The 'hear and see no evil' merchants in Gaza - except Israeli evil, of course!

I mentioned in an earlier post my suspicions concerning our so-called 'free press' and their collusion with the Hamas thugs sent to 'mind' them as they filmed in Gaza, now I have confirmation straight from the horse's arse, the Hamas Information Agency via The Times of Israel:

In an interview with Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV on Thursday, relayed and translated Friday by the Middle East Media Research Institute, the head of foreign relations in Hamas’s Information Ministry, Isra Al-Mudallal, complained that “the coverage by foreign journalists in the Gaza Strip was insignificant compared to their coverage within the Israeli occupation (Israel).”

“Moreover,” she said, “the journalists who entered Gaza were fixated on the notion of peace and on the Israeli narrative.” She asserted that the foreign press was focused “on filming the places from where missiles were launched. Thus, they were collaborating with the occupation.” (The Israeli army said last week that 600 of the 3,300 rockets fired into Israel over recent weeks were launched from residential areas, including schools, mosques and homes.)

Well, they might have tried to film where the missiles were launched but Hamas soon put a stop to it:

“These journalists were deported from the Gaza Strip,” al-Mudallal said. “The security agencies would go and have a chat with these people. They would give them some time to change their message, one way or another.

“We suffered from this problem very much,” she added. “Some of the journalists who entered the Gaza Strip were under security surveillance. Even under these difficult circumstances, we managed to reach them, and tell them that what they were doing was anything but professional journalism and that it was immoral.”

Eventually, well, last Monday to be exact, the Foreign Press Association lodged a fierce complaint concerning Hamas interference with their members in Gaza:

On Monday, the Foreign Press Association, an umbrella group representing foreign journalists working in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, issued a strongly worded condemnation of Hamas’s intimidation tactics and its interference with their reporting in Gaza.

“The FPA protests in the strongest terms the blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities and their representatives against visiting international journalists in Gaza over the past month,” the statement said. “The international media are not advocacy organizations and cannot be prevented from reporting by means of threats or pressure, thereby denying their readers and viewers an objective picture from the ground.”

Better late than never, I suppose, but even so the representative of one leading newspaper protested against the FPA complaint.  You will not drop dead with shock, I'm sure, when I tell you that he works for the New York Times.

 Hat tip to Jonathan S. Tobin at COMMENTARY

 

Comments

[AussieD]

They issued a "strongly worded letter". I'll bet that will bring those HAMMAS lads to heel.

Wait till Bonki Moonbat throws a tanti. That'll really scare them.

[Antisthenes]

As I understand it the Israel Gaza conflict came about because of 20th century interference by Western powers notably Britain and France. Apart from drawing arbitrary lines on maps and creating countries that did not reflect ethnic and tribal realities a new state was foisted upon the region displacing many who already lived there. This is something that we need to feel guilty about and the Arabs certainly have a right to play upon that guilt.

However that is now water under the bridge and there is nothing that short of changing borders and the elimination of Israel can reverse. Then that would be creating a modern day wrong to correct a past wrong and that would as we know not make a right. The answer of course is to find diplomatic solutions but that appears to be completely out of he question as sectarianism and political ideologies rules that out.

The West is therefore possessed with a dilemma who to support in all the myriad of conflicts now taking place in the Middle East and North Africa. The answer to that I believe is simple we support those factions that serve our best interest. It is not a matter of conscience as that way may well lead to consequences that may be very harmful to ourselves. That means supporting Israel with all our might and maintaining a policy of creating division, disunity and discord among the ranks of those who ahere to that pernicious religion Islam.

[AussieD]

Ant that is a fair summary - but. When Israel was founded in 1948 the Arab population was told that if they stayed they would enjoy the same rights as other Israelis and those that stayed did and still do. They sit in the Knesset and in the Supreme Court.

Israel's neighbours told the Arab population that if they moved beyond the borders of the new country they could return on the coat tails of the victorious Arab armies that were going to wipe out the infant State. Damned Jews didn't just lie down and fixed that up and have been doing so repeatedly since.

The descendants of those who left in 1948 have no one to blame but their ancestors.

I endorse your last sentence whole heartedly.

Kol tuv

[backofanenvelope]

I don't think we should feel guilty about what happened after 1918. The Ottoman Empire collapsed and the Arabs and Turks set about each other doing what comes naturally to Moslems, especially Arabs. We just made the best of a bad job by creating states that might have secured peace and prosperity. Now, 90 years later it is all collapsing. If anyone should feel guilty about the current shambles it is the Arabs and the Americans. Not the British and French.

[Dom]

There were other arbitrary lines drawn, like the one through India, creating a new state, Pakistan. Muslims are happy about that one.

Yes, we should assist Israel. It is a little spot of democracy and enlightenment in a region that resists such things. Islam is a unique evil.