It’s often a mistake to judge an article by its headline, but not when the headline is the entire reason for the article. The latest Washington Post “report” on the Israeli strike in Doha is a case in point of an article being written just so the paper had an excuse to post the headline.

Here’s the headline and subheadline:

“With Qatar attack, which countries has Israel struck since October 2023?

“Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 incursion, Israel has invaded Gaza and attacked five countries, including Iran and Syria.”

The Post assumes that most readers will stop there, because—well, what is there left to say except for adding possible context? And who’s reading the Washington Post for context?

As if that headline combo wasn’t enough to deter further pursuit, it is followed first by a map highlighting all the countries and territories Israel has “attacked” since October 7, 2023.

Eventually, there is an article. And that article eventually gets to this point: “Attacks against Israel have been launched from nearly as many states, though Qatar has never targeted it.”

Oh. So the map of states Israel has “attacked” is actually a map of states that have attacked Israel. Seems to be an important distinction!

The article then divides that map into subsections, with potted explanations of each country’s role in the conflict. Just to give you an idea of how atrocious the article is in full, here is the entirety of just one section—Lebanon:

“Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s leader Hasan Nasrallah in September 2024 in an airstrike, likely using U.S.-made 2,000-pound bombs on a residential complex in southern Beirut, following a year of cross-border strikes between Israel and Lebanon.

“Thousands of Hezbollah foot soldiers were killed or maimed in an unprecedented Israeli attack earlier that month when Mossad blew up thousands of pagers. Israel also sent in ground troops to invade southern Lebanon before a ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and France went into effect Nov. 27.

“Lebanon has struggled to recover from the impacts of the conflict that has displaced tens of thousands of people and devastated villages across the country’s south.”

That’s it—that’s the whole Israel-Lebanon conflict in the eyes of the Washington Post’s ace reporters. Every other section is written exactly the same way: here are the times in the past two years Israel has struck this country.

It would be a mistake to call this article useless, although if you’re trying to understand the Middle East then this article is, in fact, useless. But it’s more sinister than that. What is the point of an article examining one side in a war that that side did not start? The point of such an article is not just to call into question the justifications for Israel’s strikes but to wink and nod at all who think Israel kinda sorta maybe deserved Oct. 7.

Indeed, here’s how the article phrases the post-Oct. 7 expansion of hostilities: “In the nearly two years since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the country’s campaign to destroy the militant group in Gaza has sprawled into a web of interconnected conflicts across the region — involving Israeli strikes in the Palestinian territories and five countries, with Tuesday’s strike on Qatar expanding the fight to the Persian Gulf.”

Hamas attacked Israel, then Israel struck back at Hamas and yadda yadda yadda Qatar. The war is portrayed as though Israel was aiming at Gaza but accidentally sprayed bullets all over the region.

For example: In April of last year, Iran fired over 300 drones and missiles at Israel. This incident is not included in the Iran section of the article. It is added as an afterthought at the end of the Syria section.

Which brings us to Qatar. The article tells us that “Qatar has never targeted” Israel. But is that really true? Qatar sponsors and hosts Hamas. Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Qatar. Should a terrorist group’s leaders have immunity because they are in a country that hasn’t committed a state act of violence against Israel, but instead relied on nonstate groups it supports to carry out asymmetric warfare against Israel and the West? Whichever way you answer that question “Qatar has never targeted [Israel]” is undeniably insufficient phrasing.

There is another way to read the map, though. If you keep in mind what preceded Israel’s strikes, the Washington Post is actually showing us how far afield are the enemies of the Jewish state, and from how many directions the attacks on Israel are coming. Why are countries far from Israel attacking Israel? That might be a more useful question to ask.