Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Raining Rockets

Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. said on CNN,  “We have thousands of rockets raining down on our citizens.” In fact, we hear over and over again, “rockets are raining” down on Israel.  It makes a strong impression.

Advertisers will tell you that the essence of propaganda is repetition.  So, we hear on FOX News, repeated reports of “rockets raining” down on Israel.  It is such an important image that Israel will do anything to keep it alive, even when rockets stop. In the summer of 2008, Palestinian sources reported 8 rockets in June, 12 in July, 11 in August, 4 in September and 2 in October.  An Israeli Intelligence Report issued by the Israeli government to international journalists  states, “Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire.” There were no deaths by rockets because there were no rockets.[1] 

Not the image of “rockets raining” that Israel wants.  An average of four drops per month hardly qualifies as a rain.  When I look out on my front drive and see four drops, I hardly expect to read in the paper that we had a rainy day.  If there are not enough drops to wet the street or water my hedges, I don’t expect my neighbor to say, “Wow! What a rainy day.”

Back in 2008, Israel had a dilemma. How to maintain the victim image of rockets raining down on innocent women and children when there are no rockets? After six month of rocket absence, on November 4th  Israel invaded Gaza and killed six Palestinians.  Did you get that date? November 4th was election night in the US when Barack Obama was elected president. Israel planned its invasion precisely at a time when it was almost guaranteed no one in America was watching news from Israel. We were all saturated in the counting of votes so significant to our own lives.  When Gaza responded by firing rockets, Israel screamed of being attacked and was defending itself. 

Israel bombarded Gaza with 600 tons of rockets, killing over 1400 Palestinians. Americans expressed shock. Israeli spokespersons simply asked, what would you do if rockets were raining down on your family?

So, what would you do? Maybe ask what made Palestinians with no power, so desperate that they fired a few weak, unguided missiles into Israel.  Could it be that it’s the only way to remind the world that they are still suffering oppression under a brutal occupation?

Thomas Are
May 10, 2016



[1] These statistics and quotes are lifted from the Media Education Foundation documentary, The Occupation of the American Mind, 2016.  

6 comments:

  1. https://www.gpln.com/israel.htm

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  2. Thomas, you may know about this already but if not, it provides some very useful context: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-kanwisher/reigniting-violence-how-d_b_155611.html

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  3. Palestinian rockets have no guidance systems and NO WARHEADS. They are inert metal tubes that fall out of the sky. One would pretty much have to hit you in the head or torso to kill you. So, this video (watch carefully to see what happens to the cat...) is also very useful context. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pxkPx0r5ig

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  4. Did not mean to post as "unknown." I am Fred Mrozek of Freeport, Illinois.

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  5. Anyone who thinks that God "gave Palestine to the Jews" has never read the Bible, Old or New Testament. The Bible is one long story with God and his prophets on one side and the King and his aristocracy on the other. The people are sheep, who pay for the crimes committed by their leaders. That describes exactly the situation of Man today and throughout history. Anyone who uses Josephus as his authority has chosen a fraud.

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  6. The State of "Israel" specializes in False Flag Attacks to justify its crimes and legitimize its lies. Everything they say is a lie. Rabin was turning into a human being who said the Bible is not a land deed. They killed him at an Israeli peace rally. "A hard rain is a-gonna fall."

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