Flipping the Script
Some investigative reporting to dissolve some propaganda
[Image: imagery from the main source for this article.]
Published: 2023-10-27
MSM’s “Fake News” Atrocity Fear Mongering
If you can remember "beheaded babies" from the media circus of the Israel-Gaza "war" then ensure you remember Sara Sidner beside it.
[Bits of the war propagandist’s LinkedIn page, with a little artwork and a tasteful background.]
It was Sara Sidner, the CNN, fear coping, Senior National Correspondent who initiated the beheaded babies story and so prompted thousands of bullshit articles to alarm hundreds of millions of people about absolute falsehoods. Her on air announcement was:
The Israeli prime minister spokesman just confirmed babies and toddlers were found with their heads decapitated …
to be followed 24 hours later by:
The Israeli government now says today it CANNOT confirm babies were beheaded. I needed to be more careful with my words and I am sorry.
As Ben Cohen showed in his article on this propaganda spewing tool, she has form.
In 2011 Sara Signer was a part of the gang that ginned up hysteria about rape to generate approval for the NATO "intervention" which lead to a destabilized nation, thousands dead, hundreds of thousands migrating into Europe via southern Italy, and open slave markets. Her contribution that time was waving a mobile phone about and despite announcing that she had no idea about anything and that the "victim's face can barely be seen", "all we can do is watch it and listen to it."
Obviously, that propaganda episode did not tarnish her credentials and Sidner now leads these efforts rather than just taking a support role. She now announces atrocity propaganda to fuel actual atrocities, and this time they both involved children. Is this a promotion in the attrocity fear mongering trade?
Sidner is not alone in the western media issuing claims made by one party in the conflict without seeking independent verification. We’ve had years of this now coming from Ukraine. Verification in conflict must surely be in journalism 101, but many participants in the MSM completely fail to adhere to this fundamental obvious standard.
Caitlin Johnstone published an excellent article early in the conflict summarizing Channel 4's actual adherence to the practice. They examined the audio issued by the Israeli government claiming to attribute the hospital bombing attack to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The audio made no sense at all. Wrong accent, wrong type of Arabic word usage etc. etc.. But this didn't stop just about every other MSM outlet from splatting the bullshit. As we well know, it is the effect of the headline which matters. Retractions and details reach a far smaller audience.
Palliative Care: Investigative Reporting
As opposed to Sidner's efforts a couple of journalists from The Cradle have published a piece looking at what actually happened during the Hamas attack on 2023-10-07, half a century and a day after the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Well, hats off to them. I've been waiting for an investigative piece to give some data rather than pure opinion on the matter.
They begin by taking the details published by Haaretz of Israeli deaths with the name, maybe a photo, and place of death as of 2023-10-23 and have gathered what information they could on 683 of the 1400 estimated causalties. From this they report that of the 683 whose details they could confirm and expand upon, about half were soldiers or police, with the other half assumed to be civilian. Of the 683, 16 are young (17 years of age or under), the rest adult. Their age distribution graph is a bit strange as it places 248 persons in an age category of Not Applicable (N/A).
They then provide the equivalent statistics for Palestinians "killed by Israeli bombardment": 5 791 dead (2 360 children, 1 292 women), 18 000+ injured. This lays things out quite horrifically and clearly.
They state that hundreds of videos were quickly posted to social media in the first few hours of the attack, most of which they have viewed, and that it was hours later that more gruesome videos emerged.
They then pour quite some doubt on many of the more gruesome claims. They begin with the rape claims which were supported by US President Trump, and those of foot amputations and beheading. They quote Reuters to reinforce that “the military personnel overseeing the identification process didn't present any forensic evidence in the form of pictures or medical records”, which smells a bit odd. They state that to date, "there is no credible evidence of these atrocities that has been presented."
They then look into Hamas' objectives and quote the Deputy Head of the Political Bureau who stressed "We have a large and qualitative number and senior officers" as hostages (civilians) or prisoners of war (soldiers/officers). [As for “prisoners of war”, what is the correct term for soldiers of a nation captured by a resistance movement of an occupied people which the state has declared war upon?] They note that Israel, since Oct 7th, "rounded up and imprisoned more than 1,200 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank". This is on top of the existing 5,300 Palestinians already imprisoned, many of whom are women and children.
They provide two testimonies by Israeli women who were taken captive by Hamas. These women describe being well treated and observing Hamas treating the wounded while they were in captivity. The authors contrast this with reports of an increase in mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
For the events at Be'eri Kibbutz, they cite an article at Mondoweiss which itself is heavily cited and provides named quotes. These citations show that many Israeli civilians who died in the Kibbutz who were alive on October 9th were killed by the IDF as a military calculation. The IDF chose to use heavy ordinance, evidence for which is available, which Hamas does not possess, to kill both the Hamas soldiers and the Israeli captives at once. These killings of civilians or prisoners of war are war crimes: Every single one of them.
The lesson here is not new. War is extremely nasty and both sides commit atrocities. That which becomes obvious is that Hamas' plan was to attack military installations and settler homes surrounding them and in the process capture hostages. This they did. There is evidence that they treated their hostages well. This makes sense. Dead hostages/prisoners of war are not as useful as living ones. Additionally, some of the Israeli civilian deaths are directly attributable to the IDF. Others, most likely many more, are the results of 'friendly fire' or ‘collateral “damage”’.
This can be contrasted with continously, intentional dropping of bombs into residential areas full of civilians and children. You can’t claim ‘accidental’ collateral damage when you’re doing this.
The two journalists from The Cradle conclude by reminding us that, as they published, only one side of the 'conflict' was still killing. That is to say, that the ongoing, US supported bombing, from a few days after the 7th, is a daily, continuous, Israeli, revenge driven, war crimes massacre.
The IDF will not walk further into the trap which Hamas set for them. They will continue to commit cowardly war crimes from the sky.
I throw this metaphorical shoe at them.
Sources
What really happened on 7th October?, Robert Inlakesh & Sharmine Narwani, The Cradle, 2023-10-24
CNN reporter who "confirmed" fake beheaded Israeli babies story promoted Libya intervention propaganda in 2011, Dan Cohen, Uncaptured Media, 2023-10-15
Israel's Dead: The Names of Those Killed in Hamas Attacks, Massacres and the Israel-Hamas War, Haaretz, 2023-10-19 (supposedly updating over time)
A growing number of reports indicate Israeli forces responsible for Israeli civilian and military deaths following October 7 attack, (name restricted by editor, see note in the article), Mondoweiss, 2023-10-22
About Mondoweiss
The Mainstream Press Keep Slamming Israel's Hospital Bombing Story, Caitlin Johnstone, 2023-10-19
I think Caitlin missed a trick here. The title could have been “Mainstream Press’ Hospital Story Keeps Bombing”. Just a thought.
Culture
Enough war and death for now. Here’s some fun-filled, teenage silly for some relief!
Teenage Dirtbag, Wheatus (from their 2000 self-titled debut album), Wheatus, uploaded
Copyleft: CC0
