growing far more negative. with the death toll rising in gaza and memories facing of hamas' atrocities; killing families, children, babies, taking civilian hostages. all of which i think should be mentioned every day. much of the mainstream press is growing more skeptical and in some cases outright hostile. look at the verbiage by this cbs news anchor. >> we begin tonight with israel's invasion of gaza i go -- growing more intense. howard: not israel's realuation for a war started by hamas which is dedicated to wiping it off the map. bibi netanyahu's government didn't help itself by bombing the largest refugee center, and i get it, the israelis were targeting and killed a top hamas commander. hamas because this kind of embedding everywhere, using its own people as human shields, but many just position on the civilian deaths. watch this exchange between cnn's wolf blitzer and israeli military spokesman richard hecht. >> israel still dropped a bomb there attempting to kill this hamas commander knowing that a lot of innocent civilians, men, women and children, presumably, would be killed? is that what i'm hearing? >> that's not what you're hearing. look we, again, were focused on this commander concern. >> but you mow that there are a lot of -- know that there were a lot of refugees, innocent civilians, in in that refugee camp as a well, right? >> this is the tragedy of war. howard: the larger tragedy is how many people are blaming israel for the brutal and bloody war started by hamas and the rising tide of appalling anti-semitism that this conflict has unleashed around the world. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ howard: ahead, the backlash against some states for trying to kick donald trump9 off the ballot, and a closer look after all these years at the last beatles' song. much of the growing media criticism of israel and its war tactics is coming from left-leaning shows. >> i think most supporters of israel would agree with benjamin netanyahu in many ways except the benjamin netanyahu part. he will be remembered as the man responsible for the greatest slaughter of j jews since the holocaust. >> how expend bl are they if they have the head guy hiding within the refugee camp? >> they said there were hamas militants underneath, basically, in tunnels. but there's no back and forth here, we know they did. >> the perception of biden's ownership of this war will only grow as israel expands and extends its siege of gaza. >> it won't protect israelis, but it will kill an awful lot of children in gaza. >> nothing but vile, virulent, anti-semitic rhetoric. we've seen swastikas, chants for israel to be wiped off the map, calls for jews to be annihilated, if they do all of this while pretending to be peace-loving victims of oppression. it's the repulsive, it's disgusting. howard: now the spotlight is shifting to the house where new speaker mike johnson passed a bill providing bad arely-needed military aid to israel but zero funding the democrats want for ukraine. joining us now to analyze the cover average, mary katherine hamm and kevin walling who calls himself a joe biden democrat. mary katherine, mike johnson is drawing media flak for not going along with what even some republican senators including mitch mcconnell want to do which is pass an immediate bill tying aid to israel and ukraine. fair or unfair criticism? >> there can be criticism, but the most important part of the formulation is passed a bill, right? once you've passed a bill, part of your responsibility is taken care of, and part of the respondent so to negotiate with you -- the responsibility is to negotiate with you and manage to get something out of it. it includes something the president very much wants, israel funding. it includes cloodz it in a way that he doesn't like. i think we should cover that as media as a negotiation because that's what it is. howard: mike johnson sort of deflected questions and says he favors the second bill aiding ukraine, but the border security must come first. kevin, in his political bay -- debut, why would mike johnson take an israel-only stance? or is it a miscalculation tying the two together by joe biden? >> well, howie, it's clearly a win for the speaker because he kid get something past the finish line, that's something that torpedo'd kevin mccarthy back in september. that's what he's totally focused on, is maintaining that support from the caucus. i think, you know, the president and the team made a calculated decision to link all of these as aspects of the funding whether it be also the situation in taiwan and fighting the communist ccp there as well. and that was the determination of getting all four of those key components together instead of piecemeal because, again, some aspects are not popular with some democrats. howard: yeah. hill politics can be confusing, but is it a misstep, mary katherine, that you pass a bill that democrats are saying won't even be taken up by the senate, and president biden says he's veto? aren't you delaying aid to everybody in. >> well, you heavy noticed that the house is -- you may have noticed that the house is somewhat troublesome when it comes to getting everybody on the same page. [laughter] so i think when you have them on the same page on something as important as israel, you take the win that you can get, which i think johnson is focused on. and that gives you leverage to the at least. >> have this conversation and say, look, we did the thing. do you want the thing or not? howard: okay. so, kevin, what about the new speaker's argument that in order to pay for the aid to israel, $14 billion, we're going to take away $14 billion that biden got passed last year for the irs? >> well, this has been described by the president and others as a poison pill, and it's exactly what that is. the i.r.a. was one of the key components of a legislative win for the president. any efforts to dismantle that by piecemeal approach is not going to fly with this white house. and it's not the administration, it's republicans who said this is not going anywhere in the. upper chamber despite the house passing this bill. howard: right. and the congressal budget office, which is nonpartisan, says it would actually lose $26 billion because of the lost income from tax audits. all right. of the new peeker was elected so quickly that he didn't undergo media vetting, and now you have this is torrent of things he said saw -- 15 years ago, how he supported gay conversion therapy and america should be a christian nation. he responded to that on "fox news sunday." take a look. >> look, there are entire industries built on tearing down people like me. i understand that comes the with the territory. i've been labeled all kinds of stuff, but these people don't know me. howard: do these media attacks and criticism hurt him? he's already got the job. >> he does have the job and, but the attempt is to tie him in problematic stories about him to republicans who are running, right? this is a classic tactic. look, he reads like a vacation bible school dad on tv, right? i'm not sure that it's super easy to demonize him. nancy pelosi is a special character in that she helped a lot of the republicans work really hard for a generation to the make her sort of radioactive to the voting population and normal voters. i don't thinkst easy to do that quickly and certainly not with somebody who reads like that on tv. howard: yeah. and it's hard to do with somebody nobody had heard of before he got the speaker's job. so let's take the wider view now. kevin, do you see world and media opinion as i was saying mt. open turning on israel especially with the bombing of the refugee camp and an ambulance convoy? again, israel says -- [inaudible] >> no, you're absolutely right. we've seen that, this is day 30 of the war on hamas. you've seen that coverage shift. you've seen it even shift in the early days of the conflict against hamas in terms of the coverage whether it be the language between killing or murder or just in terms of -- or death just in terms of headlines. you're seeing that process play out, certainly. >> there are disadvantages in covering gaza because there's no one on the ground there as reporters, or very few. and the reason is because that's not a free democratic nation as israel is that allows that, right? >> 100%. >> you have to have the press to contextualize things. i think we should contextualize that. there's also the temptation to move to a next-phase story. we shouldn't move past the original attack, and that's some of what's going on. and there's an ideological bias toward this idea that's populated through the media that the oppression press -- oppressed has a right to retaliate in any shape or form while the oppressor gets very critical coverage, and in this case israel is the oppressor, and that's what you see in these protests and, unfortunately, too many newsrooms. howard: yeah. in fact, a new york times writer just resign after publicly embracing hamas. if top hamas official in a lend news tv the interview said they would do to israel again what they did on october 7th again and again. and then asked by the anchor if his goal was israel's annihilation, he said, yes, of course. so how do you, you know, people say israel should have a ceasefire, israel should negotiate. how do you negotiate with a terrorist group that has that a view of, you know, you don't have a right to exist? >> howie, there's no negotiating with hamas. hamas must be wiped off the face of the earth for any progress to happen for the palestinian people to begin with. this is a terrorist organization that has put down any semblance of free elections, they don't represent the majority of palestinians in the gaza strait. i'm hopeful, i saw the secretary of state over in the region, he was many jordan talking with the palestinian authority the in the west bank. i think we need to wipe hamas off the face of the earth and pivot back to actual conversations of a two-state solution where these people live many freedom and security with hamas off the map. howard: when a blood thirsty russian mob went searching for jews in an a airport where they clearly wanted to kill that just landed from tel aviv,-the associated press headline: crowd storms russian airport to protest flight of israel. protest? seriously? it was later changed -- >> but it was a very specific word that also starts with a p, pogrom. they're going after jews for their earth misty and religion, it's very scary to see, and covering it clearly is necessary. howard: yeah. but you made an interesting point about, you know, we all know about the news cycle and it moves on and what's the latest news and what happened yesterday. by way, for the first time yesterday there were a few reporters met into gaza with the israeli military including our trey yingst who will be on the program a little later. so you're sort of fighting against a lot of the instincts of the news business, and then, you know, there are also people in this business, the opinion business, who as mary katherine said, put israel in the role of oppressor leaving out facts that israel withdrew from gaza in 2005 and left it for them to run. and you can see they put lots of money into rockets rather hand helping their own people. >> 100%. and trey has been, obviously, excellent on the ground, incredible reporting. one of the things he has said, this idea of fog of war, that we are allowing to -- allowed to get things wrong, that we're allowed to manipulate coverage because of the fog of war. and trey has effectively spoken against that. we need to get the facts right on the ground. that's sometimes difficult, obviously, with a leadership in gaza that doesn't allow free are press, free exchange, free coverage. howard: right. and we saw the wolf blitzer exchange that, yes, israel was targeting hamas which embeds itself under hospitals, even used the ambulances for their wounded soldiers, the second part of that often gets lost. a lot of people see here, maybe selectively, israel dropped the bomb, and there were civilian casualties. >> i think we have to be grown-ups about what war looks like, because everyone can make the point that civilian loss of life is tragedy thetic, but hiding behind civilians is itself a war crime. civilian targets exclusively as hamas does are war crimes. and they have to defend themselves against this. what reporters should can ask themselves, do you care about civilian life and war crimes only when israel one that you can blame, or do you care about hem when hamas is making this problem both for israel and their own people repeatedly? howard: ahead, hunter biden says his prosecution is unfair because he was an addict. but when we come back, covering the the rising scourge of anti-semitism right here in our country. ♪ my brain. so i choose new neuriva ultra. unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including mental alertness from one serving. to help keep me sharp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger. dry skin is sensitive skin, too. and it's natural. treat it that way with aveeno® daily moisture. formulated with nourishing, prebiotic oat. it's clinically proven to moisturize dry skin for 24 hours. aveeno® >> tech: cracked windshield on your new car? bring it to safelite. my customer was enjoying her new car, when her windshield cracked. [gasp] >> customer: my car! >> tech vo: she didn't take it to the dealer. she scheduled with safelite. we have the latest technology for the newest vehicles. and we do more replacements and recalibrations than anyone else. >> customer: thank you so much. >> tech: don't wait-- schedule now. ♪ pop music ♪ >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ we're building a better postal service. for more on-time deliveries. and easier, affordable ways to ship. so you can deliver even more holiday joy. the united states postal service. delivering for america. howe the surge in anti-semitism here and around the world is frightening and heartbreaking. cornell university student charged with threatening to the slit the throats of vews at the school, a star of david being painted on homes where jews live. that russian airport mob hunting down jews who just landed from tel aviv. christopher wray testifieses he's worried about a major attack by foreign or domestic terrorists. >> i will say that this is a threat that is reaching in some ways sort of historic levels. in part because, as you know all too well, the jewish community is targeted by terrorists really across the spectrum. howard: protesters covered in fake blood disrupted another hearing when secretary of state blinken was testifying. >> ceasefire now! save the children of gaza! e. >> not in the face of intensifying competition concern. >> -- the u.s. is supporting a brute almas kerr, shame on you! howard: the rapidly rising surge in anti-semitism here where with jews are just 2 of the country, i don't think you have to be -- 2% of the country, i don't think you have to be jewish to be disgusted by what is going on. >> no, and it can be uncomfortable if part of your coalition -- look, it happens on both sides, they can find common cause, white nationalists and those who are pro-hamas and pro-palestinian crowd, it becomes uncomfortable to criticize that because it's like, oh, this was my place, and now i feel politically homeless, and this is going to make things uncomfortable for me. it has to be done because much of this is so beyond the pale. and, yes, some of it's free expression, and i want the allow for that finish. howard: peaceful protests, absolutely fine. >> credible threats, violence, shutting down other people's speech, these things should be punished particularly on campus where it's the out of hand. howard: right. particularly on campus, but it has spread far beyond with these major demonstrations. kevin, when you have the fbi head saying he peers a large attack against -- fears a large attack against jews, he shows it's not just hype. >> especially to your point on college campuses, the city scares -- squares, it's been fueling so much of this menialty.. responsible for 60% of the religious-based threats in this country. 2% to 60%. threats of anti-semitism is up 400% just in the last year. last weekend we marked five years since the tree of life massacre where 11 jews were slaughtered in their congregation, so this has always been a common thread in this country and around the world, but certainly the coverage has fueled a lot of what we're seeing in terms of that rise. howard: yeah. anti-semitism is not new, but it has been dormant at times or lower level, and now it's just exploding. i think what's particularly appalling is that many of the people cheering on hamas are left-wing professors at schools, intellectuals, pundits, and hay seem absolutely fine to ignore or not even try to defend the atrocities we talked about committed by hamas that is that righted this war. >> right. -- that started the war. right. it feels they're patting themselves on the back for being humanitarians while not condemning the death of some 1500 innocent civilians, many of them children, old ladies. it's insane to sort of bypass that. howard: unthinkable. >> and that is because of this sort of oppression sor -- oppressor/oppressed ideology that gives them license to feel like they're the good guy while doing so, and that is a poisonous ideology that's desperate not just to the humanitarian teachers and professors, but down to students as well. and you see it on these campuses. howard: yeah e. starting with harvard and a lot of other campuses. let's take a look at "the new york post" cover from the other day, not a shred of decency. that's it, drop the banner. i think, kevin, our colleague, guy benson, writes that he is seething with rage when pro-hamas protesters rip down posters put up with pictures of israeli and some american hostages. even when they're called out on video, they're not embarrassed by it. i'm sorry, how sick do you have to be to do that? >> they're tearing down posters of young israeli babies off the streets. if there's one maybe good thing to come out of this, it's to see ordinary new yorkers confronting these individuals, right? not giving them license to do it, putting a face and an image in these videos, confronting these folks that aren't even jewish that stand with their jewish brothers and sisters against this kind of intolerance that we're seeing play out with these people taking down posters. >> we saw the construction worker, i believe, who spoke -- >> talk about a typical new yorker a too. >> you know what was fantastic about it, including the the profanity? he gave an explanation of how free speech is supposed to work which is he said you're welcome to the put up your own posters, and i'll disagree with them, but you're not allowed to take them down. that's not part of the deal in america. and i loved that. and we could sort of sanction people accordingly, we'd be in a better place. howard: i want to be fair here. s fine to say the palestinians are getting a raw deal in gaza. it is also fine to grieve for innocent palestinian families who are caught in the crossfire. not deliberately, but when you drop a lot of bombs, that's what happens. but then you cross over into this tearing down the posters, hatred of israel, blaming israel for everything even though israel did not start this war. >> i truly have trouble understanding it. what is the viewpoint being expressed here that you don't think these people exist? you don't think -- they're sort of inconvenient facts to you? they're children. they've been there a month now. st it's horrifying. >> and you do have a lot of palestinians that left their home. so i do want to balance this a little bit. but we can't forget how this war started, what atrocities, you know, and we keep repeatin