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Nations United Against Israel

IDF battles media bias, int?l hypocrisy in Gaza


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
May 23, 2004

In addition to waging war on the forces of Palestinian Arab terrorism in the Gaza Strip, Israel is also being forced to fight an uphill battle against media distortion and international double standards.

Weekend headline news reports broadcast on the major television networks every quarter hour consistently featured stories claiming the IDF had committed cold-blooded murder and displaced some 1,650 civilians during anti-terror operations in the Gaza border town of Rafiah.

Senior UN officials interviewed by the media invoked a dubious interpretation of international law and insisted the IDF was guilty of various “crimes against humanity.”

The Israeli take on events was rarely if ever reported, and documents touted as the “gold standard” of international humanitarian law were misrepresented.

Operating with kid gloves

Israeli forces at the weekend continued with a large-scale offensive aimed at disrupting and destroying “Palestinian” weapons smuggling operations in the southern Gaza border town of Rafiah.

The army has thus far carried out the operation with utmost care for the well being of civilians living in the area, military officials said, rejecting the notion that a “humanitarian disaster” was in the works.

"To my knowledge there is no humanitarian disaster in Rafah, no starvation or insufficient water, and throughout we have informed the local population either through Palestinian officials or by distributing leaflets asking them to refrain from going out into the streets in order to protect their lives," Gaza divisional commander Brig.-Gen. Shmuel Zakai told reporters on Friday.

Following a week of operations in Rafiah, less than a dozen buildings had been demolished, though many more are used as cover for terrorist activities.

Forty armed terrorists and a handful of civilians were killed during the same period. Two of the civilians were shot dead by “Palestinian” gunmen intent on preventing them from surrendering to Israeli troops.

Additionally, Israel has allowed international aid to flow into Rafiah, and continues to provide medical assistance to local residents.

Media distortion

The international media demonstrated its objectivity at the weekend with a repeating story on how Israeli soldiers had murdered in cold blood a three-year-old Palestinian Arab girl.

Major television networks such as CNN and Sky News replayed their headline news reports every quarter hour, and consistently led off the story of Rawan Abu Zaid.

They reported as fact the claim by “Palestinian” sources that Zaid had been shot in the head and neck by Israeli troops as she left her Rafiah home to buy sweets at a local store on Saturday.

Both networks failed to present Israel’s side of the story, or to question the veracity of the PA’s allegation.

The IDF released a statement saying soldiers had not been operating in the area where Zaid was shot.

“Palestinian” terrorists have in the past shot dead Arab children in an effort to steer international public opinion against Israel.

At the start of “Operation Rainbow in a Cloud” last week, IDF officials urged foreign correspondents to join Israeli military units as embedded reporters in order to get a first hand look at the painstaking care taken by Jewish soldiers to protect the local population.

The vast majority of international media personnel refused the offer. Their reports from the region over the past week have complained of their inability to now enter parts of Rafiah and verify statements made by the IDF.

UN fantasy

Meanwhile, a UN official interviewed by Sky made the astonishing announcement that some 1,650 Palestinian Arabs had been made homeless after the Israelis razed their homes during the Rafiah operation.

But the IDF noted it had destroyed a mere 5-10 of the buildings used as weapons factories and as cover for arms-smuggling tunnels. Even the PA put the number of buildings destroyed only as high as 43.

One commentator pointed out that even if the PA’s figure were accepted, it was not possible 1,650 people had lived in those 43 houses.

The UN official went on to tell the Sky anchor he is sure Israel thinks its actions are justified, but that he would like to see some kind of evidence that illegal weapons smuggling had actually been taking place in Rafiah.

Apparently, he was unaware that the IDF’s official English-language website features an entire section devoted to the Rafiah weapons smuggling industry.

The army has on several occasions released to the press photographs and video of weapons smuggling tunnels being uncovered.

Misuse of int’l law

Consistent in all the charges brought against Israel was the insistence that the Jewish state’s army had committed war crimes against the Palestinian Arabs under international law.

But while Israel’s detractors repeatedly invoked the Fourth Geneva Convention, they appeared to skip over Article 28 of that document.

Article 28 states that "protected persons may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations,” nullifying the argument that home demolitions for security purposes violate international law.

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