Remember Newsmax’s junket to Israel, where it dished out pro-Israeli propaganda for the benefit of its hosts? Newsmax never revealed who tagged along on the trip — but we know of one eager propagandist who took part: the Media Research Center’s Joseph Vazquez.
After 10 days of silence while he was on the junket, he cranked out a couple posts from it after he got back. First up was an Aug. 19 post dutifully parroting one official spouting right-wing anti-media talking points:
Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce (OJC) CEO Duvi Honig unloaded on the American leftist media for repeatedly behaving as apologists for Hamas and jihadi radicals seeking to smear the state of Israel. He didn’t mince any words.
The OJC is a “global umbrella” organization that “unites all factions of the global Jewish community’s business sphere – making an immense contribution to both the community’s businesses and professionals, and the business world at large,” according to its website.
Honig spoke to me at the iconic King David Hotel in Jerusalem during my trip with Newsmax’s delegation to Israel.
When asked about his take on how outlets like The New York Times and CNN have continued to propagate falsehoods and gaslighting that benefitted Hamas’s anti-Semitic agenda, Honig answered in two words, “Hate blinds.”
[…]I asked Honig what would be his message to the editors and leadership of America’s top newsrooms that continue to make the situation in Gaza worse by elevating Hamas’s talking points and fueling anti-Israel hatred around the world. He was very blunt: “There’s a big saying: Ignorance is bliss. In this case, ignorance is NOT bliss. Ignorance is danger. There’s so much information out there. If you’re looking for the truth, all you have to do is look for the truth.”
There is no evidence that Vazquez bothered to fact-check anything Honig said — after all, he’s a propagandist, not an actual reporter.
The next day, Vazquez served up more pro-Israel propaganda — with the help of an anonymous person:
The servicemen and women of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are no strangers to the incessant haranguing they endure at the hands of the global media doing Hamas and Hezbollah’s dirty propaganda work for them. One soldier decided to make his voice heard and hold the anti-Israel media to account.
A member of the newly created elite rapid response reserve Pereh (“Wild”) unit in the Golan Heights was one of four who talked with the recent Newsmax delegation to Israel, which included MRC staff. The highly trained unit made up of locals “was established as part of the process of improving the operational response in the Golan Heights, with an emphasis on creating a division-level force multiplier,” according to Jewish News Syndicate.
One of the questions posed to us by the servicemen was about the state of the information war against them, which we admitted was still decidedly hostile and vitriolic. I asked the servicemen if they had a message they wanted to share to the media continuing to falsely smear them as the antagonists in the ongoing war in both the North and the South.
The service member who answered — who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his identity — was very blunt in pointing out the extent of the damage that the global media and international leaders are doing not just to the Jewish people, but to the Palestinians in Gaza they claim to care about. “Almost every move that you’re seeing — especially on an international level — of ‘We’re going to recognize a Palestinian state’ and stuff like that,” said the soldier, “That act emboldens Hamas to say, ‘Oh great, this is a win for us….Any opportunity that they have to twist the truth, change the truth — whatever it is — will be taken and people are eating it up.’
Vazquez’s employer has long denounced the use of anonymous sources (when it suits its right-wing narratives, anyway), making Vazquez’s use of it more than a little ironic.
Also note that Vazquez admitted it was not just himself but also “MRC staff” who tagged along. How many people from the MRC went on the junket? Who paid for their airfare and lodging? A trip halfway around the world is not inexpensive, after all. MRC staffers have been making increased appearances on Newsmax’s TV channel as of late, as well as promoting the channel — was that a factor on compensation and participation?
Vazquez cranked out another propaganda piece in an Aug. 26 post:
The leader of a Druze village in the Golan Heights spoke out against the efforts by the world media and the left to dismiss the story of the recent slaughter and raping of his people’s kin in Syria by radical Islamic terrorists and Syrian government forces.
During the Newsmax delegation to Israel, we visited the Ein Qiniyye village on the southern foothills of Mount Hermon, and spoke with Druze mayor Wael Moghrabi about the plight of the Druze people.
Not only did he praise Israel for intervening in Syria to halt the carnage through a bevy of airstrikes, but he emphasized that the attempts by Islamists to exterminate his people underscore why the media and the left whitewashing the story is nothing short of barbaric: “Just like the Nazis in the past, their goal is one: They want to eradicate the Druze community and then they want to eradicate Israel.” He continued, offering up a strong warning to the world media: “They will come with tens of thousands of jihadis to the border with Israel and they will try to eliminate us.”
Vazquez added: “MRC Business decided to use the opportunity with the Ein Qiniyye mayor to tell the Druze story that the world media was ignoring.” What, exactly, does this story have to do with anything related with MRC Business? Sounds like Vazquez is trying to manufacture a justification for peddling his propaganda.
An anonymously written Sept. 3 post summarized the junket:
The Media Research Center was represented in a major Newsmax delegation to Israel hosted by the globally recognized faith-based group Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce to show solidarity with the Jewish State against the anti-Semitic propaganda by the world media. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the delegation during a keynote speech, and U.S. President Donald Trump later affirmed its importance.
Everywhere we went, the message from the people on the ground and in government was the same: The global media are lying about Israel as they nefariously attempt to paint the Jewish State as the real antagonist of a war that murderous terrorists started. The evidence we witnessed on the field confirms this. At the Newsmax July 4th Celebration Gala for U.S. journalists, Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce guest Netanyahu stated that there were “seven fronts” Israel was fighting against global terror sponsor “Iran and its proxies.” However, said Netanyahu, there’s an “eighth front, the battle for truth. And Newsmax, you have let the truth circle the globe against the lies.”
Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese, who was part of the Newsmax delegation, recently sat down with Trump upon her return during an exclusive interview, where the topic of Israel was discussed.
[…]What was accomplished in the week-long delegation (Aug. 10 – Aug. 15) was nothing short of exemplary. Not only did the delegates — which featured prominent figures like Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz and former CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Malcolm Hoenlein — tour the major Christian and Jewish holy sites around Jerusalem, but MRC and its allies were given access to on-the-ground information by IDF leaders such as the Hatzerim Airbase Commander, and Israeli government figures such as President Isaac Herzog, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar regarding the continuing warfare with terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
But if the MRC is so proud of having taken part in this junket, why did the author of this post choose to remain anonymous? It’s as if someone has something to hide. Still, our anonymous author made sure to gush that “Honig and MRC Business Associate Editor Joseph Vazquez immediately struck up a friendship during the trip.”
Did you write this, Joe? If so, why are you ashamed to put your name on it?