Imagine you're at a coffee shop working on a book review, and a man approaches and pours a scalding hot americano on your head. The police (and probably an ambulance) arrive and ask for an account of what happened. And then, inexplicably, the only witness tells them that "the hot coffee found this patron's head, officer." You might conclude, even without evidence, that this witness's bizarre account was meant to cover for the coffee attacker's crime.
This is often what it feels like to read the mainstream American press's coverage of Israel's assaults on Gaza. It's felt this way for a long time.