Who destroyed the hospital in Gaza?
The world is in shock after a missile hit the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. Hundreds of people were reportedly killed in the blast. Hamas has blamed Israel, but the Israeli military has denied the accusation saying that the destruction wreaked by the explosion does not match its weapons and that intercepted communications and radar images indicate that the damage was caused by the misfiring of a rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad group. The press examines the uproar in the media.
Rushed reactions from the media and politicians
The war in the Middle East shows once again how social media are forcing rash judgments from the media and political establishment, the Kleine Zeitung laments:
“Nowadays hardly anyone wants to wait for facts. ... What is right or wrong is decided within seconds and minutes in the logic of social media, which is driven by algorithms. This not only puts the traditional media under pressure, which in the fog of war are even less inclined to pause and reflect or say 'we don't know yet'. Government offices, political parties and NGOs also feel compelled to make hasty judgments to avoid coming under suspicion of being on the wrong side.”
Narrow-minded and blinded by anger
Journalist Cristian Tudor Popescu is infuriated that so many people are more willing to believe Hamas than the Israeli military. He writes in republica.ro:
“The overwhelming evidence published by Israel showing that the rocket that caused the blast came from Gaza and was not launched from Israel is simply being ignored: the nature of the explosion, which was more like a fire, the conversation between two Hamas members about the rocket, which according to satellite images crashed shortly after it was fired, belonging to the Islamic Jihad group. Narrow-minded people filled with rage see and hear exactly what they want to see and hear.”