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Cable news networks are relying on defense industry consultants to explain Israel’s war in Gaza.

by Andrew Perez and Lucy Dean Stockton, The Lever

The world witnessed a modern high point of the American presidency when President Joe Biden visited and spoke in Israel on October 18 amid its brutal assault on the Gaza Strip. At least, that was the take offered by Jeremy Bash, national security analyst for the liberal cable news network MSNBC.

“It was absolutely the finest hour by any president I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Bash said Wednesday on the show, “Deadline: White House.”

Bash went on to defend Israel’s “emotional” reaction to the massacre of 1,400 Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists — a reaction that has involved thousands of bombs, and cutting off food, water, fuel, and electricity to Gaza. Next, he suggested that Hamas may have “directly targeted” the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza Strip, where an explosion killed hundreds of Palestinians last week: “I wouldn’t put it past them, given what their record is, and their use of human shields,” he said.

commentators sit at a table for a tv show

As of now, experts are still trying to determine responsibility for the bombing.

At no point did MSNBC mention that Bash, who served as chief of staff at the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense in the Obama administration, leads a consulting firm that has reportedly worked for defense contracting giant Raytheon, which supplies missiles for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.

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