As Israel settles in for the long haul to finish a war it never begun, the world watches and reads a blow by blow commentary of the contest in the Middle East as if it were a sick reality show operating in a vacuum. The Middle East saga has been accompanied by a backdrop of a worldwide orgy of anti semitism that has received very little if any media editorialization. Contemporaneously, genocide is being perpetrated in Syria and Iraq and elsewhere. There are 170,000 dead in Syria, where chemical warfare is still being used. There is a former Syrian military photographer “Cesar” who has 55,000 photos of murder, torture, starvation of men, women and children, all of which due to the media’s “sensitivity”, other than NPR, we have been spared from viewing or discussing.
In spite of all this the media have only one story. They seem consumed with pushing the narrative that, by showing heartbreaking pictures and prolonged video shots of the impact of the Israeli offensive, Israel maybe winning the war militarily but it is losing it politically. It is Israel that needs to be pushed to a ceasefire and they are being stubborn and inhuman in refusing to do so. (This tune being played to the background music of Hamas rockets whizzing through the air). Another war crime is Israel’s low number of casualties. The scoreboard of victims flashes on the split screens with the other half being consumed with smoke and crying mothers and dead children. All this without any thought as to why this is and who is really responsible.
MEDIA PLAYS SOFTBALL WITH HAMAS
The media have made no attempt to correlate the Hamas mantra with the worldwide disgusting anti semitic outbursts of hatred. They are totally concentrated on the moment. The moment being the sick sad photo ops of pathetic Palestinians that have been cannon fodder for one or other Arab nation or Islamist fundamentalist cause for nearly 70 years. The implicit justification for the media being 24/7 in Gaza and not Syria or Iraq or any one of the African genocidal areas is that fascist Israel are murdering innocent citizens after having stolen their land. The Israeli crimes have to be that much worse than anywhere else because if the media’s objective is the pursuit of the truth and not just selling soap, one must assume that what is happening in Hamas’s Gaza is the worst example of war crimes at present. This in spite of the fact that It is generally accepted, in military circles, to quote Colonel Kemp, a former British Commander in Afghanistan, interviewed by The London Times, that, “Israel uses the most sophisticated and comprehensive means of avoiding civilian casualties yet employed by any army in the world”.
NO ATTEMPT TO GET TO THE REAL QUESTIONS JUST REALITY TV
To Jay H. Ell this banality of focussing on one incident after another rather than getting to the bottom of the “real story” was nowhere better epitomized by a piece anchored by Erin Burnett of CNN. The issue was the bombed UNO hospital where fifteen Palestinian civilians had been tragically killed. The Israeli ambassador had complained that CNN had reported the story negatively towards Israel with no proof or context whatsoever. Erin Burnett smugly played two short clips where it was twice mentioned by reporters, during the course of that afternoon, that two UNO hospitals had had bombs found in them. These few lines were dropped between the reels and reels on this deplorable tragedy. Meanwhile there were ceaseless interviews with the UNO officials who were shouting the odds at the disgrace at this devastation and how they tried to stop the Israelis from doing it. This when it was far from certain where the rockets had come from. All the wise CNN panel nodded their heads in agreement at the two clips - case proved. But there was more to come.
Israel had, prior to the reportage above, conceded that it had returned Hamas fire from on or around the hospital and as a result of their investigation had concluded that one of its rockets had hit the area but it had not explosives in it and thus could not have caused the deaths. The reporter in Gaza at that point in time when asked for his comment, replied foaming at the mouth, “We were there and saw the bodies and carnage”. He believed that this was the defining moment of what this struggle was all about and Israel had been caught in a massive lie. Firstly, only in reality t.v. can one tiny cameo of a vast complex issue that has lasted nearly 70 years and some say 5000, be what “it is all about”. Secondly, the reporter had totally ruled out Israel’s other hypothesis that this might have been a Hamas rocket and in fact were inferring that it was. ( A fact that has just been verified by an Italian journalist, Gabriele Barbatti, embedded in Gaza, but the damage has been done).
So we are fed a daily diet of horrific sites and lamentable interviews and pitiful children’s bodies and sad piles of rubble with no in depth analysis as to what has precipitated this and caused this cataclysmic drama. There are not many Hamas spokesmen, unlike the hordes of Israeli communicators, around to answer questions. They are holed up in bunkers in central Gaza where they have hidden no weaponry so the Israelis are not targeting the area.
The irony of this whole story is that only one side, Hamas, are unashamedly targeting civilians. They are building tunnels to send out terrorists to murder soft targets in Israel and nobody asks them any questions. The Hamas leadership has declared a war and are nowhere in sight leaving their citizens unprotected in the middle of their military installations. The other side, Israel that is not targeting citizens and protecting its own, are the ones that are being pressurized and vilified.
In short, for whatever reasons, no-one is asking Hamas the real hard questions.
THE HARD QUESTIONS
Imagine if these intrepid media teams that chase around the world to pursue the truth could just go to the middle of Gaza where they aren’t dropping bombs and could somehow persuade one Hamas decision maker to respond. Someone who is the official spokesman, (there is no need to say spokesperson in this context), of Hamas.
Where would one start? Let us just start when Hamas took over control round about 2007. Let us also envisage that we have a telecaster who is asking the hard questions.
Interview between a hypothetical media telecaster and a hypothetical Hamas Spokesman. Out of respect to Hamas’s privacy concerns only the questions will be printed.
* Does it worry you that, by your recent aggressive actions, you have immeasurably weakened those Israelis and supporters throughout the world that have been fighting so hard for a square deal for you or are those supporters irrelevant?
* Why was the decision taken to demolish the infrastructure Israel left to the Government of Gaza thereby depriving many Palestinians of a livelihood?
* Why do you precipitate conflicts when you do not provide any protection for your civilians?
* Do you believe that dead civilian Palestinians killed in these conflicts help the Palestinian struggle?
* Why do you put your military installations in or next to, houses, hospitals, mosques and schools?
* Why did you not use your tunnels to protect your citizens?
* Have you any comment to make on the reports that you are killing Palestinians, who are responding to Israeli warnings, from moving from an area about to be targeted?
* Do you think that UNO should be heeded when they tell Israelis not to return fire when you are shooting rockets from or near a shelter?
* What benefit does killing Israeli citizens have for the Palestinians’ liberation?
* Do you think Israel’s unilateral humanitarian breaks should be longer?
* Bearing in mind the current imbalance of military power what mechanism does Hamas envision that will allow it to triumph over Israel ?
* As a follow up to the above question have you been assured of any military aid by any country such as Qatar or Iran?
* Do you feel abandoned by the Arab and Muslim world with only Iran,Turkey and Qatar supporting you?
* Did you feel betrayed when Hezbollah stated that they would not support you in your armed struggle?
* Do you back the Shiite Syrian regime?
* Do you see yourself as part of the broader struggle of Shiites against the Sunnis and Israel being almost as irrelevant as you regard the Palestinians you purport to represent.
* In the event that Israel agreed to a one unitary State tomorrow and the Israelis won the elections against the Palestinians would this be accepted by Hamas or would they carry on the struggle?
* Alternatively, if Palestine won would you remove the whole Jewish infrastructure of Judges, police, civil service, health care personnel and replace them with Palestinians? Would you grant the Israelis one man one vote or would you deport the lot to their supposed countries of origin?
* If you got in power and had control of Israel’s Atomic bomb at Dimona would you give it to Iran?
* Have you a Plan B if this carries on for years? Will you just have episode after episode where Israel comes in and smashes the infrastructure and then you start all over again?
* What could you really do if Israel decided it had, had enough and decided to bomb you of the face of the earth? All that is stopping them at the moment is their own moral standards and the very people who you weakened by your aggression?
* If Abbas, who now is your leader, has a settlement with Israel, will you accept it?
* If there is no way Israel will accept the return of Palestinian families into Israel proper or if any deal on the table calls for demilitarization of Gaza is there anyway you can imagine a settlement with Israel?
* Are there any circumstances that would allow you to accept the right of Israel to exist?
* Are you aware that shooting rockets specifically into civilian areas, which is your stated objective, constitutes a war crime?
* Are you further aware that using civilians as a human shield and or deliberately putting them in harms way constitutes a war crime?
* What happens if the World Court finds you guilty of war crimes?
* If you have an election and the Palestinians vote you out of power will you accept the result?
* As you claim to be anti Zionist and not anti Jewish what is your attitude to the world wide anti semitic rallies? Do you condemn them?
* How are you getting your rockets in now that Egypt have closed off your tunnels?
* Is it true that you got all your ducks in a row before looking for the slightest justification to start this latest war? By that I mean you did you wait till Abbas had locus standii in world organizations, and then hand power to him? Once he was able to lay a charge for war crimes did you then provoke Israel and allow collateral damage all in order for Abbas to charge Israel for war crimes at the World Court?
* Do you think your statement to Israel that, "They had not touched the surface of where all your tunnels were", was provocative as Netanyahu now maintains that he will be in Gaza for a long while with the sole purpose of collapsing your tunnels?
* Does it serve your political objectives to have Israel in Gaza with its inevitable collateral damage for a long period of time?
* If Israel has a unilateral cease fire as it did in the last war that you started will you carry on firing rockets or will stop like you did last time?
* Are you in daily contact with Iran and or Qatar?
* Who is really calling the shots here?
* Between you and me and me, and off the record, did you fire those rockets into the UNO hospital?
* Also between you and me and off the record, do you really believe that the holocaust happened or it is merely a Jewish/Zionist propaganda ploy?
“Thank you so much Mr. Hamas spokesman for your frank answers to all the questions and I do hope we can talk after this war is finished so as to get your thoughts on what you think Hamas has achieved by starting this clash. Also the media will not be here much longer because the viewers soon tire of the same old, same old blood and gore. They need a change of scene. We will all pack up and go when we too have the slightest reason to move on with our mission, that is to sell soap. There is bound to be a school shooting or whatever for us to move onto….. “
Just one question Jay H. Ell has to the media?
*Why all the focus on Israel?”
Come to think of it there has been little or no coverage of the Israelis scurrying to shelters where they are reportedly spending up to 80% of their time. No interviews on the impact on the economy which has come to a standstill. No reels upon reels of Israeli funerals…..
Nobody asking anybody in Israeli shelters what it feels like do be subjected to Hamas rockets every two years or so, since the Israel gave Gaza its independence…. Just nobody because they are all in Gaza where the real story is…..
No comments:
Post a Comment