By: Clay Waters
One way to demonstrate the slant in PBS’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war is to compare and contrast how their interviewers treat representatives of the respective sides. On Monday’s edition of the PBS NewsHour, reporter Leila Molana-Allen conducted a friendly interview with Mohammad Shtayyeh, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, which represents the West Bank, and who has failed to condemn the Hamas atrocities.
Host Geoff Bennett: ….Since it was evicted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, the P.A. has governed the parts of the West Bank that it controls. Leila Molana-Allen sat down with the Palestinian Authority prime minister for a rare interview, and asked him about the state of the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.
Note Bennett has already placed the onus on Israel, not on the instigators of the war, Hamas.
After opening with Shtayyeh ranting that Israel’s war was “against children, women, university professors, priests, chefs” and not Hamas, Leila Molana-Allen opened with a tough question.
Molana-Allen: The Hamas leadership is sitting there saying there will be a second and a third and a fourth October 7. How could Israel possibly step back and say, ‘OK, we're going to lighten off on the invasion?’
But the rest of her questions to Shtayyeh were non-challenging. A small sample:
Molana-Allen: We have seen in the last few weeks since this war began a huge escalation in violence in the West Bank. We're seeing daily raids into Palestinian towns, cities, camps by the Israeli Defense Forces, lots of young people dying, also a lot of violence with settlement communities as well.
(…)
Molana-Allen: There's always a call for something. There's always a call for something to change, for an end to the occupation, for a future for a Palestinian state. The calls don't go anywhere. Whenever there's a U.N. resolution, people don't pay attention to them anymore. What practically do you want from your Arab partners, from your other partners, to make something happen?
Shtayyeh: You are right. Palestinians are really fed up with the statements, and Palestinians are fed up with United Nations resolutions….
She offered her hand at the end of the interview, and the two shook hands.
Now the contrast.
On Tuesday, PBS reporter Nick Schifrin talked remotely from the studio with Mark Regev, senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel is waging a counterattack to decimate Hamas and to rescue Israeli civilian hostages, including children, taken on October 7. Yet Schifrin’s tone toward Regev was much more challenging than was Molana-Allen’s talk with the Palestinian Authority leader.
Schifrin: ….are you willing to consider what the president is requesting, a more significant pause in order to release hostages?
After Regev pointed out that children were among the hostages held by Hamas, Schifrin wanted Israel to give a little in Hamas's direction. "You have said, that the military operation, you hope, pressures them to release hostages. Are you also providing any carrots to Hamas to convince them to release hostages?" he wanted to know.
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2023/11/10/pbs-puts-onus-israeli-victims-wants-carrots-hamas-free-hostages