The Israel Defense Forces took down a building in Gaza yesterday that housed media outlets, including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. Breathless journalists across the globe decried the move as an attempt to suppress coverage of their “atrocities.” But Israel claimed the building held an important Hamas command and control center, about which media pretended to know nothing.
According to Red State:
Prior to hitting the building, the IDF warned the media outlets and others in the building to get out before they took down the building.
Some in media were upset that Israel took out the building. But as we noted, how could media not know that Hamas had an operation going on in the building, if they were sharing the building with them? What’s their explanation for that?
Now, the AP is responding to all this and saying in a statement that they are “shocked and horrified” that Israel would target their building. Their CEO is also claiming that they had no idea that Hamas was in the building, even though the AP has been there for years.
Could it be true that a “news” organization in Gaza where Hamas is not only in charge but also the most newsworthy topic—and therefore the predicate for the AP’s presence there in the first place—NOT know that the terrorist organization shared a building with their journalists? The statement by their CEO seems to suggest this very ignorance:
AP CEO: "AP’s bureau has been in this building for 15 years. We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We'd never knowingly put our journalists at risk."https://t.co/8UOXMXqwc2 pic.twitter.com/cd4nJFBEiL
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) May 15, 2021
We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza. They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit.
The Israeli government says the building contained Hamas military intelligence assets. We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence. AP’s bureau has been in this building for 15 years. We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.
This strike is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time.
The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what transpired today.
As I posted on Twitter yesterday, the Associated Press CEO is either a liar or an idiot:
If the @AP knew they shared a building with Hamas, they are liars for claiming ignorance.
If they didn't know they shared a building with the most newsworthy organization in the land they were covering, they are idiots and may be the worst journalists in history.
— JD Rucker (@JDRucker) May 16, 2021
As it turns out, they’re liars AND bad journalists. An Atlantic story from 2014 from the last major escalation of tensions in Gaza appears to indicate at the time Associated Press reporters in the building were well-aware that Hamas operated right next to them.
When Hamas’s leaders surveyed their assets before this summer’s round of fighting, they knew that among those assets was the international press. The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby—and the AP wouldn’t report it, not even in AP articles about Israeli claims that Hamas was launching rockets from residential areas. (This happened.) Hamas fighters would burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff—and the AP wouldn’t report it. (This also happened.) Cameramen waiting outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City would film the arrival of civilian casualties and then, at a signal from an official, turn off their cameras when wounded and dead fighters came in, helping Hamas maintain the illusion that only civilians were dying. (This too happened; the information comes from multiple sources with firsthand knowledge of these incidents.)
Common sense tells us a group of seasoned reporters tasked with keeping tabs on Hamas in Gaza would be not only aware of the terrorist organization’s presence in the building but likely consider it a good thing as it allowed them easy access for reporting. To say journalists didn’t know Hamas was there is like a food critic not knowing his apartment was above an Italian restaurant. All it takes is a nose for spaghetti, or in this case, news.
Then, there’s the Biden administration’s role. Why haven’t they told the Associated Press and the rest of the world what they know to be true, that Hamas did operate out of the building? Our own intelligence has been well-aware of this fact for some time. In case they didn’t know, Israel briefed the Biden administration on the fact.
“We showed them the smoking gun proving Hamas worked out of that building,” a source close to Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said. “I understand they found the explanation satisfactory.”
From the newest intern in Gaza to the CEO, everyone involved with covering Hamas at the Associated Press was 100% aware that the terrorist group operated out of their building. Their claims of universal ignorance are an assault on journalistic integrity.
‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us
Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.
For the last few months, NOQ Report, Conservative Playbook, and the American Conservative Movement have appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.
It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. Both of our YouTube accounts were banned. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Medium canceled us. Apple canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.
The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancellation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.
The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects, including death. One of our stories about the Johnson & Johnson “vaccine” causing blood clots was “fact-checked” and removed one day before the government hit the brakes on it. These questions and news items are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting canceled.
There are more topics that they refuse to allow. In turn, we refuse to stop discussing them. This is why we desperately need your help. The best way NOQ, CP, and ACM readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We are pacing to be short by about $3700 per month in order to maintain operations.
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The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. We had 5,657,724 sessions on our website from November, 2020, through February, 2021. Our intention is to elevate that to higher levels this year by focusing on a strategy that relies on free speech rather than being beholden to progressive Big Tech companies.
During that four-month stretch, Twitter and Facebook accounted for about 20% of our traffic. We are actively working on operating as if that traffic is zero, replacing it with platforms that operate more freely such as Gab, Parler, and others. While we were never as dependent on Big Tech as most conservative sites, we’d like to be completely free from them. That doesn’t mean we will block them, but we refuse to be beholden to companies that absolutely despise us simply because of our political ideology.
We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
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