Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt on Monday called out MSNBC for referring to Hamas terrorists who massacred Israeli civilians as "militants" or "fighters."
"I love this show, and I love this network, but I’ve gotta ask, who is writing the scripts?" Greenblatt said to MSNBC’s Jonathan Lemire and Al Sharpton. "Hamas—the people who did this—they are not fighters, Jonathan. They are not militants, and I’m looking right at the camera, they are terrorists."
The network, however, did not heed Greenblatt’s criticism, as several hosts and reporters subsequently used those descriptors for members of the Hamas terror group in coverage of the conflict.
Greenblatt’s comments followed other instances of media coverage that was soft on Hamas amid its attack on Israel. After Hamas terrorists first entered Israel on Saturday, MSNBC host Ali Velshi said that he’d heard from many Palestinians who "wish that those same Israelis who were out there protesting the so-called judicial reforms would be protesting Israel’s inhumane treatment of the Palestinians who live under Israeli occupation, but that’s just not something that’s happening."
MSNBC foreign correspondent Matt Bradley on Saturday called the attacks, which killed more than 1,200 innocent Israelis, "a very, very big gift for Benjamin Netanyahu."