The Fighting in Gaza - An Incredibly Biased AP Report
This exceeded even the usual standards of anti-Semitic bias in the MSM:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080302/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians
Let's go over this report, whose author is one Ibrahim Barzak:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft sent missiles slamming into the office of the prime minister of Hamas-ruled Gaza before dawn on Sunday, pressing forward with an offensive that has killed nearly 70 Palestinians in two days of fighting. A 21-month-old girl was among the dead in new violence.
This is the first paragraph and is called an "idea paragraph," which means that it is especially signficant. It's supposed to state the ideas of the whole article. So let's see the ideas.
A Hamas leader is treated as a "prime minister," as if Gaza were a state. A series of raids is termed an "offensive," as if the Israeli military were making a serious attempt to occupy Gaza. "Nearly" 70 Palestinians have been killed in "two days of fighting," implying that this is a large number for a battle (it isn't). Oh, and the fact that one person killed was a toddler is given prominence (why?).
Continuing on, we find the following points mentioned:
... the Hamas leadership, which Israel holds responsible for repeated rocket barrages launched from Gaza.
Not "which is responsible," note, but "which Israel holds responsible." It's a well-known fact that the rocket barrages might have as easily been launched by George W. Bush, or the Martians, right?
A total of 54 Palestinians, roughly half of them civilians, ...
Barzak lets a piece of good news slip through here -- if roughly half the dead were civilians, then roughly half the dead were also, logically, not civilians -- presumably, they were members of Hamas.
... were killed in fighting Saturday, the highest single-day death toll in more than seven years of violence. Two Israeli soldiers also were killed.
In stating this, Barzak tacitly ignores from consideration the Israelis killed and wounded by the possibly-Martian rocket barrages.
Responding to the bloodletting, the moderate Palestinian leadership based in the West Bank suspended U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel.
Fatah is "moderate" only in the Lands of Delusion. Still, it's nice to see that they're missing no opportunity to miss an opportunity, again. The Palestinian leadership is once again helping to save ... Israel.
Israel regularly clashes with Gaza rocket squads, but intensified its operations after militants fired salvos last week into Ashkelon, a city of 120,000. By targeting Ashkelon, some 11 miles north of Gaza, Hamas added pressure on Israeli leaders to exact a high price for the increasing sense of insecurity felt in southern Israel.
No mention here of anyone being killed in those rocket barrages. Once again, the deaths of Palestinian children are newsworthy; the deaths of Israeli children are just the proper fates meted out to filthy Jews, and are no more worthy of mention than the eradication of rats in one's basement.
Overnight, a 14-year-old Palestinian girl and five militants died of their wounds, and four Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids, including the baby girl, who died from shrapnel wounds.
Normally, when one reports deaths, one would report the deaths of combatants first, then noncombatants; Barak has inverted this practice to focus our attention on the suffering of civilians. Futhermore, he has accidentally revealed something of importance: if "overnight" five Terrorists and one civilian died of their wounds, it means that the Israelis are shooting quite accurately (if they were firing indiscriminately, they would be killing far more civilians than Terrorists). Note also what he has omitted: were the other three Palestinians who died in "Israeli raids," other than the baby, civilians or Terrorists? His omission, coupled with the earlier fact, makes me suspect that they were not innocent bystanders.
Many, like schoolteacher Tawfek Shaban, a 44-year-old father of five, were holding small radios, listening to the news.
"Shame on the Arabs, shame on the Muslims, shame on humanity ... When they will act to stop Israel?" Shaban asked. "There is no safe place in Gaza."
That's the point, Shaban. Enjoy your war. Heh-heh-heh :)
The moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, which is locked in a fierce rivalry with Hamas, called Israel's assault a "holocaust" and "genocide" and suspended peace talks.
This is actually an accurate quote, though of course the claim is a lie: since when does a strike against enemy combatants which kills no more than the same number of civilian combatants, and in any case kills only a few dozen people, qualify as "genocide?" Barak, of course, does not point out that the claim is false.
The usual crap, though it's nice to see the Israelis strike back. Now, if they can just keep this up, or better yet simply drive the Palestinians into Egypt, they'll be getting somewhere. But I despair of common sense from this Government.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080302/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians
Let's go over this report, whose author is one Ibrahim Barzak:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft sent missiles slamming into the office of the prime minister of Hamas-ruled Gaza before dawn on Sunday, pressing forward with an offensive that has killed nearly 70 Palestinians in two days of fighting. A 21-month-old girl was among the dead in new violence.
This is the first paragraph and is called an "idea paragraph," which means that it is especially signficant. It's supposed to state the ideas of the whole article. So let's see the ideas.
A Hamas leader is treated as a "prime minister," as if Gaza were a state. A series of raids is termed an "offensive," as if the Israeli military were making a serious attempt to occupy Gaza. "Nearly" 70 Palestinians have been killed in "two days of fighting," implying that this is a large number for a battle (it isn't). Oh, and the fact that one person killed was a toddler is given prominence (why?).
Continuing on, we find the following points mentioned:
... the Hamas leadership, which Israel holds responsible for repeated rocket barrages launched from Gaza.
Not "which is responsible," note, but "which Israel holds responsible." It's a well-known fact that the rocket barrages might have as easily been launched by George W. Bush, or the Martians, right?
A total of 54 Palestinians, roughly half of them civilians, ...
Barzak lets a piece of good news slip through here -- if roughly half the dead were civilians, then roughly half the dead were also, logically, not civilians -- presumably, they were members of Hamas.
... were killed in fighting Saturday, the highest single-day death toll in more than seven years of violence. Two Israeli soldiers also were killed.
In stating this, Barzak tacitly ignores from consideration the Israelis killed and wounded by the possibly-Martian rocket barrages.
Responding to the bloodletting, the moderate Palestinian leadership based in the West Bank suspended U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel.
Fatah is "moderate" only in the Lands of Delusion. Still, it's nice to see that they're missing no opportunity to miss an opportunity, again. The Palestinian leadership is once again helping to save ... Israel.
Israel regularly clashes with Gaza rocket squads, but intensified its operations after militants fired salvos last week into Ashkelon, a city of 120,000. By targeting Ashkelon, some 11 miles north of Gaza, Hamas added pressure on Israeli leaders to exact a high price for the increasing sense of insecurity felt in southern Israel.
No mention here of anyone being killed in those rocket barrages. Once again, the deaths of Palestinian children are newsworthy; the deaths of Israeli children are just the proper fates meted out to filthy Jews, and are no more worthy of mention than the eradication of rats in one's basement.
Overnight, a 14-year-old Palestinian girl and five militants died of their wounds, and four Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids, including the baby girl, who died from shrapnel wounds.
Normally, when one reports deaths, one would report the deaths of combatants first, then noncombatants; Barak has inverted this practice to focus our attention on the suffering of civilians. Futhermore, he has accidentally revealed something of importance: if "overnight" five Terrorists and one civilian died of their wounds, it means that the Israelis are shooting quite accurately (if they were firing indiscriminately, they would be killing far more civilians than Terrorists). Note also what he has omitted: were the other three Palestinians who died in "Israeli raids," other than the baby, civilians or Terrorists? His omission, coupled with the earlier fact, makes me suspect that they were not innocent bystanders.
Many, like schoolteacher Tawfek Shaban, a 44-year-old father of five, were holding small radios, listening to the news.
"Shame on the Arabs, shame on the Muslims, shame on humanity ... When they will act to stop Israel?" Shaban asked. "There is no safe place in Gaza."
That's the point, Shaban. Enjoy your war. Heh-heh-heh :)
The moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, which is locked in a fierce rivalry with Hamas, called Israel's assault a "holocaust" and "genocide" and suspended peace talks.
This is actually an accurate quote, though of course the claim is a lie: since when does a strike against enemy combatants which kills no more than the same number of civilian combatants, and in any case kills only a few dozen people, qualify as "genocide?" Barak, of course, does not point out that the claim is false.
The usual crap, though it's nice to see the Israelis strike back. Now, if they can just keep this up, or better yet simply drive the Palestinians into Egypt, they'll be getting somewhere. But I despair of common sense from this Government.