(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



‘Allow Me To Answer Your Question!’ Mehdi Hasan Throws Down With Israeli Official Over ‘Endless Disinformation From Your Government’ [1]

['Mike Is A Mediaite Senior Editor Who Covers The News In Primetime.']

Date: 2023-11-17 03:06:16+00:00

MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan interviewed Israeli official Mark Regev, who has been a fixture on U.S. cable news since Hamas carried out the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.

Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and abducted 200. Since then, Israel has carried out a massive bombing campaign and ground incursions in Gaza, which Hamas governs. The Ministry of Health claims at least 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, but the Israeli government disputes the figure.

Regev, who is an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was treated to what was almost certainly his toughest interview in the U.S. media, where on Peacock’s Mehdi Hasan Show, he defended Israel’s military campaign in Gaza:

REGEV: We don’t have to live in fear of terrorists crossing the border and killing our people and butchering our children in the middle of the night. But it’s ultimately also good, and I hope you agree with me, it’ll be good for the people of Gaza who deserve better than this terrible authoritarian, extreme Hamas regime. HASAN: The people of Gaza who are still alive. As I say, more than 11,000 people dead, reported dead, 4000 children. I want to put up some of the numbers, Hamas’s numbers, as you say, Hamas’s numbers, I should point out, just put up on the screen, in the last two major Gaza conflicts, 2009 and 2014, the Israeli military’s death tolls matched Hamas’s health ministry death toll. So, and the U.N., human rights groups all agree that those numbers are credible. But look, your wider point is true. REGEV: Will you allow me to challenge that, please? Can I just challenge that challenge that? HASAN: Briefly. REGEV: I’ll try to be as brief as you are, Sir. Those numbers are provided by Hamas. There’s no independent verification. And secondly, more importantly, you have no idea how many of them are Hamas terrorists, combatants, and how many are civilians. Hamas would have you believe that they’re all civilians, that they’re all children. And here we have to say something that isn’t said enough. Hamas, until now, we’re destroying their military machine, and with that, we’re eroding their control. But up until now, they’ve been in control of the Gaza Strip. And as a result, they control all the images coming out of Gaza. Have you seen one picture of a single dead Hamas terrorist in the fighting in Gaza? Not one. Is that by accident or is that because Hamas can control– Hamas can control the information? HASAN: You asked me a question and you said you would be brief. I haven’t. You’re right. But I have seen lots of children with my own lying eyes being pulled from the rubble. REGEV: Because in the pictures, Hamas wants you to see! Exactly my point! HASAN: They’re dead, Mark. But they’re also your government has killed. You accept that, right? You’ve killed children? Or do you dent that? REGEV: No, I do not. I do not. I do not. First of all, you don’t know how those people died, those children. [CROSSTALK] HASAN: I agree with you. We shouldn’t blindly believe anything Hamas says.

Hasan then pointed to dubious footage Israeli government officials amplified to support their claim that Hamas was running a military command center underneath Gaza’s largest hospital. He also noted one official spread a conspiracy theory claiming that Palestinians are faking their deaths. The host asked Regev about “endless disinformation from your government.”

HASAN: But why should we believe what your government says either? Your military spokesman on Monday pointed to an Arabic document in the basement of a Gaza hospital and claimed it was a guardian list on which every terrorist writes his name. But that was false. It was just a calendar with the days of the week on it. Your colleague in the Prime Minister’s office, Ofir Gendelman, posted behind-the scenes-footage from a Lebanese short film and claimed it was Palestinians in Gaza faking their own injuries. That tweet is still up a week later. That is endless disinformation from your government, is it not? REGEV: I disagree and I think on the important issues– look, I’ll give you an example, Mehdi. HASAN: No, no, no. You have to answer the question. REGEV: Allow me to answer your question! I’m answering your question directly, if you’ll allow me. We originally said in the atrocious Hamas attack on our people on October 7th, we had the number of 1,400 casualties, and now we’ve revised that down to 1,200 because we understood that we had overestimated we made a mistake. There were actually bodies that were so badly burned, we thought they were ours. In the end, apparently they were Hamas terrorists. HASAN: Understood. REGEV: When we make a mistake, we admit it. HASAN: Short on time. REGEV: Why does that give you permission to accept Hamas’ numbers? HASAN: I didn’t ask about Hamas’ numbers. I said to you that your military– REGEV: You were quoting to me – before – Hamas numbers, Mehdi! HASAN: Because the entire U.N. and the human rights community and the American intelligence community on Friday said they trust those numbers. But you’re dodging my question, Mark. REGEV: I’m not sure that’s true. HASAN: Why did your military spokesman on Monday, point to a calendar in Arabic and say these are the names of terrorists on them? That’s false. Can you accept that here and now. REGEV: I am not aware of the– HASAN: Let’s put up the image. We have the image. REGEV: I don’t read Arabic. It doesn’t help me. I have no idea. I am not familiar with the incident. [CROSSTALK] REGEV: Hang on. I have a question, Mehdi. You’re a journalist. Have you made a professional mistake ever? Not intentionally, but have you made a professional mistake? HASAN: Exactly. And I own up to it. [CROSSTALK] REGEV: So, I’ve made mistakes. You’ve made mistakes. But there’s a difference between making an honest mistake and between Hamas, that deliberately exaggerates numbers to suit its propaganda purposes. There’s a huge difference. HASAN: So, hold on. You said propaganda. Can we just deal with your colleague Ofir Gendelman’s tweet? It’s still up seven days later. Why has it not come down? It’s a Lebanese short film. We can put it on screen. It’s not Palestinians faking their own injuries. Can we own up to that mistake and take that down? Is that not propaganda? REGEV: Once again, I understand that that was also a mistake. HASAN: So why is it still up a week later. REGEV: If you like, I’ll speak to Ofir about it, if you like. He’s a friend of mine and a colleague. I quite like him. He’s a good man.

Watch above via MSNBC’s Peacock Network.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/allow-me-to-answer-your-question-mehdi-hasan-throws-down-with-israeli-official-over-endless-disinformation-from-your-government/

Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.