Wednesday, August 10, 2022
The footage of the Islamic Jihad rocket doubling back on
Jabaliya was like something out of a Cecil B. DeMille movie. Except that it
was real. The rocket begins its journey; its target, Israeli civilians. Then,
all of a sudden, with a “whoosh,” the rocket reverses course, as if the hand of
God itself were guiding it away from the Jewish people (or perhaps playing
boomerang). In the background, we hear the Muezzin’s eerie call to prayer
blaring from the loudspeakers. It seems a kind of judgment, a biblical moment—one
the media does not want to own.
Columnist Daled
Amos contends that Israel did a great job getting the truth of the Jabaliya
story out to the media. As a result, he says, “Israel was able not only to
present its case that it was not responsible, but also to get the media to
present a balanced report that presented Israel's contention that the explosion
was the result of a misfired rocket from Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
Daled Amos is right on the mark. For a change, Israel got
ahead of the propaganda machine. This time, the Jewish State was quick to
supply verifiable facts and footage to show the truth of what had happened: An
Islamic Jihad rocket, launched in the direction of Israel with the intention of
murdering as many Jewish civilians as possible, misfired and murdered 7 Gaza
residents, including 4 children. In other words, Islamic Jihad terrorists tried
to kill Jews, but murdered their own, instead.
Daled Amos is also correct in stating that as a result of
Israel’s speedy proactive response, the media presented a more balanced
account. But perhaps balance was not what was needed here. When there are
verifiable facts and footage, it’s not a case of he said/she said, but documenting
what happened for posterity.
We know what happened on D-Day, at Pearl Harbor, in Gettysburg. Some things are
just not in dispute. The rocket attack on Jabaliya is such an event, something
that should be recorded as military history. Yet CNN,
for example has the Palestinian Health Ministry saying one thing, and Israel
saying another (emphasis added):
In one incident Saturday, four children were among seven people killed in an explosion in Jabaliya. The Palestinian Health Ministry initially said the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike. Israel rejected the claim and said it was the result of errant rocket fire, and released a video showing what it said was the Islamic Jihad rocket sharply changing course in the air and hitting the building.
Instead of this balanced report, why not a factual report on
what happened on August 6th? “Today in Gaza, an Islamic Jihad rocket
misfired, killing seven people in Jabaliya, including 4 children.”
That would have been the unvarnished truth. But reporting
the truth is apparently not a CNN value.
CNN would rather hedge, presenting
the story as a case of competing narratives, under the pretense of “balance.” Forced
by facts to exonerate Israel, CNN
instead chooses to leave things fuzzy, to leave the reader thinking, “Who knows
what really happened? But it was probably that &*$@*%^ Israel, again.”
In other words, the balance is not balance, but a calculated
lie, so that even if you know the facts, you begin to question them. The
purpose of the lie, of course, is to minimize anything that makes Islamic Jihad
look bad: “Yes, they’re terrorists, but they’re OUR terrorists.”
Why? Because Gaza is the darling of the wokerati, while Israel is the object of
their hate. So minimize, minimize, and minimize the damage some more, and find
a way to “balance” things out.
It’s not only CNN,
of course. Daled Amos cited many similar reports, including this one from the NY
Times (emphasis added):
Three children were also killed on Saturday, though it was not immediately clear whether they were hit by an Israeli strike or a misfired Palestinian rocket. The Israeli military said they were killed by a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch.
Instead of reporting the story as is, the NY Times tells its readership that it’s not clear who killed the 7, Israel or the Arab IJ terrorists. But it IS clear. Today, everything is verifiable. People have phones. They love to record rocket attacks and share the clips on social.
The Israeli military didn’t “say” it was
a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch. They proved it. But that’s not how the NY Times chose to report the story. Why
exonerate Israel, when you can leave the story fuzzy around the edges, ripe for
interpretation and as fodder for the anti-Israel propaganda machine?
The AP,
as cited by Daled Amos, begins with the same “balanced” narrative (emphasis
added):
The Israeli military said an errant rocket fired by Palestinian militants killed civilians late Saturday, including children, in the town of Jabaliya, in northern Gaza. The military said it investigated the incident and concluded ‘without a doubt’ that it was caused by a misfire on the part of Islamic Jihad. There was no official Palestinian comment on the incident.
This, however, turned out to be not ambiguous enough for the AP. So they did an about-face
(much like that IJ rocket) in a subsequent report containing no allegations or reports of a
misfire at all. Instead, the new report mentions an “Israeli offensive,” leaving
the impression that Israel is somehow responsible for the Jabaliya dead
(emphasis added):
Two other militants and five civilians also were killed in the attack, bringing the Palestinian death toll to 31 since the start of the Israeli offensive Friday. Among the dead were six children and four women. The Palestinian Health Ministry said more than 250 people were wounded since Friday.
It is easy to rationalize "balanced" reporting on Israel. One might reason that balance is a whole lot better than the out-and-out shameless lies of Al Jazeera:
Al Jazeera flat out lying.
— Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר (@emilykschrader) August 6, 2022
The “massacre” was the result of Palestinian terrorist rockets misfiring and killing their OWN citizens including children. pic.twitter.com/gAfLgfRZWs
But the lies of Al
Jazeera are not worse, only different. Lies can be blatant or come
disguised as “balance.” In the end, lies are lies.
Why would the media lie? In the case of Jabaliya, reporting the
facts makes Israel out to be the good guy. As the media well knows, however, a bit
of balance can go a long way toward making it seem otherwise.
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