Gaza War: Look Who’s Talking

Posted on August 12, 2024 by First.One.Through

The media narrative on the Gaza war is very much informed by whom the media opts to quote. The Israeli press as well as Jewish and pro-Zionist voices cite the Israeli government or military. For the rest of the world, it seems to only be the Palestinian political-terrorist group Hamas and its minions.

Israel recently attacked a school which several Palestinian Arab terrorist groups were using as a command center from which to plan attacks. Israel killed 19 terrorists according to an account by The Jerusalem Post.

While featuring the strike in the headline, JPost added that the United Nations condemned the attack, leaving a reader to ponder the deep anti-Israel UN bias for criticizing attacking terrorists. The JPost article went on to state that the “Israeli Army disputes Hamas’ claim that 100 civilians [were] killed,” putting the source of the Arab casualties squarely on Hamas and citing Israeli denial. The article would also name a senior Hamas terrorist killed in the attack.

This is in sharp contrast to headlines and articles found elsewhere in the increasingly anti-Israel western world.

The Associated Press only quoted “Palestinian officials” in the headline, making the source appear somewhat neutral while it mentioned “at least 80” killed, not breaking out the number of terrorists. The sub-header similarly quoted “Palestinian health authorities,” not identified as working hand-in-glove with Hamas, which governs the territory.

The British publications did much the same, with BBC News headlining a seemingly unbiased “hospital head,” while the Independent attempted to inflame readers with the headline “Terror and death as Israel strikes school in Gaza during prayers,” quoting generic “Palestinians.”

In France, Le Monde quoted “Gaza’s civil defense agency,” as if the region was acting in a defensive mode in a war it started, headlining that “World leaders ‘appalled’ by deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school.” Barron’s quoted Agence France-Presse that “France condemned Gaza school strike,” and quoted generic “rescuers” about the death toll.

Reuters’ headline led with a death toll by generic “officials,” but the article did quote a range of people including “the Israeli army,” “medics,” residents,” “Gaza health ministry,” and “Gaza health officials.” Almost all parties quoted were Palestinian Arabs, including “Hamas and Islamic Jihad” which denied the Israeli charge that there were militants in the building. There was no quote from the Israeli army questioning the death toll.

There is a war against Israel being fought in western media in the coverage of the war, designed to influence – not inform – its readership. The narrative is highly partisan and anti-Israel, orchestrated to incite the mob against Zionists and protect the genocidal regime of Hamas.

Associated Press Inverts Facts And Promotes Hamas Narrative In Defending Progressive Radicals (February 2024)

New York Times’ Muslim Anti-Semitism Washing (October 2022)

Reuters Will Not Label Palestinian Terrorist Groups (July 2022)

New York Times Recycles Story To Slam Israel While The Country Mourns Its Dead (May 2022)

Reuters Anti-Jewish Disinformation Campaign About The Temple Mount (April 2022)

BBC’s Industrial Grade Blood Libel (July 2021)

BBC Welcomes Release of British Muslim Accused of Beheading Daniel Pearl (April 2020)

Reuters Can’t Spare Ink on Iranian Anti-Semitism (February 2019)

Why the Media Ignores Jihadists in Israel (January 2015)

The Media’s Divergent Coverage of Abbas’ “50 Holocausts”

Posted on August 19, 2022 by First.One.Through

Much of the global media covered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ disgusting comments while he was in Germany, as he tried to gain international support for his approach to dealing with Israel. Their coverage was quite different.

While standing alongside German Chancellor Olaf Schloz, a reporter asked Abbas if he would apologize to Israel for the Palestinian kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, as Germany was set to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the event in a few weeks. Abbas ignored the question, and instead offered “From 1947 to the present day, Israel has committed 50 massacres in Palestinian villages and cities, in Deir Yassin, Tantura, Kafr Qasim and many others, 50 massacres, 50 Holocausts.“

The condemnations for the Palestinian leader’s trivialization of the Holocaust – in Germany of all places – in response to a question about Palestinian terrorism, and inverting Jewish victim to murderer, came from around the world. Some news organization opted to focus squarely on the Holocaust denial and rebukes, while other for-profit media companies decided to provide context.

Some of the background proffered was shocking and says much about the news organization’s biases, their readers and sponsors.

Basically all news groups focused on Abbas’ “50 Holocaust” statement and the condemnations. Almost all – including AP News and The Guardian – provided background that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, except for Axios, which delivers news in an abbreviated bullet point format. None of the major news outlets informed readers that Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany, as the country feels a moral duty to not obfuscate its historic crimes against humanity. Depending on when the story broke, the media reported on the “clarification” posted on Abbas’s political party’s website.

The 1972 Palestinian massacre of Israeli athletes, the focus of the question to Abbas, was only referred to as an “attack” by Axios and Reuters. Each declined to write that eleven athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

Very few media shops gave their readership color that Abbas has a long history of Holocaust denial, including writing his doctoral thesis on the idea that Zionists conspired with the Nazis to make life unbearable for European Jews to get the Jews to move to Palestine. Abbas falsely alleges – to this day – that Jews have neither history in, nor interest to move to Palestine, so Zionists worked with the German government to prod the Jews to move. Both CNN and The New York Times gave some color on Abbas’ history of anti-Semitism.

On the fringe, CNN, Reuters and The New York Times tried to explain Abbas’s revolting comments.

CNN and Reuters essentially reprinted the Palestinian “clarification” statement which wrongfully stated that “Israeli forces” have been engaged in “massacres” of Palestinians since the “Nakba” of the founding of Israel. Reuters and The New York Times elected to write about recent battles between Palestinian Arabs and Israel that left many Arabs dead, as if somehow the slaughter of defenseless Jewish Germans by the Nazi government is akin to a war between two armed groups.

The New York Times went even further. It quoted a disgraced former Prime Minister from over a decade ago who served time in prison, who “welcomed” the Palestinian non-apology, making the matter seem like water-under-the-bridge. Such ridiculous editorializing could only happen at the anti-Zionist Times. Or maybe Qatari-owned al Jazeera.

*The New York Times attempted to soften the vile Holocaust comments by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on August 18, 2022.*

In case readers were not satisfied that Abbas was cleared of charges of anti-Semitism by four prime ministers ago-Ehud Olmert, the Times added a bunch of information that has absolutely nothing to do with the story. It wrote that Abbas has worked closely with Israeli security to prevent violence, and that “right-wing Israeli politicians” try to isolate and demonize Abbas, even though he helps keep the peace. If that doesn’t convince the reader to absolve Abbas, the Times added that Abbas is deeply unpopular among Palestinian Arabs anyway.

The New York Times has long peddled in anti-Israel editorializing. It has now added Holocaust denial-enablement to its revolting repertoire.

Mahmoud Abbas’s Particular Anti-Zionist Holocaust Denial

The Ultimate Chutzpah: A New Form of Holocaust Denial

NY Times Holocaust Revisionism For Poles, Not Palestinians

Will Palestinians Ever be Taught About the Holocaust?

Seeing the Holocaust Through Nakba Eyes

Palestinians of Today and the Holocaust

Reuters Will Not Label Palestinian Terrorist Groups

Posted on July 24, 2022 by First.One.Through

Reuters is a global news agency whose stories are picked up and disseminated around the world. Its reporting is thereby magnified as it is often the only source about events in many parts of the world.

The agency has a history of actively choosing to whitewash the terrorism of Palestinian groups, opting instead to call them “militants” while simultaneously calling out other organizations.

Consider the P.K.K., the Kurdistan Working Party:

July 21, 2022: “...militants of the Kurdish PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Ankara regards both as terrorist groups…. Cavusoglu said reports blaming Turkey for the attack were attempts by the PKK to hinder Ankara’s counter-terrorism…. ‘Following this attack, which we believe the (PKK) terrorist organisation carried out,‘”
June 29, 2022: “… it views as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which is also deemed a terrorist group by the United States and European Union.“
May 14, 2022: “…engaging with PKK and YPG. These are terrorist organisations that have been attacking our troops…. ‘it is unacceptable and outrageous that our friends and allies are supporting this terrorist organisation’“
April 21, 2022: “The military action was part of a long-running Turkish campaign in Iraq and Syria against militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, both regarded as terrorist groups by Ankara.“

Reuters similarly treats the terrorist group al-Shabaab in a similar fashion by clearly stating its objectives:

July 19, 2022: “…two al Shabaab terrorists were killed in action,“
April 5, 2022: “The al Shabaab group linked to al Qaeda…. Violence by the group, which aims to topple the central government and impose its own severe version of Islamic law,” didn’t specify terrorism but linked it to a well known terrorist group ad stated the groups goal to topple the government of Somalia.

Meanwhile, articles about Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas, Al-Aqsa Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are cleansed of the terrorist label and instead referred to as “militant groups” and “Islamists.”

July 24, 2022: “The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group claimed the two Palestinians slain… which is ruled by Hamas Islamists.“
June 7, 2022: “…the enclave now governed by Hamas Islamists.“
May 27, 2022: “The Islamist group Hamas in Gaza has warned of another war…“
April 15, 2022: “…the armed Islamist group Hamas, which rules the enclave,“

People around the world reading Reuters are left with an impression that Hamas is somehow not out to destroy Israel, nor a designated terrorist group by the United States, European Union and many other countries. The group thereby becomes legitimized, in sharp contrast to how the media portrays other terrorist groups when it informs the world about the violent threats such groups pose.

Anti-Zionism is pervasive, and the media is an active participant in whitewashing the terrorism and genocidal aspirations of many Palestinian Arabs.

The New York Times Refuses to Label Hamas a Terrorist Group

Will The New York Times Write About Terrorism From Israelis’ Point Of View?

Reuters Can’t Spare Ink on Iranian Anti-Semitism

Reuters Anti-Jewish Disinformation Campaign About The Temple Mount

Posted on April 26, 2022 by First.One.Through

As Passover, Easter and Ramadan all converged this year, tensions ran hot in Jerusalem. In that backdrop, Reuters seemingly wanted to fan some Arab fire against the Jews.

In an article called “Jordan’s king agreed with U.S. Biden on need to defuse Jerusalem tension – state media,” Reuters acted as the Jordanian mouthpiece without fact-checking anything in its coverage. It wrote that Jordan’s King “Abdullah, whose Hashemite dynasty is the custodian of Muslim and Christian sites in the Old City, has spearheaded a diplomatic offensive to put pressure on Israel, whom he blames for the escalation at the Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.”

This is not true.

The 1994 Israeli-Jordanian Peace Treaty, Article 9.2 stated “In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.”

Jordan is not a “custodian” but has a special role, and it only relates to Muslim sites.

The deeply flawed Reuters article also noted that “The confrontations since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that have coincided with Passover have raised religious passions amid international concerns about a slide back into a wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Why did the article point out ‘the Muslim holy month’ but declined to comment about the ‘Jewish holy week’ of Passover? Why did the article fail to state that Judaism calls for Jews to visit the Jewish holy city of Jerusalem three times a year – including Passover – but there is no such specific call for Muslims to visit Jerusalem EVER.

The article failed to note that 150,000 Palestinians visited the Jewish Temple Mount/ al Aqsa Mosque on Friday – a single day total – when the entire population of Jews that ascended to the Jewish Temple Mount was a mere 4,200 people OVER AN ENTIRE WEEK.

Instead, Reuters concluded the article with this unchallenged piece of biased inanity:

“Jordan and fellow Arab states accused Israel in a meeting on Thursday in Amman of restricting the right of worship of Muslims while allowing ultra-nationalist Jews under police protection to enter the mosque compound.“

Reuters did not describe the hundreds of thousands of Muslims who visited the site as Islamic radicals, but opted to paint a handful of Jews visiting their holist location during the holiday which specifically calls for them to visit, as “ultra-nationalist Jews.” A reader is directly led to the incorrect conclusion that a handful of Jews has spurred the problem, rather than Hamas and Hezbollah which have been urging violence in the holy city.

*Jews fill the Western Wall Plaza (in lower center of photograph) during Passover as they are limited in their access to their holiest site on the Jewish Temple Moun*t

The article also failed to report that the Israeli government, succumbing to threats of more Islamic radical violence, banned Jews from visiting the Mount during the remaining days of Ramadan, even while Passover was still being celebrated.

Reuters hit piece on religious Jews and elevation of the stature of the small Jordanian king was a disgraceful piece of journalism. That its smears get picked up and reprinted by media outlets around the world makes it a global Jewish blood libel.