Palestinian Suicide Bombing vs. Israeli Massacre: CNN Reporting
Four people were killed in the attack on a bakery in the tourist seaside town of Eilat on January 29.
According to the NYT,
Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades and Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility for the attack, and identified the bomber as Muhammad Faisal al-Siksik, 21, from northern Gaza.
I’m not sure that anyone would adequately be able to describe the aftermath of suicide bombing. The devastation to all is unimaginable. The scene is unimaginable. It is infuriating, sad, pathetic, painful, avoidable and yet predictable.
CNNI
The same is true for Israeli attacks on Palestinians. Over 500 Palestinians were killed by the Israei occupation during the nine month lull in Palestinian attacks on Israel.
The United States, the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and many other leaders around the world wasted no time in condemning the suicide attack, as well they should. All attacks on civilians should be condemned including those by the Israeli army. But Israeli attacks, no matter how horrendous, are rarely condemned. In fact the US vetoes UN condemnation of the israeli attacks.
The disparity in news coverage is profound as well. Above is the coverage of the Eilat bombing on Jan. 29, the day it happened. Below is the continuing coverage of that horror the next day.
CNN
Contrast that with CNN coverage of ongoing operations in Gaza in November which Palestinians called massacres. 40 Palestinians were killed during the ongoing operations during the five days before November 5, 2006.
In the past five days, approximately 40 Palestinians have been killed, 30 Palestinians have been arrested and seven groups of rocket launchers have been targeted by Israeli fire, an Israeli army spokesman said.
Among those killed was a 12-year-old Palestinian girl, whose death Saturday by an Israeli sniper was an accident, according to the IDF. The sniper was targeting a Palestinian in a group of armed men, the IDF said.
The entire report cites only Israeli officials and army. 8 of 11 paragraphs are Israeli statements or begin with Israeli statements. There are no Palestinians cited at all.
CNN’s broadcast report on the ongoing massacre, November 6, 2006
Other than the mention of the word massacre in Hali Gorani’s intro to the report, you would not know anyone was killed at all. Ben Wederman reports that this is the biggest operation since the Palestinians captured (my word) Gilad Shalit, he states he “was down near the Gaza / Israel border and you could tell that this was not the usual Gaza skirmish”. He then seems to lament that the operation was not as big as expected.
But never does he actually report on what Israel did. He only reports on what they said about plans for future operations. Neither does he cite any Palestinian reports of casualties or damage let alone actually report on the incident himself.
One incident that day which he failed to report was the shelling of a school bus with Palestinian children on board by the Israeli army, one child was killed.
Two days later, November 8, 2006
18 Palestinians were killed while sleeping, 13 were from one family, 8 were children. They were killed by an artillery barrage from the Israeli army. CNN once again reported completely from an Israeli perspective. This time Israeli officials “expressed regret” for the mistake.
