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Thursday, August 30 2007August 30 Links
Negotiation Alone Won't Fix the Mideast Gaza’s Farce: Electricity and Missiles A Report Hezbollah Doesn't Want You to See
Here's the full Human Rights Watch report Hezbollah doesn't want you to see. It touched such a nerve that Hezbollah managed to get HRW's press conference called off. Don't expect Israel to suppress HRW activiites on Sept. 6, when the NGO releases its report on IDF activities. But Hezbollah doth protest too much. "I Hold Islamic Jihad Responsible"
A member of the Abu Ghazallah family who witnessed the airstrike said a rocket launcher was near the area where the children were playing. The relative, who declined to be named for fear of reprisal, said the launcher belonged to Islamic Jihad, an armed movement responsible for much of the rocket fire into Israel. UPDATE Aug. 30: The IDF arrested a 15-year-old boy with explosives who sought to kill soldiers in a suicide bombing. Wednesday, August 29 2007Child's Play, Again
Three Palestinian kids killed by IDF shelling of a Qassam rocket launcher. YNet News quoted an Israeli official saying: "The terror organizations are making cynical use of children, they are sending them to areas where the launchers are located, they are sending them to collect weapons and are consciously endangering them in places where there are IDF targets." The girl and two boys, ages 10-12, were members of the same family. Just a few days ago, two Palestinian kids apparently retrieving launchers for a rocket squad were also killed. You'd think the rocket squads would be man enough to retrieve the launchers themselves. Related reading: Hamas Presses Kids for Combat Duty Sky & BBC Analyst: Celebrating Nuclear Genocide
A London editor and frequent guest on Sky and BBC would publicly celebrate an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel. See HonestReporting-UK's latest communique: Sky & BBC Analyst: Celebrating Nuclear Genocide. Where's the Outrage?
Not so long ago, Israeli excavations at the adjacent Mughrabi Gate suffered such massive press coverage and misinformation the Antiquities Authority installed web cams. UPDATE Aug. 29: Reuters took note:
A labourer stands near an excavator on the plaza near the Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City August 29, 2007. Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday they fear priceless relics could be damaged by a mechanical digger being used by Muslim caretakers to carve out a utility trench at one of Jerusalem's holiest shrines. The work is being carried out on the plaza revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and by Jews as the Temple Mount. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM)
Great Expectations
View a great example of why we don't expect any better from the Arab media. Abd Al-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi told ANB Lebanese TV: If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight. The Jerusalem Post got pathetic reactions from both Sky News and BBC News 24, where Bari Atwan is a regular commentator. Related reading: Al Jazeera Editor Speaks Out Tuesday, August 28 2007That Uneasy Feeling
Sitting in a room with the top Hamas leader -- a man Israel would prefer dead -- is not an easy feeling, knowing that at any second a missile could shatter the building, killing everyone inside, myself included. Knowing the respect Hamas has for journalism in general and Alan Johnston in particular, we can understand why Perry would politely express a worry about Israel hitting a safehouse in Damascus. We can only wonder if he really meant it. Press Freedom: Hamas Tightens the Screws
As if being a journalist in Gaza was bad enough, AFP reports another turn of the screw on free reporting: Hamas said on Monday it planned to enforce a 12-year-old Palestinian press law designed to silence dissident journalists, amid a crackdown that has raised fierce protests from the local media. . . . This will have a very chilling effect. For better or worse, the MSM relies heavily on Palestinian stringers in Gaza, whose lives and families will be at risk. Related reading: Hamas Gunmen Become Media Watchdogs A Shot At God's Warriors
Dan Abrams fires a shot across Christiane Amanpour's bow, slamming her recent report on God's Warriors. Click below to see his sharp criticism. Must see.
UPDATE: Newsbusters has a transcript of Abrams. Monday, August 27 2007CNN's "God's Warriors": Hard on Jews, Soft on Islam
Christiane Amanpour's six-hour documentary special creates controversy. View for yourself the bias, inaccuracies and false moral equivalence demonstrated by CNN's Chief International Correspondent and read Maurice Ostroff's thorough critique of the series at HonestReporting's latest communique: CNN's "God's Warriors": Hard on Jews, Soft on Islam August 27 Links
Iran's Guard Builds a Fiscal Empire Challenging the UN's Darker Side Disappearing Bylines
Another member of the press from Jenin said he had been receiving death threats on an almost daily basis in recent months. "One day it's from Fatah, and another day the threats come from Hamas," he told The Jerusalem Post. "For the past month, I haven't been able to write anything under my name out of fear for my life." We chalked up one example of that yesterday. Dynamic Duo Spotlights Hizb Ut-Tahrir
The Daily Telegraph's Carolynne Wheeler picked up on Palestinian support for Hizb Ut-Tahrir. A few days ago, hubby Mark MacKinnon filed a similar report in Toronto's Globe & Mail. Would Israeli Response Fuel W&M Sales?
"Firing back would just promote the book," Ayalon said. "What needs to be done is to make sure there are other books, and to ensure that what students studying on campus is objective." Perhaps that's a reasonable, polite response, given that Israel and AIPAC are the focus of the W&M's book. But does this logic also apply to the blogosphere? YouTube Complicit In Inciting Anti-Semitism?
German Jews are considering filing a criminal complaint against YouTube. Haaretz writes: Such action makes the video-sharing website liable to charges of incitement to racial hatred, the council's vice president, Salomon Korn, told the German television program Report Mainz…. Sunday, August 26 2007August 26 Links
Requiem for a Jewish Settler Hamas honeymoon ends with torture Misinterpreting the Mideast Inverting Truth
What does inversion of truth have to do with MSM coverage of Israel? The Art of the Deal
Slier was responding to a deal between the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and the South African Broadcasting Corporation. It's Almost Supernatural summed up her points: • ‘Objective, fair, precise, accurate journalism is not something to be bargained for.’ Slier's coverage of Yasser Arafat led her to be blacklisted by SABC director Dr. Snuki Zikalala, who wanted journalism more supportive of the PLO. The blacklist earned Dr. Zikalala HonestReporting's Worst News Executive Award. Does Not Compute
When several Hamas security men roughed up a Reuters TV cameraman and tried to confiscate his camera, protesters surrounded the Hamas men, beat them to the ground and prevented the journalist's arrest. Try plugging that into the world view of Reuters executive Stephen Jukes. Hamas Gunmen Become Media Watchdogs
Hamas gunment trying to arrest an AFP reporter were foiled when a group of journalists formed a human chain around his home. Officials from Ismail Haniyeh's office arrived to end the standoff, calling it a "misunderstanding." The gunmen were looking for Sakher Abu El Oun, who presumably wrote this article about journalists protesting against Hamas. I haven't found a version of the article online with any byline, but El Oun did attach his name to a similar article on August 13. Saturday, August 25 2007The Lyin' King
The Memri blog flags the latest cartoon for kids from Hamas TV. After portraying Jews as scum, it's no big stretch for them to portray Fatah as murderous rats.
Friday, August 24 2007The Beeb's Web of Hate
This in from Totally Jewish: The Jewish community and the BBC may be heading for a legal showdown over anti-semitic comments posted on the corporation’s online messageboards. Why is taxpayer money supporting anti-semitic comments like Message 62? Thursday, August 23 2007What If The World Is Wrong About Israel?
In today's world any attempt to explain the Arab-Israeli conflict in terms other than "Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land" and the "denial of Palestinian nationalist aspiration" is often regarded like a declaration that the earth is flat and the center of the universe. But what if this view is wrong? What if, in terms of understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict, we are living in pre-Copernican times? What if the Jewish State that is considered to be the root of all evil in the Middle East were instead the victim? The Independent's Foul Play
Criticism of a UK Foreign Office decision turns into an excuse for hateful Israel bashing. See HonestReporting's latest communique: The Independent's Foul Play. August 23 Links
An Israeli Response to Walt-Mearsheimer North of the Litani Palestinians will “never stop the intifada” Egypt: Are Islamists Heading to Power? Hardly Suppressed
Walt and Mearsheimer suppressed? Hardly. "The Steady Drip Drip Drip of Atrocities"
Commenting on the Yezidi bloodbath, Michael Totten says the MSM largely denied the terrorists the publicity they sought. What does this mean for coverage of the Palestinian terror? American commander General David Petraeus recently warned that terrorists and insurgents may use the media as a weapon and stage massive, headline-grabbing attacks as a way of showing the surge is a failure. If this massacre was indeed a part of that strategy, it has failed. Journalists aren’t playing along. They dutifully reported the attack and moved on, treating even this massive terror attack as just the latest in the steady drip, drip, drip of atrocities that erupt in Iraq as a matter of course. Is the media learning something, or has the terror of global jihad inc. become too bloody for their own good? Amanpour's Jewish Warriors
My eyes will continue glowing in the dark long after my overheated monitor cools down. So I totally relate when Immodest Proposals considers drunk-blogging, "Muslim Warriors," the next segment: So that I'll still be alive by the end of this program, I'll limit myself to a sizeable gulp at each instance of moral equivalizing. Any other rules I should follow? Should I finish off whatever's left in the glass for each use of the phrase "religion of peace"? A few points that struck me: • There were no comments from any mainstream Israeli rabbis to lend a sense of perspective to the religious views of the settlers Amanpour talked to. Will mainstream Muslim and Christian clergy balance out the views of their fringe elements in the next segments? • Blaming settlements for Palestinian rage is lunacy. Arab terror predated the 1967 war and the settlements that developed only afterwards. • Issues of the American-Jewish lobby's clout and its alleged "suppression of free speech" have nothing to do with Amanpour's story, which is ostensibly about the spiritual values of fringe groups within the mainstream settler movement. • The tug of war over Jerusalem was underway before Israel bulldozed the Mughrabi Quarter by the Western Wall. In violation of the 1949 armistice agreement, Jordan refused to give Jews access to holy sites in eastern Jerusalem. Pardon me while my eyes go into screen saver mode. Wednesday, August 22 2007August 22 Links
Another Battle in Gaza Britain remains a major source of publishing and distribution of Hamas incitement Growing Muslim movement offers alternative to Hamas Gaza's public workers paid to stay home Yet Another UN Bash-Israel Fest
Want to warm up for the so-called Durban 2 conference? Be in Brussels at the end of August for a UN-sponsored bash-Israel affair. The Jerusalem Post explains: The two-day conference is being organized by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and is entitled 'The UN International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace. Color War Used to Be Simpler
Frolicking in a playground at the Hamas camp, children burst into song. Fatah ain't so innocent either: At the nearby Fatah camp, children sing songs praising Fatah fighters killed in combat with Hamas two months ago: Related reading: Child's Play. Tuesday, August 21 2007Child's Play
Two Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli air strike on a rocket launcher near Beit Hanoun. AP writes: An army statement said Palestinian rocket teams have been known to send young children to retrieve rocket launchers after firing. Related reading: Hamas Presses Kids for Combat Duty BBC Returns to Gaza
Judging from what we're seeing online, reaction to BBC's Return to Gaza is pretty divergent. See the 40 minute documentary on YouTube and judge for yourself. Panorama in Gaza: The BBC Gets It Right?
Has the BBC managed to produce a balanced and honest documentary? Find out in HonestReporting UK's latest communique - Panorama in Gaza: The BBC Gets It Right? Collective Punishment
EU officials said the bloc suspended the payments after it received information that Hamas was planning to introduce taxes on electricity bills. It’s only called collective punishment when Israel withholds the goods. UN Bash-Israel Fest In Works
Peleg Reshef recalls the 2001 Durban conference as watchdog groups brace for the 2009 UN World Conference against Racism. Related reading: Anne Bayefsky's Terrorism and Racism: The Aftermath of Durban UPDATE August 24: YNet News notes that the committee preparing the conference is led by Libya. Iran is also on the committee. Cartoon of the Day
This cartoon of the day, "Justice in Gaza," actually comes from the Palestinian daily, Al-Ayam.
(Hat tip: Memri blog) Monday, August 20 2007Start 'Em Young
Must read: The Christian Science Monitor’s Dan Murphy describes Hamas efforts to brainwash kids, from the show “Tomorrow’s Pioneers,” to summer camps featuring paramilitary exercises. Dear Jonathan Cook,
Thank you for the free publicity and all the traffic to HonestReporting’s website we hope to get from today’s column in The Guardian. It’s quite flattering that we got your attention and that you think we have the power to silence everybody. Given the Israel bashing we’re accustomed to seeing in Comment is Free, we’re not doing a very good job.
Pesach Benson Moqtada Sadr Confirms Hezbollah Training
"We have formal links with Hizbollah, we do exchange ideas and discuss the situation facing Shiites in both countries," he said. "It is natural that we would want to improve ourselves by learning from each other. We copy Hizbollah in the way they fight and their tactics, we teach each other and we are getting better through this." Related reading: Message Mania
The people who moderate comments on BBC web sites are at it again. The Daily Mail explains the latest controversy at BBC Radio 5: The BBC has been forced to remove statements from its website referring to Jesus as a 'bastard'. . . . The Useful Idiot did a screen capture before the comment was taken down:
The Daily Mail further explains: The comments were allowed to remain for a week despite complaints. But after The Mail on Sunday contacted senior BBC officials, they were deleted. If a comment says anything offensive about Judaism and now Christianity, BBC moderators couldn't possibly care less. Why is the Beeb only worried about Islamic sensibiliites? Related reading: Your License Fee At Work UPDATE: Aug. 20: And here's another example of BBC pandering to Islam. Lights Out in Gaza, Part 2
Today's Jerusalem Post sheds more light on Gaza's lack of electricity: According to Dor Alon Energy, the fuel is ordered by the PA in Ramallah and is paid for by the EU. In a statement to the media, it said it stopped a planned shipment on Sunday after notification from the EU that it would not foot the bill at this time. Meanwhile, Hamas and Fatah are using the power outage for their own power games. Related reading: Lights Out in Gaza (part 1) Sunday, August 19 2007Lights Out in Gaza
Military officials however confirmed to Ynet that fuel tanks designated for the power station were allowed into the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The officials hinted that the station could still be shut because the fuel deliveries did not reach their destination. So who hijacked the fuel, and who's going to blame Israel for the lights out? August 19 Links
The cyberwar against the US Iran builds a presence in Lebanon BBC 'propaganda' axed Ahmadinejad Rejects Oliver Stone Film Offer 'If I were a terrorist, I would . . .' What's Siegman Smoking?
Related reading: Henry Siegman’s conflict of interest BBC Bias Is Our Fault
So suggests Daniel Finkelstein. Thursday, August 16 2007August 16 Links
Hezbollah brings Israel war to computer screen |
