Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) on Thursday blasted the media's anti-Israel bias in the wake of recent violent riots at the Gaza-Israel border organized by the terrorist group Hamas.
Cruz took to the Senate floor where, as an example of the bias, he held up a story from Monday's New York Times, titled "Israel Kills Dozens at Gaza Border as U.S. Embassy Opens in Jerusalem."
"We can count on global media elites acting as little more than propaganda arms for Hamas and other terrorists and no week has that been more evident than this week," Cruz said.
"For several weeks, we've seen riots and violent attacks at Israel's border, terrorist attacks that culminated in the attacks that led to these shootings in self-defense," Cruz said. "The rioters, they use massive tire fires to create smoke to cover their attacks, they use guns, they use pipe bombs, they use molotov cocktails, they use grenades, they use mechanical catapults to attack the border and to attack Israeli troops. They tie petrol bombs to kites and they launch them to set fire to Israeli fields and livestock."
Over the past seven weeks, thousands of Palestinians living in Hamas-controlled Gaza have gathered at the Gaza border for what organizers call the "March of Return," and clashed with Israeli soldiers. The demonstrations this week became particularly violent as the 70th anniversary of the creation of the modern state of Israel approached and the U.S. embassy in Israel officially moved to Jerusalem. Some of the Palestinians at the border, including terrorist operatives, attacked Israeli soldiers with Molotov cocktails and other weapons as they attempted to breach the border fence.
Cruz, who attended the U.S. embassy dedication on Monday, blasted the New York Times for not including pictures of Hamas' kites with swastikas or their maps with directions to Israelis intended to make it easier to kill them. He further criticized the media for burying the fact that the violent protesters used molotov cocktails and other weapons against Israelis.
Israel received international criticism for killing dozens of Palestinians, the majority of whom Hamas reported to be part of its group, during the riots. The White House said responsibility for any bloodshed laid with Hamas.
Cruz said as a result of their bias reporting, the New York Times and other outlets who wrote similar stories should not be surprised when they are labeled "fake news."