How Newsweek Exploited Pope Francis’ Death to Launder Hamas & Hezbollah’s Crimes Against Christians
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by Rachel O'Donoghue
Pope Francis listens to a member of the Jewish community during his visit at Rome’s Great Synagogue, Italy January 17, 2016. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
As Catholics worldwide mourned the passing of Pope Francis last week, the mainstream media generally followed suit with respectful obituaries and reflections on the pontiff’s legacy. But, as ever, there had to be an exception — and this time, Newsweek eagerly stepped into the role.
Instead of focusing on the global significance of the pope’s passing or the tributes from international leaders, Newsweek’s Middle East correspondent, Amira El-Fekki, took the novel approach of spotlighting reactions from Hamas and Hezbollah — two terrorist groups notorious for violently persecuting Christians across Gaza and Lebanon.
In an April 21 piece headlined, “Hamas Reacts to the Death of Pope Francis,” El-Fekki detailed the “mourning” expressed by the Palestinian Islamist group, emphasizing Hamas’ gratitude for the pope’s past condemnations of humanitarian suffering in Gaza.
According to El-Fekki, Hamas’ condolences mattered greatly because Pope Francis had been “a prominent voice calling for peace and human dignity,” respected by “many Palestinians,” despite most Palestinians being Muslims.
Remarkably, Newsweek’s report avoided inconvenient truths, such as Hamas’ well-documented abuses against Palestinian Christians.
One might expect journalistic integrity to compel at least a brief acknowledgment of Hamas’ treatment of Gaza’s Christian minority. Instead, readers were presented with an image of Hamas as an inclusive, tolerant entity, rather than a jihadist organization responsible for terror attacks and atrocities.
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For those unfamiliar with Hamas’ actual relationship with Gaza’s Christian community, consider the reports from independent human rights groups that detail horrific abuses: vandalizing and bombing Christian schools, homes, and institutions, as well as murdering members of the community.
A Canadian NGO even documented Hamas “repeatedly desecrating Christian graves and exhuming bodies to ‘decontaminate’ Palestinian land of Christian corpses they deemed unworthy.”
Yet, astonishingly, Newsweek wasn’t done. Two days later, on April 23, El-Fekki doubled down with another article, this time highlighting the “backlash” Hamas and Hezbollah received for their condolences. In an almost Orwellian inversion, she portrayed these terrorist organizations as moderate voices being targeted by “hardliners.”
El-Fekki wrote, with no apparent sense of irony: “Expressions of regret after the death of Pope Francis from Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Islamist groups have drawn an online backlash from those who take an even harder line.” Thus, Newsweek subtly framed these violent groups as relatively reasonable compared to other, more extreme groups.
The absurdity peaked as El-Fekki quoted critics labeling Hezbollah the “Party of Satan” for mourning the pope, seemingly unaware of the irony of depicting terrorist groups committed to destroying Israel as somehow less than “hardline.”
Perhaps none of this should surprise us, given El-Fekki’s record. A quick scan of the Dubai-based correspondent’s social media reveals repeated allegations against Israel of “genocide” and “massacres” — hardly the profile of an impartial journalist covering complex Middle Eastern dynamics.
In Newsweek’s world, it seems, terrorists mourning a pope is headline-worthy — but their brutal persecution of Christians? Apparently, that’s just too “hardline” to mention.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
