In the latest example of journalistic malpractice, ABC News came under fire this week for referring to Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza as “detainees” — adopting language that critics say reflects the perspective of a brutal terrorist organization rather than the facts on the ground.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that in an article published Tuesday about a proposed ceasefire deal, ABC reported that the agreement would see “about half of the total amount of detainees believed to still be alive in Gaza” released. The term “detainee”, generally used to describe individuals held by a recognized government or law enforcement authority, sparked immediate backlash from Jewish organizations, media watchdogs, and former hostages themselves.

“The Israelis being held in Gaza are hostages. Not ‘detainees,’” tweeted media watchdog Honest Reporting.
“A vicious terrorist group is holding them in Gaza’s tunnels. They have not been detained by a state army or police force.”

Under pressure, ABC quietly edited the article to refer in “one instance” to those held by Hamas as “hostages”, appending only a vague editor’s note at the bottom:

“This story has been updated to refer in one instance to those held by Hamas as hostages.”

No apology. No public correction. No social media update.

“Just casually calling Israeli hostages ‘detainees’ is about as insulting as it gets,” wrote Fox News media analyst Joe Concha on X (formerly Twitter).

The language shift is not an isolated incident. It reflects a broader trend among mainstream Western media outlets — many of which have been accused of framing coverage of the Israel-Hamas war through Hamas’s propaganda lens.

In March, international human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky noted ABC’s extreme anti-Israel bias in an article headlined “at least 20 killed in Gaza overnight as massive strikes continue”.

“Had they actually checked with IDF (whom they by the way refer to as ‘occupation forces’), they would have been informed this ‘leaflet’, which makes The Protocols of the Elders of Zion look mild – was not legit,” Ostrovsky tweeted. “But they reported it as fact.”

“Is this meant to be news, or an editorial? Because it reads more like Hamas-drafted propaganda, which by the way, only further incites and enflames the violence in Gaza and prevents the rescue of hostages.”

Earlier this year, The New York Times finally confirmed that Hamas had built and operated a military tunnel beneath the European Gaza Hospital — weeks after publicly questioning the existence of the tunnel and the Israeli Defense Forces’ credibility. Rather than condemning Hamas for militarizing a civilian medical facility, the Times described the tunnel as

“one of the war’s biggest Rorschach tests,”
suggesting it was merely a matter of perception rather than a clear violation of international law.

“This isn’t a psychological test,” one IDF source said.
“It’s a war crime. And the Times is gaslighting the world by pretending it’s up for debate.”

Likewise, The Washington Post ran a now-infamous March headline stating:

“Israeli Troops Kill Over 30 Near US Aid Site in Gaza, Health Officials Say,”
relying uncritically on Hamas’s own “Health Ministry” for the casualty figures and narrative. Following public outcry — and a report from the Washington Free Beacon — the Post eventually revised the headline and issued an editor’s note. But by then, the damage was done.

The media’s slanted language not only whitewashes Hamas’s crimes — it actively erases the suffering of the hostages still held in underground tunnels in Gaza. Over 120 hostages remain in captivity, many believed to be enduring torture, starvation, and psychological abuse.

Freed hostages have spoken of being beaten, shackled, and denied food or sunlight for months.
Eli Sharabi, who lost 40% of his body weight in Hamas captivity, told Israeli media:

“They chained me to a wall and left me in darkness. I didn’t know if my family was alive. When I got out, I learned they had killed my wife and daughters.”

Sharabi’s story moved former President Donald Trump to tears. He has since met with nine former hostages at the White House, including Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old American-Israeli dual citizen, who spent 584 days in captivity.

Yet these voices are frequently absent or downplayed in international coverage. Instead, media outlets quote Hamas figures as credible sources, use passive language to obscure terrorist intent, and treat Israel’s right to self-defense as morally suspect.

Words like “detainee”, “militant”, and “narrative battle” may seem like semantic choices, but in the context of terrorism, they function as weapons. When hostages are rebranded as “detainees,” and war crimes become “Rorschach tests,” the global media becomes an unwitting accomplice to terror.

As Honest Reporting put it:

“This is not a conflict between states. Therefore, none of those being held by Hamas are detainees or prisoners of war. They are hostages.”

In an age of disinformation, clarity is not just a journalistic obligation — it’s a moral imperative.
Mainstream outlets that obscure Hamas’s crimes with euphemisms and false equivalence are not reporting the news. They are laundering propaganda.

And the hostages — silenced, starving, suffering in Gaza’s terror tunnels — deserve far better than that.