elisi | Trying to fight against Fake News

I've been trying to write/compile a long Palestine post, but it's very depressing and I'm tired.

So for now, just have a few links dealing with mis-information/propaganda. The main problem with this is that the BBC and other news outlets are prone to just repeat Israeli propaganda. (It's 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' all over again.) All the articles below strike me as even-handed, concerned with fact-finding rather than outrage.

Firstly I came across this article: 7 October narrative debunked by new report, which at the end links to the report in question:

What really happened on October the 7th

Money quote:

According to the Israeli narrative, the majority of civilian casualties occurred at the Nova music event and the Kibbutz Be'eri.

Eyewitness testimonies from these areas were crucial in revealing the IDF's indiscriminate use of ground and aerial bombardment, suggesting that a significant proportion of civilian deaths resulted from Israeli military actions.

And another good article, that was linked in the report:

What our Media fails to tell you about October 7

Money quote:

A separate question that good journalists ought to be asking is this: What was the purpose of such damage? What did the Palestinian militants hope to achieve by it? [That is: If Hamas deliberately set out to simply kill and destroy on Oct 7, then what was the purpose etc]

The implicit answer the media is supplying is also the answer the Israeli military wants western publics to hear: that Hamas engaged in an orgy of gratuitous killing and savagery because … well, let’s say the quiet part out loud: because Palestinians are inherently savage.

With that as the implicit narrative, western politicians have been handed a licence to cheerlead Israel as it murders a Palestinian child in Gaza every few minutes. Savages only understand the language of savagery, after all.

You may also have heard of the 'mass-rapes'. I am very relieved (the reports were beyond horrendous) that in most part this appears to fall under the same Fake News (intended to cause outrage) as the baby beheadings:

The Intercept: New York Times Exposé Lacks Evidence to Claim Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence Oct. 7

I would urge you to read the whole thing, but in case you don't have the time, here is the best approximation of a money quote:

So, The New York Times, they can’t find anyone who works in the rape crisis centers, at the hospitals, among therapists, that are coming forward and saying, “Yeah, we saw this,” or “We have documentation of this,” so they go to people who already were known to have promoted false information, and then they start relying on their testimony to paint this tapestry, this notion that there was a systematic rape regime. And in the The New York Times article, they do not ever disclose that their key witnesses have serious credibility problems. So, this is, at a minimum, we are looking at a The New York Times piece that failed to inform its readers about severe credibility issues among some of its premier “witnesses,” quote-unquote, that it put forward in this story.

^When they say 'severe credibility issues' they mean outright, provable lies. And if they lied about A, how can we trust them on B?

~

In short, Israel lies. It lies with the audacity and regularity of Donald Trump and should be treated similarly. (Even Israeli citizens know this and protest.)

ETA: I was going to add that even if Hamas were as evil as portrayed, even if they had done everything they are accused of and more, it still does not justify anything Israel has done in retaliation.

ETA2: With thanks to my flist:

Mission report. Official visit of the Office of the SRSG-SVC to Israel and the occupied West Bank 29 January – 14 February 2024