Honest Reporting - Balanced in Iraq, Tilted in Gaza

[Mediocrates]

http://www.honestreporting.com/artic...ed_in_Gaza.asp

In the wake of similar incidents, media outlets grant US spokesmen a voice Israel is denied.

On Wednesday (May 19), two very similar incidents caused the death of 10 Palestinians in Gaza, and about 40 Iraqis along the Syrian border. In both events, local witnesses immediately claimed that military vehicles intentionally fired upon unarmed civilian crowds. In Gaza, the IDF immediately denied this; likewise in Iraq, US commanders firmly disputed it.

Responsible news coverage should have conveyed the disputed nature of the two unfortunate incidents. Yet while most media outlets were careful to express the US position prominently in the headline and opening sentence, that same balance was denied to Israel. The effect ?\ a worldwide suggestion that the IDF deliberately murdered innocent Palestinian protestors. Some examples:


Washington Post
Iraq - US position presented
in headline, first sentence
(see full article)
Gaza - Israeli position presented
in third paragraph.
(see full article)

Headline "... Target Disputed"
"Israeli Attack on Gaza Protest Kills at Least 12"
First sentence "...striking what ... U.S. officials called a way station for foreign infiltrators."
"An Israeli helicopter gunship and a tank fired rockets and artillery shells at Palestinian protesters..."



Comments to: letters@washpost.com


LA Times
Iraq - US position presented
in headline, first sentence
(see full article)
Gaza - Israeli position presented
in twenty-ninth paragraph
(see full article)

Headline "Military says it hit a militant safe house"
N/A
First sentence " ...what the U.S. said was a suspected safe house for foreign fighters."
"Israeli forces fired a missile and tank shells toward a large crowd of Palestinian demonstrators..."



Comments to: letters@latimes.com



BBC
Iraq - US position presented
in headline, first sentence
(see full article)
Gaza - Israeli position presented
in eighth paragraph.
(see full article)

Headline "US Denies Bombing Wedding Party"
"Israelis Fire on Crowds in Gaza"
First sentence "The US military has denied allegations that its forces in Iraq killed dozens of people celebrating a marriage..."
"Israeli troops have opened fire during a protest by Palestinian demonstrators..."



Comments to: newsonline@bbc.co.uk


Reuters
Iraq - US position presented
in headline, second sentence
(see full article)
Gaza - Israeli position presented
in fifth paragraph.
(see full article)

Headline "US Army Disputes Reports it Killed Civilians"
"Israeli Forces Fire on Crowd in Gaza, Killing 10"
Opening 2 sentences "... targeted 'a suspected foreign fighter safe house'"
"Israeli tanks and helicopters fired toward protesters in a Palestinian refugee camp Wednesday..."



Comments to: editor@reuters.com



AFP
Iraq - US position presented
in first sentence
(see full article)
Gaza - Israeli position presented
in third paragraph.
(see full article)

Headline "US troops accused of killing 40 at wedding"
"10 Palestinians killed as Israeli army fires on protest against bloody raid"
First sentence "...the Pentagon said air strikes were conducted on a house used by foreign fighters..."
"...Israeli troops fired on hundreds of demonstrators..."


Comments to: contact@afp.com

Moreover, other reports from the Evening Standard, the Independent, AFP, Associated Press, and Reuters failed to convey the actual IDF version of events at all.

And some media outlets immediately inflated the casualties:

Ireland On-Line: 'Israeli missile strikes kill 23 civilians in Gaza'
Voice of America: 'Israeli Forces Fire On Gaza Protesters, at Least 23 Dead '
After the 2002 Jenin experience, one would have thought journalists would have learned that part of the Palestinian strategy in this war is to disseminate false claims of Israeli 'massacres.' This, in the hope the falsities will make international headlines.

* * *

Since media reports downplayed or omitted the Israeli version of Wednesday's events, HonestReporting provides here the text of the official IDF statement, alongside a helpful aerial photograph:

IDF SPOKESPERSON'S ANNOUNCEMENT

Today's incident in Rafah is a very grave incident and the IDF expresses deep sorrow over the loss of civilian lives.

At no point in this incident was intentional fire opened in the direction of civilians.

A large procession of several hundreds demonstrators, among them gunmen, organized by the Palestinian Authority, left central Rafah along the main road towards IDF forces in Tel-Sultan.

As the crowd, with the gunmen among them, drew near IDF forces, a warning fire of a single missile was fired from a helicopter into an open area, not towards the demonstrators. In addition, flares were fired in the air to deter the crowd and to prevent endangering the demonstrators.

As this did not deter the crowd and they continued to converge on the troops, machine gun fire was opened towards a wall of an abandoned structure along the side of the road and then four tank shells were fired at this abandoned structure. It is possible that the causalities were a result of the tank fire on the abandoned structure.

The details of the incident continue to be investigated. It should be mentioned that the scene of the incident is an area of combat and an area of frequent exchanges of fire. The road has been rigged with explosive charges planted by the Palestinians. The IDF has not yet cleared the road of these explosives. At this stage it is difficult to determine the cause of the civilian casualties.

The incident is being investigated thoroughly at this time. The IDF has approached the Palestinians and offered medical assistance, including the evacuation of the casualties to Israeli hospitals.

* * *

Two items support the IDF statement, yet received very little media attention:

?Å“ The New York Times stated that "a reporter who was present, but not at the front of the march, saw two young men with semiautomatic rifles at the start of the route."

?Å“ On Tuesday (May 18), Palestinians accused Israel of killing 2 young children, but it soon came to light that the children were actually killed by a bomb planted irresponsibly by local terrorists. It is altogether possible that a similar bomb caused Wednesday's disaster.

* * *

Did your local paper fail to prominently indicate the Israeli version of Wednesday's event ?\ thereby suggesting the IDF deliberately fired upon innocents?

Meanwhile, did the paper grant US military spokesmen the very balance Israel was denied?

HonestReporting encourages you to write a letter to the editor, pointing out any unfair coverage of the Rafah event, and the double standard applied to Israeli vs. American military acts.

As the investigation of the Rafah incident continues, media outlets should continue to provide both sides of the story.

[abu afak]

http://www.honestreporting.com/artic...ed_in_Gaza.asp

Good Piece..

I just posted it on another board after getting the email Alert.

It's easy to sign up if you're interested....
especially if you post on boards/other boards with many Israel critics.

Edit//////

Make that 2 other boards I posted it to.. and counting

[Mira~]

May. 21, 2004 15:59 | Updated May. 21, 2004 17:17
Zakai: Rafah damages caused by terrorists, not IDF
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH


The deterrent fire aimed near demonstrators marching toward Tel el-Sultan in Rafah refugee camp on Wednesday, a result of which eight Palestinians were killed, was the last resort in preventing the armed Palestinians within the crowd from attacking soldiers and isolating an undercover unit from the rest of the troops, Brig.-Gen. Shmuel Zakai, Gaza division commander, told reporters at a briefing Friday.


Zakai said that the tank commander could not see the demonstrators from where he was positioned and that the army had no intension of directing any fire towards the marchers.

However he said that the army had received reports of the planned march and the intension of armed men to mingle among demonstrators, and conveyed messages to Palestinian officials asking them to prevent the demonstration from taking place.

Since Operation Rainbow was launched in Rafah, some four days ago, a total of 5 buildings have been demolished, 40 terrorists have been killed and scores arrested, he said.

He added that Palestinian footage of destruction in the area showed many of the buildings they claim to have been demolished in the four-day operation were in fact destroyed over the course of the past three and a half years.

Describing the Palestinian reports of the destruction in Rafah following IDF activity as a "well-oiled propaganda machine", Zakai declared that none of the residents were suffering from starvation, and that in cases where water and electricity were cut off, crews immediately began repairing the damage.

Regarding footage of plowed up roads, Zakai said these were the result of terrorists placing bomb underneath the road surface and covering them up with asphalt, so as to detonate as troops entered the camp. Similarly, many of the damaged houses documented by Palestinians are a product of powerful explosives placed by terrorists inside the walls of houses to harm IDF troops searching the area.

Zakai denied reports that the operation had been concluded and said the number of troops was reduced according to plan, noting that the size of the force varies according to the type of military mission.

Addressing charges of the breach of human rights in Rafah, Zakai said that "in order to assist civilians, throughout the operation we granted unlimited access into Rafah of ambulances, as well as some 40 trucks containing blankets, food, medication and hundreds of oxygen canisters.

"From the outset, we have been constantly aware of the importance in providing humanitarian assistance," said Zakai.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...=1085117307808

[David_in_NYC]

One can hardly consider the Iraq coverage balanced, but I will grant that it is less unbalanced than the coverage of Israel, though only marginally so.

[sharonbn]

Can someone please explain to me why Israeli incursion into Rafah was condemned by the UN, while American actions in Iraq (torture of prisoners, attack on wedding) weren't even discussed?

[Mediocrates]

Because no one really cares about the Iraqis especially the ones who are already in prison. All they care about is does this embarass the US. In Israel's case, no one really cares about the Pals similarly but the point is, does this help destroy Israel and all the Jews living there?

[Mediocrates]

http://www.honestreporting.com/artic...on_in_Gaza.asp

Tunnel Vision in Gaza

Palestinians attempt to kidnap a NY Times reporter; also, one-dimensional reporting of the Rafah operation.

The six-day IDF operation in southern Gaza to eliminate terrorists' weapons-smuggling tunnels and snipers' havens has triggered a wave of international media condemnation. As documented in the last HonestReporting communique, media reports have given disproportionate weight to dubious Palestinian claims.

Journalists' reliance on Palestinian sources with questionable credibility is particularly ironic in light of an event last week that must have shaken the entire regional press corp. Veteran NY Times reporter James Bennet was victim of an attempted kidnapping in Gaza on May 19. Bennet appended this description to his own report that day:

at least three Palestinian men attempted to kidnap this reporter here Wednesday night. The reporter, who had identified himself at Al Najar hospital as an American, was speaking on a cellular telephone in the street in front of the hospital when a stranger approached offering a handshake, a smile and the word, "Welcome."


When the reporter took his hand, the stranger and another man grabbed him and attempted to shove him into an aging Mercedes sedan that pulled up, its rear door open. A struggle and cries for help brought Palestinian police officers at the hospital running, and after a further struggle, the men jumped in the car and disappeared.

Then, as reported in the Jerusalem Post, Palestinian journalist eyewitnesses denied Bennet's account, and PA officials called Bennet to try to convince him that he wasn't really the victim of an attempted kidnapping:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...=1078027574121

Zakariya Talmas, a senior member of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate in the Gaza Strip, described Bennet's claim as "baseless." He said that the syndicate looked into the case and discovered that there had been no attempt to kidnap the journalist. The gunmen only wanted to check his identity, Talmas added. [PA daily] Al-Quds said a number of senior PA officials phoned Bennet to explain to him what had happened.

Bennet's ordeal underscores the problems faced by Western reporters operating in Palestinian areas, trying to objectively report the news when they are subject to not only the intimidation of Palestinian thugs, but also PA officials who insist on a creative 'reassessment' of what the reporter personally witnesses.

It will be interesting to see if Mr. Bennet, in his future stories, grants legitimacy to the very PA figures who are now 'explaining' to him that his own terrifying ordeal was 'baseless.' At the very least, this episode should rattle foreign correspondents who routinely quote non-credible Palestinian sources to 'fill out' their reports.

OUTRAGEOUS AUSTRIAN CARTOON

A cartoonist from the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung drew upon sensationalist news reports to equate the IDF in Gaza with Nazis in Germany (right). This led Yad Vashem to issue a rare public statement of outrage and concern: "The caricature is a classic expression of the new antisemitism... which diminishes the Holocaust and distorts both today's reality as well as that of the Holocaust."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...=1078397702269

Comments to Klein Zeitung: redaktion@kleinezeitung.at

THE MISSING INFO
Absent from nearly all reports from Gaza were (1) the extraordinary measures taken by the IDF for the sake of Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire, and (2) any significant examination of the Rafah smuggling tunnels.

The IDF commander in charge of Gaza forces, Col. Eyal Eisenberg, shared this story with the Israeli daily Maariv on May 18:

http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?...articleID=7496

I haven't told this to anyone but in the midst of this operation, we assisted a baby being born and evacuated an elderly woman who was injured and summoned a local ambulance for her. Terrorists ran and fired from behind the ambulance.

If my soldiers can assist a Palestinian woman giving birth when six of their comrades have been blown to bits in the street but, at the same time, they fire at us from behind an ambulance, you must understand that we [and the Palestinians] are at opposite ends of the scales of values.

The IDF described further humanitarian care in Rafah during the operation:

http://backspin.typepad.com/backspin...manitaria.html

During the operation, 70 ambulances, more than 40 trucks loaded with food, water, medical supplies, mattresses and blankets flowed into the combat zone. 490 oxygen tanks were delivered to hospitals in Gaza.

Although the IDF coordination office offered to treat the wounded in Israeli hospitals, the Palestinians declined and only two of the wounded were transported to Israeli hospitals for further medical care.

Due to intensive fighting and the fact the Palestinians rigged the roads and alleys with explosive devices; heavy damage was inflicted to the civilian infrastructure in the area. The IDF facilitated Palestinian professional teams to attend to the electricity, sewage and water systems.

Most readers were left unaware of the fact that since September 2000, the IDF has uncovered and demolished approximately 90 tunnels.

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-...h+May+2004.htm

Despite these efforts, the tunnels have continued to be built (due to tremendous financial incentive), and have become, as one IDF officer described them, "the very lifeblood of the terrorist organizations. This operation is not punitive, but rather military and preventive." Another IDF spokesman

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/431138.html

added that Palestinians had dug tunnels inside mosques and schools and under children's beds in private homes.

Kudos to the BBC for breaking from the media's focus on Palestinian difficulties to provide a photo essay on recent IDF actions to uncover weapons-smuggling tunnels in Rafah.

For more background information on the smuggling tunnels, see these IDF presentations: Weapons Smuggling through the Rafah Tunnels (.pdf, 1.3 mb), and Rafah: A Weapons Factory and Gateway (.pdf, 1.3 mb). Also, see the report on the tunnels from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

http://www1.idf.il/SIP_STORAGE/DOVER/files/2/31362.pdf
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-...h+May+2004.htm
http://www1.idf.il/SIP_STORAGE/DOVER/files/5/31365.pdf

HonestReporting encourages subscribers to monitor your local papers for 'tunnel-vision' coverage of the IDF operation in Rafah, including the reliance upon questionable Palestinian claims, the omission of IDF humanitarian efforts, and disregarding the core issue - the massive terrorist infrastructure for smuggling deadly weapons.

[USAF Airman]

Because no one really cares about the Iraqis especially the ones who are already in prison. All they care about is does this embarass the US. In Israel's case, no one really cares about the Pals similarly but the point is, does this help destroy Israel and all the Jews living there?

I care. Not everyone in America agree's with how these situations are being handled.

The circles I run in, basically put the PA in the same class as Al Qaeda, and Hammas. They are greedy terrorists that need to be handled in the same way the military is handling business in the middle east. (Afganastan).

The media on the other hand rarely gets it right & frankly I disagree about the part about whether they care about embarassing the US. The US has been getting plenty of embarassing news lately and the media has no problem covering it.

[Mediocrates]

That's exactly the point. "News" and "Journalism" stopped being real things years ago. Their only point is to embarass the US and its allies. Truth and facts and context simply don't matter.


There is not a single arab 'leader' of any stripe who has a vested interest in seeing the Palestinians succeed and prosper. Their only relevance on the world stage, to those arab leaders and to the European leaders as well is to stand as fodder for tearing down American and Israeli interests and agendas. They are perfectly willing to wave the bloody shirt unto the last Palestinian.

And to be honest most Americans and others truly don't care what happens, on a personal level, to the Iraqis. Certainly we don't want to be associated with their mistreatment but that is more about how we feel about us. Even with forums like NPR becoming all Iraqi radio 24/7/365 we in the west feel more pathos than compassion. If Iraq today became a Shiite rumpstate of Iran, there would be a cry for us to immediately leave in toto and leave them to whatever Dark Age Destiny they have in store. and when the smoke cleared and the last AK was fired in the air at the last 'wedding' we'd say "Gee it sucks being you, doesn't it?"