CNN Platforms Biased Journalists in Coverage of Iran, Gaza

CNN recently published articles by two journalists who are better described as anti-Israel mouthpieces.

Tamara Qiblawi, a Senior Investigations Writer, and Khader Al Za’anoun, a Gaza-based journalist, are both platformed despite CNN being aware of the former’s anti-Israel social media posts and the latter’s position as a staffer for Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.

Qiblawi’s anti-Israel comments on social media were previously exposed by HonestReporting last year, when she was Senior Digital Middle East Producer at CNN.

Some of her now-removed posts labeled Israel as an “ethno-religious exclusive state” and supported a “resistance axis,” the term used to refer to Iranian-backed terrorist organizations that seek Israel’s destruction.

Yet none of this seemed to bother CNN last week, as Qiblawi published a genius-in-hindsight analysis describing Iran’s unprecedented attack on the Jewish state as a mere “fireworks display.”

No, @CNN, Iran’s attack was intended to maximize Israeli deaths, not “to minimize casualties,” as claimed by Tamara Qiblawi, who has gotten in trouble for sharing offensive, anti-Israel and pro-terror comments on social media:https://t.co/Coz37lk9FUhttps://t.co/YeA73SFTXW

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 14, 2024

What would have Qiblawi written had the more than 300 Iranian aerial weapons fired at Israel caused more damage? No one, not even military experts, could have predicted the scale of the attack nor the success of the defense.

But Qiblawi, who is not an intelligence expert and does not even try to quote one in her tilted report, made claims like:

Tehran’s operation was highly choreographed, apparently designed to minimize casualties while maximizing spectacle.

Yet it was an operation that seemed designed to fail — when Iran launched its killer drones from its own territory some 1,000 miles away, it was giving Israel hours of advance notice.

The lead time meant that Israel and its regional partners could ready Israel’s defenses, and the operation amounted to little more than a terrifying fireworks display.

Qiblawi’s need to make the world’s most antisemitic regime look like it cares about Jewish lives can only be explained by her underlying anti-Israel bias.

And CNN owes its audience an explanation as to why she is still allowed to cover the region.

No Hidden Agenda

But the network’s standards seem to have deteriorated to the point where it doesn’t even hide its journalists’ agendas.

On April 1, the network proudly described one of its Gaza reporters, Khader Al Za’anoun, as a staffer with the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

CNN didn’t tell its audience that the Palestinian agency’s stated mission is: “Telling the Palestinian narrative with speed, accuracy and efficiency.”

Unfortunately, while Wafa may be fast and efficient, accuracy is not its strong point, with a reputation for embellishing stories to paint the worst possible picture of Israel.

Al Za’anoun was indeed quick and efficient in providing CNN with false details blaming Israel for the killing of dozens of Gazans waiting for aid last February amid the Israel-Hamas war.

In fact, he was so efficient that he even quoted himself in the story carrying his byline.

And CNN didn’t have any qualms referring to him in its coverage of the story as both eyewitness and contributor, who just happens to also be “a journalist with Wafa:”

Didn’t CNN editors think something might be fishy with Al Zanoun’s journalistic ethics?

And didn’t someone at the network think it was a bad idea to let Qiblawi write about the Jewish state’s arch-foe after she shared offensive, anti-Israel comments on social media?

CNN must not let its supposedly respectable platform be so shamelessly exploited.

HonestReporting is a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.