9 minute read
Opinion
Shocking Journalism
OPINION PIECE BY JAMES J MARLOW
The Winston Churchill expression, “a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on”, came to mind when on 28 May, 2021, the New York Times front page, published pictures of children killed in the recent Israel-Gaza war.
The headline read, “They were just children”, as the New York Times listed the names of 67 children under the age of 17 who were killed. Two in Israel and 65 in the Gaza Strip.
Investigative journalists and bloggers questioned the NY Times “splash” and began to look into the subject.
A few days later, the NY Times printed a retraction that stated one of the 67 pictures, was of a child killed under “other circumstances” and not during the hostilities.
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre (www.terrorism-info.org. il) kept digging and revealed the name of one of the children, belonged to a Hamas military terrorist wing operative. He was Muhammad Sabar Ibrahim Suleiman, 16, killed on 11 May 2021, in an attack in the eastern part of Jabalia along with his father, a commander in Hamas’ military wing, Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades.
A video then circulated on social media after the end of the hostilities of Muhammed Saber Ibrahim Suleiman, wearing an Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades uniform, despite his young age. In other words, he had been recruited by Hamas into its military terrorist wing.
Previously, Khaled Imad Khaled al-Qanua (Abu Suheib), who was identified by the New York Times as a 17 year-old boy, was found to be a 20 year-old terrorist operative. He was killed on May 13, 2021, in an aerial attack on a Palestinian terrorist squad near Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Mujahedeen Brigades, which is the military-terrorist wing of the Mujahedeen Movement, whose leadership split from Fatah and are today allied with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and closely allied to Iran, issued a mourning notice. It stated he was an organisation operative and that he was 20 years old. (Source: Mujahedeen Brigades’ Telegram channel, May 13, 2021).
Furthermore, at least two young children were killed at around 6.05 pm on 10 May, 2021 when a homemade rocket fired by a Palestinian armed group, fell short and killed eight Palestinians.
The aid agency, Defence for Children @ DCIPalestine based in Gaza tweeted the information and named Saleh Dardouna Street, near the Al-Omari Mosque in Jabalia, where the rocket fell.
DCIP also confirmed they collected the evidence. However two days later, the tweets were unsurprisingly removed and no further information was posted on terror rockets falling short of their target. But satellite and camera video clearly shows around 400 rockets fired from Gaza residential areas, fell inside of Gaza.
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre believes that the other six individuals mentioned by the DCIP were also teenagers. Therefore all eight of the children whose names were on the NY Times list, were killed by Gaza terror organisation rockets that either misfired or dropped inside of Gaza on 10 May, 2021.
Their names were: Baraa al-Ghrabi, 4, from Jabalia, Ibrahim Hassanein, 16, from Beit Hanoun, Mustafa al-Abir, 17, from Beit Hanoun, Hussein Hamad, 11, from Beit Hanoun, Yazen al-Masri, 2, from Beit Hanoun, Marwan al-Masri, 7 from Beit Hanoun, Ibrahim al-Masri, 11, from Beit Hanoun, Rahaf Muhammad Atallah al-Masri, 10, from Beit Hanoun.
Most of the remaining 55 were killed when the IDF attacked command centres and children were either on the site or nearby. In a briefing, the IDF admitted that they hit a building after giving the usual warning, but because of underground tunnels close to its foundation, buildings close-by collapsed, adding that most of the deaths occurred on the same street.
We must never forget that Palestinian Hamas used the tunnels as command centres and to store weapons. In addition there were numerous hidden passageways for operatives to move between posts.
Whilst the deaths of innocent civilians is tragic, the IDF carried out around 1,500 aerial attacks. Yet despite its huge efforts avoiding harming civilians, children in particular, Hamas’ tactic of positioning its command centres in the heart of densely populated areas, led directly to the unfortunate deaths of more than 50 children.
It is estimated that around 120 non-combatants, including children were killed in the IDF strikes, but at least 135 terrorist operatives from the various organizations in Gaza were also killed.
After “Operation Guardian of the Walls”, Yahya al-Sinwar, head of the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip, admitted that positioning their headquarters in civilian structures was “problematic,” (Al-Jazeera, June 5, 2021).
But no one has time for the “facts” these days. Media organisations including the New York Times are sloppy with their reporting and therefore mislead the public, which of course increases the anti-Semitism.
Truth matters and all of us have a responsibility to seek it and disseminate it.
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
James J. Marlow is a broadcast journalist previously working for ITN, EuroNews, LBC Radio, Daily Express and a number of Jewish publications. In addition, he ran a Media and Communications Training Operation and was a consultant at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. He was also responsible for the training of Shlichim at the Jewish Agency and Bnei Akiva.
End of an era…
OPINION PIECE BY ROBERT FESTENSTEIN
It isn’t often that my words return to haunt me, but this week that is exactly what happened. The reason is the likelihood that by this time next week Benjamin Netanyahu will no longer be the Prime Minister of Israel. I should add that my view is that this is not likely to make very much difference to the current visceral hatred of Israel present in the UK and the appalling rise in Jew-hate across the country.
The words in particular were those as a heading to an article I wrote in the Times of Israel in December 2015. I will not reproduce the whole article here though the opening paragraph was I thought fairly accurate:
“If it wasn’t for” is a phrase which I have heard for many many years. It is usually followed by the words “…Netanyahu, there would be peace”. Of course, It is not only Benjamin Netanyahu who gets this treatment. It started with Menachem Begin and lived on through Yitzak Shamir and of course Ariel Sharon. If it wasn’t for all these right of centre Prime Ministers, Israel would have peace and the area divided by the vote of 29 November 1947 would be one of cooperation and tranquillity.
In the five years since I wrote this, sadly very little has changed. The lack of progress with the peace process has continued to be claimed to be responsibility of Israel in general and Mr Netanyahu in particular. So now he is leaving office – assuming no last-minute surprise – how will things change? Sadly I do not believe at all, despite the inclusion of the United Arab List in the new Government.
My December 2015 ended as follows: “… why is it that Prime Minister Netanyahu is blamed for the failure of the peace process? Because it is easy. Really easy. By refusing to accept Netanyahu, the opponents then do not have to accept Israel. No requirement to bear in mind years of persecution of Jews in Arab countries and no need to think about the millions of pounds salted away by successive Palestinian leaders. Certainly nothing complicated to consider like other Arab countries refusing to take in their coreligionists and absolutely no need whatsoever to even try and gain a rudimentary understanding of the deep-rooted desire of Hamas, the BDS movement and others like them to drive all the Jews out of their land completely.
My conclusion? Prime Minister Netanyahu is not the reason there is no peace but he is a really really good excuse for those who don’t want to think about the real reasons.”
Hamas have predictably enough stated categorically that Arab List or no Arab List in the new Government, their determination remains the destruction of the Jewish State. Pause for a moment to consider this. In what many consider to be a remarkable feat of co-operation an Arab party is going to be part of the Israeli Government. Forgetting the Jew-haters of Hamas for a moment, where are the celebrations of the far left and centre-left in the UK claiming victory for pluralism and diversity? Nowhere, just more of the same dishonest rhetoric and, if the rumours are true, another hate fuelled convey from Bradford to London this coming weekend presumably intended to intimidate and marginalise Jewish British citizens.
Benjamin Netanyahu was not and is not the barrier to peace. The increase in hatred is not sudden and is nothing to do with the soon to be former Israeli Prime Minister. The hatred has developed over years in Universities, the media, some trades unions and the Labour Party. There is no quick fix. What is needed quickly is a recognition that for all the work on inter-faith, diversity programmes and other initiatives these are not working, however successful each of these may or may not have been in their own way.
We need a to acknowledge how serious and deep rooted this Jew-hate is, and only then will a realistic strategy emerge.
Robert Festenstein is a practising solicitor and has been the principal of his Salford based firm for over 20 years. He has fought BDS motions to the Court of Appeal and is President of the Zionist Central Council in Manchester which serves to protect and defend the democratic State of Israel.
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