I'm fairly certain the timing was to do with the fiftieth anniversary of the Yom Kippur war.
The press struggles with critical thinking at the best of times.
The conflation of Palestine and Hamas has to be one of the biggest things that irks me at the moment - would be like stating the IRA was acting on the behalf of Ireland between the 60s and 90s. The media not understanding the difference between Israel, its people, its government and Semitism is another; Israel does not speak for the whole of Judaism. Many in Israel are critical of their government. People should scrutinise the actions of governments and states.