Rantz: Is this the most irresponsible, hateful segment KING 5 has ever aired?
Oct 14, 2024, 11:43 AM

This aerial picture shows abandoned and torched vehicles at the site of the October 7 attack on the Supernova desert music Festival by Palestinian militants near Kibbutz Reim in the Negev desert in southern Israel on October 13, 2023. KING 5 Seattle conducted an interview with a member of American Muslims of Puget Sound. (Photo: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
KING 5 anchor Joyce Taylor interviewed a guest who defended Hamas as “resistance fighters,” blamed the October 7 attacks on Israel, dismissed facts about the terrorist group’s use of human shields as a “convenient” lie, and called for the end of a Jewish state. She did very little to push back because her intent, she said, was to provide a “different perspective on the violence in Gaza.”
Taylor platformed Jeff Siddiqui, a member of American Muslims of Puget Sound, on October 8, a day after featuring Rabbi Daniel Weiner of Temple De Hirsh Sinai reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attack that slaughtered, raped and kidnapped innocent Jews. The interview was the station’s attempt to air “both sides” of the October 7 terrorist attack. Had KING 5 been around in 1944, no doubt they would have aired the perspective of a Nazi, as well.
While the station and anchor may be proud of this report, the shame of this broadcast should haunt whatever is left of the careers’ of everyone involved in producing and broadcasting the interview.
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How did KING 5 amplify antisemitism?
Joyce asked Siddiqui what was happening on the ground in Gaza. His answer was as disturbing as it is inaccurate.
“Well, there’s that forbidden ‘G word’ that keeps coming up, that we keep refusing to recognize genocide, and it’s the sad thing is, it’s happening in other countries as well, but we’re paying for it with our money and our weapons, and that makes me directly culpable,” Siddiqui noted.
He went on to falsely claim the United States is “giving unlimited weapons and unlimited money to Israel” so that they can kill civilians in “an unlimited fashion.”
Joyce couldn’t muster up enough courage to correct Siddiqui, but offered a half-hearted argument that “Israel will argue, and has argued emphatically, that Hamas is using its own people as shields, in schools, in churches, in religious places, and that that’s part of its strategy, that it’s really responsible for the destruction of its own people.” Of course, this is a confirmed strategy by intelligence agencies, nonprofits and media organizations, not merely Israel. Siddiqui’s response was disgusting.
“Well, that’s a very convenient argument, but when you have a very limited space with 2.3 million people stuck in there, and this is not a regular army, these are resistant fighters who are spread all over, like in World War II in France, there was the Maquis and the other resistance fighters. They weren’t in barracks where the Germans could pick them off. They were in villages, living a normal life. These people are in villages, in cities, living a normal life. To say they are hiding behind civilians is only a very thinly veiled excuse to kill people at will,” he claimed, pretending holding hostages in hospitals and keeping weapons caches in schools and mosques is somehow appropriate.
KING 5 amplified calls to end the Jewish state
At one point, with no pushback, Siddiqui blamed Israel for the terrorist attack on October 7. When asked how Israel should be fighting the war, he responded, “by not creating a situation where this group becomes an enemy.”
Rather than offer even the appearance of concern with the blatant victim blaming, Joyce moved on to cite the Gaza Health Ministry’s stats on the reported death toll. She does not point out that the Gaza Health Ministry is Hamas-run and that the number includes the people she and her guest seem fine pretending are resistance fighters.
When asked if he thought Israel has a right to defend itself, he misleadingly said yes, before claiming Jews “kicked out the original inhabitants and made a land for itself as an exclusive entity.” Void of any historical knowledge, Joyce moved on, allowing Siddiqui to pitch the idea of ending the Jewish state, which he acknowledged will be violent.
Naturally, Siddiqui also expressed concern for Iran becoming a larger target for Israel. Neither he nor Joyce noted Iran is the sponsor of the very terrorism inflicted on Jews in Israel.
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Ignoring Hamas as a terrorist organization, in order to demonize Jews
The interview reeked of moral relativism, where the plight of Palestinians in Gaza — a plight brought onto them by Hamas alone — is used as a smokescreen to justify terrorist violence against Jews. And Joyce did little to combat the hate.
No amount of political spin can sanitize the fact that Hamas intentionally targets civilians, including women (whom they subjugate in Gaza), children and the elderly. Ordinary families were slaughtered in cold blood in Israel. Children who were taken hostage were forced to watch videos of Hamas terrorists murdering innocent civilians. Yet here we are, with a so-called “Muslim advocate” framing this horror as somehow part of a broader geopolitical issue, conveniently omitting Hamas’ very explicit goal: to erase Israel from the map.
Muslims are better off choosing someone else to act as an advocate. Jeff Siddiqui is not advocating for Muslims, he’s advocating against Jews. And KING 5 and Joyce Taylor let him.
What happened to journalistic responsibility?
How much more will we allow this kind of rhetoric to fly under the radar? Local Jewish organizations tend to work behind the scenes to help course correct the abysmal coverage against Israel and the blatant antisemitism on display. They shouldn’t work behind the scenes. They should step up in more concerted ways so that it’s not just antisemitic marchers with the loudest voices.
We’re talking about an internationally recognized terrorist organization — Hamas — that takes pride in its barbarism, that uses human shields for protection and propaganda. They’re not owed an uncritical defense by KING 5 any more than a Klansman would.
Every time the media shifts blame away from terrorists and onto Israel, they’re enabling those who justify the targeting of Jews around the world. This isn’t just a foreign policy debate — this is a matter of right versus wrong. Defending Hamas’ actions, or even offering a shred of empathy for their so-called “cause,” isn’t just misguided — it’s complicit.
This coverage isn’t something to be proud of
KING 5 and Joyce undoubtedly think they did their viewers a service by uncritically airing “the other side.” That’s the problem: this station and anchor think what they did was worthy of being broadcast and published. Even worse, they think they have to air this drivel to placate an antisemitic portion of their audience.
The only thing KING 5 and Joyce did was embrace a terrorist sympathizing antisemite and help rally the Jew-hating locals who wave Hezbollah flags downtown, while calling for the destruction of Israel and genocide of Jews. All they did was spread hate.
With antisemitic hate crimes on the rise locally and nationwide, KING 5 should rethink their approach. They’re already whitewashing the anti-Israel marches, somehow managing to not capture the pro-Hamas signs or even Hezbollah flags on display. Was this interview necessary?
KING 5 is a stain on our media landscape
KING 5 has become a stain on Seattle’s media landscape. The station, as a news department, is hyper-focused on identity to the point of parody. They offer propaganda instead of news, with some reporters falling over themselves to be the most woke.
There are some very talented reporters at KING 5. But Joyce, in particular, is an embarrassment, so clueless about basic facts on this issue that if she had even a shred of dignity, she would have stepped aside and let someone competent conduct the interview. If Joyce had any standards at all, she would have realized this should never have aired in the first place. But a lack of standards is the theme here. And it’s hardly the first time KING 5 has aired such a disgusting piece.
The only redeeming value this interview could have provided is to highlight the hate that passes as legitimate criticism of Israel. But that would require a journalist with even a nominal understanding of the history, region and religion.
For some, it will be hard to believe that KING 5 aired something so irresponsibly hateful. But if you’re familiar with their lack of editorial standards and overreliance on political propaganda, it’s no surprise this even made it to air.
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