Israel Wages War on Hamas While Media Wages War on Israel

Even in the midst of Secretary John Kerry’s bungled foreign tour, asking for a cease-fire that requires no concessions from Hamas, a new poll shows that 40% of Americans blame the Palestinian “government” for the conflict occurring in the Gaza Strip. This is opposed to only 19% who blame Israel for the aggression. What makes these numbers stunning is how this conflict has been portrayed in the media. NBC Nightly News has devoted a chunk of every broadcast to showing viewers the injured children and torn-apart families, promoting a pro-Palestinian bias that almost defies belief. The other news outlets aren’t far behind.

This war of the press didn’t escape the attention of comedian Joan Rivers, a woman who has never been afraid to speak her mind. She came out a few days ago in strong support of Israel, and she has reinforced those views in an appearance on Monday’s Howard Stern Show. “Here we go again,” Rivers said, “if New Jersey was lobbing rockets over into New York, there would be no Newark.”

Though she went on to joke that her comparative example might not be “such a terrible thing,” she expressed with humor what so many (40%, in fact) of Americans are feeling right now. It is of course a terrible thing to hear about all the suffering and death in Gaza, but those are the results of violent conflict. That is war. It is a terrible, ghastly thing. There have been civilian casualties in every major conflict spanning back to the beginning of civilization. Doubtless, there will always be those casualties until we somehow evolve past the need for violence.

Rivers was quick to speak out on the media’s handling of the conflict. “You know who won this war? Hamas, because of the PR.” Fortunately for right-thinking people everywhere, this doesn’t seem to be the case. If more than twice as many Americans blame Hamas than do Israel, it is apparent that the mainstream media’s influence isn’t what it used to be.

Meanwhile, stories out of the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees probably aren’t going to turn the tide of opinion in Hamas’ favor. UNRWA announced Tuesday that they had discovered another stockpile of rockets within one of its Gaza schools. Israeli officials have hammered Hamas in the press for knowingly stockpiling weapons in schools and hospitals, giving them no other choice but to destroy them. This tactic results in pictures that look bad on TV, but it seems that intelligent Americans can see through an obvious ploy when they see it.

Now if only the administration could…