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Gaza: conveniently ignoring the truth

By Jonathan J. Ariel - posted Monday, 7 June 2010


The truth will never find its way to your TV.

As expected, when Israel is involved, the media (and second-tier politicians) condemn first and then (if at all) ask any questions.

The typical Australian, faced with a home loan repayment mountain that gets steeper every month and constant job worries, relies on the mass media to inform him or her of the day’s events. Watching the mass media, which is devoted to images and text to the exclusion of context, they must to conclude that a bevy of peaceniks singing the Arabic version of Kumbaya and doing little more than ferrying baklava and rose water from Greece and Turkey to the nascent Islamic Emirate of Gaza were set upon by bloodthirsty Israeli commandos, resulting in the deaths of at least nine “peace loving” passengers. The reality is significantly different.

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What the popular narrative ignores, however, is the nature of the organisers and the flotilla’s mission. The people behind the so-called “Freedom Flotilla” have a documented history with terrorists. The primary sponsor, Insani Yardim Vakfi (the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation also known as IHH), was identified by the CIA as far back as 1996 as a terrorist-tied entity with links to Iran. French magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière testified that IHH had a history of co-operation with Islamic terrorists.

This video shows just how friendly the “peace loving” passengers were, “welcoming” the Israeli boarding party on the ships with metal bars and chains, beating them before tossing one Israeli overboard, possibly damaging his skull in the process.

Facts conveniently disregarded by the media, especially Fairfax. Including the most paramount fact of all: that the Israel Defense Forces acted lawfully. Just as Britain and Russia did when they enforced a blockade on Nazi Germany.

Also missing from mainstream media coverage was that non-lethal supplies from the flotilla could have been transported to the terror enclave from an Israeli (or for that matter an Egyptian) port by road, after inspection. But that offer was snubbed. The reasoning was simple: flotilla spokeswoman Ms Greta Berlin announced last week to Agence France-Presse, "this mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it's about breaking Israel's siege". The best that can be said of her is that she, unlike the majority of the mass media, is honest about her bias.

Islam’s answer to CNN, Al-Jazeera TV, last week showed passengers chanting "Khyber, Khyber", a favorite chant of jihadists because it recalls a battle where Mohammad's army in AD629 offered Jews, in a town 90km north of Medina, a choice: submit to second-class citizenship under the yoke of Islam or die. Many Jews were butchered and the balance surrendered to Islam.

Keeping to form, the mainstream media (with The Australian being the standout exception) should have given full context:

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  • namely that the blockade of Gaza is a joint enterprise of both Israel and Egypt and seeks to inconvenience the HAMAS government;
  • there is no "humanitarian crisis," as claimed by the flotilla's propaganda, given that approximately 100 aid trucks enter Gaza every day; and
  • that the only so-called crisis that is brewing in Gaza is the regard HAMAS' is held in by the public. A decaying economy - a direct result of the partnership between Jerusalem and Cairo - has seriously undermined HAMAS' standing among its public sector employees in particular as well as the general population of Gaza.

Not surprisingly, few of these facts found their way into the mainstream media's coverage. The Sydney Morning Herald’s coverage was/is so sympathetic to the terror supporters on board the ships that the flotilla organisers themselves well could have authored the reporting. There was absolutely no categorical mention of the fact that Gaza’s democratically elected government is sworn to the annihilation of the Jewish people, in its charter, in its mission and by its deeds.

What are the Jews supposed to do? Dig their own graves and offer no resistance?

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About the Author

Jonathan J. Ariel is an economist and financial analyst. He holds a MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management. He can be contacted at jonathan@chinamail.com.

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