Amazing, isn’t it, how little due diligence our major networks perform when it comes to reporting on the war in Gaza. They accept, without questioning, Hamas-supplied figures on the numbers of killed and wounded, and on how many are women and children. They show photographs of “children killed in Gaza” who turn out to have been children killed in Yemen. They show “starving children in Gaza” who turn out to be children “starving” far from Gaza, and some who are not starving at all but have congenital diseases that make them appear to be starving. They conduct interviews with “journalists” who turn out to be members of Hamas; some of those “journalists” have even taken part in the atrocities carried out on October 7, 2023.
Take, for example, ABC’s latest interview with someone in Gaza, a certain Mahmoud Bassal, described by ABC only as an “emergency responder searching for Gazan civilians.” More on Bassal, and ABC’s failure to properly identify him, can be found here: “ABC News Fails to Acknowledge Interviewee Is Hamas Spokesperson,” by Sharon Levy, Algemeiner, October 30, 2025:
In Gaza, every public institution falls under the direct supervision of Hamas-affiliated terrorists. From journalists to the health ministry and civil defense, Hamas has embedded itself in every aspect of life.
In yet another textbook example of terrorists embedded in Gaza’s institutions, the IDF revealed in June 2025 that the “Gaza Civil Spokesperson,” Mahmoud Bassal, is an active Hamas operative.
His words are frequently echoed throughout the media, shaping and distorting the narrative of Israel’s war against Hamas — often without attribution to his Hamas affiliation.
ABC News took that one step further, interviewing Bassal as an emergency responder searching for missing Gazan civilians.
Not once did it cross the interviewers’ minds to do the most basic due diligence a journalist can — a background check on those being interviewed.
ABC News has a responsibility to acknowledge the affiliation of an interviewee, particularly if it is relevant to the story they are covering.
This would have been the case had ABC noted that those searching in the rubble were members of Gaza’s Civil Defense: a Hamas front organization. But ABC didn’t even do that….
How difficult would it have been for the ABC journalists to check with Israeli authorities on the background of Mahmoud Bassal before interviewing him? A phone call would have done the trick. Or they might in two seconds flat have done an internet search for Bassal’s name and found right here that he is a member of Hamas. Why didn’t the ABC interviewer do this?
ABC News owes its audience an explanation and a public clarification.
Amen, sister, amen.
somehistory says
Lies of omission are still lies. A terrorist by any name is still a terrorist.
James Lincoln says
somehistory says,
“Lies of omission are still lies.”
Yes, most definitely.
And this also includes important stories, e.g., Christian genocide in Nigeria, that are not covered at all…
But you knew that already.
somehistory says
thank you, James. And yes, I knew, but I don’t mind the reminder.
Cynthia says
We have despicable MSM here in the US. No mention of the Islamist killings in Nigerians Sudan- the real genocide in the world.
Throughout the Gaza war all interviews were Hamas driven as well as reporting.
All data was taken as truth that Hamas provided.
OLD GUY says
Cynthia, there is nothing like getting your news reports from your enemies.
Winston 101 says
The only “out of the shadows” I want to see Islam take is jihadis who don’t think these two are
Islamic enough and give them their just rewards as proscribed by the Quran.