Sunday 28 December 2008

A neat trick

The media don’t report the rocket attacks the Israelis are subjected to on a daily basis so everyone can express outrage when, at the end of their tether, the real victims decide to respond in kind.

For the past few days, I’ve listened to the news with trepidation and heard the now- familiar biased wringing of hands, as it were, but I was pleasantly surprised by a journalist’s blog. The post itself was the usual hypocritical waffle about ‘disproportionate response’, but a lot of the comments were taking the author to task about it, and that was unexpected and rather heartening.


Update (1/01/09): Watch this.

9 comments:

  1. I hate that the reporting on what goes on there is so filtered and biased. I know we don't see the half of *either* side, where I am. If you don't mind sharing the link (publicly or privately), I would love to see the post and comments you're referring to.

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  2. I'm pleased to notice that the Times seems to be careful to mention the rocket attacks in the first few paragraphs of its stories on this.

    No-one seems to question the thinking of placing potential military targets next to schools and in civilian areas, I notice.

    I feel that the Palestinians are very ill served by their leadership.

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  3. To follow on from GSE's comment about the Palestinian leadership, one journalist (Michael Burleigh) does at least say: 'Hamas is pathologically anti-Semitic, rather than anti-Israel, and dedicated to creating an Islamist state in Gaza. There are no prospects of it entering into a lasting peace settlement with Israel. Negotiating with it is as impossible as us seeking to reason with al Qaeda.' Surely this is one of the main issues - it's utterly pointless us all sitting here in the West demanding that everyone aim for a peace settlement when that's really not what Hamas want.

    It will be interesting to see what Obama has to say, and how much he understands, when he weighs in in three weeks' time.

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  4. Yes, and the BBC is by far the worst in terms of its weighted coverage.
    When Palestinian rockets kill Palestinian children is much made of it? Of course not.
    What is happening to ordinary Palestinians trying to live their lives quietly is appalling, but why is the blame always and solely pointed at Israel?
    What is Hamas doing for the people who elected it? Trying to find a way forward that will lead to peace and a real chance for the Palestinians to build their own state? I don't think so. Are they trying to protect their own people or are they putting them in more danger and increasing their misery? Undoubtedly.
    All Israel wants, is for its neighbours to recognise its right to exist in peace within secure borders. Is that an unreasonable desire? Hardly.

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  5. This is the blog post in question, T: I truly didn't expect so many pro-Israel comments. You might also want to read this.

    GSE, they - and others - did indeed mention the rocket attacks, but after going on about the Israeli raids: the resulting impression on the audience cannot possibly the same as if they'd reporting the attacks day after day, as they were happening. The 'enough is enough' feeling would have been shared by everyone instead of the raids seemingingly happening out of the blue.

    For as long as I remember, the Palestinians have used their own people as human shields. It's not a new strategy and it's only ever mentioned 'en passant'.

    The Palestinians elected murderers to be their leaders, they must face the consequence.

    Absolutely, L. It's what Golda meant when she said, 'Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.' There is no point discussing with people who are intent on killing you regardless.

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  6. I'm always on your side. I trust Israel.

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  7. Well, as one that lives in northern Israel and suffered of Hizbullah rockets many times (last time was the summer of 2006) i can say only this:
    Can you imagine a town in England or France or USA or even New Zealand suffers from enemy rockets attack for 8 years!!! Just Imagine...
    What would your government or army would do then...

    spare me your answers.

    I know that it is may be not "exactly" related to Bela's post subject but you might forgive me (and for my not good enough English)

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  8. A little while ago, News BBC had a heading along the lines of 'Israel rejects UN ceasefire call'. I was somewhat peeved by this, since a good way down the article they happend to mention that Hamas had also rejected it. Now the headline has been changed to "UN ceasefire call goes unheeded', followed by 'The UN's first truce call is dismissed by both sides'. I wonder if someone has complained.

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  9. I may be an incurable sceptic, but this is one instance where I happen to believe that both "sides" (Hamas and the Israeli leadership) are "wrong". I don't think that for one to be "wrong", the other must be "right".
    Looking at what is going on in that region of the world, and the attitudes prevailing, it would be comical were it not so tragic. Spiteful little children, armed with bombs, guns and prejudice, led by moral inadequates without the strength of character to bring their followers to adulthood.
    I spent some time in Israel and Egypt many years ago, and my father was a refugee in Israel soon after the war. His own views on the state of Israel were shaped by the death in the bombing of the King David Hotel of the friendly policeman who used to go around the camps talking to and helping the families washed up from all over Europe; Jewish, gentile. The flotsam.
    Little in the world is black and white, but sometimes you have to accept that the ink has run so much that both sides of the line are too dark a grey to be acceptable.

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