This Israeli government propaganda broadcast (the Israeli Broadcasting Authority interviewing Miri Eisen, a government spokesperson), from July 17 is quite revealing for a couple of reasons.
Firstly regarding “moderate Arab countries”. This phrase is often used in the Western media, and by Western politicians, but what does it actually mean? This broadcast is a good example of how “moderate” is in fact a codeword for “subservient to our interests”. What is Eisen’s example of a “moderate Arab country”? Saudi Arabia! A country with an absolute monarchy, of fundamentalist religious character which tortures prisoners, forces couples to divorce, silences internal dissent and executes children and women is characterised as “moderate”. Why? One can only assume it has something to do with the fact that the regime is a loyal ally of to Western policy, propped-up by the British and US governments.
Secondly, and more subtly, the mention of “removing illegal outposts” as part of a political agreement with “the Palestinians”, presumably Abbas and his unelected PA cabinet. “Illegal outposts” refers to settlements established in the West Bank which have not been officially approved by the Israeli government (and hence illegal even under Israeli law). What Eisen fails to mention is that the vast majority of settlements are large, built-up, government-funded affairs. The population of the “outposts” consists of a small — but vocal — minority of Jewish religious fundamentalists. It is noteworthy that despite their illegal status under Israeli law, even these outposts are protected by the Israeli military (the settlers themselves are of course armed too). International law, on the other hand, makes no distinction between “outposts” and other settlements. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the occupying power to transfer citizens from its own territory to the occupied territory (Article 49).
CNN International acknowledged the arrest of over 200 before releasing 250. They also acknowledged that there are some 11,000 prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Thank you Atika Shubert. I do not believe that Ben Wedeman would ever have reported it that way. It will be interesting to see how regular CNN and all the other US broadcast media handle it.
In a report airing this morning on CNN, reporter Cal Perry produced a story on the weekly demonstrations in the Palestinian village of Bilin. The demonstrations include large numbers of villagers from Bilin and internationals (including Israelis), who make a statement against Israel’s so called “security fence” which Israel is building on Palestinian land.
He never mentions that the wall/fence
–steals enormous swaths of Palestinian land,
–separates Palestinians from each other
–the wall/fence has been declared illegal by the International Court of Justice at the Hague.
The segment was introduced as a piece on “violent vacations”, referring of course to the internationals, especially US residents who travel to the West Bank to support Palestinians in their normally peaceful protests against a policy of ethnic cleansing by the state of Israel. The usual motivating factor as stated by one of the protestors is the fact that Israel is the highest recipient of US foreign aid in the world.
The same demonstration was filmed by the protestors. It shows clearly that there were a large number of Palestinians present which contradicts the impression given by CNN that the protest was organized by internationals looking for a thrill.
It also shows clearly that much of the Israeli fire was unprovoked, contadicting the assertion that the fire was in response to stone throwing. At one point the tear gas lands right in front of the camera.
CNN for its part focused on the internationals and the stone throwers. It has been proven on many occasions that stone throwing is discouraged by the Palestinians and by the internationals. In fact it has also been established that the Israeli army sends in undercover Israeli soldiers or agents of the prison service to provoke Palestinian children to throw stones.
Several masked mistaravim (a Hebrew term meaning ‘those who pretend to be Arabs’), undercover agents belonging to the Israeli Prison Service started to behave aggressively and threw stones at the soldiers. When the Palestinian villagers called on them to stop using violence and to leave the demonstration, they revealed their identity, pulled out their weapons, and arrested two Palestinian and four Israeli demonstrators.
CNN also states that each stone is responded to with a shot of tear gas. In fact the tear gas and the rubber bullets are fired whether stones are thrown or not. As you can see from this video, the Israeli army does not need to be provoked.
Finally, without the presence of internationals, it is highly likely that the bullets used by the army would not be rubber. In fact Israeli novelist Yitzhak Laor, writing in “Counterpunch†the amount of force used by the Israeli army at the beginning of the intifada before any Palestinian picked up a gun.
A month after the Intifada began, four years ago, Major General Amos Malka, by then No. 3 in the military hierarchy, and until 2001 the head of Israeli military Intelligence (MI), asked one of his officers (Major Kuperwasser) how many 5.56 bullets the Central Command had fired during that month (that is, only in the West Bank). Three years later Malka talked about these horrific figures. This is what he said to Ha’aretz’s diplomatic commentator, Akiva Eldar about the first month of the Intifada, 30 days of unrest, no terrorist attacks yet, no Palestinian shooting:
Kuperwasser got back to me with the number, 850,000 bullets. My figure was 1.3 million bullets in the West Bank and Gaza. This is a strategic figure that says that our soldiers are shooting and shooting and shooting. I asked: “Is this what you intended in your preparations?” and he replied in the negative. I said: “Then the significance is that we are determining the height of the flames.” (HaAretz, 11.6.2004).
It was a bullet for every Palestinian child, said one of the officers in that meeting, or at least this is what the Israeli daily Maariv revealed two years ago, when the horrible figures were first leaked.
Approximately 300 Palestinians were killed during those non violent demonstrations. The international community did nothing.
For years many of us have questioned the objectivity, the honesty and the agenda of the New York Times bureau chief in the Middle East , Steve Erlanger. Pat Connors more than anyone else has chronicled the litany of distorted reporting from Steve and the NYT when it comes to the issue of Israel/Palestine.
Nothing exposes bias better however, than an off the cuff comment during an interview. One doesn’t have the time to cloud it with innuendo which is much more difficult to expose. In a recent interview on The News Hour about the success of Hamas in securing the release of Alan Johnston, Steve does just that.
He refers to the Midle East tradition of kidnapping.
I wonder if he’s referring to the 10,000 or so Palestinians who have been kidnapped by the Israeli army. Or maybe he’s referring to the US practice of kidnapping Muslims around the world for the new policy of extraordinary rendition. But I doubt it.
The examples of his biased reporting are extensive and I will expand on it below over time. Right now I just want to get the video posted.
It’s all so pathetic. From Michael Chertoff’s gut feeling about a terror attack this summer to the constant breaking news every time someone sneezes the wrong way on a plane; Americans have to be numb by now to the scare tactics of the administration and the exploitation by the networks.
Joe Scarboroough is priceless here, ridiculing CNN.
CNN’s Ben Wedeman presents the conflict between Palestinian cave dwellers and Israeli settlers as a typical case of old traditions giving way to modern development. The reality is that the Israeli settlements are illegal and are built and expanded in order to steal Palestinian land and displace Palestinians.
Also missing from Ben Wedeman’s report is the abject violence used by the Jewish settlers against Palestinians in this area.
CNN
I spent time in Tuwane, a cave dwelling village south of Hebron, in 2003. I was there in conjunction with the Israeli organization Taayush. Our purpose was to protect the Palestinians from the settlers who were building an “outpost”. Jewish Settlers would show up over shabat to terrorize the people of Tuwani for the purpose of driving them out. Israeli border police often provided protection for settlers who were stoning Palestinian children on their way to school or beating Palestinian adults. Our prescence reduced the risk for Palestinians but by no means eliminated it.
On Sept. 29, masked men, clothed all in black, came down from the direction of the Jewish settlement colony Maon Farm, and attacked Kim Lamberty, 44, and Chris Brown, 36, both US citizens working with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). At the time of the attack, they were escorting Palestinian children to school on a path where the students often face stone-throwing and other attacks from the militant settlers of Maon. The five assailants were armed with chains and baseball bats. Brown sustained a facial laceration and a collapsed lung. The men bashed him with chains and kicked him with their boots. They threw Lamberty to the ground, breaking her knee and arm. The victims were on the ground 30 minutes before they were evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, Israel. The children ran away during the assault.
Jul. 5 - A Palestinian camerman is hit by a volley of bullets while filming clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
The cameraman, Imad Ghanem was filming for Hamas’s al-Aqsa television channel when he was fired upon.
In video filmed by a colleague he can be seen lying on the ground with his camera by his side.
Eyewitnesses said moments before he’d been with a group which included militant gunmen, though he appeared to be unarmed. Ghanem was later treated in hospital where both of his legs were amputated.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said journalists were at risk if they entered a combat zone but soldiers did not deliberately target them. [Emphasis added]
Now watch the video and judge for yourself if journalists are deliberately targeted or not.
This is coverage from Al-Jazeera Arabic that features some more footage from a slightly different angle.
Call for investigation after Hamas TV cameraman badly wounded by Israeli gunfire
Reporters Without Borders condemns the Israeli army’s actions in firing yesterday on a Palestinian cameraman employed by the Hamas-owned satellite TV station Al-Aqsa as he was covering an Israeli incursion into the central part of the Gaza strip. The cameraman was seriously injured and had to have both legs amputated.
“This attack tragically illustrates the dangers to which Palestinian journalists are exposed,†the press freedom organisation said. “The Israeli army’s repeated attacks on media and journalists during military operations are unacceptable and constitute violations of international humanitarian law. A thorough investigation must be quickly carried out to establish why soldiers fired on this journalist after he had been injured and knocked to the ground by the blast of a grenade.â€
An Israeli military source told Agence France-Presse that Al-Aqsa cameramen “could not be regarded as journalists as they are part of Hamas’ armed wing and their films are used for propaganda purposes or instruction.â€
During an interview with Reporters Without Borders representatives last December, Israeli deputy defence minister Efraim Sneh advocated attacking the new Hamas TV station’s premises “if hostilities resumed and if the Islamic party announced the resumption of its terrorist activities.†He added that, “media belonging to terrorist organisations cannot enjoy the same rights as other media since they glorify violence.â€
In the view of Reporters Without Borders, Hamas’ activities cannot be used as an excuse or justification for attack an Al-Aqsa TV employee. “Firstly, journalists enjoy the same status as civilians and are therefore protected as such under international humanitarian law,†the organisation said. “Secondly, Protocol Additional 1 to the Geneva Conventions states that radio and TV installations may only be regarded as legitimate targets if they are used for military purposes and directly contribute to the war effort.â€
Imad Ghanem, 23, was covering yesterday’s Israeli military incursion to the east of the Al-Barij refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip. Although he was not wearing anything that identified him as a member of the press, he was carrying a TV camera and he was with a large number of fellow journalists.
Wounded by the blast of a rocket fired from a helicopter, Ghanem was lying on the ground when Israeli troops fired at him. Footage filmed by his colleagues shows him being hit in the legs by two shots fired in quick succession. He was taken to Deir-al-Balah where both of his legs were amputated. He was then transferred to Al-Shifa hospital where his condition was reported to be stable.
Reporters Without Borders has registered at least nine cases of journalists being wounded by Israeli military fire since the start of the year. For the most part, they were injured by shrapnel from stun or tear grenades or by rubber bullets.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told Reporters Without Borders in May: “The army makes a great effort to avoid injuring civilians and journalists covering fighting in the field. Soldiers are given clear instructions to learn to identify and avoid injuring a journalist. We ask the press to place themselves behind soldiers or at a reasonable distance from demonstrations. Journalists who choose to mingle with demonstrators should be aware of the risks they are taking.â€
The following clips are a a good summary of the several days of siege from CNN, al-Arbiya, al-Jazeera and Democracy Now! which give a fair idea of the Israeli idea of “ceasefire” — i.e. “you ceasefire, while we carry on with impunity.” They kill and kidnap Palestinian civilians while the Western governments — at best — remain silent and the Western mainstream media does not report on Palestinian deaths not caused by infighting.
I found this short video from an action on May 10 at an Indigo bookstore in Canada:
The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid organized it (although it was really just a question that could have been answered instead of the refusal you see happen which leads to the louder interruption). The CAIA has been waging a boycott battle against the Chapters/Indigo chain (the Barnes&Noble of Canada) because the owners (one of who you see here interviewing Ralph Nader) donate and support the HESEG Foundation which gives scholarships to so-called “Lone Soldiers” in the Israeli military. A “Lone Soldier” is someone who does not have family ties to Israel, but serves in the Israeli military anyway.
Yeah, seriously, I’m not making that up.
This campaign has been going on for some time and it is surprising that Ralph Nader doesn’t know about it. Read more about the campaign here: http://www.caiaweb.org/indigoboycott. However, given the brevity of this video, I was curious if the CAIA cut the video off before Nader actually responded fully to the questions. Then I found this video of the same event that recorded the entire interruption:
This is the full text of what the questioner said before ad just after they pulled her microphone:
Uh, hi Ralph, my name is Lisa. I’m a huge fan of yours. I actually work for an organization that you founded, the P.I.R.G.’s. I have a question that relates to your political work, and I think it actually applies to you as well Heather. In 2005 the Green Party passed a resolution in favor of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign against Israel, against the Apartheid system in Israel. I’m wondering if you’re aware that Ms. Reisman here actually runs an organization called the HESEG Foundation, which essentially gives money to “Lone Soldiers” who choose to serve in the Israel military. I think all of us know here that the Israeli military - the crimes against humantiy they are responsible for. So I’m wondering what, maybe, you have to say about that - perhaps they’re cutting my mic now. [yelling off mic] Heather, I’m wondering if you can answer the question, Why do you support Apartheid in Israel?
What a disappointment. Ralph Nader had the opportunity to say the same things he has said for years, that the Israeli occupation must end, that it is the biggest obstacle to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, the the Palestinians are oppressed by the Israeli state, and that they deserve their freedom and liberation. Instead he dodges the question and asserts that, since there are a handful of Israeli soldiers who refuse to serve (note: they refuse to serve in the occupied territories, very few of them have refused to serve altogether), the question is without merit. He implies that the protesters are not being balanced, which is a code word meaning “in compliance with the Israeli narrative of the conflict.”
Ralph, what are you talking about? Israel is stealing land from Palestinians and making their lives miserable to force them to leave. In May, a World Bank report (not a bastion of liberal politics, the World Bank) stated that:
Estimates of the total restricted area are difficult to come by, but it appears to be in excess of 50% of the land of the West Bank. While Israeli security concerns are undeniable and must be addressed, it is often difficult to reconcile the use of movement and access restrictions for security purposes from their use to expand and protect settlement activity and the relatively unhindered movement of settlers and other Israelis in and out of the West Bank. [.pdf]
This is Apartheid plain and simple. The store you visited to sell you book supports it and the woman interviewing you gives money to people who join another nations military and then engage in occupation operations. I think it is safe to say that if the US government had “Lone Soldiers” in the military in Iraq and a bookstore chain was giving them scholarship money for their “service”, you would have a problem with that and would not do appearances at their stores.
To add insult to injury, this event took place almost exactly one month before the 40th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
What is the deal Ralph? Do you support boycotts to end Israeli Apartheid like they helped too do in South Africa, or would you rather sell books?
British Broadcasting Corp. reporter Alan Johnston was held the longest of any foreigner in the Gaza Strip.
— March 12, 2007: Johnston is captured outside his Gaza City apartment street by gunmen. No group takes responsibility.
— April 5: A senior British diplomat and BBC officials meet Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to push for Johnston’s release, the first of several meetings between British diplomats and Hamas officials about Johnston. It is the first time British officials hold talks with Hamas officials in the Palestinian unity government, despite a Western boycott of the Islamic militant group.
— April 15: A previously unknown Palestinian group called “The Brigades of Tawheed of Jihad” says it killed Johnston. The BBC and Palestinian government say there is no evidence to back up the claim.
— April 17: Palestinian journalists in Gaza demonstrate to demand Palestinian security do more to win Johnston’s release.
— April 19: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says his intelligence services confirmed that Johnston is alive and that he knows which group is holding him.
— May 9: A shadowy militant group calling itself “The Army of Islam” says it is holding Johnston and posts a photo of his identity card on an Al Qaeda-linked Web site. The group demands the release of a militant Islamic cleric linked to Al Qaeda who is held in a U.K. jail.
— June 1: Johnston appears in a video posted on an Islamic militant Web site, saying he has been treated well, and calling for the lifting of international sanctions against the Palestinian government.
— June 14: Hamas routs forces linked to Abbas’ Fatah Party and completes a military takeover of Gaza.
—June 15: Abbas fires Haniyeh. The Hamas rulers in Gaza refuse to relinquish power and pledge to release Johnston.
— June 25: A video shows Johnston wearing what appears to be an explosives belt and warns it will be detonated if an attempt is made to free him by force. He says the “situation is very serious.”
— July 2: Hamas arrests the Army of Islam’s spokesman to put pressure on Johnston’s kidnappers.
— July 3: Hamas forces surround the hideout where Johnston is held.
