[guest post by Dana]

I know it’s foolish, and I know that we are way beyond such naïveté, but it would be much healthier for the country if members of Congress waited for evidence before repeating unproven claims as if ironclad and indisputable. Of course I am referring to this report, Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says 500 killed in Israeli airstrike on hospital. Despite the assertion resting solely on the Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry, that didn’t stop some members of Congress from, unsurprisingly, repeating it as of it were the God-honest truth:

Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that. @POTUS this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help de-escalate.

Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many… https://t.co/mZYoifT7bj

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) October 17, 2023

Bombing a hospital is among the gravest of war crimes. The IDF reportedly blowing up one of the few places the injured and wounded can seek medical treatment and shelter during a war is horrific.@POTUS needs to push for an immediate ceasefire to end this slaughter. https://t.co/dPJ48dyDe8

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 17, 2023

File under: Exactly what we expect.

Meanwhile, Israel says not so fast:

Israeli President Isaac Herzog decried the deadly blast in Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City that he said was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket and criticized the media’s reporting on the tragedy.

“An Islamic Jihad missile has killed many Palestinians at a Gazan hospital, a place where lives should be saved,” Herzog said on social media.

The explosion was caused by a “failed rocket launch” from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, according to The Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Herzog denied accusations from Gaza officials blaming the IDF for the blast, which likely killed hundreds.

“Shame on the media who swallow the lies of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, broadcasting a 21st century blood libel around the globe,” Herzog said. “Shame on the vile terrorists in Gaza who willfully spill the blood of the innocent.”

“Never before has the choice been clearer. Israel is standing against an enemy made of pure evil. If you stand for humanity — for the value of all human life — you stand with Israel,” Herzog said.

Peas in a pod: The people taking the word of the Gaza ministry of health that Israel bombed the hospital are the same ones who demanded evidence that Israeli babies were killed and beheaded, otherwise it never happened.

UPDATE ADDED: This morning we are learning that Israel was not responsible for the bomb at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza:

A spokeswoman for the National Security Council reaffirmed President Biden’s comments from early Wednesday that the U.S. government does not assess that Israel is responsible for Tuesday’s deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza City.

“While we continue to collect information, our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open-source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday,” said the spokeswoman, Adrienne Watson.

Hamas immediately blamed Israelis for the blast, while Israel’s military said that part of a “barrage of rockets” fired by the Islamic Jihad militant group erroneously hit the area.
After arriving in Israel on Wednesday, Biden said he’d seen material that suggested the strike was “done by the other team, not you.”

This is a clip of President Biden in Israel:

US President Joe Biden suggests Israel was not responsible for a deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza, telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "it appears as though it was done by the other team" https://t.co/iW8YgGfaCr pic.twitter.com/iomMKLTg2P

— Bloomberg (@business) October 18, 2023

Anyway, it’s unsurprising that Israel was immediately and falsely accused of being responsible for the hospital bombing. It’s even more unsurprising that certain members of Congress, Big Media, and any number of institutions of higher learning immediately blamed Israel. It’s the go-to move for anti-Semites and/or those who view Jews as responsible for the ills of the world. It’s become easier to understand the sheer hate motivating the collective persecution of a people 80+ years ago, and continues to motivate today.

Exit question: What are the odds that Tlaib and Omar, media, and universities across the nation issue public apologies for their misplaced accusations? Meh, that would require a backbone and integrity. It’s easier to delete tweets, pretend they never blamed Israel, and stay their particular course of blame and denial…

Biden in Israel: "Hamas committed atrocities that recall the worst ravages of ISIS, unleashing pure, unadulterated evil upon the world. There's no rationalizing it, no excusing it. Period… it has brought to the surface painful memories & scars left by millennia of antisemitism" pic.twitter.com/mk5eX8LSKj

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 18, 2023

UPDATE 2: This happened today:

I just asked @RashidaTlaib multiple times why she hasn’t deleted this tweet—and whether she has seen evidence that refutes it.

Rep. Tlaib refused to say anything as she rushed from the House floor to a car waiting to pick her up outside the Capitol building. https://t.co/HxvvgqKZyS

— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) October 18, 2023

Running away seems her best option at this point. Anything but admit she is wrong in her assertion that Israel bombed the hospital. She subsequently mislead thousands of her social media followers with her false claim. And she further put Jewish men, women, and children at risk with accusations.

—Dana