Mehdi Hasan posted a three-point takedown of Brit Hume's Gaza framing after Hume argued Palestinians shouldn't build "key war-making facilities" under buildings.
Hume, the Fox News veteran, framed Gaza's destruction as a consequence of Hamas embedding military sites beneath civilian structures. Hasan inverted the premise: Israel does the same in Tel Aviv, has bombed Gaza sites with no Hamas targets, and is Gaza's occupier, not its neighbor.
Israel puts its own "key war-making facilities" under residential neighborhoods in the heart of Tel Aviv.
Hasan's first point has documented backing. The left-leaning outlet The Grayzone geolocated a U.S.-built underground military intelligence bunker beneath the Da Vinci apartment towers near HaKirya, Israel's defense headquarters in central Tel Aviv. Haaretz confirms HaKirya sits in a densely populated civilian area, with the IDF General Staff HQ roughly 450 meters from Ichilov Hospital.
Second: Israel bombed Gazan buildings with no Hamas targets, above or below ground. "They shot kids in the head," Hasan wrote. A June 2024 UN Human Rights Office report accused Israel of indiscriminate strikes on residential buildings, markets, schools, and refugee camps without sufficient distinction between civilians and combatants. A 2025 UN Commission of Inquiry report documented at least 168 children with gunshot wounds in Gaza, including 73 shot in the head, by quadcopters and snipers. The Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant collected testimonies from 15 international doctors who reported 114 children under 15 with single gunshot wounds to the head or chest. The Guardian and BBC published similar findings, with forensic pathologists confirming bullet, not shrapnel, injuries. Israel declined to answer questions about snipers shooting children, per de Volkskrant. Israel disputes accusations of indiscriminate bombing and deliberate targeting of civilians.
Third: Hasan's final point. Israel is not Gaza's "neighbor" but its illegal occupier since 1967, under international law.
The same practice Hume condemned in Gaza is documented in Tel Aviv.
Comment sections split after the exchange. Some accounts demanded Community Notes and called the claims "fake news." Others cited the same outlets Hasan's argument drew from.
Israel disputes the accusations and has not answered de Volkskrant's questions about the sniper shootings.