Israel Mocks Foreign Reporters With YouTube Cartoon

By Rachel X. Landes June 16, 2015

Israel’s Foreign Ministry took to YouTube to mock foreign journalists’ coverage of the Gaza conflict last summer — but not everyone sees the humor.

The Foreign Ministry released a 50 second animated clip that depicted an cartoon journalist with an American accent reporting from Gaza during last summer’s war.

“We’re here in the center of Gaza, and as you can see, the people here are trying to live quiet lives,” the character says. “There are no terrorists here, just ordinary people.”

A rocket launches behind him, seemingly contradicting the claim. The clip concludes with the message, “Open your eyes. Terror rules Gaza.”

In an official statement, the Foreign Press Association said it was “surprised and alarmed” by the segment, and called the videos “misleading and poorly conceived.” They reminded readers that 2,100 Palestinians and 72 Israelis had been killed in the bloody conflict.

Emmanuel Nahshon, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry told the New York Times that it was only, “an attempt to poke gentle fun at some journalists who choose not to see reality.”

Nahshon asserted the video was based on allegations that unnamed foreign correspondents ignored Hamas militants that launched rockets at Israel, and “released the footage only after the operation was over.”

A New York Times staff photographer, Tyler Hicks, explained in a blog post from last summer that there was a reason reporters did not cover Hamas fighters in their pictures and news coverage: “Hamas fighters are not able to expose themselves,” he wrote

So far, the video has had 23,200 views.

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