Guest post by Kristinn Taylor
Washington Post gives free advocacy advertising space to pro-Hamas group Code Pink.
The Washington Post has added a statement acknowledging the paper was in error for sending pro-Hamas reporter Britain Eakin to cover a pro-Hamas protest in Washington, D.C. on Sunday that began at the State Department and proceeded to the White House.
Newsbusters’ Tim Graham called out the Post for the egregious breach of journalistic standards in an article published Monday afternoon. Within a few hours the Post added a statement under the byline to the article.
“EDITOR’S NOTE: The Post covered a protest outside the State Department on July 20 against U.S. policy in the Middle East and Israel’s actions in Gaza. One reporter sent to cover the protest, Britain Eakin, is an intern who has written opinion pieces elsewhere that sharply criticize Israel in the conflict. The Post should not have sent her to cover the protest and, had it known of her writings, would not have done so.”
Newsbusters pointed out that Eakin had two articles attacking Israel published in the past week, one at Al Jazeera America: “Israel’s War of Disproportionate Force on Gaza”
The other at Counter Punch: “What’s Needed for Real Peace in Gaza”
The Al Jazeera America article was published Sunday the same day as the pro-Hamas rally so the Post may not have been aware of it before sending Eakin out to cover the pro-Hamas rally. However the Counter Punch article was published July 17. One wonders what guidance the Post gives its news interns if they feel free to publish pro-Hamas screeds while reporting for the Post.
In addition to the opinion pieces, Newsbusters reports Eakin appealed on Twitter to President Obama for him to take sides with her against Israel, “Mr. Obama, spend one night with us in Shifa (Gaza) hospital, it would change history.”
Newsbusters characterizes Eakin as “anti-Israel.” In actuality Eakin is pro-Hamas, as her Counter Punch article reveals:
“For the third time in less than six years, Israeli airstrikes are pounding Gaza. That means six-year-old Palestinian children have lived through 3 major Israeli military assaults in their short lives. Every few years now, the same nightmare replays, along with the familiar news chorus of Israeli propaganda: Hamas is to blame for all of it, including civilian Palestinian deaths, because it hides behind civilians who support the organization.”
…“Although Israel would like us to believe it’s done everything to avoid the current bloodshed and offered Hamas calm in exchange for calm, it’s critical to call this what it is— a blatant lie. Israel and Hamas entered into a cease-fire in November 2012 following Israel’s last assault on Gaza. The agreement stipulated that all hostilities between Palestinians and Israelis would end, and that Israel would ease the blockade and facilitate the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza.
“Yet Israel committed more than 200 violations of the agreement, according to statistics gathered by the Palestine Center. It never took meaningful steps to end the siege, even when Hamas stopped the rocket fire. This is the context the Palestinian rockets emerge from—they are an attempt to extract concessions from Israel given the inability of the international community or the peace process to do so.”
Yes, Eakin says that the poor Hamas terrorists are reduced to indiscriminate rocketing of Israeli civilians because they can’t catch a break from the international community. And this is who the Post sends out to cover an anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protest in our nation’s capital.
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