An IDF spokesman ran circles around an MSNBC host on Sunday, and in doing so, exposed how willfully clueless the mainstream press is.
Jonathan Conricus faced a flurry of false equivocations and demands from Yasmin Vossoughian to believe the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health during the exchange. Each and every time, he was ready to set the record straight.
It was an illuminating moment.
MSNBC's @yasminv tries to draw a false parity between Israel and Hamas, falsely suggesting Israel is using indiscriminate "rocket fire" to hit women and children like Hamas.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 23, 2023
IDF spox @jconricus sets her straight, noting that Hamas targets civilians, while the IDF works to warn. pic.twitter.com/xHO5LiVMdo
VOSSOUGHIAN: I know on Oct 7th there were many women and children that were killed in Israel. There are images emerging from Gaza now, the death toll seemingly like it’s above 4,600, many of them women and children who have lost their lives because, um, as Israeli rocket fire. How do you explain that?
That question is morally bankrupt for several reasons. What happened on October 7th was the indiscriminate, purposeful slaughter of women and children by an invading terrorist force. There is no comparison between that and the IDF sending out evacuation warnings before bombing legitimate military targets. Her repetition of a Hamas-reported death toll, which will become an issue in the next clip, also shows her own biases.
CONRICUS: I don’t want to create any parity. You know, any human suffering is suffering, whether it’s ours or theirs. The only thing I can say is that we definitely do not target civilians. We try to strike militants, contrary to these sub-human terrorists, these ISIS monsters who came across our borders. They specifically targeted our women and children and elderly and men and soldiers, but specifically the civilians.
You know out of 1,300, more than 1,300 dead Israelis, more than a thousand were civilians, which is, and that is by design. So, we are not targeting the civilians. Unfortunately, the civilians are in the battle space. We are doing our best to get them out of harm’s way. We’ve called on them to evacuate.
Despite Conricus explaining how Hamas is the equivalent of ISIS, Vossoughian decided a great way to push back would be to cite information from Hamas. She was quickly corrected.
In a follow-up, @yasminv scoffs at the idea that the IDF is trying to follow the laws of war.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 23, 2023
She gets triggered when @jconricus calls into question the fake casualty numbers put out by Hamas.
He also calls out MSNBC for parroting Hamas's lies about the hospital blast. pic.twitter.com/u14cXQynbz
CONRICUS: And I just want to say one thing when it comes to data coming out of Gaza. Please keep in mind that everything that comes out of Gaza is not verified independently. It is information decimated by Hamas and that Hamas are the equivalent of ISIS when it comes to truthfulness (crosstalk).
VOSSOUGHIAN: Sir, Colonel, are you disputing the number of people that have been killed in Gaza? The number of women and children. Are you disputing that, are you saying that’s not accurate?
CONRICUS: I am definitely questioning each and every piece of information that comes out of the Hamas-controlled so-called Ministry of Health. Each and every piece of information, and I’ll give you an example. The first report (crosstalk).
VOSSOUGHIAN: But many of these, Colonel, are being reported by independent journalists that are in the region as well.
That last line by Vossoughian is simply incredible. Does she think that the “independent journalists” in Gaza are allowed to report anything Hamas doesn’t approve of? Never mind that none of them would have any ability to actually verify death counts. Is the idea that they are going through the rubble and tagging bodies themselves?
Conricus goes on to provide evidence that the Gaza Health Ministry puts out grossly inflated death tolls for propaganda reasons, citing the explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital, which was caused by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket falling short. He notes that while the claim was 500 dead, a number repeated by MSNBC without question, the actual total was far lower, perhaps only between 10 to 50 dead.
Again, the mainstream press is just broken. These people are so hopelessly biased and unable to distinguish their own political wants from reality that nothing they say can be trusted. Vossoughian’s performance here is indicative of a perverted dynamic in which Hamas can continually, provably lie and still be used as an authoritative source because it fits the anti-Israel narrative.
