel reconquered these lands in 1967, it “reoccupied” the territory originally assigned to it by the UN. Gaza, the Golan Heights, and Judea/Samaria are the “reoccupied” territories, not the “occupied” or the disputed territories. Note: Israel left Gaza in 2005, removing the entire Jewish population and even digging up graves; it had seen what Jordan did in Judea/Samaria between 1949 and 1967.
Discussing the unrest in Judea/Samaria requires a separate article and more depth than I have available here. Two sources, Nacham Kaplan and Haviv Rettig-Gur, offer insight far beyond the superficialities of the media. The almost unanimous story about the settler movement tells of right-wing Israelis harassing peaceful Palestinians who just want to grow olives on lands their families have occupied for countless generations. Many in the commentariat outside Israel opine that these extremists are a significant barrier to peace.
Now to the main point. A recent story proclaims that the IDF killed an American citizen Saif al-Din Kamel Moslat, a Florida resident visiting family in Judea/Samaria. Here is the ABC News account
A 20-year-old American from Florida was allegedly beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting his family in the West Bank, according to Palestinian health officials and his family.
Notice, the source is “Palestinian health officials.”
Well, Hamas featured Mr. Moslet on a poster, naming him as a martyr.” It transpires that he was part of a group of Arabs harassing Israeli residents and throwing rocks at IDF soldiers. A wholesome young American indeed. Did he deserve to die? I am sure much more exists to this story below the surface, but we are unlikely to learn that from ABC News.
It is undoubtedly the case that a small minority of Israeli settlers in Judea/Samaria cause an outsized headache for the police and government. It is also true that two extreme right members of the Knesset have protected this group for too long. Finally, the police are arresting members of this group. This is a running sore that the Israeli government has let fester for far too long.
However, Palestinians residing in Areas A and B (and in a future post, I will explore this distinction in more detail) have constructed many more illegal settlements than the Israelis. This may come as a surprise to readers of Western media trained to see Israelis as the sole perpetrators of injustice in the region,
3. The BBC covers itself in merde.
The BBC, once the source of independent and authoritative news, had fallen off a cliff. The most recent fiasco (at least relating to the Middle East, since it is also facing other fiascos) is its documentary, “Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone.” The child narrator was the son of the Minister of Agriculture for Gaza. Once this became known, and after Israel’s Ambassador to the UK and many Jewish journalists complained about this seeming conflict of interest, it dropped the documentary.
YouTube lit up with counterarguments, alleging that the Minister of Agriculture is a “civil service” position unrelated to the military and political wings of Hamas. This argument is deeply disingenuous. Gaza and Hamas are not Canada and the Liberal Party. Islam subsumes all aspects of life under religion. No daylight exists between the social services of Hamas and its military operation. To suggest otherwise is the usual gaslighting by the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots, of which Hamas is a prime example.
4. Almost any CBC report on Israel/Gaza/West Bank (sic Judea and Samaria)
My vet tells me to limit exposure to CBC news to maintain blood pressure readings for both me and my dog. I no longer watch cable news, but since I can rely on Canada’s national broadcaster to maintain a consistent anti-Israel stance, I just needed to go to YouTube and select a recent news clip for material.
I will present a timeline of elements from the clip, followed by my acerbic comments in italics.
.02 “In Gaza, hospital officials are reporting…
“Hospital officials” should read “Hamas.”
.09 More than two dozen deaths ….
No way to verify this number independently.
.10 “As Israeli forces carried out a new wave of raids and strikes…
“… wave and strikes against embedded Hamas military.” The omission of context distorts the intent of Israeli military action, making it seem that the IDF wages war on the civilian population. Context needed!
.18 (Video of grieving families bearing objects in shrouds, dead children?) “These pictures show relatives in Gaza City mourning the death of loved ones killed in a raid on a shelter for displaced Palestinians.”
These are unverified video images. Hamas only allows “approved” journalists to report and has been caught reusing videos and even using clips from other times and other countries. Any Gazan with a laptop and a phone becomes a “journalist.”
.40 We are now joined by Sasha Petricic reporting from the region.
Petricic is reporting from Jerusalem. No journalists from the standard media are embedded with the IDF (Note: this policy is highly controversial and one which I think Israel would be wise to reconsider.) All journalists embedded with Hamas must toe a stringent line, and all are Hamas sympathizers.
1.15 Petricic discusses the stalled negotiations on the ceasefire and states, “the main issue seems to be whether Israeli troops are going to be stationed in Gaza or throughout the region.” He then intimates that Netanyahu is taking a hard line.
Recall that the Israeli public, while wishing the war would also want no less than the return of all the hostages. Also, withdrawing troops to the border would transfer all humanitarian aid back to the UN, effectively allowing Hamas to commandeer food and fuel, reintroduce back market pricing and restore its financial lifeline. The CBC omits any of that background. Additionally, they play an interview of Netanyahu in Hebrew, using a translator, when he most assuredly gave the same interview in English. This makes the Prime Minister appear strident.
2.50 Petricic …. “That is what is at stake here, whether Israel will continue the war.”
Western media and leaders’ incessant calls for a ceasefire mean that Israel stops. Why not try a novel approach?” Demand Hamas withdraw from Gaza and release all the hostages (live and dead), defund the UN “humanitarian” mission, which is little more than a fundraising scam for Hamas, impose military rule (Israeli +?), expel Hamas, and allow the population to elect a new government. Polling in Gaza is showing a growing opposition to Hamas. This is worth a try, but is most unlikely.
3.45 “The humanitarian crisis is becoming much more dire. Israel is proposing to move the entire population of 2 million Gazans into a single region.”
The creation of a joint US-Israel aid agency to bypass the corruption of the UN and Hamas has had a decidedly mixed effect. The streams of families clustering around the aid sites have allowed Hamas to focus on disrupting the food distribution. Hamas fighters blend in with civilians, a direct violation of the Geneva Convention, something the media persistently fail to mention.
Separating Gazans from Hamas is a prelude to their military destruction. Characterizations that this would be tantamount to creating a concentration camp (by a former prime minister) scuttle this idea before it is out of the gate. Former politicians, especially those who have been convicted of serious crimes, should stay in their gardens playing with grandchildren … they are all way past their best-before date.
One could go on, but the stream of outright falsehoods, sly distortion of facts, and omission of context encourages the casual viewer, probably 95% of the CBC audience, to form a negative opinion of Israel. The constant drip feed of distortion feeds the “average” Canadian’s animus of Jews and Israel, woven into Canada's civic fabric.
This is not to absolve Israel (or Europe/Canada) of responsibility for the situation, a theme I will address in my next post. Am Yisrael Chai!