As the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas comes into effect, two million Gazans are returning to what is left of their homes. Part of the deal includes a vast prisoner swap, that sees the remaining 20 Israelis captured on October 7, 2023, going back to their homeland, and almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli jails. A further 10,000 remain behind bars, including top political prisoners, such as Marwan Barghouti. Israel has also stated that it will not return the remains of hundreds of Palestinians it is holding, sparking intense speculation as to what those corpses would reveal.
Joining the Behind the Headlines show & MintCast Podcast to discuss the ceasefire, and the increasingly pro-Israel tone of our corporate media, is Aaron Maté. Aaron is an award-winning journalist from Canada. He hosts the shows, Pushback with Aaron Maté, and the Useful Idiots Podcast. He has previously worked for Democracy Now!, The Real News Network, Al Jazeera and The Nation. His work can be found at The Grayzone and on Substack.
Both politicians and corporate media across the West have hailed the return of the Israeli prisoners as a modern miracle, while downplaying or completely ignoring the Palestinians released. Both NBC News and CNN went out of their way to present many of the Israelis as blameless victims, going so far to tell readers that one Israeli released, Matan Angrest, was “kidnapped from his tank” on October 7.
Unfortunately, this sort of one-sided reporting is likely to only intensify with the news that the family of Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest individual, has purchased CBS News. Ellison, as a MintPress News investigation revealed, is the IDF’s largest international benefactor, donating a massive $16.6 million in one evening in 2017 alone.
Ellison, who made his fortune as founder of CIA-cutout organization, Oracle, is one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest confidants, even offering him a position on the tech company’s board, replete with a reported salary of $450,000 per year.
Now, Ellison has appointed Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. Weiss, a self-described “Zionist fanatic,” first came to prominence as a student, founding a pressure group that attempted to have Arab professors fired for their lack of support for the Israeli project. She then parlayed her activism into top positions in Israeli media, and since founded the Free Press, a hardline pro-Israel publication. According to The Financial Times, it was her positions on Israel that secured her the top job with CBS.
Overseeing the ceasefire is Donald Trump, who flew to Israel to speak at the Knesset. There, he hailed Republican mega-donor Miriam Adelson, noting how forcefully she and her husband Sheldon influenced American politics in a pro-Israel direction, and revealing that Adelson favors Israel over the United States. Such an assertion, if made by a critic of the Apartheid State, would fall under official laws as anti-Semitic hate speech.
Today on the show, Maté and Behind the Headlines host, Mnar Adley, broke down the ceasefire, what it means for the world, and discussed the state of the American media.
Mnar Adley is an award-winning journalist and editor and is the founder and director of MintPress News. She is also president and director of the non-profit media organization Behind the Headlines. Adley also co-hosts the MintCast podcast and is a producer and host of the video series Behind The Headlines. Contact Mnar at mnar@mintpressnews.com or follow her on Twitter at @mnarmuh.
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