Israeli contribution to conflict is forgotten by leading papers

[laststeamtrain]

Down the Memory Hole
Israeli contribution to conflict is forgotten by leading papers

7/28/06

In the wake of the most serious outbreak of Israeli/Arab violence in years, three leading U.S. papers—the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times—have each strongly editorialized that Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon were solely responsible for sparking violence, and that the Israeli military response was predictable and unavoidable. These editorials ignored recent events that indicate a much more complicated situation.

Beginning with the Israeli attack on Gaza, a New York Times editorial (6/29/06) headlined "Hamas Provokes a Fight" declared that "the responsibility for this latest escalation rests squarely with Hamas," and that "an Israeli military response was inevitable." The paper (7/15/06) was similarly sure in its assignment of blame after the fighting spread to Lebanon: "It is important to be clear about not only who is responsible for the latest outbreak, but who stands to gain most from its continued escalation. Both questions have the same answer: Hamas and Hezbollah."

The Washington Post (7/14/06) agreed, writing that "Hezbollah and its backers have instigated the current fighting and should be held responsible for the consequences." The L.A. Times (7/14/06) likewise wrote that "in both cases Israel was provoked." Three days and scores of civilian deaths later, the Times (7/17/06) was even more direct: "Make no mistake about it: Responsibility for the escalating carnage in Lebanon and northern Israel lies with one side...and that is Hezbollah."

As FAIR noted in a recent Action Alert (7/19/06), the portrayal of Israel as the innocent victim in the Gaza conflict is hard to square with the death toll in the months leading up to the current crisis; between September 2005 and June 2006, 144 Palestinians in Gaza were killed by Israeli forces, according to a list compiled by the Israeli human rights group B'tselem; 29 of those killed were children. During the same period, no Israelis were killed as a result of violence from Gaza.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2928&printer_friendly=1

[katty]

1. this is typical, Crusaders fighting Arabs, that's always the POV

[azurnoir]

2. Oh but they

will ah make want to drive Israel into the ocean. So that makes anything Israel does OK. The only problem is that Hamas doesn't have the ability to do anything of the sort, they can only fire wobbly, homemade rockets and the occational suicide bomber, but even 1 Israeli death is (to some) just reason for 1,000 Arab deaths both are 1001 to many.

[furman]

5. I can't believe you downplay the horror of suicide bombings

Suicide bombers in Israel have murdered over 1,000 innocent people since the latest Intifada.

And for every successful bombing, several others are thwarted.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/aksagraph.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/TerrorAttacks.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3694350.stm

[azurnoir]

6. I don't down play

but this still does give Israel the right to relentlessly kill, it is almost like Israel has taken the latitude allowed to hunt down and kill Nazi war criminals and applied it to anyone who opposes them.

[Jim__]

3. It's too bad that these simple facts will never make the MSM.

The American media misinforms the public rather then informing it.

[leveymg]

4. Similarly, Hezballah killed no Israeli civilians in terrorist or rocket

attacks in the five years prior to the reinvasion of Lebanon three weeks ago.

The fact remains, after all the back and forth on this subject: during the five years preceding this war, Hezballah did not target and kill Israeli civilians. That group did not engage in a fatal terrorist attack or launch rockets that killed civilians in Israel. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/28/14728/0979 Furthermore, Hezballah inflicted fewer than 25 Israeli military deaths during that period. http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/exeres/9EE216D7-82EF-4274-B80D...

The only civilian death, Haviv Dadon, was killed on August 10, 2003 near the Lebanese border by shrapnel from an anti-aircraft shell. It's not clear whether this was an intentional targeting or whether Hezballah was shooting at Israeli aircraft overflying their positions. The Anti-Defamation League didn't list that death and doesn't include military fatalities in its accounting of "major terrorist attacks in Israel". http://www.adl.org/Israel/israel_attacks.asp

Why am I not surprised to see that in recent months in Gaza the Israelis were also spared lethal attacks. However, there have been dozens of suicide bombings and rocket attacks launched by Palestinians since 2000.