CNN has pulled reporter Diana Magnay from Israel after she referred to a group of Israelis as “scum.” The offending tweet, which Magnay deleted, said the following:
Israelis on hill above Sderot cheer as bombs land on #gaza; threaten to ‘destroy our car if I say a word wrong’. Scum.
The second part of Magnay’s tweet is, frankly, an understandable response to threats (assuming there actually were some) to destroy CNN property if her reporting was not to the crowd’s liking. If she had limited her insult of the crowd to that conduct, she would not have deserved reassignment.
But her description of the Israelis as “scum” was also based on the fact stated in the first part of her tweet — cheering by Israelis of the IDF’s military response to Hamas’ sustained rocket attacks against Israel.
Here, Magnay followed a time-honored tradition in the reporting from Israel by outlets such as CNN — an unwillingness to recognize Israel’s right of self-defense. If a nation’s military is conducting a bombing campaign for no legitimate reason, then it is deplorable for its citizens to cheer. But if the bombing is a targeted response to indiscriminate rocket attacks against these citizens, then cheering is a normal response. Those who cheer cannot be considered “scum.”
Like so many who cover Israel for the mainstream media, Magnay apparently takes the anti-Israel side. She must believe that Israel’s targeted bombing is not legitimate self-defense and that it is therefore deplorable for Israelis to cheer the IDF’s response.
Had Magnay not used the word “scum” she would have continued to cover Israel for Cnn, with her anti-Israel bias presumably coloring her reporting. As it is, we can expect CNN to replace Magnay with a reporter who has a similarly low regard for Israel and Israelis.
Meanwhile, CNN has reassigned Magnay to Moscow where, quite possibly, she will find the government and the people less to her disliking.
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