ABC News tells viewers that scenes of destruction in Gaza are in Israel

Rania Khalek Media Watch 9 July 2014

Update, Thursday, 10 July:

Diane Sawyer tweeted the following apology today:

Original post:

More than fifty Palestinians have been killed and another 450 wounded since Monday in Israel’s ongoing assault on the besieged Gaza Strip, dubbed “Operation Protective Edge” by the Israeli army. 

As usual, mainstream media outlets are straining to paint Israel as the victim, defending its people against irrational Palestinian rocket fire.

There is no equating the killing and maiming of dozens of innocent Palestinians with scared Israelis seeking shelter from crude rockets that rarely cause damage. But that hasn’t stopped media outlets from trying, and in some cases, outright lying, to distort the violence. 

In one stark example, ABC News’ Diane Sawyer misidentifies scenes of the aftermath of Israeli missile strikes in Gaza as destruction caused by Palestinian rocket fire.

As Sawyer segues into the segment, she says, “We take you overseas now to the rockets raining down on Israel today as Israel tried to shoot them out of the sky.” Next to her is video footage not of Israelis or even Israel, but of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

Sawyer then incorrectly describes an image of a Palestinian family gathering belongings in the smoking debris of a missile-hit home in Gaza as “an Israeli family trying to salvage what they can.” 

Screenshot of ABC News image mislabeled as “an Israeli family trying to salvage what they can.”

Sawyer then describes an image of a Palestinian woman surrounded by destroyed homes as “one woman standing speechless among the ruins,” with the implication that she is Israeli. 

Sawyer’s bald misreporting reflects either a deliberate lie by ABC News or willful ignorance so severe that Palestinian death and misery is invisible even when it’s staring ABC producers right in the face.

The segment in its entirety can be seen here. 

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Comments

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carol dc replied on

http://www.politico.com/blogs/...

On ABC World News tonight, Diane Sawyer issued an apology for accidentally misidentifying a photo of Palestinians amid the rubble after Israeli airstrikes as a photo of suffering Israelis.

Sawyer acknowledged “we made a mistake” and explained, “I misidentified these powerful images. The people in these photos are Palestinians in Gaza in the aftermath of an air strike by Israel, not Israelis, as I mistakenly described them. We want you to know we are truly sorry for the error.”

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MAK replied on

Apologize On Air and run that apology at least thrice a day for a week.....

This war is Powerless Palestinians against Powerful Israel.

Can anyone answer that the Israel or Israeli's are poor or powerless or the Palestinians are ???
The whole world knows who the Powerful Evil is......

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Asif Ahmed replied on

ahhh. I wish I could see Israel in this way... as my dear news teller described a poor innocent israeli family is trying to safe their selves

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Aaron Dom replied on

For all the conspiracy theorists, the women did publicly apologize and stated she would address the matter. It's sad the number of people who overlook this and then say 'Liars'. At least she has integrity to admit she is wrong. Where are all you when a Palestinian group like Hamas denies the Holocaust? Or is that not as bad as an American reporter misidentifying a few images? Might as well go hide behind your computer until the next anchor makes a mistake on air and apologizes since that's more worthy for you characters.

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Dodo replied on

What to expect from the media controlled by the Zionist lobby? Manipulated media and dumb americans . They Support Israel which describes Mary peace be upon her as a hooker.
Fuck you Christian zionism.

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mahmoud darwish replied on

i think now a days wine is very cheap in ur country diane......
:p

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Linda replied on

This article is so backwards! Main stream media USUALLY skews everything in favor of the Palestinians, not Israel! AND, recent pictures of Palestinian victims released are in fact from Syria and Lybia! The rockets being fired on Israel are now much more advanced than this article would have you believe, being supplied by Iran among other places. This whole battle is in the hands of the Palestinians. When they stop lobbing rockets at Israel, Israel will stop firing back.

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Rob McCulloch replied on

Since when do Isreali women where headscarfs like the one pictured. You don't have to look too far to see the truth about what is happening. I watched Louie Theroux with the Zionist extremists the other night. Scary scary Stuff.
5 Broken Cameras is readily available. turn off the mainstream media and see something independent and truthful.
Why are the muslim youth turning to extremism ???
Why wouldn't they !!!!
In the words of Ben Harper, "treat a child like a criminal and you will reap what you sow"

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waris replied on

the media and the press...they are just the employees of the government and they telecast only what they are said to.. Muslims are oppressed everywhere in the world and when they struggle and fight back they are given the label of terrorists...

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Frank J. McCarry replied on

Absolutely no apology is good enough!! You call yourself a reporter...How dare you!

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Susan replied on

I am Jewish and I DO NOT support in any way what Israel is doing in GAZA. The Corporate owned main stream media is reporting propaganda of Pre-Glasnost Russia proportions and it must stop!

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bibby izod replied on

I didn't start following the issues in the Middle East until a few years ago. I had alway been told throughout my life that Isreal is our good buddy so I believed it. Yet I kept hearing things about Israel that sounded arrogant and bully like.

Then along came the controversial spraying of White Phosphorus on already injured children and the elderly in Gaza. That Israel had gone to great extremes to cover it up. And every place I went to ask questions I was met with someone calling me anti-Semite for simply asking.

The more I learned, the more I can to fully understand what was happening which was really horrible but as an American, how did we as a country reach this point where we are blatantly allowing our media to LIE about Israel. To basically report in the most one sided way and so out of sync with what we think.
I now understand how we ended up in Iraq. I don't know who is more evil, Israel or AIPAC or our leaders that suck at the teet of AIPAC.

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Rania Khalek

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Rania Khalek is an independent journalist reporting on the underclass and marginalized.