A CNN feature aimed at highlighting an Israeli soldier’s PTSD sparked outrage when footage emerged showing the same soldier committing war crimes in Gaza., CNN, CNN backlash, CNN human interest story, Eliran Mizrahi, Gaza conflict war crimes, Gaza war crimes 2024, Israeli military war crimes, Israel...
Despite the reality carefully researched and documented by not only Amnesty International but by a preponderance of the world's human rights organizations, CNN employed language that carefully constructed a sympathetic narrative around the mental health of a soldier engaged in actions that the World Court has acknowledged as a plausible case of genocide.
Critics argue that CNN's story is emblematic of a broader trend of double standards within corporate media. For instance, the New York Times has reported on Israeli soldiers' "panic attacks" as newsworthy yet has not offered similar mental health coverage for Lebanese or Palestinian civilians who are being killed and injured in large numbers.
The former soldier has spoken publicly about the psychological trauma endured by Israeli troops in Gaza. In a testimony to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in June, Zaken said that on many occasions, soldiers had to “run over terrorists, dead and alive, in the hundreds.”
“Everything squirts out,” he added.
Zaken says he can no longer eat meat, as it reminds him of the gruesome scenes he witnessed from his bulldozer in Gaza, and struggles to sleep at night, the sound of explosions ringing in his head.
“When you see a lot of meat outside, and blood… both ours and theirs (Hamas), then it really affects you when you eat,” he told CNN, referring to bodies as “meat.”
He maintains that the vast majority of those he encountered were “terrorists.”
Did you see that editorial flourish CNN added, “(Hamas)”? Because every man, woman, and child in Gaza is Hamas.