CNN slammed for 'sympathy piece' on Israeli army

CNN is facing backlash for an article on the mental health of Israeli soldiers deployed in Gaza, who have, in their own words, run over Palestinians "dead and alive, in the hundreds”, with bulldozers.

In the article, "Israeli soldiers returning from war struggle with trauma and suicide", which was published on Monday, the American news network interviews the family and colleague of an Israeli soldier who died by suicide after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder upon his return from Gaza. It discusses the mental health issues, writ large, of soldiers returning from the besieged enclave.

Thousands of social media users have slammed the article, which they said aims to humanise Israeli soldiers and help justify and whitewash their actions while neglecting to mention the legal and humanitarian aspects of the actions of Israel in its war on Gaza. Israel is facing accusations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes before international courts.

"While these murderers commit some of the most horrific acts of genocide and extermination in the 21st century, Western media outlets like CNN run stories that humanize these criminals by focusing on their personal struggles with trauma and how they cope with the crimes they have committed - and continue to commit - in Gaza when they return home," wrote Jehad Abusalim, the director of the Institute for Palestine Studies.

"Meanwhile, our children, mothers, brothers, neighbors, friends, teachers, professors, doctors, nurses, and first responders are being killed, burned, and incinerated daily. Their deaths are barely mentioned, reduced to mere numbers without stories, names, or vulnerabilities to evoke empathy and support," he continued in his post on X, formerly Twitter.

Several people highlighted that the deceased soldier at the centre of the story, Eliran Mizrahi, was a D-9 bulldozer driver who was "clearing" bodies and debris - something that is not mentioned until about a third of the way through the article.

CNN writes that his friend and colleague, Guy Zaken, told Israel's parliament in June that soldiers ran over “terrorists, dead and alive, in the hundreds”.

CNN tried to do a sympathy piece on IDF soldiers and then like halfway through the article you find out this guy was a D9 bulldozer driver who regularly drove over people while they were alive. pic.twitter.com/cDBNk4TnB3

— j (@thickyrubio) October 21, 2024

Zaken told CNN he was no longer able to eat meat due to seeing the Palestinian bodies crushed under the military vehicle: “When you see a lot of meat outside, and blood… both ours and theirs (Hamas), then it really affects you when you eat,” he said, referring to people's bodies as "meat".

A person on X, responded: "'Never mind the Palestinians crushed alive under tanks with their bodies exploding, just please be careful if the suicidal thoughts of the Israeli soldiers who smashed them may bother you'."

"His co-driver talks about crushing people so badly their bodies explode and how he’s so disturbed by this that he can no longer eat meat, but in the next breath says there’s 'no such thing as citizens' in Gaza," another person said.

Here's the story, CNN: Israeli soldiers confess to driving over 100s of Palestinians in Gaza, some of them alive.

CNN buries that story. Instead we're supposed to empathise with these soldiers for the trauma such atrocities caused them – while these atrocities are ongoing. pic.twitter.com/rnPPNndtPR

— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) October 21, 2024

Middle East Eye has previously reported about Israeli tanks and bulldozers crushing Palestinian civilians - a technique the army has employed since the start of its war on Gaza in October 2023.

The CNN article does not clarify who was being run over by the military vehicles.

It writes: "[Zaken] maintains that the vast majority of those he encountered were 'terrorists'." The article makes no mention of who the others not included in the "vast majority" were.

Running over wounded combatants constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits “means and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering”.

Wounded combatants are entitled to prompt medical treatment, according to established rules of international law outlined by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

International humanitarian law also mandates that the dead be treated in a respectful manner, including the prevention of mutilation and desecration of bodies.

The CNN report, however, made no reference to potential violations of international law.

Same D9 operator, Guy Zaken, with his friend Eliran Mizrahi, who killed himself recently, were interviewed in April. They said they destroyed 5,000 houses of "terrorists", but when asked "how did you know they were terrorists?" they clarify that every house is terrorist's house. https://t.co/EkWwqt93ty pic.twitter.com/sTeOMPCiKX

— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) June 27, 2024

'Enabling the violence of occupation'

Several users on social media said the article was emblematic of western media coverage of Palestinians, which they said was dehumanising and served to justify Israel's assault on Gaza.

"It's hard to overstate how thoroughly contemporary framings of war trauma hinge on - and enable and reproduce - the violence and dehumanization of occupation and counterinsurgency," one person said.

In a video on TikTok, another social media user, said: "If the western media wasn't so corrupt, the headline for this article would have been 'IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] soldier admits to running over hundreds of people with a bulldozer and watching their insides squirt out.'"

@catsoverpeople0 @CNN and all corrupt western media outlets should be charged in the Hague 😤 #falastin #mediabias #arabtok #uncommitted ♬ original sound - Sick Sad World

Others pointed out that the editor's note at the beginning of the article warned of mentions of suicide, without reference to the violence against Palestinians in the article which could also distress readers.

"You the reader are expected to find the trauma of the soldier who said he killed 100s of Palestinians more upsetting than his actual murders," said one social media user.

Another said: "Thinking about how editor’s note at the beginning of this story is a trigger warning about suicide w no mention of fairly graphic description of Palestinians murdered by bulldozer (quote: 'everything squirts out'). imo [in my opinion] telling re: who editors see as human."

The editor's note has since been revised to read: "This story contains details of suicide and violence that some readers may find upsetting."

If you need support in the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted at [email protected] or 116 123. For the US, please try the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. For other countries, please see befrienders.org.