Has the West been taken in by Hamas’ lies and anti Israeli narrative?

[OpheliaWasntMad]

https://nypost.com/2026/09/21/opinion/journalist-admits-anti-israel-narrative-driving-protests-is-based-on-hamas-lies/

This journalist admits that his reporting from Gaza was not accurate because he was afraid of retaliation from Hamas.
Why have so many believed every report from Gaza journalists?

Imagine if the IRA had stormed Glastonbury and raped and murdered and tortured the crowds. Imagine if they had filmed themselves parading the half naked body of a young woman murdered at the festival through the streets of a Catholic area in Belfast and crowds cheered and jeered.
Imagine if they paraded hostages in front of jeering crowds - a mother with two babies , an old woman with Alzheimer’s, a young woman, sexually abused with bloodstained trousers .
Imagine if they filmed themselves laughing as they decapitated a young Indian man with a spade . Etc etc etc
I wonder if the British public and government would have reacted? We don’t know because nothing as bad as that has happened here.

The stench of the desperation to compare Islamic terrorists who's only goal is to destroy Israel and all the Jews in it, with the IRA is putrid IMO.

Not the IRA alone. The paramilitaries in NI.

Nothing compares to October 7th in your opinion. Not the deaths of 1000’s of Palestinian children, all
lives lost matter. Both are vile and inhumane. Neither child’s fear or last moments are less important or less valuable than the other.

When 77 countries walk out at the UN speech to reject Israel’s actions, it speaks volumes.

Awful. They would be rightfully hung and quartered after been beaten with hot rods and sharp whips in a public gallery but the UK would not bomb the innocent people in Catholic areas in NI for the actions of a terror group, cut off their food and water, forced them into a tiny area in camps.

There would be the same public outcry if the UK forces started carpet bombing Catholic communities after a few weeks.

The two situations are not analogous.

Imagine if ....

Why? Why should we imagine?

You’re desperate to speculate that any other nation would do the same as Israel has done when that isn’t what matters.

What matters is the Genocide convention of 1948 and that many other war crime standards every country is expected to not fall below.

There is no legal justification for genocide. It doesn’t what the enemy did to your people, no nation can retaliate with crimes against humanity like genocide.

“You’re desperate to speculate that any other nation would do the same as Israel has done when that isn’t what matters.”
That isn’t what I said or what I meant.

It was another poster who compared the IRA to Hamas. I did the “imagine if “ to show that , whilst the IRA were murderous terrorists they never quite sank to the depravity of Hamas.

My intention was to demonstrate that the analogy of Northern Ireland/ IRA doesn’t work.

Agreed. It’s pointless to compare.

First, @OpheliaWasntMad, are you aware that the NY Post is not a reputable paper?

Second, are you aware that it very much leans right?

People use all sorts of sources on this board don't they? Left leaning, right leaning, reputable and questionable.

I don't think there is one source we can all agree is neutral, not even the BBC, or doesn't lean left or right.

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/09/23/what-the-voice-of-gaza-chose-not-to-tell-the-world/

Very interesting read.

"Alongside the threat of violence, there could also be a conviction that exposing repression would undermine the cause.

The first people deprived of a voice are the Palestinians themselves. Azaiza now accuses Hamas of having failed to protect a single resident with its weapons. A Gazan who blames the movement for leading him into disaster is expressing a political view. Silencing him means denying him the right to name his own oppressors. Those who say they want Palestinian voices to be heard should be the first to be concerned.

What did newsrooms do with these warnings? What did they tell the public about the pressure on their sources and the testimonies that were suppressed?

The media outlets and public figures who gave Motaz Azaiza an enormous audience should now examine their own ethical standards. They made him “the voice of Gazans.” They must now listen to what he says about his ties to Hamas, the system it established and the voices that were silenced."

For those in the West shouting about Palestinian voices, don't silence them when they don't say what YOU want to hear.

I wasn't aware that there was a rule that we should only include left-leaning sources.

I'm sure you're right that people of all kinds come to Mumsnet, but that's no excuse for disseminating untruths.

There are, in fact, sources that strive to be neutral or even-handed, and those that flagrantly don't. But the main issue seems to me, would be some strive to be accurate, and some don't.

I never suggested that. Perhaps you should re-read my comment.

To take your thread title in good faith
Has the West been taken in by Hamas’ lies and anti Israeli narrative

You know some people have been of the opinion that Israel are an racist, oppressive, apartheid state well before hamas ever existed right? And we dont watch news out of the region to look for reasons not to like Israel. We are actually desperately watching to see some good news about Israel. But nothing ever comes.

Good news is the FlyDubai airplane going to Tel Aviv didn’t crash as a result of that co-pilot stabbing the pilot. It is likely to have been a religiously motivated hate crime or terrorist attack (politically motivated hate crime), but I’ll wait for the investigators to find out the motive. The guy could have been off his head and bent on homicide/suicide. At any rate the Indian pilot flying while stabbed, British pilot in the passenger area that stepped up to assist, and the Israeli plumber who mobilised the rescue are heroes that saved 150 lives.

What sources would you say are neutral?

They all have bias as far as I’m concerned and we may as well accept that.

Which ones strive to be neutral in your opinion?

And the second part of your post @MsAmerica is nonsense. I nearly always quote from traditional media sources myself. I’m just realistic that all the sources I use -be that the BBC, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent etc - all do have a bias and it’s better to be aware of that than not.

The Hamas lies continue to be unpicked.

Of the 260+ ‘journalists’ touted as being targeted by the IDF, 170+ of them were militants.

https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/the-press-files/

This is just be silly. Why would anyone think Hamas had invented the racist narrative against Israel? Obviously Hamas is just one, current iteration building on years of hatred before them. Good news comes out of Israel all the time but nobody who believes Israel is an apartheid state has the remotest interest in seeing it.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/10/01/why-does-the-bbc-refer-to-dead-terrorists-as-journalists/

Interesting. Not a surprise at all.

"The latest embarrassment is the revelation that 53 of the people killed in Gaza who the BBC described as ‘journalists’ were, in fact, Hamas terrorists."