Israel barks, the US media wags its tail
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- Written by Peter Preston Peter Preston
- Published: 07 January 2009 07 January 2009
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America's commentators should break their silence on the conflict in Gaza: Tel Aviv cares what they think
Forget, alas, all the usual stuff about fairness, balance and freedom of independent thought. Merely follow Editor and Publisher magazine's own accounting for the first eight media days of Gaza warfare.
Coverage: "Largely one-sided, with little editorialising or commentary arguing against broader Israeli actions." And: "Most notably, the New York Times produced exactly one editorial, not a single commentary by any of its columnists and only two op-eds (one already published elsewhere)."
Ground invasion? The Times never addressed its wisdom or unwisdom before the tanks rolled forward. A Washington Post editorial, after the event, thought invading "risky".
In general, with the New York Post, the Daily News and all the usual suspects cheerleading away, there was no balance, no fairness and precious little you could call independent thought. Tel Aviv seemed to bark orders: the US media just wagged its tail.
And on the ninth day, only a column by Bill Kristol added marginally to a dismal record.
It was only when that school had taken a pounding that "pitfalls" in Israeli diplomatic strategy began to depress Steven Erlanger.
Britain, by contrast, does a bit better than that. The Telegraph is strongly pro-Israel, the Independent (with Robert Fisk) strongly pro-Palestinian: papers like the Guardian – see Jonathan Freedland or Ian Black – strive to understand the issues and push them forward. There is a range of commentary and opinion that at least puts history and complexity into the mix.
You don't need to agree, but you can at least join in. Why, when it should be leading and questioning, when its voice could really change minds and politics, is American mainstream journalism so timid? Why doesn't even an Israeli ban on letting its reporters into Gaza – foreign journalists too "unethical, biased and unprofessional" for an on-the-spot job according to Israel's news centre organisers – raise the Times or Washington Post to a simulation of fury?
Any other country in the world (Iran, Russia, Syria) would get dumped on from a great adjectival height. But no ... steady she still goes. Maybe 9/11 has made explanation difficult. Maybe no one can be bothered to examine an Arab case that's split, squabbling and often difficult to follow. Maybe the mantra of "Israel, Our Ally" simply trumps thought. Maybe – at a difficult financial time – disapproval is perceived to carry too much of a price. Maybe readers just need to be told what they think already.
Whatever, it doesn't matter ... except that, of course, it does matter. It matters because Israel (see its new aid corridors) does listen when the din is loud enough. It matters because the press has a duty, imperfectly executed. It matters because democratic government depends on good information – and here, this time round, seekers after any broader truth (longer than a fortnight ago, that is) would do better to log on to Israeli news websites and read papers like Ha'aretz that make the great grey Times seem craven.
Israel's Gaza offensive death toll rises to 668
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- Written by Press release, Al Mezan Press release, Al Mezan
- Published: 07 January 2009 07 January 2009
- Hits: 3137 3137
Al Mezan Center, which has maintained its monitoring activities throughout the current crisis, has collected evidence that the IOF deliberately targeted civilian structures and medical teams. In its attacks, the IOF used missiles and shells that are laser-guided, which indicates that civilian targets were hit intentionally, and not collaterally as Israel alleges. Yesterday, an IOF attack targeted UNRWA's [the UN agency for Palestine refugees] al-Fakhoura School, where civilians were taking shelter. In a minute, 42 were killed, including 13 children.
According to information verified by Al Mezan Center, at approximately 3:35pm yesterday, Tuesday 6 January 2009, the IOF fired four artillery shells in the vicinity of al-Fakhoura School, which UNRWA had opened as a shelter for displaced civilians who escaped the fighting in north Gaza. Three shells landed and exploded in an open area opposite to the southwestern schoolyard. The fourth landed 50 meters west to the school, directly hitting two houses, which are inhabited by the families two brothers; Muin and Samir Deeb. Most of the members of their two families were killed. In all, the shelling killed 39 civilians immediately, and three others died at hospital from their wounds, raising the number of casualties to 42, including 13 children and six women. Another 50 civilians were also injured in this attack, of whom 15 were children and 10 women.
The IOF also killed another nine people in the north Gaza district, raising the death toll in the district to 51 between 2:30pm yesterday and 1pm today. The IOF bombarded and destroyed eight houses in the same district, causing damage to another 14 houses. One mosque and a vehicle were also destroyed.
In Gaza City, IOF's attacks killed 24 people, including eight children. In the central Gaza district, at approximately 1:50pm on Tuesday 6 January 2009, the IOF bombarded two houses and three other structures, including a sports club. An air raid that targeted an evacuated house in the refugee camp of al-Nuseirat killed five-year-old child Yihya al-Taweel, and completely destroyed the house. Medical sources in the district's hospital reported that a woman, 24-year-old Nisreen Abu Swirih, died from wounds she had sustained in an IOF attack on 3 January 2009.
In Khan Younis district, four people were killed by the IOF, including two children who died from wounds they had sustained in the previous days. The IOF, which continued its incursion into al-Zana neighborhood east of the towns of Abassan and Bani Suhaila, damaged 35 houses, 20 of which were completely destroyed. The IOF left this area at approximately 11am today.
In the southern Gaza's district of Rafah, the IOF raided and destroyed eight houses, destroying them and causing damage to dozens of houses. The bodies of two men entered from Rafah Crossing, coming from Egypt where they were transferred for hospital care. One of them was identified as 22-year-old Basil Faraj, a cameraman working for Algerian TV. The second was identified as 18-year-old Ihab al-Harazeen.
Al Mezan Center expects that the number of casualties could rise in the Gaza Strip. Many civilians are still under the rubble of houses which the IOF had bombarded, particularly the houses of the al-Sammoni and al-Daya families in Gaza City. Al Mezan continues to report the cases it has been able to verify.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the continuous, criminal Israeli aggression against civilians in the Gaza Strip. The Center expresses its indignation with the failure of the international community to prevent the flagrant war crimes that have continued to be committed in Gaza by the IOF for 11 days, a failure only indicative of the continuous inability of the international community to live up to its legal and moral responsibilities vis-a-vis the civilian population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. As mentioned above, and in several other reports by Al Mezan Center, the IOF has shown overt disregard to civilians life and to the obligations Israel owes to the international community; especially by intentionally targeting civilians at their homes and mosques, and even in shelters, in a serious disrespect of the basic principles of international humanitarian law and human rights law.
Al Mezan therefore renews its calls upon the international community to end its failure to protect civilians by taking effective measures to end the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. It calls upon:
- The United Nations Secretary General to condemn the Israeli disproportionate use of force and the targeting of civilians and civilian objects in defiance of peremptory rules of international law, and to ensure that the UN Security Council and General Assembly take appropriate steps to address the situation in the Gaza Strip;
- The United Nations Agencies to provide urgent humanitarian aid and safe shelters for Gazans who have been displaced and those living in threatened areas, and to ensure the protection of these shelters;
- The International Committee of the Red Cross to double its efforts to ensure humanitarian access for civilians and ensure tending to the urgent needs for medicines, power and water;
- The Human Rights Council to call upon the UN General Assembly to request the convening in Switzerland of a conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Times of War, of 1949, to consider the breaches by Israel of its nonderogable obligations under the Convention in the course of its ongoing military actions in Gaza, and to consider the necessary measures to ensure respect of the rules set out in the Convention and its relevant protocols.
- Civil societies around the world to exert pressure on their governments so that they act in conformity with the relevant human rights and humanitarian obligations as prescribed in relevant international law. Failure to take effective action to halt the continuous Israeli violations has only allowed for a grave situation to grow worse. Action must be taken immediately to ensure the protection of the civilian population in the occupied Gaza Strip.
This press release has been edited for clarity by Electronic Intifada
Some Gaza Talking Points about Gaza
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- Written by The Washington Report The Washington Report
- Published: 07 January 2009 07 January 2009
- Hits: 3443 3443
Washington Report
ACTION ALERT
January 7, 2009
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Calling all Washington Report Readers:
Write or call your representatives and your local newspapers. Attend protests—If you want to distribute copies of the Washington Report e-mail us your street address and contact information and the number of magazines you need. Call the White House and State Department (see numbers below).
Here are some talking points:
Israel is in Violation of U.S. Laws
The U.S. Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Control Acts stipulates that U.S. defense items and services furnished to any country be used “solely for internal security,[or] for legitimate self defense”(22 U.S.C. 2302 and 2754).
Furthermore, according to U.S. law, “no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” (22 U.S.C. 2304).
Israel’s excessive and disproportionate use of force in Gaza clearly exceeds the bounds of what could be considered legitimate self-defense, and therefore its use of U.S.-supplied weaponry is in violation of the laws of this land.
* U.S. military aid to Israel is financing the Israeli occupation and invasion of Gaza. U.S. aid has helped Israel purchase machine guns, ammunition, precision-guided bombs and missiles, cluster bombs, night vision goggles, tanks, F-16 bombers, Apache helicopters gun ships, and armed and unmanned aerial vehicles—which are now being used against Palestinian civilians as well as militants.
* The United States recently delivered 1,000 bunker-buster missiles, worth $77 million, to Israel, which used them in Gaza on Saturday, Jan 3, according to The Jerusalem Post. These are not defensive weapons. That same day Israel flattened the American International School, one of Gaza’s best private educational institutions. It has also hit UN schools—one attack killed more than 40 civilians who sought shelter in the school. Is bombing schools legitimate self-defense?
* Is Israel’s siege of Gaza waged in self-defense? Is preventing food, clean water, medicine, and fuel from reaching 1.5 Gazans self-defense?
Israel Receives Nearly $3 billion in aid annually—$2,380.6 in Military Aid.
* In August 2007, the U.S. and Israeli officials agreed to a new 10-year, $30 billion aid package. In 2009 Israel will receive $2.55 billion, and this sum will gradually increase to an average $3 billion per year over the 10-year period.
* In addition U.S. Jewish organizations have raised more than $2.4 billion to help support Jewish defense agencies and settlements in 2008. Donors will deduct this money from their U.S income taxes.
Why is Congress (except for Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-OH) Silent?
Why isn’t Congress isn’t telling Israel “no more money until you abide by American and international laws?”
Why did our government block the passage of a UN Security Council statement on Sunday urging a ceasefire?
It is because the pro-Israel Lobby directs more than $2.5 million each election cycle to political action committees, which help members of congress who follow the AIPAC playbook and defeat others who don’t play the Israel right or wrong game. (See article on Washington Report’s home page: <www.wrmea.com>.)
It’s the same kind of “Pay to Play” game that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (arguably one of the most decent guys in President-elect Obama’s proposed cabinet) is now defending himself against—but on a massive scale. And no one talks about it. Members of Congress are being paid to let Israel play in the occupied territory. And this game has cost the lives of nearly 600 Gazans.
Write or telephone those working for you in Washington:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
(202) 456-1414
White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111
Fax: (202) 456-2461
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
State Department Public Information Line:
(202) 647-6575
Any Senator
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3121
Any Representative
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3121
E-Mail Congress and the White House
E-mail Congress: visit the Web site <www.congress.org> for contact information.
E-mail President Bush: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
E-mail Vice President Cheney: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, PO Box 53062, Washington DC 20009. Phone: (202) 939-6050, Fax: (202) 265-4574, Toll Free: (800) 368-5788, www.wrmea.com Published by the American Educational Trust, a non-profit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. Material from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs may be printed with out charge with attribution to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian disaster
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- Written by Avi Shlaim Avi Shlaim
- Published: 06 January 2009 06 January 2009
- Hits: 3248 3248
How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian disaster
Oxford professor of international relations Avi Shlaim served in the Israeli army and has never questioned the state's legitimacy. But its merciless assault on Gaza has led him to devastating conclusions
Read more: How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian disaster
Israeli citizens calling upon international community to stop Israel
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- Written by Israeli artists, musicians, and writers Israeli artists, musicians, and writers
- Published: 06 January 2009 06 January 2009
- Hits: 3516 3516
Signatories: As if the occupation was not enough, the brutal ongoing repression of the Palestinian population, the construction of settlements and the siege of Gaza- now comes the bombardment of the civilian population: men, women, old folks and children. Hundreds of dead, hundreds of injured, overwhelmed hospitals, and the central medicine depot of Gaza bombed.
Among the signatories some very well-known artists, musicians and writers such as Dror Burstein, Ala Hlehel, Yitzhak Laor, Yehudith Levin, Avi Mograbi, Michal Naaman, Salman Natour, Judd Ne`eman, Aharon Shabtay, and Arik Shapira (Israel Prize Laureate) - and university professors such as Yossef Grodginski, Uri Hadar, Hannan Hever, Orly Lubin, Adi Ophir, Yehuda Shenhav and Eyal Weitzman. The petition was presented by the initiators to the embassies in Israel.
5 January 2009
Your Excellency,
Please find enclosed a petition signed by about 500 Israeli citizens, calling for urgent international intervention in order to stop Israel from continuing the war it has waged against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
It is the signatories` belief that Israel`s atrocities will not cease without a massive intervention by the international community. In particular, they ask world leaders to implement the call by Palestinian human rights organizations which urges:
• “The UN Security Council to call an emergency session and adopt concrete measures, including the imposition of sanctions, in order to ensure Israel`s fulfillment of its obligations under international humanitarian law.
• The High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfill their obligation under common Article 1 to ensure respect for the provisions of the Conventions, taking appropriate measures to compel Israel to abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular placing pivotal importance on the respect and protection of civilians from the effects of the hostilities.
• The High Contracting Parties to fulfill their legal obligation under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to prosecute those responsible for grave breaches of the Convention.
• EU institutions and member states to make effective use of the European Union Guidelines on promoting compliance with international humanitarian law (2005/C 327/04) to ensure Israel complies with international humanitarian law under paragraph 16 (b), (c) and (d) of these guidelines, including the adoption of immediate restrictive measures and sanctions, as well as cessation of all upgrade dialogue with Israel. “
The petition itself and a list of all Israeli signatories are attached to this letter.