As the media covers the crisis in Gaza, the news reports inevitably include the number of Palestinian deaths caused by Israeli military action (reports that in some cases almost seem to be part of a propaganda campaign against Israel).  The Washington Post recently published an “overview” of the crisis (see here), including the obligatory charts that liberals often substitute for reasoning.

One of the sections of the report is entitled “casualties in the conflict” and claims that 1,555 Palestinians have died in the conflict as of August 1 (the current number is now reported to be 1,706, see here). The information is presented in several charts, but no source is given for the casualty numbers used in the report. Yet in other sections, for example, those dealing with Gaza’s demographics, the source of the data is disclosed.

The media doesn’t want to tell us the source of their numbers, but we might guess that it is either Hamas or the U.N., neither of which is objective. Hamas can only dream of Israel’s destruction, never mind actually working to build a decent economy and society in Gaza. Much better instead to build tunnels and buy rockets to attack Israel. And the U.N., where anti-Semitism runs rampant, isn’t much better.

Although the sources are not credible, the media doesn’t even pause to consider whether the casualty numbers are accurate. And it’s hard to think that they could be accurate, especially in view of a despicable Hamas tactic that uses human shields to either restrain Israel from defending itself or to create casualties to win over public opinion. They have every incentive to inflate the numbers.