In today’s updates on Israel’s attacks on Hamas terrorists, who fired 45 missiles into Israel yesterday, we learn that Israel is now attacking Hamas during a truce. This is the AFP, which is a wire service used throughout Europe:
Israel kills two Hamas militants hours after truce
Two Hamas militants were killed on Friday in a new air strike on Gaza just hours after the movement called a truce, following a day of confrontations with Israel.
We also learn that Israel responded “immediately” to the attack on a bus, which wounded [only] two people, with the killing and wounding of many. This is the “disproportionate” meme. (Also the “round of violence” meme, but that’s practically a given now.)
The latest violence was sparked Thursday afternoon when Hamas militants fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus, critically wounding a teenager and lightly injuring the driver.
Israel responded immediately, launching more than a dozen strikes on targets across the enclave which by the evening had killed four and injured more than 30, prompting Gaza’s Hamas leaders to hurriedly announce a fresh truce.
[…] The bus attack sparked a chain of Israeli attacks across the territory, which initially killed four people and wounded 37, with medics pulling a fifth body pulled from the rubble in the southern city of Rafah early on Friday.
What we do not learn is that immediately after the bus was shelled, Hamas fired 44 more missiles, including a Grad attack on Ashkelon. Well, not until we’ve read all of the above, a tally of dead and wounded, and the number of times Israel has attacked Gaza. Then we discover this fact:
Aside from the anti-tank missile, militants had lobbed around 50 mortars at Israel, one of which hit a house, a military spokeswoman said.
The BBC is even worse. They use the “military wing” fig leaf to pretend that Hamas has two arms which have nothing to do with another. The BBC story does not mention yesterday’s bombardment by Hamas except for the mortar that hit the bus. It makes it look like Israel is responding only to that, not to some 50 rockets and mortars—as well as the hundreds fired in March.
At least six Palestinians have been killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza, including two women, doctors say.
The Israeli strikes come hours after Islamist group Hamas said it had brokered a deal for Gaza’s militant groups to stop firing on Israel.
On Thursday, members of its military wing hit an Israeli school bus with an anti-tank shell, injuring two people.
The BBC report mentions “fresh violence,” but clearly puts the responsibility on Israel and whitewashes the attacks of the Palestinians:
Israeli artillery fire and air strikes have been heard across Gaza throughout much of the day, our correspondent says, and at least six rockets were fired into Israel, hitting an area north of the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli police.
It is not clear whether the fresh violence signals an end to the truce, or whether the firing of rockets was carried out by a Palestinian splinter group that had not signed up to the ceasefire.
CNN has a mostly fair account. It has an accurate headline, mentions the 15 mortars shot into Israel today, and seems perfectly fine. Except for the fact that it, too, neglects to mention that the Israeli reprisals are not just for the mortar that hit the bus. There is no word of the barrage that followed immediately after, causing the first responders to wait to bring the boy to the hospital.
What is missing from all of these articles? Any cogent analysis of why Israel is bombing the crap out of Hamas as a response to yesterday’s attack. Here’s why Israel is going full-out after the terrorists:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on an official visit to Prague, commented on the escalating tensions in southern Israel, saying: “The attack on the children’s bus was crossing a red line.
“The IDF reacted immediately overnight and will continue to act with resolve. Heaven help those who try to hurt and murder children,” he added.
More on that later.