Matthew Continetti Uses Useful Idiots Summary

Continetti, Matthew. “Hamas’s Useful Idiots.” Commentary 138.2 (2014): 80-79. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 July 2016.

1) Continetti’s article was published in September of 2014. His article discusses Hamas’s control over their media coverage.

2) Matthew Continetti currently works as the editor in chief of the Washington Free Beacon. Prior to this, he was the opinion editor of the Weekly Standard. Continetti still holds a position at the weekly standard as contributing editor.

3) Continetti describes the image of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that the world is portrayed. The media is constantly producing stories of the Israelis attacking Palestinian civilians, and the only pictures we see of Gaza are of suffering Palestinians. Continetti explains that the reason for this is that Hamas controls the flow of information going in and out of its territory. The media is presenting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the world without context. Hamas was designated a terrorist group in 1997, and for some reason, Israel is expected to treat

Joffe illustrates how today objectivity is downplayed and multiple narratives, though not always equal, are considered valid, and that today there is a higher valuation of feelings over facts. The Palestinian narrative of being the oppressed underdog is so strong, to press for truth would challenge that narrative causing embarrassment to the Palestinians and in today’s world we value feelings over truth. Joffe’s article gives clear insight as to how the media ignores the radical statements of Hamas and Palesinian leaders, and by doing so giving the world an inaccurate picture of who Hamas is, and in turn turning Israel into the ‘bad