In “The ICC is not the venue to hold Israel to account” (11/25/24), it seems that The Washington Post, in its lead editorial, is finally recognizing that global bodies unfairly single out Israel for opprobrium.  But the Post can’t quite pull the trigger.

In the editorial, the Post properly notes that “Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons and waged a war of ethnic cleansing,” killing over 500,000.  Myanmar dictator Hlaing has waged a brutal war and conducted ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya minority, affecting hundreds of thousands.  In Sudan, “a new potential genocide threatens the Darfur region.”  In the last 20 years, millions have been killed.  With that, even the Post thinks it’s ridiculous that the ICC chose to target Israel by planning to arrest Israeli prime minister Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant.  

But the Post can’t get through an editorial or article without bashing Israel.  One would think, with skyrocketing attacks against Israelis and Jews worldwide, the Post would show a little perspective when criticizing Jews, because words have power and are used as ammunition by Jew-haters.  But the Post opposes Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza, and much of the editorial is imbued with that bias.  The commentary even includes falsehoods — sloppy errors for a once great newspaper.  

For example, the editorial distorts and outright lies in this description: “to be sure, far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed and maimed in Israel’s 13-month-long war against Hamas: 44,000 have died, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.”  According to the relevant metrics, Israel has prosecuted the most humane urban war in history.  Its civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio breaks records for civilian protection in wartime.  It is always a tragedy when civilians die in war, but there has yet to be a war where civilians haven’t died — that is sadly par for the course.  Israel has shown unprecedented care for civilians — despite the fact that civilians participated in the massacre of Jews on Oct. 7 — by sending texts, dropping flyers, and pinging houses to help civilians avoid upcoming attacks.  The warnings signal Hamas as well, allowing them to escape.  Israel has provided humanitarian escape corridors and provided civilians with hundreds of thousands of tons of food.

Of course, supporters of Palestinians have been howling about famine in Gaza for over a year.  There have been no credible reports of starvation, but The Washington Post parrots the claims anyway.  Food deliveries have been stolen by Hamas and sold at exorbitant fees to Gazans.  To the extent those crimes have caused a food shortage, the Post should gripe about Hamas, not Israel.  

Most importantly, Washington Post editors, it’s not “Israel’s 13-month-long war against Hamas.”  It’s Hamas’s war against Israel.  Hamas started it and could have ended it at any time by laying down their arms and returning the hostages.  How can the Post objectively call the aggressor the victim?  If they can’t get this basic fact correct, they have no business writing about the Middle East at all.  

The Post proceeds to state that “The Israeli military says it has killed 17,000 militants; though its basis for that is unclear.”  It is telling that the Post never questions the accuracy of casualty figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry by saying “the basis for that is unclear.”  Does it matter at all to the Post, in its assessment of accuracy, that Israel is an accountable democracy, whereas Hamas is a terrorist organization with a history of spreading disinformation?  On numerous occasions, the Gaza Health Ministry has announced a death count immediately after an explosion, which is clearly not believable to anyone but mainstream media sources like the Post.  For example, after an explosion hit the courtyard of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, the Gaza Health Ministry “knew” within minutes “that 471 people were killed and 342 injured,” according to Human Rights Watch.  According to media watchdog group CAMERA, “AFP cited a senior European intelligence official who estimated the death toll as only 10-50 people.”  Moreover, the reports out of Gaza erroneously called the incident an Israeli bombing when it was really an errant missile from Islamic Jihad.  The information coming out of Gaza has been false time and again, but the Post still gives deference to the terrorist regime rather than Israel.  

Lastly, the title itself — on the surface — appears to defend Israel but, in reality, manipulates the thought.  The Post wrote, “The ICC is not the venue to hold Israel to account.”  The ICC is certainly an invalid venue to litigate the war.  But why does the Post assume that Israel must be held to account?  The editorial should highlight the virtues and skills of the Israeli Defense Forces, which protect even civilians exploited by Hamas as human shields.  Not in any urban war has a civilian population been so well protected by enemy forces.  

Israel should be lauded in this editorial — but that won’t occur as long as The Washington Post clings to its apparent grudge against the Jewish state.  A grudge at best — the oldest hatred at worst.

Dr. Michael Berenhaus is a freelance activist who works to combat anti-Israel bias in the media.  He has been widely published in news sources such as The Economist, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Image: Daniel X. O'Neil via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.