Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., issued a scathing rebuke of the media following its “disgusting display” of reporting on the explosion at a hospital in Gaza this week.
The Gaza Health Ministry initially reported that an Israeli airstrike was responsible for a blast at al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza that they said killed hundreds of people on Tuesday.
However, by Wednesday, the Israeli government determined that the explosion was caused by a rocket misfire from Islamic Jihad.
Moskowitz, along with Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., appeared on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” Thursday where the Democrat attacked much of mainstream media initially reporting the Hamas-backed health ministry’s claims as fact.
“Here’s what I know, what I know, we saw a disgusting display of anti-Israel, anti-Zionism, and anti-Semitism from the international media around the world. They immediately took Hamas’s word for it, Hamas, a terrorist organization, who said something and ran with it. It caused riots around the world. It caused the president’s meetings to be canceled, but when Israel said it wasn’t true, they had to show satellite imagery, they had to show the trajectory of the bomb, they had to explain the crater size, they had to show all sorts of audio intelligence, but Hamas, their word was taken seriously,” Moskowitz said.
He continued, “So, look, this shows how dangerous it is to be listening to a terrorist organization when they put numbers, when they put out facts and figures and they put out statements and it’s a lesson for the media and elected officials that this is an active war zone and we have to be careful before we take stuff and weaponize it because look what it caused in the Arab World.”
Various mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times and CNN ran with the original reports from the Hamas-backed ministry.
As Lawler followed up by condemning the mainstream media, Mitchell pushed back, defending her network.
“Let me just say,” Mitchell said over Lawler’s argument. “Congressman, not the NBC media. Not most of the American media. You’re talking about…you’re talking about media in the Arab world.”
Lawler maintained his stance.
“CNN did as well and I will tell you, it is wrong. It is wrong. We need to – when you are in war, you better make sure you have your facts. We cannot have Baghdad Bobs running around promulgating these lies. Especially members of Congress. So, it is imperative – it does matter. Facts matter here and we need to make sure that people understand, Israel did not attack a hospital. That was a terrorist organization that did that,” Lawler said.