Israel v Hamas: we all know who started it (photos)
HOW do you report on the battle in Israel and Hamas in Gaza? The Israeli’s says Operation Pillars of Defence is in response to Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza for the past five years. The Israel’s assassinated Hamas’s top military commander, Ahmed Jabari. The war will be conduced as much online as it is on the ground. The Alqassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) tweeted: “Our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are (You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves).” The Israelis release a video of Jabari’s death. Hamas invites favoured photographers to document their side’s suffering.
The IDF has a live blog.
Other questions are triggered: why is Israel on the top of the news cycle when it fires but not when Hamas, Iran-backed Hezbollah or Syria fires into it? Why do we see the people at war, never the ones who want to get along? Does broadcasting image of violence encourage the militants?
One Israeli blog says: “As of October 2012, over 800 rockets had been launched at Israel from Gaza since January 2012.”
News that Hamas has fired an-anti-tank missile at an IDF jeep on the Israeli side of the Gaza border last Saturday was not on the BBC.
On November 10, the AP reported:
An explosion targeted an Israel military vehicle on the Israel-Gaza border Saturday and Israeli troops fired into Gaza, killing two civilians and wounding at least 25, Palestinian officials and witnesses said. Ayman al-Sahbani, a doctor at Gaza’s Shifa hospital, said all the casualties were civilians and among the wounded were children.
The IDF tweets:
“All options are on the table. If necessary, the IDF is ready to initiate a ground operation in Gaza.”
The Daily Mail says:
Israel’s Iron Dome interceptor system shot down dozens of some 130 rockets fired from Gaza in the first few hours of daylight on day two of Operation Pillars of Defence, the army said
Iran’s Press TV says:
IDF’s Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai has advice:
I encourage all members of Hamas not to walk around above ground.
The IDF has dropped leaflets on Gaza. They say:
“Important announcement for the residents of the Gaza Strip:
For your own safety, take responsibility for yourselves and avoid being present in the vicinity of Hamas operatives and facilities and those of other terror organizations that pose a risk to your safety.
Hamas is once again dragging the region to violence and bloodshed. The IDF is determined to defend the residents of the State of Israel. This announcement is valid until quiet is restored to the region.
Israel Defense Forces Command.”
Who started it?
Channel 4 knows:
The Times knows:
William Hague knows:
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas “bears principal responsibility” for escalating tension in Gaza and southern Israel, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has said.
In a statement, Mr Hague said he deeply regretted “the loss of civilian life on both sides”.
But he added: “I utterly condemn rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel by Hamas and other armed groups.”
Three people were killed when rockets fired from Gaza struck southern Israel.
Israel killed Hamas’ military chief in Gaza on Wednesday.
Rocket attacks from Gaza create “an intolerable situation for Israeli civilians in southern Israel, who have the right to live without fear of attack” and “also risk worsening the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, which is already precarious”, he said.
The NY Times knows: “Attacks Resume After Israeli Assault Kills Hamas Leader“:
Israeli warplanes struck dozens of militant sites in Gaza early on Thursday, the second day of Israel’s deadly offensive against Hamas and other militant groups, and rockets fired from the enclave reached far into Israel, killing three civilians when one struck an apartment block in a small southern town.
These were the first casualties on the Israeli side since Israel launched its campaign, the most ferocious assault on Gaza in four years in response to persistent Palestinian rocket fire.
A rocket on Thursday smashed into the top floor of an apartment building in Kiryat Malachi, about 15 miles north of Gaza. Two women and a man were killed, according to rescue officials. A baby was among the injured and several Israelis were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds after rockets hit other southern cities and towns, they said.
The Children?
Now, about those pictures of dead and injured children… Andy Carvin wonders. He’s a senior strategist at NPR. Online community organizer since 1994. He’s the man who says “I tweet revolutions.”
We’ve seen untruths spread before.
The IDF tweets:
The Daily Mail leads with:
Agony of a grief-stricken father: BBC journalist cradles his dead baby son in his arms after Israeli rocket attack on Gaza.
Hideous. An image that will reverberate around the world. Maybe.
Will it make you side with Hamas? Will it make you hate Israel? Or will it make you wonder what role the media plays in fomenting hatred and violence..?
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People look at a wreckage of the car in which was killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. The Israeli military said its assassination of the Hamas military commander marks the beginning of an operation against Gaza militants. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
November 19th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
I think it is one of those issues where, however it is reported, there will be somebody who takes offence and complains – a real No-Win in every sense.
November 15th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
So, the death rate currently stands at 15 Palestinians and 3 Israelis – the BBC headline is “Gaza rocket fire kills Israelis”. Does that answer your question?
November 15th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Here we go again.
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It’s a tragic state of affairs really. The media spin doesn’t exactly help.
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In truth though, It’s right that Israel or rather the IDF be given a hard time and a media beasting for the death of civilians (especially kids).
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When you have two forces that are SO mismatched, then the side with the much much larger and more powerful force has a moral obligation to tread lightly.
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The IDF doesn’t really do this. And the plight (yes plight) of palistinian civilians due to the direct actions of the Israeli military industrial complex and zeolot zionist paranoia politics is simply inexcusable.
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Imagine being born in Gaza, well that’s you fucked then isn’t it.
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Tel Aviv, not so bad. a cushy western life awaits you.
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Perhaps the IDF should start taking a few pages out of the Dutch Army’s Afghanistan playbook. Which wile derided by the Americans at first has now become universally praised as the only realistic way forward in an asymmetrical conflict such as this.
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The sad thing is, we all know the simplest things that need to be done to have a peaceful solution to the situation, just as we all know that it will never happen.
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Perhaps one day in the future, the EU will tire of this conflict. Invade the entire country. Stamp the EU human rights charter into the new country of isra-stine. and then everyone would be legally obliged to stop being dicks to each other.
And what with the rise of the far right in Germany and much of Europe, I’m sure it wouldn’t even be too much of a hard sell.
November 15th, 2012 at 2:16 pm
it’s a foregone conclusion – in full flow of vitriol, hate and retribution no doubt – more in your face than Widow Twanky (oh no she isn’t..! oh yes she….)
November 15th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Just waiting for Mahatma’s take on this. You know it’s coming!