David Ignatius, a longtime columnist for The Washington Post, is on staff at a newspaper known for its consistent anti-Israel editorial stance. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) was even founded in DC to expose this bias.
Ignatius presents a deeply skewed and one-sided narrative of the war in Gaza, omitting critical context and relying on emotionally charged language that casts Israel in an exceedingly negative light, blaming the true victims.
First and foremost, nowhere in the piece is the October 7 massacre even mentioned—the event that triggered this war. On that day, Hamas terrorists brutally murdered over 1,200 Israelis, including entire families with small children, and took hundreds of civilians hostage, committed rapes, and barbaric violence. Ignoring that atrocity is not only factually irresponsible—it fundamentally distorts the reader’s understanding of why Israeli forces are even in Gaza to begin with.
To describe Israeli soldiers as having “just invaded” Gaza, without addressing what prompted that military response, is to rewrite history in real time.
While bias is prevalent throughout the op-ed several sections stand out:
“The deaths over the weekend of Palestinian civilians waiting in line for food were a cruel reminder of why the war must end now.”
This framing implicitly blames Israel for the violence while avoiding any accountability on the part of Hamas, which embeds itself within civilian populations, exploits humanitarian chaos for military advantage, and has repeatedly refused to release hostages or negotiate in good faith. The statement also ignores how Hamas intentionally fosters conditions that provoke exactly this kind of tragedy to generate international pressure against Israel.
“Lord of the Flies”
Comparing Gaza to the classic novel about the descent of school boys into savagery and chaos, deliberately plants the false idea that Gaza is full of children without their parents—and, crucially, it lays the blame at the feet of Israel without acknowledging Hamas's role in creating a society where terrorism and violence is glorified.
“Hamas is beaten but won't surrender… Israel has won but has failed to consolidate its victory…”
This falsely equates both parties and portrays Israel as aimless or incompetent, without considering the complexity of defeating a terrorist group embedded in civilian areas, or the impossibility of a political transition when Hamas remains armed, entrenched, and committed to Israel’s destruction. If Hamas is beaten then how are they still able to still hold 50 hostages?
“Israelis and Palestinians, for all the rage and bitterness that divide them, have one thing in common. They both need this war to end.”
This closing sentiment may appear balanced on the surface, but it glosses over the asymmetry of intent: Israel seeks to end the war and ensure security for its citizens; Hamas seeks the total destruction of Israel. Equating their motivations is intellectually lazy and morally misleading. The "divide" is that Hamas wants to destroy Israel and Israel seeks a future where its communities will not suffer from terrorist attacks.
The use of “reported” in reference to deaths, near a food convoy, supposedly caused by Israeli fire without explaining that the Health Ministry in Gaza is a Hamas organization is an inexcusable omission. Moreover, Hamas terrorists are often present at these food distribution events and using civilians as shields—all of which have been well documented and which Ignatius fails to discuss.
In conclusion: Ignatius ignores key facts, blames Israel almost entirely, and doesn't even talk about the Hamas attacks on October 7 that started everything. He makes no mention that Hamas exists to eliminate Israel.
That’s not fair reporting—it's a one-sided story that hides the full truth.
CAMERA’s founders—led by the late Win Meiselman and the late Dr. William Perl, a hero of Holocaust rescue operations—were shocked by the inaccuracies and unfairness they saw repeatedly in the paper during the 1982 “Peace for Galilee” War in Lebanon.
Although the print edition of The Washington Post no longer exists, its editorial bias against Israel has reportedly remained unchanged for over 40 years.