by Rinat Harash

In over three weeks of extensive coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, National Public Radio (NPR) has managed to commit an impressive amount of journalistic wrongdoings, misleading tens of millions of devoted listeners across America.

Since the atrocious Hamas massacre on October 7, NPR has been overwhelmingly focused on the victimization of Palestinians, while interviewing biased individuals, omitting critical facts, and including outright distortions.

One of NPR’s most egregious reports from this period, which includes all of the above, is Daniel Estrin’s “Examining who carried out the brutal violence in Israel three weeks ago.”

In this despicable attempt to humanize the perpetrators of the deadly carnage, rape and kidnapping, listeners need to suffer through empathy-inducing descriptions such as this:

On October 8, a militant returned to Gaza with Mohammed’s cellphone and personal effects and told Mohammed’s family what happened. He said Mohammed had made it a mile or two inside Israel, and an Israeli aircraft shot him — five bullets to the chest, one near the neck. Mohammed recited a prayer before he died. The neighbor told us Mohammed had led a pretty ordinary life. He didn’t finish his high school matriculation exam. He worked as a taxi driver. He got married, had lots of friends and family at his wedding, started a business selling food products. But everyone in the family and neighborhood knew he belonged to the militant wing of the Iranian-aligned Islamic Jihad.

NPR’s Estrin then turns to interview Mkhaimar Abusada, whom he introduces as “a political analyst” in Gaza.

In fact, Abusada is also Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, who has called for violence against Israelis. Surely, this is a relevant piece of information to mention when NPR gives him the platform to say: “Hating the Jews or hating Israel as an occupier … that probably explain the brutality that took place on the 7th of October”.

At the end of the report, Estrin includes an edited version of a phone call from a terrorist to his parents in Gaza on October 7. The full recording of the call, released by Israel on October 25, clearly includes the terrorist’s father congratulating him after the son boasts of killing ten Jews.

Estrin ignores Palestinian politics, particularly the fact that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cancelled elections on the flimsy pretext that Israel might not permit 6,300 Jerusalem Palestinians to vote within the city itself. He also neglects Hamas’ reported role in the Jerusalem violence. As Haaretz reported: “Police believe the clashes on the Temple Mount are led by Hamas operatives, and that they are linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to postpone the Palestinian parliamentary elections this month.”

NPR says nothing about Hamas threats regarding Jerusalem, including a rare statement by Mohammed Deif, the head of the terror organization’s armed wing who orchestrated numerous deadly suicide bombings. Times of Israel reported:

In a rare public statement from Mohammed Deif, the elusive head of Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas warned that Israel would pay a “heavy price” if the evictions went ahead.

“I salute our steadfast Palestinians at Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem. The resistance leadership and al-Qassam are watching closely what is happening in the neighborhood,” Deif said.

“This is our final warning; If the aggression against our people in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood does not stop immediately, we will not stand idly by and the occupation will pay a heavy price,” he warned.

But Estrin has no interest in what Deif has to say. Instead, the journalist is riveted on the alleged speculations of unnamed pundits claiming that Netanyahu “benefits from a rise in tensions,” a means to “lur[e] right-wing politicians to rally around him and to keep in office.” The insidious implication is that Netanyahu is, in fact, engineering the violence for political gains.

The word “Hamas” does not make a single appearance in Estrin’s broadcast despite Hamas’ direct threats for more violence. Estrin concludes: “There are fears this could escalate. Tonight there will be large numbers of Palestinians expect for the holiest night in the Muslim calendar. Two days later, Israeli ultranationalists marching through the city of an annual day celebrating Israeli capture of Palestinian areas.”

Thank you for coming up tonight!! Great to see you @danielestrin from Hoobastank. Hope to see you soon