Reuters leads the packs with most reprehensible headline:
Israel set to deny role in Gaza beach killings
They could get more accusatoy. Wait, no, they can’t. The thing is, the story is actually not too badly biased. But that headline is straight out of Reuters, and it will go around the world on top of these words:
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An investigation by the Israeli army indicates it was not responsible for a blast on a Gaza beach last week that killed seven Palestinian civilians and set off a storm of protest, a senior military official said.
The Palestinians, mostly members of the same family, were killed on Friday in the northern Gaza Strip. Palestinian witnesses said an Israeli artillery shell had killed them.
A senior Israeli military official told Reuters the explosion was likely caused by a land mine planted by a Palestinian militant group and not the result of Israeli fire.
He said the findings, based on evidence from radar tracking, videos and fragments taken from the bodies of victims, would be in a report due for release at midnight on Tuesday.
“On Friday night, I had the feeling it was Israeli activity. On Saturday, I thought it was 50:50, now I am convinced it was not,” said the official, who asked not to be identified because the investigation has still not concluded.
The AP story spins it negatively as well. But at least not in the headline. Notice, however, that my prediction came true: palestinian spokesliars are right there in the lead, lying their heads off by saying that their boys don’t put bombs in civilian areas.
Israel Says It Didn’t Cause Blast
JERUSALEM Jun 13, 2006 (AP)— An Israeli investigation into what caused an explosion on a Gaza beach that killed eight Palestinians will conclude that the blast was most likely caused by a mine planted by Hamas militants against Israeli naval commandos and not an Israeli shell, military officials said Tuesday.The Palestinians had blamed an Israeli shell for the killing of the civilians in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, and had recognized as a hero a Palestinian girl whose image was broadcast around the world crying over her father’s lifeless body at the scene with injured relatives all around her.
Palestinian officials said it was highly unlikely that Hamas militants would plant bombs at that beach because it is frequented by hundreds of people every weekend.
In an initial response to the Israeli findings, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights disputed the Israeli claims, saying the blast occurred at about 4:40 p.m., when the army said it was firing in the area.
Buried in the middle of the story are these facts:
Colin King, an explosives expert with Jane’s Defense Weekly, said that, even without access to the beach, Israel could probably tell what caused the blast if it had some photographs of the area and pieces of shrapnel.
The blast occurred on the outskirts of the town of Beit Lahiya, not far from where Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets toward Israel. The shore is frequented by hundreds of Palestinian beach-goers on Fridays, a rest day in Gaza. Israel often shoots artillery in the area to prevent rocket launchings.
Ohmigod! The Israelis might be telling the truth. And the AP prints it!
Of course, you have to go to the Israeli press to find the least biased headline.
Probe: Hamas bomb, not IDF shell, caused Gaza deaths
There’s even a mea culpa on the rush to judgment from Ha’aretz in that one.
But here’s the thing: When the Gaza incident hit, within a very short time, there were thousands of news items on the incident all around the world. There are currently 114 news items about the IDF report denying responsibility.
As I said last night:
The world has spoken: Blame the Jews.
Time for a curse: May all those in the media who rush to stick up for the morally bankrupt Palestinians suffer the same fate as Tom Hurdnall.
Maybe a mea culpa, but certainly no apology.
Wait for the repetition in the next news cycle. Civilians and medics were killed by a secondary explosion after the IDF hit a katyusha-filled van. Will Israel be blamed for the deaths from the secondary explosion, or will the media blame Palestinian Islamic Jihad?
Three guesses, and the first two don’t count.
Meryl:
I share your justified cynicism, but the fallout is not nearly as bad as it could have been. The international press is sick, but let’s face it: the Israelis have been awful PR managers. Bloggers, Camera, and Honest Reporting have been virutally on their own, while the Israeli politicians and generals have consitently sucked at countering the negative spin. There is no excuse at this point, given their superior technological ability via drones, cameras, etc, the expected hostility of world reaction, and Israel’s familiarity with the Arab propaganda machine – for them accepting ANY BLAME before investigating the facts. And for so long, the Israelis have operated under the attitude, “Well, our image isn’t even worth defending because everyone hates us anyway.”
The problem really jumped out at me last year when the IDF refused to release a video proving that a Palestinian kid had been shot by Palestinians (not al-Dura, a different one) – even a Ha’aretz writer who reported the decision seemed incredulous.
Now, it looks like they are finally learning. They are going to release a report less than a week after the event. That’s much better than the months – even years, it took them to get information out about al-Durah.
Sure the press will still suck, but at least Israel is going to be a contender.
Next time they won’t apologize at all before they investigate.
It’s a step in the right direction.
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On CNN, the reporter handling this story repeatedly mentioned that Human Rights Watch has taken the Palestinians’ part in this matter–they find the IDF report “unconvincing.” Of course, HRW has a long, ugly history of Israel-bashing, as most of us know–but to the general public, who assume that any group concerned with “human rights” holds the moral high ground, HRW’s criticism of Israel will be accepted as justified. These “humanitarian” NGOs are, intentionally or not, breeding anti-zionism and anti-semitism. Screw them.
It appears the Human Rights Watch “investigation” is helmed by Marc Garlasco, who also wrote a piece of anti-Israel propaganda that quotes from “new historians”, etc, and claims Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing during the 1948 war.
Here is the correct link.
Sorry.
Man, it’s not linking correctly.
OK, click on the link, and then look at the resule that says “Raising Raffa.”