New Times reporting didn’t tell the whole story about the conflict between Israel and Hamas 

New Times' Oct. 26 article "Roar of resistance," reads like a piece of Hamas propaganda. It is full of misrepresentation, but I will comment on just one instance. Referring to the horrific Hamas attack on 600 young people at a concert and several collective farming communities (Kibbutzim) near the Gaza border, the article states "On Oct. 7, the political and military organization Hamas, which has been governing the Gaza Strip since 2007, launched a surprise offensive of 5,000 rockets on Israel killing at least 1,400 people." The article is blatantly hiding the fact that the tactics of the "surprise offensive" consisted of much more than rockets alone.

Did rockets gun down at least 260 people at the Supernova music festival "after fighters arrived in trucks and on motorcycles, wearing body armor and brandishing AK-47 assault rifles," as reported by Al-Jazeera News Service on Oct. 12? Did rockets kidnap and take hostage over 220 men, women and children, including at least 12 Americans, and hold them hostage in tunnels beneath Gaza, as widely reported, including by Reuters on Oct. 25? Did rockets massacre unsuspecting civilians in collective farming communities, including Holit, Re'im Be'eri, Nir Oz, and Kafar Aza, where, as reported by CNN on Oct. 13 quoting an eyewitness to the aftermath, "women, children, toddlers, and elderly were brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action"?

No, these heinous, carefully planned acts were committed by Hamas men in the personal presence of their victims, cowering before them. Hamas is a well-organized, well-trained, and internationally funded terrorist organization with the goal of eradicating Israel "from the (Jordan) River to the sea," a common call to arms for pro-Hamas activists. Secretary Anthony Blinken was quoted by CNN on Oct. 12 saying, "Hamas has only one agenda, to destroy Israel and to murder Jews."

Regarding the events of Oct. 7, Genocide Watch stated on its website, "Hamas targeted Israelis simply because they were Israelis. It was the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have expressed their genocidal intent to destroy the nation of Israel. The massacres by Hamas constituted acts of genocide. The attacks were also crimes against humanity and war crimes."

As the war between Hamas and Israel intensifies and possibly spreads, each side vowing to ruthlessly conquer the other, I, like so many others, am deeply concerned about the loss of life and destruction of communities in Gaza and Israel. I am heart sick at the violence against innocent civilians resulting from acts of war. How to build a foundation for lasting peace in the region, concerned citizens around the world are asking. I certainly don't have the answer. But this much is clear—propagandistic reporting does nothing but mislead the public, exacerbate divisiveness and fan the flames of hate. Here is my challenge to the New Times: Rise to the highest duty of journalism, objective reporting, and become part of the solution, not the problem. Δ

Jan Marx is the former mayor of San Luis Obispo and a current City Council member, but she wrote to New Times as a city resident. Send a response to [email protected].