Telling the Truce?

Usually Honest Reporting does good work, but I'm not convinced about this one. BBC reported Palestinian & Israeli violations. It had to list one first. In this case, if I were the editor, I'd have to go with the one that resulted in injury, that's par for the course with newspaper writing. This, in the absence of knowing who violated the ceasefire first.

Posted by: Zed at Jun 29, 2008 5:59:24 PM

God bless Israel. Israel has been unfairly treated, they own the land given by God to Abraham.Its the infidels who are creating unnecessary attack on Israel soil.

Posted by: Josese Rakuita at Jun 29, 2008 11:42:47 PM

there's only one way to stop rockets being fired from gaza to Isral, and that's to have olmert and his family move there.

Posted by: irwin bliss at Jun 30, 2008 1:20:30 AM

How do we write to Google Earth to comment on how they are displaying Israel?

Posted by: danny siegel at Jun 30, 2008 5:23:29 AM

You did not post notes on how to complain and remove the dots from the map.

Posted by: Yechiel Adar at Jun 30, 2008 7:37:52 AM

in God we trust and he he will not let us go in vine.

Posted by: gabriel akulega at Jun 30, 2008 12:02:05 PM

Pity about the IDF shooting in the Gaza Strip on June 23. Kind of sinks your whole premise.

"Irrespective of the veracity"........would make a fabulously apt motto for 'Honest'Reporting.

Posted by: Michael at Jun 30, 2008 4:31:33 PM

Counterattack!

Shalom Honest Reporting

I commend you for recognizing the significance of the orange dots. However wringing our hands is not the answer. We should place a Blue Dot beside every Orange Dot referencing to Honest Reporting and give the truth about their false claims.

The blue dot statement could read,"Another false claim by the Palestinian Propaganda Machine . Please contact HonestReporting to learn the truth." Honest Reporting can then give a summary and a detailed picture of the history of that particular location.

This information is readily available on the internet. It is not a question of spending a lot of time doing research.

Let's counterattack! If they can do orange dots, why can't we do blue dots?

Please let me know if this is a good idea.

Phil Miller

Posted by: Phillip Miller at Jun 30, 2008 9:52:20 PM

Israel has no propaganda machine intensive or extensive enough (if at all) to counter-attack mis-statements, untruths, etc.

There are many Moslem or Arab Websites educating the public to their narratives and many advertising links to these sites via Google, Yahoo, etc. Also, where is the monitoring of textbooks that twist language around to affirm the truths of Israeli and Palestinean History? We need some consistent program for dis-allowing the Palestinean and other Islamic underhanded, dishonest, ventures i.e. Virginia School to exist.

I like Phillip Miller's idea of blue dots because it gives an immediate response.

Posted by: R. Friedman at Jul 4, 2008 5:27:43 AM

Phil Miller asks _If they can do orange dots, why can't we do blue dots?_ Why not, indeed.

Probably because people such as myself don't want my google any more cluttered than it already is. What I don't understand is how the author of this sub routine got Google to install it on my computer without my permission or even knowledge. It is geographically inaccurate as it distorts the physical and/or social importance of some of the locations. Even worse, the decision by Google to allow the mouse over message to be dominated by a highly charged political message means that, depending on google viewer focus and the screen configuration, a casual viewer could easily be led to believe that the name of a given location is actually a Palestinian call to arms. One orange dot on the edge of my viewer focus screen required me to click through to see that Nakba was not the name of whatever the dot represented. Having clicked through I was then presented with the village name and links not to current physical or economic information about the village but only to sites filled with historical fantasy and outright hatred.

I have no problem with google making such layers available to me including others that may come to exist such as Polish nationalists depicting the Soviet imposed Polish disaster evidenced by a special coloured dot for Kaliningrad. Or how about a layer for the aboriginals showing a special dot for Manhattan without reference to its economic and cultural importance but only that it is a European colonialist disaster imposed on the natives by being swindled out of a multi billion dollar territory for a few trinkets given to their tribal rulers and not to the suffering masses.

Google can allow as many _special_ layers as anyone wants to create as long as I get to choose. This is one layer that I would not choose if I had the choice. Thanks to Google I don't have that choice. But then Google regularly assists the Chinese government in capturing dissidents so I'm not surprised.

Posted by: ron arnett at Jul 6, 2008 1:35:43 AM