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Joel B. Pollak
World leaders, journalists, and activists helped fuel anti-American riots around the Middle East Tuesday evening by spreading the false claim by the Palestinian terror group Hamas that an Israeli airstrike killed 500 Palestinian civilians at a hospital in Gaza.
As Breitbart News’ Frances Martel reported, mobs attacked U.S., United Nations, and Israeli embassies throughout the region:
In the hours afterwards Justin Trudeau reportedly called the situation “absolutely unacceptable.” Speaking in French, he told reporters that “it’s not legal” to bomb a hospital.
“The news coming out of Gaza is horrific,” the prime minister said, Reuters reports.
“International humanitarian and international law needs to be respected in this and in all cases. There are rules around wars and it’s not acceptable to hit a hospital.”
U.N. chief Antonio Guterres also saw the action as a directed air strike by a hostile force.
I am horrified by the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in a strike on a hospital in Gaza today, which I strongly condemn. My heart is with the families of the victims. Hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 17, 2023
Health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave claimed hundreds of people died in the explosion, which they also blamed on Israel.
As Breitbart News reported, the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror organization was responsible for the catastrophe, due to a misfired rocket intended to kill Israeli civilians, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The IDF have since released audio they say shows the terrorists reacting once they realise their mistake.
Islamic Jihad struck a Hospital in Gaza—the IDF did not.
Listen to the terrorists as they realize this themselves: pic.twitter.com/u7WyU8Rxwz
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 18, 2023
Hamas and critics of Israel rushed to blame an Israeli airstrike. News wires, like the Getty photo service, published unproven claims Israel had “attack[ed]” the hospital, citing the “Gaza Health Ministry,” which is run by Hamas.
The BBC’s early reporting pointed a finger at Israel for the disaster.
Of all the misreporting last night, I think this from the BBC is perhaps the most egregious.
Ignores that an arsenal of varied rockets are fired out of Gaza. Ignores that Iron Dome specifically targets missiles aiming for civilian areas.
Utterly dire.
— Daniel Sugarman (@Daniel_Sugarman) October 18, 2023
The Irish Times newspaper was also quick to rush its reportage.
This is the most-read story on the @IrishTimes in the last 12 hours. It says “hundreds still trapped in the rubble” of the bombed hospital.
But photos this AM show that there is no rubble. The hospital is intact. So how did the Times source this story?https://t.co/rYXLulMB61
— John McGuirk (@john_mcguirk) October 18, 2023
U.S. President Joe Biden threw his support behind Israel’s account of the strike, telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “it appears as though it was done by the other team” after landing in Israel for a high-stakes solidarity visit, as Breitbart News reported.
Hamas fired back at the comments from the Israeli military, saying “its outrageous lies do not deceive anyone”.
Israel’s Arab allies blamed it for the hospital deaths, despite the military’s denials, AFP reports.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which both established ties with Israel in the Abraham Accords of 2020, condemned the “Israeli” attack.
Morocco, another country that recognised Israel in 2020, also blamed it for the strike, as did Egypt, which became the first Arab country to normalise relations in 1979.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.