Amid ongoing exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran, a report by a Chinese state media outlet claimed that "an Iranian missile directly hit the campus of Chinese students in Israel," which quickly shot to the top of Weibo’s trending list. The article subsequently faced a flood of criticism from netizens, who accused it of deliberately misleading people into believing that China’s students had been intentionally targeted by the bombing; the report was soon taken down.
On the morning of the 20th, the official Weibo account of “China Blue News,” the integrated media center of Zhejiang Radio and Television Group, cited a report from CCTV News: on the 19th, the first batch of 119 Chinese nationals in Israel successfully entered Egypt via the Taba Border Crossing that connects Egypt and Israel.
According to the report, interviewed Chinese students said that an Iranian missile had directly hit their campus. They stated that during the evacuation, the entire route was coordinated and safety ensured by the Chinese embassy, and that all arrangements—from evacuation to cross-border transfer—were “well organized,” with no major obstacles.
However, China Blue News used the headline “Iranian missile directly hits Chinese students’ campus in Israel” to highlight the story of the official evacuation operation. After the news was released, it immediately jumped to the top of Weibo’s trending search, provoking a wave of criticism from netizens.
In their messages on Weibo, netizens questioned in turn: Was the Israeli school that was bombed only attended by Chinese students? Is it a campus used exclusively by Chinese students? Why deliberately emphasize ‘Chinese students’? With what intention?
Some netizens criticized China Blue News for chasing attention and for deliberately misleading the public into believing that Iran was targeting Chinese students. Neither Israeli nor foreign media had reported any Israeli university being hit by missiles. “By the logic of this news, when I was traveling in Tokyo and experienced an earthquake, should the headline read ‘Japan’s Tokyo earthquake directly damages Chinese blogger’s hotel’?”
Many netizens stressed that attacking military facilities is one thing, but attacking schools, hospitals, and residential areas should be condemned no matter who does it. On the other hand, some netizens supportive of Iran argued that since Israel has long bombed civilian areas in Gaza, Iran’s response was a proportional retaliation.
This China Blue News report was subsequently removed, and the Weibo trending topic “Iranian missile directly hits Chinese students’ campus in Israel” was demoted by the evening.