Two of the Israeli hostages are rescued in a complex and daring operation; plus AP coverage of the event
Here’s a video with a few of the details; more can be found here:
New Argentinian president Milei, a friend of Israel who recently visited there, got a present because both hostages – Fernando Marman, 61, and Louis Har, 70 – were originally Argentinian nationals.
From the Times of Israel article I linked:
The joint operation by the police’s elite Yamam counterterrorism unit, the Shin Bet security agency, and IDF began at around 1 a.m. in Rafah, an area that Israeli forces had not yet maneuvered into during their ground offensive against the Hamas terror group.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Yamam officers “carried out a very complex action on the premises and the second floor where the hostages were held.” …
He said the forces breached the apartment with explosives at 1:49 a.m., killing the three terrorists guarding the hostages and “hugged and protected Louis and Fernando with their bodies.”
“The troops pulled Louis and Fernando out of the apartment and rescued them under fire, until they reached the safe zone,” Hagari said.
The IDF later released footage from the air showing the rescuers entering a building and strikes hitting the area.
Fighting also broke out in several adjacent buildings, with massive airstrikes carried out against Hamas terrorists in the area of the rescue operation at 1:50 a.m., Hagari said.
The fact that they were on the second floor seems to be a significant reason that Israel was able to carry out this rescue, but as pointed out in the video, this is unusual and most of the hostages are being kept underground. I wish they didn’t release these details, but once they’re released they can’t be unreleased.
AP coverage of the same story is typically slanted against Israel (as are many other MSM stories I found, such as this one, all of which emphasize the numbers of Palestinian dead given out by Hamas, although the articles don’t put it exactly that way). The headline of the AP piece is: “Israeli forces rescue 2 hostages in dramatic Gaza raid that killed at least 67 Palestinians”
So even in the headline we have a tit-for-tat approach in which the Israelis are by implication the bad guys – to rescue two men, they killed at least 67 “Palestinians.” And these are supposedly generic Palestinians, not armed terrorists or terrorists at all. Most people just read the headlines and maybe the first paragraph or two; some just the headlines.
Another AP article by the same three people – who seem to write a lot for AP on this war – also takes Hamas’ word for the number of casualties. The headline for that article also gives no hint that the figures just might be propaganda: “More than 12,300 Palestinian minors have been killed in Israel’s war in Gaza, health officials say.” Who are these “health officials”? The AP does not tell us in that headline (or often in the articles themselves, either), which is no accident.
These headlines are very carefully crafted, as are the articles themselves, to stir up hatred of Israel and sympathy for the Palestinians. The sub-headline of that article edges up to saying the fuller truth but still doesn’t say it directly; this is an art they’ve perfected: “The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says more than 12,300 Palestinian minors have been killed in Israel’s war.” Why not say these figures are uncorroborated and highly suspect and that the Health Ministry and Hamas are one and the same? You know why; then people wouldn’t be as sympathetic and wouldn’t hate Israel so much, and the AP can’t have that.
Continuing:
More than 12,300 Palestinian minors have been killed in Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said Monday.
Minors made up about 47% of the total number of 28,176 Palestinians killed so far, the ministry said. About 8,400 women were also among those killed.
“Minors” is a legal term. What does it mean? Shouldn’t they define it? Much better for propaganda purposes if they leave it vague, but it usually refers to people under 18 years of age. They don’t want people thinking of 17-year-old and 16-year-old Hamas fighters with guns as being chief among those “minors.” And of course they want the reader to trust this “health ministry” that might be in “Hamas-run” Gaza but certainly isn’t identified as being Hamas itself.
Then the first AP article I linked is repeated, the one on the hostage rescue operation. An excerpt:
Israeli forces rescued two hostages early Monday, storming a heavily guarded apartment in the southern Gaza Strip and extracting the captives under fire in a dramatic raid that was a small but symbolically significant success for Israel. The operation killed at least 67 Palestinians, including women and children, according to Palestinian health officials in the beleaguered territory.
So here we have, “According to Palestinian health officials in the beleaguered territory.” There are those health officials again; no mention of Hamas in that paragraph. And note the adjective “beleaguered,” designed to elicit even more sympathy for the Gazans.
The raid was celebrated in Israel as a victory in the sluggish battle to free the hostages, with more than 100 captives still held by Hamas and other Gaza militants, and briefly lifted the spirits of a nation still reeling from Hamas’ cross-border raid last year. But in Gaza, where civilians have borne a staggering toll since the war erupted on Oct. 7, the operation unleashed another wartime tragedy, with many Palestinians killed or wounded.
Those nasty Israelis, celebrating the rescue of the two while a far larger tragedy occurs in the Gazan neighborhood – another tragedy for the poor innocent Palestinians. No mention that most of these people that Hamas reports having been killed are probably Hamas terrorist themselves. And the grisly October 7, with its terrible attacks on civilians featuring massive sadistic torture and rape is reduced to a “cross-border raid.” That’s quite the eupemism.
Much of the rest of the article is spent in recapping the background of the conflict and describing the hostage rescue. Then, as if we hadn’t already heard this, we hear again:
[The two hostages] were among roughly 250 taken captive during Hamas’ stunning cross-border raid, when an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli authorities. Israeli’s retaliatory air and ground offensive has killed over 28,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, displaced over 80% of the population and set off a massive humanitarian crisis.
You see, what Israel did is so much worse, according to this paragraph. The October 7 massacre is labeled a “stunning cross-border raid” – a fairly neutral word – in which civilians “were killed.” Well, isn’t that what Israel is doing? Killing? No mention that Hamas broke a ceasefire. No mention of the purpose of the “stunning raid” being to kill civilians and to torture and rape them in a manner that was extremely barbaric. Just that a certain number of people were killed by Hamas in a raid, and of course the numbers from these “health officials” are so much greater than any killed in that little October 7 “raid.” Plus, mention of the huge numbers of Palestinians that were displaced, but with a little detail left out: that this was done by Israel to save their lives and leave only terrorists to target, and that Hamas wants the civilians dead and discouraged them from leaving in order that the AP and MSM could write just this sort of story about their deaths.
Then there’s a lengthy description of the wounded in a Gaza hospital. But we already know from many previous experiences that much of this is often staged, so that what is real cannot be ascertained at this point or sometimes at any point (some videos even feature the same actors over and over as victims in different places and with different garb, and at least those can easily be seen to be fake).
NOTE: Another story is that a huge Hamas center for processing data was found under UNRWA headquarters in Gaza.
Terrific breakdown of the Miserable Stinkin’ Media.
Who owns AP, by the way?
like the air conditioning lady ahem
https://twitter.com/StopAntisemites/status/1757113589876343141
Only 67? The IDF needs to do better. At least one “0” after the 67 would be nice.
Houthi’s on first?
“Houthis mistakenly attack ship bound for their Iranian patrons”—
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/385095
Miracles do sometimes happen.
“Minors” is a legal term. What does it mean? Shouldn’t they define it?
Obviously yes. So obvious, in fact, that it is impossible for me to believe even leftists don’t see the bias. My guess is that they do, but somehow convince themselves that it’s right, and just, and all together fine.
Headline over at Reuters: “Israel frees two hostages, Palestinian TV says 74 killed in assault”
No reason to link to it. You know what it says.
I don’t trust AP reporting on just about anything these days. The blind acceptance of Hamas casualty statistics is so unprofessional as to make it an error to call the AP “journalists” rather than “propagandists.” Just UNRWA workers aren’t really relief workers.
Kate:
They are indeed propagandists, and I often call them that. It is the proper descriptive term.
neo, you gave the AP name away; According to Palestinians (AP) its much more accurate than just All Propaganda (AP).
The Hamas control center under the UNWRA got its electricty from lines directly from the UN.
So good news! We are paying for power used by the UN and Hamas.
I have just subscribed to Times of Israel so I can get away from all AP propaganda.
Most of us are clueless about “news” management here in the land of the formerly free. The NYT is a publicly traded stock. It owns several thousand USA small town papers, which get their input from Mama. Gannett, through USA Today, is similar. And we wonder how Democrats win elections???
Re: AP coverage and journalism in general
Quelle horreur!
–“Is the Media Prepared for an Extinction-Level Event? | The New Yorker”
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/is-the-media-prepared-for-an-extinction-level-event
One can only hope.
Somehow “The New Yorker” manages to consider all the structural problems facing old stodgy print media versus new online digital media without once considering the many, many times the media has been caught lying or obfuscating in the service of Democrats, while attacking and alienating the other half of the country.
As they say, corn popped.
Barry-
Wiki says, “Associated Press (AP)[4] is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are distributed to its members, major U.S. daily newspapers and radio and television broadcasters.”
It is much more centralized than Pravda. It produces news! which are spread over the land.
There isnt a large enough comet
Sweet Meteor of Death is what its called IIRC, extinction level large enough?
Kate–
Back, forty years ago, before computers came in, when I used to do research in a government think tank, we used to have teletypes connected to the various wire and other services–stock market prices, the AP, Reuters, Jiji Shimpo, etc.–running full blast, printing out paper rolls of news, and we “knew” that the AP would always give us the straight scoop, “just the (unembellished) facts”–I suppose that we were probably deluded even that far back.
Well, given that the 67 were in reality, most likely Hamas, it is at least a start.
Thanks C. (of course, that should be “…produces ‘news’ reports…”.)
Just a caveat, though, WRT The “Times of Israel” (not related as far AFAIK to the NYT): it offers a range of opinions and some fascinating articles but is essentially a left-of-center publication. If it appears that they’ve shifted rightward (or slightly rightward) it’s because of Oct. 7 and also because, with some exceptions, they’re NOT totally off the wall.
They’re entitled to their opinions, certainly, but take their stance on Bibi with a grain of salt…
YMMV…
+ Bonus
So what’s the high/low that the AP will publish something like this??(!)
“‘Why Doesn’t Hamas Go to Hell and Hide There?’: Other Voices from Gaza”—
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20383/voices-from-gaza
(Just kidding, of course…)
And who knows? Maybe even Honest A. might learn something…
(Sorry, just another joke… can’t help it…it seems…)
“The Evidence Iran Was Behind the 7 October Pogrom in Israel”—
https://www.kyleorton.com/p/iran-was-behind-the-oct-7-pogrom-in-israel
H/T Powerline blog.
Key grafs:
“…Even for those who interpret the thirty-odd-year relationship between Iran and HAMAS as some sort of loose patron-client arrangement where HAMAS has genuine independence of action, no serious person can believe HAMAS said nothing to Tehran as it worked for a year or more—with Iran’s money, weapons, and IRGC trainers—to plan the most audacious operation in its history, one with direct and potentially dire consequences for the Iranian regime. This is not how anything works.
“It becomes more preposterous when one zooms in….”
[Emphasis mine; Barry M.—though “…with Iran’s money…” should be corrected to read “…with America’s money…”; to be sure, it would be FAR MORE ACCURATE to amend that to, “…with “Biden”‘s money…”.]
And of course, Hamas could stop all of this at any time by releasing the (innocent civilian) Israeli hostages. Note that both the rescued hostages are family members of Mia Leimberg, the intrepid teenager who brought her dog into, and out of, Hamas captivity with her.
Another incredibly heartwarming video, of the minutes in the vehicle before arriving at the helicopter. It was so good to hear the love and care that the soldiers had for the men they rescued.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/385093
Should never have publicized the details of this rescue.
But they had to.
They had to because the insane Left has been insisting that Bibi doesn’t give a F&*K about the hostages.
(Nor will they stop insisting on it)
And so the other hostages can pretty much kiss their own slim chances good-bye….
(But let’s hope I’m entirely wrong about this last bit….)
– – – – – – – – –
“…Hamas could stop all of this at any time…”
Except that they can’t.
They can’t because that is WHO THEY ARE.
(One keeps forgetting this basic elementary detail.)
That one WANTS to forget this is perfectly understandable.
But it’s a fatal mistake, as was demonstrated on October 7.
I never read anything regarding Israel that comes from the A.P. or Reuters.
I distrust “coincidences”.
What do you call 67 dead Hamas? A good start.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/385150
Interesting, no? The evident IDF penetration of the tunnel systems, it’s efficacy, the techniques and capabilties are only vaguely apparent to us outside observers, just as we may hope they are equally murky to Hamas. More, I for one hope that advantage will be preserved for many years to come, though the full story prove as astonishing as the daily results hint to date.
If I was an Israeli and saw what those animals did in their attack, I would want to turn Gaza into a parking lot. The thing that the people of the West never get is that this behavior is NOTHING NEW. History is rife with examples. Against infidels anything, anything can be done with Allah’s blessing.
Stunning without brave? What happened to brave?