United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the UN headquarters in New York City, US, before a meeting about the conflict in Gaza, Nov. 6, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

On December 12, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) demanded an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Its resolution has been widely covered in the news.

But mainstream media outlets didn’t report that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, on a televised broadcast the next day, thanked the UN Secretary-General and welcomed the UN General Assembly’s move.

By omitting that fact, as well as other connections between the UN and anti-Israel forces, media outlets have misrepresented reality and framed it in a way that effectively undermines Israel’s position.

A survey of last week’s coverage by major media outlets reveals that the narrative had already been set on December 12, the day of the UN vote. It included reporting on the “overwhelming” ceasefire vote of the General Assembly, and comments from Israeli, US, and Palestinian diplomats.

These reports were not updated to include Haniyeh’s comments on December 13, in which he praised the ceasefire efforts of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and welcomed the UNGA resolution. Almost no one wrote individual stories about this. Instead, some media outlets included a short reference to Haniyeh in their ongoing war stories, claiming that any solution in Gaza without Hamas was a “delusion.”

Here is what Haniyeh said:

We also express our appreciation for the positions of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, especially his message to the Security Council concerning the situation in the Palestinian territories, regarding it as a threat to international peace and security, in implementation of Article 99 of the United Nations Charter.

Accordingly, a draft ceasefire resolution was presented, but like its predecessors, it met an American veto. We also welcome the resolution issued by the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, which stipulates a ceasefire by an overwhelming majority. We are certain that the brutal aggression will end and the resistance will remain a faithful guardian of the rights and legitimate aspirations of our people.

And here’s what some media outlets actually chose to mention:

I say that any bet concerning arrangements in Gaza or in the Palestinian issue in general without Hamas and the resistance factions are nothing but illusion and mirage. Illusion and mirage. Illusion and mirage.

Reuters, AP, and AFP Reframe Reality

For example, the world’s major wire services all ignored Haniyeh’s praise for the UN and its Secretary-General.

Reuters’ article on the ceasefire resolution, which preceded Haniyeh’s statement, has not been updated to include his later comments. It still quotes the Palestinian Authority’s UN envoy as a representative of the Palestinian side:

Palestinian Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour, citing large pro-Palestinian protests around the world, said the U.S. could not continue “to ignore this massive power.” He described the General Assembly vote as a culmination of public sentiment.

Another relevant Reuters story did add a comment from a Hamas official, but it wasn’t updated later to include the statement of the terror group’s leader.

Only a day after Haniyeh spoke, in the middle of an ongoing news story about the war, did Reuters include one line referring to what Haniyeh had said regarding Hamas:

In a televised address, Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh said any future arrangement in Gaza without Hamas was a “delusion.”

Did the Reuters crew in charge of monitoring such statements choose to highlight only this part? Did an editor bother to demand a translation of the whole statement to make sure nothing was missed? Either way, important facts were left out.

What makes this omission and minimization even more disturbing is that last month Reuters published an entire piece featuring Haniyeh as an important figure:

The AP went down a similar route. Its story on the UN vote has not been updated to include Haniyeh’s comments. It still quotes only the Palestinian Authority representative as a Palestinian voice. A later, ongoing news story that was used by ABC News, includes a short reference to what Haniyeh said about a future without Hamas as an “illusion”:

Late Wednesday, Hamas’ supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said any plans for Gaza that do not involve Hamas are an “illusion and mirage,” though he said the group is open to halting the fighting. Speaking to Al-Masira TV, a channel linked to Yemen’s Houthi militant group, he claimed Hamas had dealt a “resounding blow” to Israel. Haniyeh lives in exile in Qatar, but it was not clear where he was when he made those comments.

The AFP at least published a separate story on Haniyeh’s statement, but included the same quote about Hamas with no mention of the terror group leader’s warm words for the UN and its Secretary-General.

Unfortunately, none of the major news agencies (although there was a fuller report on the Chinese Xinhua) gave its consumers the full picture they deserved.

And it seems that other media outlets, whether they rely on the wire services (like hundreds of news outlets) or not, didn’t make an independent effort to report on Haniyeh’s public comments, as is clear from the lack of coverage in The New York Times, Washington Post or BBC, to name a few.

The wire services distorted the picture, and this skewed narrative was picked up by other media outlets: They erased the fact that a brutal terror group celebrated the UN ceasefire resolution.

Could it be that media outlets didn’t realize how important it was to report that the leader of a barbaric group that massacred and kidnapped innocent Jews on October 7, was happy with the United Nations? Isn’t it worth noting how embarrassing it is for the UN to be flattered by genocidal terrorists who couldn’t care less about international law? Or did it not “fit” the narrative?

At the very least, it seems that these outlets didn’t serve their audience or fulfill their mission of accurately representing reality.