Tom Cotton Slams AP, ‘Whiny Reporters’ After Gaza Offices Bombed: ‘AP Has Some Uncomfortable Questions to Answer’

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) has not-so-subtly suggested that the Associated Press knew that Hamas had offices in the Gaza tower where the AP had been housed for at least 15 years.

“Why is the Associated Press sharing a building with Hamas? Surely these intrepid reporters knew who their neighbors were,” Cotton said, his sarcasm clear.

“Did they knowingly allow themselves to be used as human shields by a US-designated terrorist organization? Did the AP pull its punches and decline to report for years on Hamas’ misdeeds?” Cotton continued.

“I submit that the AP has some uncomfortable questions to answer, yet the AP and its fellow journalists are in high dudgeon about Israel’s wholly appropriate air strike. Leave it to whiny reporters to make themselves the story and the victim when terrorists are shooting missiles at innocent civilians,” Cotton added

Israeli forces Saturday destroyed a tower in Gaza that house the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and other media organizations. Israel has claimed that Hamas operated out of the building, making it a legitimate military target, and gave tenants and residents one hour to evacuate.

Sally Buzbee, the AP’s executive editor, has said that before the bureau received word to evacuate out, she was never informed, and never had any indication, that Hamas might be in the building.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that he hasn’t seen any evidence supporting Israel’s claim that Hamas operated out of the building, according to the AP.

Cotton’s claim that the AP declined to report on Hamas “for years” is likely based on a claim from a former AP reporter, who wrote in a 2014 opinion piece that reporters at the news outlet’s Gaza bureau turned a blind eye to Hamas. AP said the former reporter’s claims are “filled with distortions, half-truths and inaccuracies.”

Watch above, via C-SPAN.