Israel Forms Emergency Unity Government to ‘Crush’ Hamas

Israeli leaders set aside partisan differences to form an emergency unity government in response to Hamas’ latest attacks. 

The Details: Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday morning, and lawyers from the Likud and National Unity parties stayed behind to iron out the details. According to a statement, “no bills or government decisions will be promoted that do not concern the conduct of the war,” and “all senior appointments will be automatically extended” during the war. Opposition leader Yair Lapid refused to join the government as long as members of the far-right Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties were included, but a place on the war cabinet was reserved for him if he reconsidered. 

Key Quotes: Gantz said the new government was ready to “wipe this thing called Hamas off the face of the Earth,” and Netanyahu said, “Every Hamas member is a dead man,” adding, “Hamas is ISIS, and we will crush and eliminate it just as the world crushed and eliminated ISIS.”

How the Media Covered It: Coverage was widespread throughout the day in mainstream online news outlets. Fox News (Right bias) stood out by calling Hamas’ assault “the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust” — echoing President Joe Biden and potentially framing the attack as an unprovoked instance of ethnic cleansing. Some headlines highlighted different victims as context; CNN (Lean Left bias) added that Hamas’ “brutality” was “laid bare,” and AP (Lean Left bias) added that Israeli airstrikes devastated Gaza.