A new report by the Network Contagion Lab at Rutgers University concludes that the western media took direction from the Hamas terrorist group in smearing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The GHF is a U.S.-backed alternative to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza in lieu of the United Nations, which is seen as cooperating with Hamas, which steals aid for its terrorists and to sell illegally to residents.
To date, the GHF has delivered more than 76 million meals at its aid sites in Gaza, since launching in May.
As Breitbart News has reported, many media outlets in the U.S. and Europe have reported — and then, later, retracted — false claims that Palestinian civilians had been murdered at GHF aid sites by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). These reports had been circulated by Hamas and amplified by the United Nations in an attempt to discourage the GHF, and to warn Palestinian civilians not to make use of the aid that they were providing.
The Rutgers report said (footnotes omitted):
Within days of GHF’s first meal deliveries, it became the target of a deliberate narrative assault, driven less by verifiable facts than by the demands of a competing narrative. Reports and evidence of violence at aid sites began to surface, and international and U.S. media outlets, social media influencers, and NGOs started publishing articles that ascribed blame to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) or GHF for intentional violence against civilians, war crimes, and complicity in the crime of genocide.
The reports quickly condensed into viral headlines, but the claim that the IDF was systematically murdering civilians was usually sourced from Hamas-run ministries or anonymous accounts, and often unverified. Moreover, evidence that Hamas could be responsible for violence around aid sites – evidence provided by non-Hamas Palestinian sources, by Hamas’s online communications, and by video that in some cases shows Hamas operatives deliberately firing on Palestinian civilians – was almost never suggested.
A significant number of headlines from mainstream media outlets thus elevated one side of the story – the side promoted by a designated foreign terrorist organization – without waiting for forensic clarity and countervailing evidence. Although in some cases the body texts of news articles did make an effort to present a more holistic exploration of sources, the verdict or tone in the headlines – that the IDF and/or GHF was responsible for the killings at aid sites – was already given.
In a statement Tuesday, the GHF responded to the latest accusations by the United Nations that GHF was responsible for Palestinian casualties, saying that the source of the reports was the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, and added:
The UN’s reliance and coordination with a terrorist organization to falsely smear our effort is not only disturbing but should be investigated by the international community. The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys, including last week where it was reported that 40 people were killed trying to reach UN aid trucks. Instead of hurling insults and promoting Hamas’ false propaganda from the sidelines, the UN and humanitarian groups should be working collaboratively with GHF to maximize the amount of aid securely delivered into Gaza.
The GHF also said that it had distributed more than 1.6 million meals at two sites in Gaza on Tuesday alone.
On Wednesday, the GHF acknowledged that 20 people had been crushed in a stampede while waiting at one of its aid sites, and blamed Hamas agitators in the crowd, some of whom had apparently brought weapons.
The GHF has persisted despite terror attacks on its personnel, and despite Hamas’s demand that the project be ended as a condition of a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, giving the United Nations total control of aid.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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