The Voice of America is supposed to be a relatively unbiased, if not pro-America, news site. I’ve quoted it from time to time. Yesterday, Charles pointed out an extremely slanted VOA piece on the poll of American Muslims.
He’s not wrong about VOA’s slant. Look at the headline and blurb on this article.
Israel Launches Air Strikes on Gaza Amid New Truce Effort
Israel has launched fresh air strikes in the Gaza Strip, wounding at least seven Palestinians. As Robert Berger reports from VOA’s Jerusalem bureau, the attacks occurred as Palestinian leaders pushed for a new truce.
Let us remember that Israel is attacking terrorists because they have been firing rockets at civilians incessantly, and because they stepped up their efforts with the deliberate intent of drawing Israeli fire so they could stop fighting each other. The cease-fire that the Palestinians are working toward is not one with Israel. It’s an internal one. They are also using the current fighting as an excuse to try to get Israel to stop arresting terrorists in the West Bank.
And when you read the facts of the story, nothing is justifying the headline.
Israeli aircraft attacked targets of the Islamic militant group Hamas across Gaza including suspected weapons factories and warehouses and other facilities. Now in its second week, the air campaign is aimed at halting Palestinian rocket attacks. More than 150 rockets have fallen on Israel over the past week, leaving the border community of Sderot a virtual ghost town.
The rockets keep falling despite the air strikes, but Israeli spokeswoman Miri Eisen says a major ground assault on Gaza is not on the table.
So there is no cease-fire, really. Rockets are still falling on Israel. The terrorists are lying. And the VOA is carrying their lies.
There is not a single quote from an Israeli regarding this supposed cease-fire. There is only a quote from Eisen talking about how futile Israel’s attempts to stock the rocket fire have been. But there are a lot of Palestinian quotes, and a lot of information from the Palestinian point of view.
In a bid to end the fighting, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas traveled from the West Bank to Gaza for talks with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. They are trying to restore a Gaza cease-fire with Israel that collapsed last week after a five-month lull in violence.
That “lull in violence” included near-daily rocket attacks on Sderot and the Negev, failed suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings, and the regular planting of bombs along the Gaza fence. That is what the mainstream media consider a “lull.”
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the current fighting is not in the interest of either side.
“I don’t know to who’s[sic] interest [is it] to undermine the cease-fire?” asked Erekat. “To who’s[sic] interest [is it] to push back to the cycle of violence and counter-violence?”
It’s good to know that the editors at the VOA don’t know the difference between “whose” and “who’s.” Here’s a hint. Break the word down to “who is.” If the sentence makes no sense, use “whose.”
Schmucks.
The old “cycle of violence” yawner is out. Once again: Sderot residents—not firing rockets at Beit Hanoun. Palestinian terrorists—firing rockets at Sderot. What, exactly, is the cycle of violence? When Israel defends herself from rocket attacks.
And here we get to the meat of the matter: Hamas is trying once again to get the world to say that there is no cease-fire because it doesn’t include the West Bank. And what is the IDF doing in the West Bank? Arresting terrorists, killing them when they come out shooting, breaking up suicide bomb attacks, dismantling weapons factories—in other words, everything that hurts terrorists. Of course Hamas wants Israel to stop. They want to launch successful attacks on Israel again. That the VOA publishes the following paragraph, which uncritically repeats the terrorists demands and gives them the patina of rationality, does not speak well for the VOA.
The Palestinians have offered to halt the rocket attacks if Israel would extend the Gaza cease-fire to also include the West Bank. But Israel rejects the proposal on grounds that West Bank raids are necessary to prevent suicide bombings in Israeli cities. Palestinian militants say that leaves them no choice but to keep fighting.
You see? The terrorists have no choice but to keep fighting because Israel refuses to stop arresting terrorists and preventing them from murdering Israelis. Nice, VOA.
Time to start a letter-writing campaign. Since when have our government media outlets become propagandists for terrorists?
A lot of people are confused by that poll. I blogged about it here and there is a lot of good stuff on it at Jihad Watch here, here, here, here, and here.
Robert Berger is, of course, the CBS correspondent in Israel. I don’t get it. Does VOA hire contractors? (I’m assuming that Berger is a CBS employee; I’m guessing that he contracts out his service to VOA too.)