CNN has been criticized for its use of language in its reporting on the rescue of four hostages held by Hamas since October, in a raid in Gaza on Saturday.
During an interview about the hostage rescue operation, a headline appeared on the screen stating that the hostages had been “released” rather than having been “rescued.”
On air, news anchor Victor Blackwell was interviewing Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group, although neither man used the word “liberation” in their conversation.
Critics quickly pounced on the news network, claiming that they had completely misunderstood the angle of the story, at least on screen.
Their point is that Hamas had not voluntarily “released” the hostages and that the Israel Defense Forces had actually rescued them.
IDF officers were able to secure the four hostages in what military chiefs called a “complex daytime operation.”
CNN has been criticized for its use of language in its reporting on the rescue of four hostages held by Hamas since October, in a raid in Gaza on Saturday. CNN said they were ‘released’
IDF officers were able to secure the four hostages in what military chiefs called a “complex daytime operation.”
Critics quickly pounced on the news network, claiming that they had completely misunderstood the angle of the story, at least on screen.
‘Come on @CNN, the four hostages were RESCUED, not freed. Do better,” the StopAntisemitism account tweeted.
Another critic, Yaari Cohen, an Israeli student, called the chyron “disgusting” and added that the network “should be ashamed.”
‘Hamas did not ‘free’ these hostages, the IDF rescued them after Hamas held them for 8 months!!’ Cohen wrote in X.
“Yes, they were released after the IDF killed some 24 Hamas terrorists guarding the hostages,” Chief Woodman wrote.
‘What is this CNN? The hostages were rescued, but not released. This is an important distinction,” argued another user.
‘CNN is fake news. The terrorists did not “free” the hostages, but rather they were rescued. Can they never tell the truth? agreed an X poster.
‘CNN is very happy that Israeli commanders have freed the hostages from the terrorists who were holding them. I was wondering why no one trusts the media anymore; it’s a mystery.
Israel named the rescued hostages as Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41.
They were taken to the hospital for medical checks and were in good health, the military said.
Later on Saturday night, a video showed Meir Jan celebrating with his friends after his rescue on Saturday.
There were scenes of euphoria when he met them for the first time in more than eight months.
Noa Argamani, then 25, was seen being kidnapped on the back of a motorcycle during last October’s horrific terrorist attacks.
Noa smiles while having a drink of Coca-Cola with her father Yakov after meeting again on Saturday
Among the rescued hostages is Andrey Kozlov (pictured), 27, a Russian who moved to Israel in 2022. He was working as a security guard at the Nova festival when he was kidnapped.
Rescued hostage Almog Meir Jan reacts after escaping alive from the central Gaza Strip after being rescued by soldiers in the mission on Saturday.
‘He is one of us and we will not abandon him!’ the group sang as they danced in a circle around him while smothering him with hugs and kisses.
The four hostages rescued on Saturday were kidnapped at the Nova music festival during the deadly raid by Hamas-led Palestinian militants on Israeli cities and towns near Gaza on October 7, which precipitated the devastating war.
The hostage rescue operation and an intense air assault that accompanied it took place in al-Nuseirat in central Gaza, a densely urbanized and often besieged area in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian territory’s ruling Islamist group.
The mission left one officer Arnon Zmora (pictured) dead after the rescue operation.
An Israeli military spokesman said the operation took place in the heart of a residential neighborhood of Nuseirat where Hamas had held hostages in two separate apartment blocks.
Israeli forces came under heavy fire during the assault and responded by firing “from the air and from the street,” said spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
‘We know of less than 100 (Palestinian) victims. “I don’t know how many of them are terrorists,” he said at a briefing with reporters. An Israeli special forces commander was killed during the operation, according to a police statement.
Gaza paramedics and residents said the attack killed dozens of people and left mangled bodies of men, women and children scattered around a market and a mosque.
The mission also left one officer, 36-year-old father-of-two Arnon Zmora, “mortally wounded” during the firefight with Hamas terrorists.
Israel News 12 broadcast images of Argamani reunited with her father, smiling and hugging him. Video of Argamani’s kidnapping, where she is shown shouting ‘Don’t kill me!’ While she was being driven to Gaza on a motorcycle, she had been riding shortly after she was kidnapped on October 7.
Images released by the president’s office show a smiling Argamani speaking on the phone with Israeli President Isaac Herzog from the hospital surrounded by family and friends.
People wave Israeli flags as they celebrate after hostages who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on October 7 were rescued from the Gaza Strip.
President Joe Biden spoke to reporters Saturday in Paris. But instead of a news conference, officials said the event was a “press release” with no questions asked.
“Thank you for everything, thank you for this moment,” he said.
“I’m so excited to hear your voice it brings tears to my eyes…Welcome home,” Herzog said.
US President Joe Biden celebrated the return of the four Israeli hostages rescued in Gaza.
“We will not stop working until all the hostages return home and a ceasefire is reached,” Biden said at a news conference in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.