Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) called out ABC News during a live interview on the network Sunday for citing Hamas data as truth.
On ABC News’ “This Week,” host Jonathan Karl told Lawler the Biden administration is growing increasingly frustrated with Israel “in terms of protecting civilians in Gaza and humanitarian pauses” before asking the Republican lawmaker, who just visited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, if the Israeli leader still feels supported by the U.S.
Lawler answered affirmatively, and then he addressed the elephant in the room.
As Lawler was speaking, ABC News producers placed a chyron at the bottom of the screen disseminating Hamas propaganda about casualties in Gaza. The chyron read, “Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry: 11,000+ killed, 27,400+ injured.”
“The bottom line here is, yes, we need to provide humanitarian relief and we want to avoid civilian casualties,” Lawler said. “But this 11,000 civilian number that keeps getting repeated by the press is factually wrong. Within that number, thousands of Hamas terrorists have been killed. And, obviously, Hamas is using these civilians as human shields.
“So the oppressor here — the people that are responsible for the deaths in Gaza — is Hamas,” Lawler clarified.
Moskowitz and Lawler Join ABC’s This Week from Tel Aviv to Discuss Ongoing Israel-Hamas Warwww.youtube.com
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, meanwhile, confirmed once again that the U.S. government does not believe Hamas’ claims regarding civilian casualties.
“We don’t have fidelity on the numbers of casualties, fatalities in Gaza. We don’t know how many are fighters and how many are innocent civilians,” he said on Sunday.
Aside from the fact that Hamas does not distinguish between civilian deaths and those of their terrorist fighters — thus inflating the casualty figures the media continue to cite — there is absolutely no way for independent organizations or outside governments to confirm Hamas’ figures.
Adding doubt to their validity is the fact that Hamas’ numbers are never revised; they only increase. On the other hand, Israel’s estimate of deaths from Oct. 7 was revised last week to remove Hamas terrorists initially counted among the Israeli dead. That figure is still subject to change because not every deceased person has been — or can be — identified.
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