The New York Times shouldn’t be trusted to report on future wars if it can’t get the facts about previous wars right.
Once again, the Times misleads readers about the lead up to Israel’s invasion of Gaza in late 2008. Isabel Kershner writes (5/3/12):
Up to 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during Israel’s three-week offensive against Hamas in Gaza in the winter of 2008-09, which came after years of rocket fire into southern Israel by Gaza militants.
So Israel was responding to “years of rocket fire.”
The real story is a bit different. 2008 actually saw a remarkable decline in Israel/Gaza violence, thanks to a cease fire. And this was reported in the New York Times (12/19/08) before the full-scale assault known as Operation Cast Lead began:
Hamas imposed its will and even imprisoned some of those who were firing rockets. Israeli and United Nations figures show that while more than 300 rockets were fired into Israel in May, 10 to 20 were fired in July, depending on who was counting and whether mortar rounds were included. In August, 10 to 30 were fired, and in September, 5 to 10.
This graph shows how remarkable the decline in rocket fire was for five months (June-November). That Times piece also reports that Israeli forces continued attacks in Gaza and the West Bank, and did not fulfill economic promises associated with the cease fire.
So what actually happened? Israel launched an attack in November 2008 that killed six Hamas members (Guardian headline, 11/5/08: “Gaza Truce Broken as Israeli Raid Kills Six Hamas Gunmen”). That proved to be the decisive breach of the cease fire.
The Times and Kershner have done this re-writing of history before. It’s certainly a more comforting, familiar narrative for corporate media: Palestinians attack, Israel finally retaliates. It also happens to be totally misleading.
You can’t make this stuff up.The story talks about the amazing decline in rockets fired in the end of summer /early fall into Israel.And of the great help they were receiving from Palestinian authorities to stop it.Almost sounds like Israel could turn her security over to Palestinians.But add up the rockets.Still about 400!!!! in that time period.And That IS a huge cut.Im trying to see this country accept 400 rockets fired into us from another country without a powerful response.I just can’t for the life of me.Yet Israel is asked to play by different rules.How about one rocket gets …..one response (at least).To quote churchill when speaking of Nazi Germany.”We ask no quarter.We say do your worst ,and we shall do our best.We shall measure out tenfold what you do against us”.
This is a truth in the middle east.That Israel will hit back twice as hard when she is attacked.There has NEVER been a time that Israel has attacked without provocation.Never.They have never invaded her neighboring countries on Yom kippur, or any other day in sneak attacks for the conquest of lands.They have been invaded and pushed back their enemies.Been attacked and struck back.Been terrorized and have killed the terrorists.They have retained certain buffer zones where those attack came from repeatedly.Hamas….a friend to Israel?Don’t even say it in jest.
Getting the facts straight
Into the shredder
The point is that the ceasefire took effect and was respected (hence the drop in bombings within three months) and enforced by Palentinian authorities. Just like what the piece says.
The comments about Israel’s war policies are unavailing: you can always set up a provocation to go to war. And Israel’s government does that a lot. Moreover, that border situation is a permanent war zone situation as is the situation with the expanding settlements.
Finally, people who hold up the United States as a standard for International conduct are doing so with one of the most war-committed countries in human history. The U.S. has been militarily mobilized virtually every day for the last half century!
That situation — both the U.S. and Israel — is self-destructive and cannot go on much longer.
What I find completely amazing in its dishonesty about the story is the claim that Israel went to war against Hamas. It did no such thing. It went to war against Gaza, including Palestinian civilians. The idea that it went to war against Hamas is the biggest piece of propaganda in the piece. Oh, and she might have also noted that the now deposed Hosni Mubarak closed the border and that he knew about it ahead of time, because he posed for a photo op with an Israeli politician a few days before the bombardment of Gaza began. Of course, Kershner doesn’t want to point that out, because the big elephant in the room is that the chances of another Egyptian leader doing what Mubarak did is next to none. The days of Gaza being an Egyptian-Israeli-US condo are gone.
Why the Liberal/Progressive cause needs to be dragged down by the albatross around its neck of this idiotic conflict – and supporting the most non-Liberal/Progressive way of life imaginable – IS TOTALLY BEYOND ME.
At the very least Liberals should just leave this thing to work itself out by the parties involved and if logic and morality had anything to do with it, at least the way I look at things there is a war going on between two sides, one dedicated to preserving their way of life that has been attacked historically through centuries, and the other who do not really represent anything but unfortuntely displaced civilians – but not a real country, race or religion – and who could end this overnight if they chose to stop trying to destroy Israel.
I am also so amused by the idea that when the number of rockets fired into Israeli civilian areas goes up or down or whatever, that the Israelis are just supposed to ignore that and sit back and watch like they are harmless fireworks for amusement and not a real and symbolic action of the attempt at destroying the country of Israel. Why should any rockets be tolerated.
The radical Islamic block is anathema to the idea of global tolerance and cooperation and agreement should be reached by the rest of the world and standards of behavior and human rights applied. The world together may not be strong enough to coerce Russia or China into following human rights, but the battle of this century, figuratively I mean, is the Islamic block and the overal purpose and goal should be clear and easily agreed on.
Yes, the US behavior under Bush/Cheney in Iraq and Afghanistan has not been ideal, but it is heading in the right direction when you line it up with Korea, Viet Nam, etc, over time.
If we were to add up all the armaments that Israel has used against the Palestinians in the past year, or two, or three, or four, I believe we would discover that it has been enough to arm several countries. Gaza has some crummy rockets that cannot be aimed accurately and a few guns or other munitions with which to DEFEND ITS CITIZENS.
It seems that it is fine for Israel to make great claims about defending itself, but for any Palestinian to wish to do the same is apparently committing some kind of sin. If Israel breaks a cease fire it’s barely mentioned. If the Gazans retailiate against the Israel cease fire break, it is BIG news. No wonder Michael is so confused.
One only has to do a head count to see which side has been using disproportional arms.
We give (and I do mean give) vast supplies of arms to the Israelis. Our treaty for doing so says that they will only be used for self-defence. That is why we hear so much about how the Israelis have to defend them selves, self-defence, etc. When you add up the score, any one with even a meager ability to use logic can see that what was used against Gaza in 2008 was way out of proportion and hardly could be misconstrued as self-defense. Dead: 14 Israels, about half by “friendly fire.” Equally Dead: Almost 1400 Palestinians. It’s a story that needs no words.
Remember the USS Liberty!
@ all of those who defend the vacuous opinion that Israel is defending itself against an embargoed foe of virtually no resources guilty of what Elizabeth so accurately described as:
“Gaza has some crummy rockets that cannot be aimed accurately and a few guns or other munitions with which to DEFEND ITS CITIZENS.”
If one is unwilling to equally apply the same measure to both sides of a conflict then a discussion can take place, otherwise it is an exercise in tribalism and of little value. Point of fact consider:
One side receives unprecedented support from the single super-power in the world.
One side did not provide stats on what ordnance was used in operation cast lead, yet provided stats on the the opponent.
One side insists that its security is constantly under threat, yet it continues to expand subsidized housing structures into this “dangerous” area.
Does this really make any sense to you? My 3rd grader seems capable of seeing the disconnect. Surprisingly, recent polls have shown that Americans, typically the closest blood relative to sheep, are no longer buying what the corporate media is selling on this issue.
Churchill must have been referring to the Palestinians in their closed off ghetto or open air prison. Low on food, water, power walled off an under threat from every side. The way to the see is off limits. Some of them maybe Hamas maybe not do not want to sit around while they slowly die and the world lets them. So they fire rockets. It isn’t a good thing and ultimately just feeds the negative publicity that paints them all as barbarians and the Israeli’s (their jailers) as only doing good and are “restrained” in their responses to unprovoked “attacks.” Israel is the power in the area, backed by the hyper power of the United States and that the US is chief negotiator and you have a formula for Israel getting what it wants and the Palestinians will be lucky if they survive the next decade.
Crummy rockets?????So that is the way it works.Guy shoots at me with a “crummy”38 special 5 times,and I kill him with one shot from my gold plated 45 semi with pearl handles.Bad guy…..ME! Sigh……………….. Check please
Glen said:
> I’m forced to ask if they (Jews) have learned anything from their
> experience of being a target of minority hatred.
I’d bet the perceptions of people who lived through the Holocaust,
and the people who are living under terrorism, sniper fire, kidnapping
and rocket barrages is more valid than someone who never has or who
snipes in words way behind the front lines and seems to have interpreted
history backwards.
And Glen goes further with blame the victim:
> These people seem to have a knack for wearing out their welcome
> even among some of the most tolerant …
The most tolerant? Like the pre-WWII German Nazis, and the
contemporary radical Islamists. The ones who let women burn in a
building rather than escape in an immodest dress, or who build walls
just to knock them over on gay people. Tolerant you say?
Not much more that’s worthy of quoting. that is just pure anti-
semitism the way I read it. Blame the victim. The sad part is that
this kind of ridiculous comment is not called out for what it was
loudly and firmly, and furthermore the sad part that touches many
more people is the bad associations this gives to Liberals and
Progressives when these anti-semitic comments are made and
associated … tolerated … but supposedly Liberal/Progressive
groups such as FAIR.