Did you see it in the news?
ABC reported that Israel
retaliated against a rocket fired
from Gaza . One
crude, unguided, homemade rocket landed in an open field in the southern part
of Israel ,
causing no injury to anyone or damage to any structure. However, the news was of
“Israel ’s
retaliation.”
The news faithfully reports the violence, yet seldom
mentions the cause of that violence. It is presented as authorities
controlling riots. These authorities, however, are occupying someone else’s land, fighting to
seize more land and water that does not belong to them. How can it be
retaliation when Israel
is the aggressor?
Hanon Ashrawi comments:
It is not presented as an army
using its arsenal against young people who are largely unarmed, who are
besieged, who are protesting because of the occupation against the total
oppression of their whole nation… Israel
is the aggressor, killing people in their own homes on their own land, yet it
is presented as though the Palestinians attacked Israel which is now simply
“retaliating.”[i]
According to: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Only 4% of
Network Reports even mention the word “occupation.”
Neither the Associated Press, nor ABC News, included in
their story of “Israel’s retaliation” the context of that rocket, the one and
only rocket fired at Israel from Gaza this year.”[ii] At the same time, unreported in the mainstream media during that
same time:
In the three months January-March,
there were six military incursions - when Israeli forces invaded the Gaza Strip
then withdrew – and 67 shooting attacks on land and at sea.[iii]
According to our news media, attacks on Palestinians are
normal, certainly not news worthy. It is
only when someone from the occupied territories fires back that it merits a
story. As long as no Israeli is forced
to duck, it is seen as a time of “calm” no matter how many Palestinians become
victims of Israel ’s
aggression. “Israeli forces injured
dozens of Palestinians and foreign activist on April 3rd using live fire to suppress
weekly marches in West Bank …another
Palestinian was injured and dozens more suffered excessive tear gas inhalation
during clashes with Israeli forces at the weekly march at Bil’in.”[iv]
No headlines in my paper.
On April 2nd, Israeli soldiers arrested Palestinian
parliamentarian, Khalida Jarrar for “unspecified reasons.” She joined 16 other Palestinian lawmakers
currently serving time in Israeli prisons.[v]
The next week, April 10th,
a Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces at the funeral
of his cousin who had died from unattended medical complications while in an
Israeli prison. Thirteen others attending
the same funeral were injured by live ammunition and rubber coated bullets.[vi]
The following Thursday, two Palestinians were shot and injured
when Israeli soldiers raided their refugee camp.
The next day, Israeli soldiers attacked the weekly protest
against the illegal wall and settlements near Ramallah, wounding five,
including two by live ammunition.
Settlers attacked Palestinian shepherds, forcing them at
gunpoint to go into their homes. Israeli forces arrived and arrested the shepherds.
Back in March, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian
fisherman.[vii]
At least 30 children across the West Bank
sustained gunshot wounds when Israeli forces used live ammunition to quash
protest during the first three months of 2015.
In summary: Since
2000, Israeli security forces have killed over 8,896 Palestinians. At least
1,900 of those have been children.[viii]
A report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory
found that, overall, Israel
was responsible for 2,314 Palestinian deaths and 17,125 injuries last calendar year...Defense
for Children International – Palestine
has documented abuse and torture that Palestinian children endure in Israeli
prisons, where they are denied due process.[ix]
Today, there are nearly 6,500
Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails; 500 of them held under
administrative detention without charge or trial. There are 200 child
prisoners, 24 women prisoners, and 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative
Council behind bars… There are 1500 sick prisoners including 16 severely ill in
the Ramle prison clinic, 24 with cancer and 80 with severe illnesses.[x]
Yet compared to a small rocket fired into a field in Israel , none of
this merits attention in our news media. I can only imagine the coverage if
this were violence against Jews?
Thomas Are
May 2, 2015
[i]
Documentary: Peace, Propaganda and the
Promised Land, The Media Education Foundation, 2004.
[ii] ABCNew.go.com , Israel Retaliates to Gaza
Rocket Attack, No Injuries, AP , Jerusalem ,
April 23, 2015
[iii] Philip
Weiss, One rocket from Gaza
[iv] Same
article as above, Mondoweiss, April 27, 2015
[v] +972
Magazine, Israeli soldiers arrest feminist Palestinian lawmaker, By Haggai
Matar
[vi] From,
Today in Palestine ,
Al-Awda-News, April 10, 2015
[vii] Philip
Weiss, One rocket from Gaza
[viii] Kate,
30 Palestinian Children have been shot
with Live Ammunition in Protest last 3 Months. Mondoweiss, March 25, 2015.
[ix] Sarah
Lazare, 2014 Deadliest Year for
Palestinians Since 1967, UN Report Finds. Common Dreams, March 27, 2015.
[x]
AL-AWDA-News, Palestinian Prisoners Day, April 17, 2015.
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