This is the NYT main story on the deaths of the 4 Gazan children

[cali]

by Israeli bombing. I post this because I keep seeing people here remarking that the MSM isn't covering this story or is actively trying to suppress it or is taking the Israeli side. I actually have seen a positive change in coverage and this story and others on NBC, CNN, in Slate and other media outlets reflect that.

The four Bakr boys were young cousins, the children of Gaza fishermen who had ordered them to stay indoors — and especially away from the beach. But cooped up for nine days during Israeli bombardments, the children defied their parents and went out Wednesday afternoon, the eldest shooing away his little brother, telling him it was too dangerous.

As they played on and around a jetty in the late-afternoon sun, a blast hit a nearby shack. One boy was killed instantly. The others ran. There was a second blast, and three more bodies littered the sand. One was charred, missing a leg, and another lay motionless, his curly head intact, his legs splayed at unnatural angles.

The Israeli military acknowledged later that it had launched the strike, which it said was aimed at Hamas militants, and called the civilian deaths “a tragic outcome.”

The four dead boys came quickly to symbolize how the Israeli aerial assaults in Gaza are inevitably killing innocents in this crowded, impoverished sliver of land along the Mediterranean Sea. They stood out because they were inarguably blameless, children who simply wanted to play on their favorite beach, near the fishing port where their large extended family keeps its boats.

<snip>

More than 150 civilians, including more than 40 children, have been killed in Israel’s air assaults in Gaza to curb militant rocket fire. Civilians make up about 75 percent of the Palestinian deaths, according to a running count by the United Nations.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/middleeast/gaza-strip-beach-explosion-kills-children.html



'They went to the beach to play': Deaths of 4 children add to growing toll in Gaza conflict

<snip>

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/17/world/meast/mideast-conflict-children/

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. I was annoyed with Tamron Hall this morning about this story.

She had some Israeli consulate type on and he simply gave the standard talking points - Hamas is to blame for every Palestinian death, Israel does not target civilians, Israel is extremely careful in targeting only Hamas targets.

And Tamron didn't offer a bit of pushback, just let him bloviate. If Israel is so precise and careful in their targets, who or what in this case was the target? And why was there no 'warning shot', if there was a target around? These kids were mere yards away from a hotel housing foreign journalists. Surely Israel wasn't targeting that hotel, so who or what was the target? Or is Israel's vaunted precision targeting a bunch of hooey?

[cali]

2. yes, that does sound annoying, but my point still stands

Most of the coverage of this round of Israel's attacks on Gaza, in the MSM, are taking a much less "blame it all on Hamas, excuse Israel" approach. And that's a hopeful sign.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. No cause justifies the deaths of innocent people. Albert Camus

But, they, sure as hell, try to.

[Fred Sanders]

4. Meanwhile NBC pulled the eyewitness reporter on this...sometimes truth can not be bottled up....

200 deaths preceded these boys, all just as dead.

[yallerdawg]

5. Didn't the deaths of 3 Israeli children start this?

The Middle East -- death of women and children, non-combatants, civilians, genocides, random bombings, terrorism, diplomats, ambassadors, tyrants, dictators, men of peace like Anwar Sadat. We lost 3,000 on 9/11, hundreds of thousands in Afghanistan and Iraq paid for it.

When the Palestinians/Hamas fire rockets at Israel, they are targeting civilians. Israel vows to retaliate not in kind, not eye for eye, but punishingly, overwhelmingly. They vow to discourage the attack and provocation. Just because Hamas uses civilians as human shields has never mattered to the Israelis. They intend to kill their attackers and those who threaten the Israeli people.

The Palestinians could live in peace with Israel if they would make that choice. Peace comes first. After that, everything is negotiable.

There are around 6,000,000 Jews and 3,000,000 Arabs living in Israel.

6,000,000 Jews. Why does this number sound so familiar?

I'm a Democrat, and I wholeheartedly support the State of Israel. The Democratic State of Israel.

[FourScore]

6. I've never seen anyone hit so many talking points with so few words before. Impressive!

Last edited Thu Jul 17, 2014, 04:34 PM - Edit history (1)

But seriously, what the hell does all that have to do with the OP?

[GeorgeGist]

7. As a human being I think Israel's behavior is reprehensible.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

9. Just to hit on one of your talking points...

When the Palestinians/Hamas fire rockets at Israel, they are targeting civilians.

If they are, they absolutely suck at it. First, 'Iron Defense' doesn't even bother with missiles not heading for populated areas. Second, despite shooting off around a thousand missiles, last I've checked one Israeli (military or civilian) has been killed by any Hamas rocket in the last couple of weeks.

Quite frankly, I don't think Hamas targets anything, or even really has the technology to do so. I think they simply point their rockets towards Israel and fire.

Israel DOES have the technology for supposedly highly precise strikes, claims that they are doing 'precise targeting', and still have killed almost a couple hundred civilians.

So if Hamas is 'targeting civilians' they suck at it. And if Israel is trying NOT to hit civilians, they likewise suck at it.

There's a lot of suckage going on over there.

[countryjake]

8. The Toll in Gaza and Israel, Day by Day...

Note: Sad, disturbing pictures displayed at this informative link:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/15/world/middleeast/toll-israel-gaza-conflict.html?_r=0

In Gaza Through July 16

1,653 targets
struck by Israel 214 deaths


In Israel Through July 16

1,241 rockets
launched from Gaza 1 death



I've not noticed any significant change in the bias of the reporting by the MSM and I've been closely following many of their different venues, daily. Even the eye-witness accounts on the beach attack of Palestinian children playing football are immediately being accompanied by claims that Israel does not target children, obvious mistake, and other such bullshit. The truth seems a difficult task for our news agencies, tho when it's accompanied by video footage of atrocities, the reality is obvious.

[Capt. Obvious]

10. NYT changed the headline of the story from

"Four Young Boys Killed Playing On Gaza Beach"

to

"Boys Drawn To Gaza Beach, And Into Center Of Mideast Strife"


They must have gotten some shit for reporting accurately about the horrors of war.

[malaise]

11. Chris Hayes and Steve Kornachi

covered this well last night. The rest



And now the ground invasion has begun. Israel is out of control.