NPR Denounced for ‘Disgusting’ Report That Quoted Lebanese Villagers Calling Michigan Synagogue Attacker ‘Kind’ and ‘Gentle’

NPR is being denounced for a “disgusting” article highlighting the “fear” in the Lebanese hometown of the individual who attacked a synagogue in Michigan. Last week, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born at Mashghara, Lebanon, drove a truck into a synagogue in Michigan. He died in the crash, and fortunately, there were no other fatalities or serious injuries. Instead of reporting on concerns about other potential attacks on synagogues, NPR’s “All Things Considered” aired a segment focused on Ghazali’s hometown, titled, “In a small Lebanese town, grief and fear follow the Michigan synagogue attack.” The network’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi reported that “one of the first things you notice” in the town is a poster of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. Ms. Al-Shalchi noted that Ghazali’s two brothers, a niece, and a nephew were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the home of Ghazali’s youngest brother, Ibrahim Ghazali, where the family had gathered to break fast for Ramadan. Ms. Al-Shalchi said that the Israeli Defense Forces did not respond to her request for comment about why the home was targeted. But on Sunday, Israeli officials said Ibrahim Ghazali was a Hezbollah commander. She quoted residents who criticized “Israel’s relentless bombing” and asked, “What did the children do to deserve this?” According to Ms. Al-Shalchi, one resident remembers the synagogue attacker as a “kind, well-mannered and gentle person” who “avenged” the deaths of his family members.Ms. Al-Shalchi quoted one resident who said that the deaths of Ghazali’s family members are “not an excuse to kill other innocent people.”She also said the mayor of the town “worries about the cycle of violence” and “fears that Lebanese Americans from the town who live in the United States could face retaliation.”The report sparked heavy criticism online.The executive editor of NewsBusters, Tim Graham, wrote on X, “THIS is why we defunded [NPR].”“Defunding @NPR couldn’t have been a better move. Pure propaganda,” another user said. A conservative commentator, Jason Stark, said, “If this isn’t proof that NPR should be shut down, I don’t know what is.”“NPR is disgusting,” another user said.’’The executive director of the Badger Institute, Patrick McIlheran, noted that the story said, “Usually about 25,000 people live [in Mashghara] and many support the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.”“While the simple means of avoiding airstrikes might be obvious to you, NPR never asks anyone, ‘Why don’t you quit supporting the genocidal terrorists?’” he wrote. Another commentator wrote, “A terrorist in our country who tried to kill Jews children [and the] story is manipulated by the media as a victim basically, unreal!”Last year, Congress ended federal funding for public broadcasting in legislation that was widely seen as targeting NPR, which is known for liberal bias. But NPR executives restructured financially, preserving their controversial national news operation even as local public radio stations suffered gravely. NPR now operates with no meaningful Congressional oversight.The NPR story comes days after CNN was criticized for publishing a sympathetic article about two men accused of planning an ISIS-inspired attack at New York City.

NPR Denounced for ‘Disgusting’ Report That Quoted Lebanese Villagers Calling Michigan Synagogue Attacker ‘Kind’ and ‘Gentle’

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