NewsNation anchor Dan Abrams blasted major media outlets — including the New York Times and CNN — for a “disturbing rush to judgment” that blamed Israel following the deadly hospital explosion in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas immediately pointed the finger at Israel for Tuesday’s tragedy at Ahli Arab Hospital, with the terror group saying the death toll was around 500.
Israeli officials immediately refuted the claims and blamed an attempted rocket attack against the Jewish state by Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group that backs Hamas, for the carnage.
Wednesday, President Biden said the attack stemmed from the “other team” — referring to Hamas — and an intelligence analyst put the death toll at closer to 50, The Wall Street Journal reported.
On his show, “Dan Abrams Live,” the anchor laced into the media for regurgitating reports from Hamas, the terrorist group that massacred at least 1,300 children, women, men and elderly people in Israel, and captured roughly 200 hostages on Oct. 7.
“Initial reports from Hamas — from Hamas! — put the death toll at 500 people, which would make it one of the deadliest air strikes in a decade and a half,” Abrams said Tuesday.
“But as news of the explosion broke, there was a disturbing rush to judgment by mainstream news outlets, including the AP, New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, all immediately taking a statement by the Hamas, terrorist-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip, putting the blame squarely on an Israeli airstrike,” he said before playing clips of the media’s instant reaction to the explosion.
Follow along with The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel
“They’re all treating the health ministry as if it’s like a legitimate source! This is Hamas,” exclaimed Abrams after rolling the tape. “The headlines from major media outlets repeating the report that hundreds were killed by Israel. Look, it never quite made sense that Israel, as it pauses its incursion into Gaza to make sure it has international support, would strike a hospital of all places.”
While Abrams cautioned that taking the word of the Israeli government as fact, he implored viewers and the media to question the information coming out of the terrorist group.
“Look, Hamas intentionally kills, kidnaps and lies. That does not mean that we should accept Israel’s word at face value in a situation like this. We shouldn’t. But based on all the circumstances, the fact that Israel’s gonna say that it can provide video, the circumstances I talked about, about the motivations. At the least, the media should be much more skeptical than they have been of these accounts from Hamas,” he continued.
Abrams’ co-worker Leland Vittert joined Abrams on the show to emphasize the media’s reporting.
“You had [CNN’s] Jake Tapper saying ‘the government in Gaza.’ Well, he could have also said the Hamas terrorist organization, which just committed the largest one day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, claims without evidence an Israeli airstrike took out this hospital, took out this hospital in the hours before President Biden arrives in Israel. It didn’t make sense, but no journalist wanted to say that,” offered Vittert.
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News site, Mediaite, which Abrams founded, first reported the remarks.
Abrams has been a staunch critic over media bias when it comes to coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Last week, he ripped MSNBC for allowing its anchors to “pander to the far-left” in their coverage of Hamas’ deadly terror attack on Israel.