There is a concerted media ploy to change the narrative on the massacre of hundreds of women and children in Gaza, on the grounds that it is Hamas’ fault for breaking the ceasefire. The Israeli account of the ceasefire breakdown is parroted relentlessly.
I have put some effort into discovering why the ceasefire broke down, including contacting sources in Gaza itself. What is plain is that there were multiple incidents shortly after the ceasefire deadline, of violations by both sides. This is actually normal – such ceasefires usually take a few hours to take hold as fighting in hot progress and operations under way get stopped. At leasy eleven Palestinians were killed by shellfire in the first hour after the ceasefire.
The media has however focused solely on a single incident, that which featured missing Israeli Lieutenant Goldin. What appears to have happened here was that the Israelis were continuing with their destruction of tunnels, as the ceasefire provisions allowed. They came across a group of Palestinian fighters sheltered in the tunnels, and not surprisingly the Palestinian fighters did not interpret the ceasefire as meaning the Israelis could kill them but they were precluded from fighting. In the ensuing firefight some on both sides were killed and injured, while Lt. Goldin has disappeared.
Incidentally it is worth noting that my information is that Hamas’ statement that the incident was a deliberate ambush, and occurred before the ceasefire, is also untrue.
The Israelis immediately called in massive shellfire and missile attack. It is not improbable Goldin was killed or wounded in the firefight – or possibly just hiding – and he and his body destroyed by an Israeli shell or missile. It is a sad norm of warfare that sometimes there is no recognisable body.
Why we are supposed to be more concerned about Goldin than about the twenty Palestinian children who have been killed since he vanished, is beyond me. But you see, killing those children is now OK again, because Hamas broke the ceasefire. The media have a nice narrative mapped out for them – and boy, are they milking it.
Craig, what would you advise both parties if they were in a position (or willing) to sit round the table ?
So much bad news but no solutions are ever offered.
According to Hamas the clash involving Goldin wasn’t even after the ceasefire.
“Our assessment is that one of our deployed ambushes clashed with the advancing troops. The clash started around 7:00 a.m., before the humanitarian ceasefire. ”
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/gazaunderattack-press-release-al-qassam-brigades-regarding-breach-of-truce-and-alleged-capture-of-israeli-soldier/
Very true it is a sickeningly familiar pattern of “reportage” as the corporate media are becoming the PR organs of the Isreali butchers. Also an interesting development is their silence on the numbers of injured Palestinians that are numbering thousands, but seemingly are of no consequence.
Why should there exist such an obvious and blatant bias in the twenty first century is a puzzle?
It is not just that they milk the narrative. There is a clear refusal to challenge Israel spokespeople on the clear contradictions in their arguments. So the holes in the narrative are never, ever explored. It is arae to have anyone cut across an IDF spokesperson or says ‘hang on a minute’
I had to listen to some arrogant tosspot in military uniform saying – on the BBC – that we should all be grateful that Israel did not napalm Gaza as a justification for the moral high ground. No one would come on and say that unless they had been promised an easy ride in adavance.
When they are challenged, it comes as a shock. When Emily Maitlis challenged the odious Regev on Newsnight recently (and credit to her, I beleive she is of Jewish origin) he was clearly taken aback; this was not the norm.
Je
Yes, I have now amended my post to make plain that this bit from Hamas appears not to be true. Nor was it really an ambush, except in the sense that the fighters were concealed in the tunnel presumably to defend it. But Hamas are rather trying to portray it as an offensive operation for their own propaganda purposes.
With a tiny number of weird exceptions (George Galloway) there is a strong correlation between Zionism and Unionism. I might do a post on that.
1971Thistle
All presenters challenge Israeli spokespeople. It is stage-managed in order to give the appearance of balance. Best actor, best music, best screenplay, best script always goes to – long pause – the media!
Craig
” But Hamas are rather trying to portray it as an offensive operation for their own propaganda purposes.”
That’s the Israeli line. A deliberate ‘kidnapping’ launched after the deadline to exploit the ceasefire.
“ambushes clashed with the advancing troops. ” as Hamas put it in their statement is defense. And they aren’t even claiming knowledge about his being captured.
Je
Yes, it’s a small nuance, but my information is that the preference of the Palestinians involved was not to be discovered. “Ambush” is a bit pro-active. It was continuing Israeli offensive operations that sparked the firefight. They were not, incidentally, a fringe group and they don’t have Goldin. It is of course not impossible (though unlikely) he escaped from the fighting and someone else captured him, but he wasn’t captured by those from the tunnel. Most likely is he’s been atomised by friendly fire.
Guano
Not sure I agree; mostly they just feed the a line and say ‘Action’; and off they go
Hamas Terror
Terror Tunnels
Hamas Terror
Right to self defence
Hamas terrorists
Human shields
Hamas terror
Thousanda of rockets raining down
Hamas Terror
Terror Tunnels
Hamas Terror
Until “I’m sorry, we’ve rune out of time’
Hamas aren’t just not claiming knowledge of the soldier’s capture; they are specifically saying they have no knowledge of his whereabouts and that they think he was probably killed in the Zionist shelling of Rafah.
This information is from the Palestinian Information Centre, cited to Abu Marzouk and deriving from the Hamas military organisation, the al-Qassam brigades.
The article is the top one linked to at that site. I would post a link to the article itself, but the URL I get comes up as having so many characters that it probably includes info tracking my browsing to the article.
Al-Qassam’s own website is at http://www.qassam.ps/, but it has been under constant attack and is currently down.
I think the information from Hamas is probably accurate, because
1) capturing a Zionist gunman must surely be a major aim – no doubt an aim in the pursuit of which many Palestinian resisters’ lives have been bravely lost – and should the aim be achieved it would probably make most sense to publicise the fact, and it would certainly make sense to notify the capture to the Israelis
2) the Zionists follow what they call a “Hannibal Directive” (which itself is usually described in heavily Zionist-spun terms – e.g. at Wikipedia – but basically it means better a Jewish body in a bodybag than a Zionist Jewish POW in Arab hands)
A friend who threw off the Jewish identity tells me that “neighbour” in what Jews call the Bible and Christians call the Old Testament is a mistranslation of what actually means “Jewish neighbour”.
I didn’t think that the Israelis wanted a ceasefire; their priority was and is to destroy the tunnels crossing the Israeli border. They may have agreed to it under American pressure (which they probably regarded as a nuisance), but were quite happy to abandon it as soon as a suitable excuse presented itself, so that they could complete their mission.
The Israelis might well have agreed to another ceasefire once thye had destroyed all the tunnels thay had found that crossed the Israeli border, but now we have a complicating factor: Hadar Goldin missing in action. He may well be dead, but if not, I imagine that Hamas will use him as they did Gilad Shalit, as a ransom for the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.
The deplorable situation will continue till rational dialogue between Israel and Hamas becomes possible, as it did with the PLO a generation ago. The blockade of Gaza will have to be lifted if there is to be any real progress. Maintaining Gaza like a large open prison will not ensure Israel’s long-term security, since America’s support cannot be guaranteed forever.
President Obama has told reporters at the White House:
“If Hamas are serious about trying to resolve this situation, that soldier needs to be unconditionally released as soon as possible.”
————————————–
This of course gives the green light to Israel’s continued attacks.
The Guardian today gives the Israel soldier’s name and shows his photograph. No names or photographs of the Palestine children killed in reprisal.
“Former defence minister Peter Luff (Con) said Israel’s actions were “brutal” and “difficult to justify”.
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(difficult to justify?)
——————————–
“The ex-leader of the Liberal Democrats has called Israel’s attacks on Gaza “foolish” and “disproportionate”.
“Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said both sides had to act proportionately…”
BBC
——————————–
This is about as critical of Israel as it will get.
Abe Rene
2 Aug, 2014 – 11:11 am
“I didn’t think that the Israelis wanted a ceasefire; their priority was and is to destroy the tunnels crossing the Israeli border.”
——————————
Don’t fall for that Abe. The tunnels are an excuse just like the rocket attacks, to carry out their (Israeli) offensive to “cleanse” Gaza of its population.
The Zionists calculate that eventually the Gaza population will be on their knees begging to be moved out of the strip.
The end justifies the means Zio style.
Doug Scorgie – “This is about as critical of Israel as it will get.”
Absolutely. They toss and turn over whether or not to dare speak some words the Israelis might find a little uncomfortable. How to couch things so they might appease the general public – but yet not offend the Israeli lobby.
All those murdered. All those years of occupation. And they never take a single step of actual action. Its complicity. They sooner confront a nuclear superpower over Ukraine, albeit weakly – than the Israelis over their crimes in Gaza.
This terrible news has broken my heart completely. She is a kind doctor who has done so much for her fellow Palestinians. I have been putting some of her messages on this blog previously. What can we say to her? We are all guilty for allowing this to go on for all these years. It has to change.
The staff and board of the Middle East Children’s Alliance would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to our colleague Dr. Mona El-Farra, her family, and all of the Palestinian families who have lost their relatives and loved ones.
Early this morning, Israeli tanks shelled a home in Khan Younis and killed nine members of Dr. Mona’s family including 5 children. Ten more relatives are injured and five of them are in critical condition.
We are saddened by the very personal loss of our friend and colleague, Dr. Mona El-Farra, and by the knowledge that her relatives were killed with the full support of our government.
Rest in peace:
Abed Almalek Abed Al Salam El-Farra, 54 years
Osamah Abed Almalek El-Farra, 34 years
Awatef A’ez Eldeen El-Farra, 29 years
Emad El-Farra, 28 years
Mohamad Mahmoud El-Farra, 12 years
Nadeen Mahmoud El-Farra, 9 years
Yara Abed Al Salam El-Farra, 8 years (pictured above)
Abed Al Rahaman El-Farra, 8 years
Lujain Basem El-Farra, 4 years
We spoke to Dr. Mona by phone today and she told us: “It was shocking to find out that my cousins were killed with their children and grandchildren. But my family is not different from any other family living in the Gaza Strip. This is the brutality of the Israeli occupation and we are expecting bad news all the time. Whenever there is bad news here, we ask ourselves who is next? Still, no matter how much you are prepared for this kind of bad news, it’s shocking and it hit me very hard.”
As always, we are impressed by Dr. Mona’s huge heart and dedication to help children and families. After taking a short break to process the shock of this news, Dr. Mona went to the emergency room at the Red Crescent Society to treat patients today.
Photos including the little ones below.
http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=4850389ae3e2d55804103e6af&id=af0bd6741f
Sumud. Steadfastness. Resilience.
I’m with you on this, Doug, the plan is to take back Gaza and exploit the gas reserves off the coast. For that Bibi will sacrifice thousands of Palestinian lifes as well as that of his soldiers.
They all know for what they are going into battle for, a rogue miscreant state that is refusing to come to the table and talk to moderates such as Marwan Barghouti. So much easier to spend US dollars on arms.
Apparently this plan was agreed before Israel agreed to the gaza concentration camp, but its hard to find any references to it. It was a meeting between Blair Bush and chirac or Sarkozy, not sure, but I remember it being a small blip in the news agenda. Something for the sleuthes.
“there is a strong correlation between Zionism and Unionism.”
My comment was just atomised by friendly fire.
Start over. Every -ism has a Law and a Talmud, a clear,just rulebook and a twisted version that reverses the clear intention of the original Law. In the case of Zionism the Torah is misinterpreted by the Talmud.
In the case of Unionism, the legitimacy of the Queen rests on her Protestant Fid.Def. role Defender of the Faith as head of the Anglican Church.
Christian Law says ” Love thy neighbour ” which in the case of Scotland is changed by Talmud-style revision into ‘Kill thy neighbour and expel them to countries near or far’. Then ignite sectarian violence in those places so they forget their grievances against you.
Islam is also misinterpreted by Islamism, but that’s off-topic. It is the job of politicians of all creeds to use the slogans of their creeds to obtain power but to twist those rules into the opposite of their intention for their own personal benefit and power.
Even the Islamic University is badly damaged. There is certainly a scorched earth policy.
https://twitter.com/JonDonnison/status/495511238848167936/photo/1
The tree which is a rare sight in Gaza has been destroyed too.
Lebensraum and offshore gas and an election win for Yetanyahu paid for by cornfed American money, enabled by craven media and gutless cu**s like Milliband, Cameron et al. Can we conceive a practical means with UK election coming up to get a firm chokehold on all PPCs, especially in marginal seats, and get them on the record on Gaza? People power prevented another Strangelove adventure in Syria, so we know it can work. Any ideas ? Peace & Love. Alex
I guess this blog will never change. It will always reduce everything to oil and mineral resources and always pooh pooh theological ideas.
The land previously owned by Pharaoh including Judaea was given to the Children of Israel after the crossing of the Red Sea. They were the custodians of the religion of the One God, but they found it difficult to hold onto their faith and the pleasure of God and they succumbed to false worship, black magic and violence. Then they lost their land to the Babylonians ( Kurdish ) and the Romans.
The custodians of the religion of the One God know what lost them the pleasure of God and their response to their prophet Jesus pbuh was to introduce false worship into the religion of his followers. Their motive was prevent their sister nation from enjoying the pleasure of God.
When their next prophet came Muhammad SAW they found themselves unable falsify its truth until they introduced the concept of blood lineage for the criteria of Caliphate, Shi’ism, instead of the criteria of adherence to the religion. They then introduced grave-worship through Shi-ism in the name of Islam and they
made Muslims busy with philosophy and other false ideas.
The latest assault on Islam, to deprive the Muslims of the pleasure of God, is to incite them to violence by teaching them to make Takfir, deying that another Muslim is Muslim. This process was started in Saudi Arabia 200 years ago and it has proved very useful to the Zionists, destroying the Ottoman Empire by letting some Muslims make Takfir of their Muslim rulers.
Pictures of AlNusra Front holding up tomatoe ketchupped decapitated heads and declaring of a second Caliphate show how low the Zionist Zollywood machine is prepared to stoop in its propaganda.
In relation to Gaza, Hizbullah is a Shi’a outfit and the Israeli are very well able to discover the entry of rockets or their components into Gaza without a war. The militant version of Islam is shortly going to win a political victory, access to the sea, access to oil development and therefore access to water.
It has also gained land and power in Syria, armed to the teeth and blessed to the eyeballs by USUKIS power.
Wow! But the Zionists are cutting another notch in their walking sticks because they have succeeded in writing the script for Islam as a religion of violence.
As they do so, the people of the world makes a mental note to stay far away listening to the truth of Islam. They make a mental note in China to believe the false-flag bombs were really done by Uighers.
If you like being conned by Israel, stay tuned to Gaza. I do not believe they would be making a Caliphate in Syria for the benefit of Islam. They intend to use the Caliphates as propaganda against Islam. They were going to use them to gain UN control of Syria – Israel – the nice guys.
Zionism wants you to love it and believe it is the custodian of truth for ever and ever.
Gaza conflict: Israel not prepared for a more sophisticated, battle-ready adversary
Dahiya doctrine = scorched earth, clearly a war crime.
Yes, I heard rather more than I cared to last night about Lt. Goldin. It may be that some of the relatives of the 50 or so IDF. (let alone the 1400+ Palestinian victims) known to be dead felt similarly. It’s evidence of the Israelocentric attitude which Israel would like us to, but we do not, share, It accentuates the feeling among many that Israel is asking for special treatment; that the disappearance of someone who “shouldn’t have signed up if he couldn’t take a joke,” as we used to put it, and who was at the time actively engaged in armed warfare, is exceptional and a matter for more than the usual regret when a serviceman is killed. Let alone a foreign serviceman.
This kind of propaganda will ultimately backfire. It illustrates a mindset in which one dead Israeli can be equated in ethical terms with 100 dead Palestinians (and has been, in practical terms). What is slowly emerging into the consciousness even of moderate Zionists is that Israel smells distinctly bad to the wider world, and that its current policy is counterproductive.
Come again? Where do you get this data from?
Also who are we supporting today? Your fluid allegiances have me confused, you best state who are you defending and who is the bad guys in advance on a daily basis so to avoid confusions.
Craig,
former Israeli soldiers speak out.
http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/
In Prosecutor v. Nahimana, Barayagwiza, and Ngeze (the Media Case), ICTR-99-52-T, Trial Chamber I found the defendants guilty of genocide, direct and public incitement to genocide, and two crimes against humanity, persecution and extermination, for their public hate speech. As the Zionazis revert to bronze-age uggabugga frenzy they can’t help saying what they really think. It will be great fun when Mahathir Mohamad’s pesky moot court rigorously applies the Media Case principles to cement the case for Israeli genocide. The whole country is in the terminal stage when serial killers lose control and get caught. It’s Jonestown.