Eagerly awaited fodder for the pack of wolves, hungry for just such tales of war crimes perpetrated by the IDF.
Melanie P addressed the evidence, dismantling it point by point, but it had already been swallowed by the MSM, the hungriest of which is the BBC’s siamese twin, the Guardian.
Not content with editorials and numerous articles, the most poisonous of which is by ‘Hamas mouthpiece’ Seamas Milne, the Guardian has been calling for support for its “work” by sending out an appeal to blog and website owners. It came from the delightfully named Mustafa Khalili who sent one by mistake to a pro Israel blog.
“The Guardian has regrettably thrown all professional journalistic ethics and pretensions to balance and objectivity to the four winds, and has gleefully annexed itself to the cause of Hamas,” said Ami Isseroff, chief editor of ZioNation. (Jpost quoting web site ZioNation)
The BBC has got in on the act of course. In a dumbed down article, they’ve got hold of a report, this time by UN investigators, who have come up with yet more ammo about unethical behaviour by Israeli soldiers. It doesn’t tell us much, but who cares, as long as it’s got this “The UN team responsible for protection of children in war zones says it found “hundreds” of similar violations.”
This is primarily concerned with the Guardian and to a lesser extent the BBC, but when Andrew Marr, Paxman and Esler get properly stuck in no doubt there’s much more in store.
I’ve been away but have learned never to jump to conclusions, especially on “atrocity” stories concerning Israel.
now it seems that the whole lot of unsubstnatiated hearsay rumours was untrue.Allegations that IDF soldiers deliberately shot and killed Palestinian civilians in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead have been found to be categorically untrue in official army investigations, an IDF source told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday……. “All of it was based on rumours. In the incident of the alleged shooting of the mother and her children, what really happened was that a marksman fired a warning shot to let them know that they were entering a no-entry zone. The shot was not even fired in their general direction,” the source said…..”We can say with absolute certainty that the marksman did not fire on the woman and her children. Later, the company commander spoke with the marksman and his commander. We know with certainty that this incident never took place,” he said. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727539851&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Will the truth ever be reported on the BBC?
Findings by Israel’s own inquiry mechanisms are bound to be cynically dismissed as partisan. It’s impossible to think of a trustworthy independent body whose findings the world would accept. Even though Palestinian words are taken at face value despite their record of lying, Israel is despised and viewed with suspicion. Israel ‘claims.’ Israel ‘says.’ ‘Well, they would say that wouldn’t they.’
It’s a bit of a no win situation, what with the BBC the way it is. Also, once the story hit the fan, it went everywhere as particulate matter; irreversibly and irretrievably.
Wouldn’t surprise me.
The alternative strategy if you want to be safe during an advance into what is basically the rubble of Stalingrad is to shoot at everyone who pops their head out.
Since the IDF is looking actively at taking zero casualties in an enemy urban zone you need a strategy to achieve this.
The white phosphorus was another one.
Willy pete was used a lot in Vietnam.
Here is an illuminating article which shows considerable understanding of all the issues.
http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237461630293&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Whilst accepting that with Islamic fanatics – anything goes, the rest of the world applies inimitable standards to Israel, and requires unparalleled standards of behaviour from its soldiers, In my view, that is what they get.
Ady, we’re familiar with your dismissive opinion of all things middle east. Is your analysis by way of a justification, or a condemnation, only I’m never entirely sure what you’re trying to say.
Even if some or many of these allegations are true (it’s possible – soldiers are young, emotional individuals; people get stupid in all wars), one still gets the impression that the BBC reports on any and all accusations of Israeli nastiness in the same way certain factions in the US media report on OJ Simpson getting arrested again. “Yes! We’ve got him this time! Now he’ll get what he deserves!”
The problem is that wild claims are made – whether by Palestinian groups or NGOs or Israeli attention seekers, which even though unsubstantiated, are pounced upon by the media. Whether the alleged atrocities ever actually happened (& I don’t think that they did)is irrelevant. The Israel haters get a propaganda win simply by having the charge made often and loudly enough. And the BBC & much of the rest of the media in this instance connives with them. Israel is in a no-win situation.
The parallels with Falluja are obvious, urban warfare is well known as an excellent killing zone for a defender.
The IDF does pretty well to achieve such low casualties advancing into built up areas.
The cost is a pile of rubble and a relatively high number of local civilian deaths.
The IDF aren’t even using any flamethrowers or napalm to crack these tough nuts either.
It took a long time for the BBC to acknowledge this Israel disputes Gaza death rates and it’s a fair bet that they will continue to quote Hamas figures without mentioning the dispute.
Once again Israel says is the operative disclaimer as in “Israel says warning were given before any civilian area was targeted”. Well Israel says, the Palestinians say, the U.N. says (tinyurl.com/dzt2tj) and the BBC says and confirms. I found hundreds of references to Israeli warning telephone calls and leaflets through a Google search.
Yet the BBC constantly refers to this as a claim not a fact.
As with BBC practise they end with a cut-and-paste: Last week several Israeli soldiers were quoted anonymously in the media saying troops had killed unarmed Palestinians, including women and children, by hastily opening fire under relaxed rules of engagement in Gaza.
How long will it be before the BBC notes that Israel has investigated and ‘claims’ neither incident happened?