In “Killing of Hamas leader signals shift in strategy,” the Washington Post states that the number of casualties on the Gazan side of the Gaza war is “more than 22,000 people.” In initial articles at the onset of the war, the Post gave the attribution to the “Gaza Health Ministry” as the source of casualty figures. Then, in the next wave of articles, the Post clarified that it was the “Hamas-run Health Ministry,” indicating that the terrorist regime of Hamas was overseeing the casualty count. This correctly indicated that the figures are suspect, though a stronger disclaimer should have been used. Then, in subsequent articles, the Post removed the “Hamas-run” disclaimer and went back to quoting the “Gaza Health Ministry,” and now, in this front-page article, the Post just states the count as if fact, with no attribution. Here we see the evolution of a lie, how repetition becomes “fact” to influence a narrative. Newspapers have a responsibility to be evenhanded because they have a part in writing history. That hasn’t stopped the Post, which is in lockstep with promoting the Palestinian narrative.

Ironically, on page two of the same issue of the Post, in the “correction section,” is a first-time admission that the Gazan casualty numbers “reflect deaths of both civilians and combatants, as the Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between them.” So how could any reader assess the validity of the “civilian” casualty count when the figure includes combatants?

Israel’s estimates show that about half the casualties are Hamas combatants and about 25 percent of all Hamas rockets aimed at Israel land in Gaza, in the vicinity of their own civilians. So the numbers attributed to Israel are far below those reported and plainly indicate that Israel is being the most careful of almost any military in the history of urban warfare with approximately a one-to-one civilian-to-combatant casualty count. All deaths of civilians are tragic, and the Post should add that all are the fault of Hamas who started this war necessitating an Israeli response. Further, Hamas put its civilians in jeopardy by shooting at Israelis from behind or underneath them.

Lastly, the Post states that Israel’s “full-scale military invasion of Gaza” is a “pursuit of the militants who planned and carried out the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.” No, the aim of Israel’s response to Oct. 7, as it has said repeatedly, is to remove Hamas from power. The goal is to allow Israel to live in peace so that it doesn’t have to wake up to another Oct. 7, which Hamas has sworn to repeat as many times as necessary to annihilate Israel. It is not about revenge!

If the newspaper of record in our nation’s capital can’t even elucidate the aims of the war effort by Israel without a spin, why not just be a subsidiary of Al Jazeera?