US envoy to media: ‘Keep your mouths shut’ on Israel’s response in Gaza

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman slammed the news media, telling them to “keep your mouths shut” until they have a better solution to the violent rioting along the Gaza border fence. 

By: World Israel News Staff

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said Monday that the media should either figure out a better way to cover Gaza border protests or stop reporting on the matter altogether.

Addressing a media conference in Jerusalem, Friedman said that news outlets have been unfair in their coverage of the deadly protests on the Gaza border over the past few months.

He advised reporters to “keep your mouths shut” unless they know better than Israel how to deal with the demonstrations.

Friedman allowed that criticism of Israel was legitimate, but journalists had an obligation to think for themselves about the potential options to Israel’s challenges before indicting the Jewish state for failing to live up to moral standards.

“Nine out of ten articles” tend to be critical of Israel when the focus is the Gaza conflict according to Friedman.

“You’d think that some journalists would take the time and go and meet with experts and try to understand what could have been done differently or better before they criticize. And I just haven’t seen it,” he stressed.

Accusations against Israel were baseless in large part Friedman said because Israel had no real options to the way they were reacting to attempts by thousands of Gazans to overrun the border and enter Israel forcefully, often when armed terrorists were embedded in the crowds rushing the border.

Friedman said that slanted media reports accounts tended to “fit a narrative. But it’s not reporting, because it’s not based on hard, factual analysis.”

David FriedmanGazaUS Ambassador to Israel