One of the positive outcomes of Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter is the institution of Community Notes, a feature that allows users to crowdsource fact-checking, in real time. The Biden administration gets away with a lot less since then, and propaganda is more easily and effectively countered. Since Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel, the Community Notes program has been vital in correcting the lies Hamas puts out and the antisemitic tropes that have been far too prevalent online - even from members of Congress.

For example, when there was a blast at a hospital parking lot in Gaza on October 17, the Gaza Health Ministry (a/k/a Hamas) immediately blamed Israel and claimed that 500 people were killed. The New York Times and many other mainstream media outlets just took Hamas' narrative and death toll at face value and within an hour repercussions were being felt. One of the people parroting that narrative was Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). She tweeted:

Bombing a hospital is among the gravest of war crimes. The IDF reportedly blowing up one of the few places the injured and wounded can seek medical treatment and shelter during a war is horrific.@POTUS needs to push for an immediate ceasefire to end this slaughter.

Sure, she said "reportedly," but to those who wanted to believe Israel was targeting "innocent" Gazans, it didn't matter. They had the excuse they needed to get violent.

By the next morning it was clear that what Hamas said had happened wasn't at all the case, and ultimately U.S. intelligence completely cleared Israel of any involvement and squarely blamed Palestinian militants. The only thing we're not quite confident about is which specific faction of Palestinian terrorists were responsible.

“We assess with high confidence that Israel was not responsible for the explosion at the hospital and that Palestinian militants were responsible,” an intelligence official said. “We assess with low confidence that Palestine Islamic Jihad was responsible for launching the rocket that landed on the hospital.”

Because she had to, Omar walked her claim back somewhat, adding some performative bulls**t about "In the fog of war, things are confusing..." yeah, well, people like Ilhan Omar are more than happy to immediately and uncritically publicize rhetoric coming only from one side, and are not only disseminating misinformation, but spreading propaganda.

Unfortunately, when we wrote on Omar backtracking... sorta, Google demonetized our article, claiming that it contained "dangerous or derogatory content." They didn't bother to tell us which line or lines in the piece were problematic; they never do. Was it this part?

You see, when it was Israel that she was blaming, Omar was more than willing to jump to conclusions based on completely unreliable sourcing. Now that it's clear it was actually the Palestinians who killed their own people because of a failed attempt to slaughter more Israelis, she's all about caution and "fully independent" investigations. 

Or was it this part?

Yes, the news outlets that used Hamas as a source are culpable, but congressional members have a duty to vet media reports before repeating them. Omar knows that the Gaza Health Ministry is a wing of Hamas that routinely lies. She has a responsibility to reject claims singularly sourced to such an odious entity. That she'd now pretend to be measured, attacking others for jumping to conclusions, shows a profound lack of self-awareness. 

Or, possibly this?

Keep in mind that not only do we have multiple videos of the PIJ rocket firing and falling short, hitting the hospital, but we also have a cell phone intercept of the terrorists admitting to the incident. Further, there are pictures from the scene proving there was essentially no impact crater (i.e., it wasn't a bombing) and that the damage was mostly caused by burning rocket fuel in the parking lot. The hospital itself was undamaged (aside from a broken window), and given the relatively small area that was impacted, it is improbable that the death toll was actually in the hundreds, as claimed. 

Put all of that together, and the framing that this is some he-said, she-said situation where we simply don't know the truth is farcical. Omar's sudden caution is based on the protection of her ideology, not data. She got caught spreading disinformation, and she wants to backtrack into opaqueness.

The bottom line is, we reported on a Congresswoman spreading misinformation/propaganda and halfheartedly retracting it, and Google thought that was "dangerous or derogatory content" that ads should not be run on.

When the truth keeps getting out despite our tech overlords' best efforts, their last tool is to starve us and destroy our business by denying us advertising revenue. Fortunately, we're not entirely dependent on Google for revenue; our growing VIP program allows us to survive in the face of this censorship. Many of you are already VIP members, but if you're not, please consider supporting our independent journalism by becoming a RedState VIP. If you can chip in around $2.00/month, you can become a VIP member and directly support our reporting on these important issues. For around $4.00/month, you can become a VIP Gold member. Use the promo code ISRAEL for a 50% discount on your annual membership. In addition to the exclusive VIP content, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and have the satisfaction of knowing that you're helping us stick it to Big Tech and propagandists like Ilhan Omar.