WATCH: Netanyahu Advisor Asks PBS to Stop Taking Hamas Casualty Figures as Fact, Host Remains Clueless

Mark Regev, a senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sat for an interview for Tuesday’s episode of “PBS NewsHour,” during which he implored co-host Amna Nawaz, and by extension, PBS as a whole, to stop parroting casualty figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza — which Nawaz of course ignored.

Here’s one exchange.

Nawaz:

I need to ask you about the level of civilian casualties as a result of those bombings, though, because you’ve said before that Israel will take maximum steps to not — to avoid civilian casualties. As you know, the Gazan Health Ministry now says some 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last 17 days, including women and children. I just wonder how you square saying that you’re avoiding civilian casualties as much as you can and that number of 5,000.

If the blatant irony hits you like a ton of hypocritical bricks, you’re far from alone.

Regev:

So, first of all, I don’t deny suffering in Gaza. I don’t deny the fact that there have been Gazan civilians who have been killed in the crossfire between us and Hamas. But I would urge you please to be cautious with the numbers that come out of the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza.

“Sure,” Nawaz replied, dismissively adding: “Do you have more accurate numbers?” Regev explained that he couldn’t provide more give more accurate numbers, given the absence of IDF on the ground in Gaza, while saying: “I’m urging you to be skeptical with those.”

After additional similar back-and-forth, Regev said:

We can only estimate. We, actually, if we compare our numbers, like in any combat situation, like, when the United States was leading a coalition…to get ISIS out of Mosul, there were civilian casualties. We think our ratio between civilian and combat casualties, between the people we want to get and between people — innocent bystanders, compares very well to NATO and other Western forces.

Nawaz again pushed back. This time, Regev went bottom-line —with a clear distinction between the IDF and Hamas in matters of war.

I’m not at liberty to discuss that, I apologize, because we’ve still got combat ongoing, and we haven’t had ground troops in yet, and the situation could change. But what I would say is this, we are trying to make a maximum effort to avoid collateral damage. 
Hamas, unfortunately, has the opposite goal. And here is something that I think needs to be said, when we’re asking civilians to leave areas of expected heavy combat, Hamas is telling them to stay, and they must die for the crazy cause.

Boom. In the slim chance that any PBS or NPR fans are reading the article, and you disagree with the above difference? Yeah — you’re either in intentional denial or don’t know what you’re talking about. 

Incidentally, gang, did you catch the PBS segment —or a similar segment on NPR — where the hosts grilled Hamas for “failing to take maximum precautions” to minimize the number of Israeli men, women, children, and babies they tortured, mutilated, and killed during their unprovoked attack? Me, neither. These two shining beacons of left-wing groupthink wouldn’t be caught— oh, never mind.