This is disturbing

Hi Global Recap readers,

I’ve seen biased reporting before, but this TV coverage felt outright dishonest, and it left me disturbed.

• The problem isn’t just the bias. It’s that they didn’t even bother to pretend they were showing both sides.

• They erased one perspective completely, as if it didn’t exist.

• The thing is, they didn’t even need to do this to prove their point.

Also, heads up: Today’s Deep Dive includes a very graphic image. I’ll blur it heavily, but be careful if you decide to click through. 👇

🌐 WORLD
Fast Scroll News

🇨🇳 Chinese Ships Collide

A Chinese warship just smashed into its own coast guard vessel while chasing a Philippine coast guard vessel, BRP Suluan, near Scarborough Shoal. The bow of the Chinese coast guard ship is wrecked, and the Navy isn’t talking.

• Impact: The China Coast Guard’s CCG 3104 hit the PLA Navy’s No. 164 ship during a high-speed maneuver.

• Footage: Manila released video showing the collision and the coast guard ship’s crumpled forecastle, leaving it “unseaworthy,” per Manila’s Commodore Jay Tarriela.

• Response: Philippine crew offered help; the Chinese side stayed silent. No word on injuries.

• Backdrop: The BRP Suluan was hit with a water cannon earlier while escorting aid boats but escaped.

🇳🇴 Norway Dumps Israeli Stocks

Norway’s $2 trillion oil fund just ditched 11 Israeli companies in a sudden pivot, bowing to mounting outrage over its role in financing Israel’s war in Gaza.

• Invested: The fund was invested in 61 Israeli firms; the 11 dropped weren’t even on its official index, meaning someone had actively picked them.

• Names: One of the dumped firms is Bet Shemesh Engines, which services aircraft used in Gaza bombings.

• Shift: Norway also cut ties with all three Israeli fund managers, opting to handle investments in-house.

• Pressure: Activists and opposition leaders say it’s not enough as 50 Israeli companies remain in the portfolio.

🇷🇺 Russia Cuts Highway

Russian troops just pierced Ukraine’s defense near Dobropillia, pushing into three villages and bringing the Dobropillia–Kramatorsk highway into drone range. That road was still moving troops and civilians last month.

• Advance: Units entered Kucheriv Yar, Zolotyi Kolodiaz, and Vesele, bypassing new fortifications and consolidating for deeper strikes.

• Pressure: DeepState says Russian forces are probing Petrivka and Novovodiane next, aiming to flank Pokrovsk from the north.

• Volume: Ukraine’s General Staff logged 35 assaults in the Pokrovsk area on Aug. 11, with three battles still active.

• Warning: “Dobropillia may fall faster than Pokrovsk,” DeepState wrote, citing drone crews and logistics collapse.

🇫🇮 Finland Charges Russian Crew

Finland just filed criminal charges against the captain and two mates of the Eagle S, a suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker accused of sabotaging five telecom cables in the Gulf of Finland last Christmas.

• Accusation: Prosecutors hit them with aggravated criminal mischief and interference with communications.

• Defense: The crew denies everything, arguing Finland has no jurisdiction since the cables lie outside its territorial waters.

• Seizure: Authorities impounded the Eagle S months ago as part of the probe.

• Pattern: NATO is already on alert after similar cable cuts between Finland-Germany and Finland-Sweden in late 2024.

🇵🇸🇮🇱 HAMAS-ISRAEL WAR
Reporter That Died

Here's what we are going to do today:

• Lay out what happened.

• Introduce the "reporter" at the center of this story.

• Review his online posts and any alleged ties to Hamas.

• Track how US legacy media covered the situation.

• Decide whether US legacy media presented the story honestly.

We know a short newsletter and a few social posts cannot fully reveal someone’s motives, but we will judge whether the material we have is enough to reach a fair conclusion.

What Happened

Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif and five other reporters were killed in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike late Sunday.

• Accusation: Israel alleged al-Sharif led a Hamas cell, a claim both he and Al Jazeera rejected as false.

• Casualties: Six journalists killed outside Shifa Hospital, five of them Al Jazeera staffers.

• Reaction: UN, Amnesty, CPJ, and Foreign Press Association condemned the strike as a “targeted assassination.”

• Reports: Online news articles claim Israel provided no evidence of al-Sharif’s ties to Hamas. Is this accurate?

Who Was He?

Al-Sharif, 28, had reported for Al Jazeera for about two years, documenting the Israel-Hamas war from inside Gaza City.

• Birthplace: Raised in Jabalia, one of Gaza’s most densely populated areas.

• Career: Worked for Al Jazeera for two years; previously affiliated with a Hamas media team (as understood by the BBC).

• Family Life: Married with two children, Sham (4) and Salah (1).

• Losses: His father was killed in an Israeli strike in December 2023.

• Reputation: Described by colleagues as “honest,” “courageous,” and “the only voice left in Gaza City.”

IDF Evidence

Let’s start with what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says ties al-Sharif to Hamas.

• They point to documents they say were found in Gaza, naming al-Sharif as a Hamas fighter in the Northern Gaza Strip Brigade, and noting his name in Hamas's list of injured soldiers.

• But critics call the spreadsheet “fake,” and even those who think it’s real note the injury happened in 2017—hardly a reason, they argue, to target someone in 2025.

Telegram Posts

Now, let’s dig into what al-Sharif posted (then deleted) on Telegram on October 7, 2023.

• This is a Wayback snapshot of his Telegram post from that day.

• Some critics call it fake. However, Wayback snapshots are taken at the time. You can’t retroactively add a snapshot later.

  • The skeptics point out that clicking the raw post link now directs users to al-Sharif’s Telegram page, rather than to the original post.

  • That’s because he deleted it. That’s why there’s a snapshot of it. So the real question is, why did he delete it?

A few days later, he posted another one, which is still on his Telegram.

• The image is too graphic to show here unfiltered.

• Description: The post includes a photo of a man stomping on the bloodied head of a dead Israeli soldier, plus the caption:

  
  “Whenever you feel that morale is not good! Remember that we hit them on the head in the middle of their military positions.”

Hamas Leadership

Here are photos of al-Sharif alongside Hamas leadership.

• Many are saying that if you can get that close to Hamas leaders, you’re either tied to them or under their protection.

• Skeptics insist the images are "photoshopped".

  • In other words, their argument isn’t that such photos would be harmless; it’s that they’re fake. Following that train of logic, that means if the photos and documents turned out to be authentic, even the skeptics admit they’d be damning.

CBS Mornings

Now that we have gone through all of this, watch this CBS Mornings coverage of the story.

Conclusion

It’s no surprise Al Jazeera would paint al-Sharif as a brave, noble reporter while framing Israel as the villain. They’ve long had a soft spot for Gaza, thanks in no small part to their Qatari government funding.

But seeing Western outlets like CNN put out something like this?

That’s another story.

Once again, it’s not just the hero worship that’s unsettling.

• It’s that they don’t even seem interested in testing the IDF’s claims. It’s the fact that they simply claim that the IDF provided "little evidence" without presenting what the IDF provided.

• After everything we’ve laid out above, there’s still no solid proof he was an active Hamas operative at the time of his death. Sure, you can make educated guesses, but you don’t need to twist the reporting to do that.

So the real question is: why are they spinning it this way?