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Some predictably disappointing, distorted and disingenuous reporting from @guardian on Israel and Gaza this morning @HonestReporting @adamlevick @SimonPlosker @ukmediawatch theguardian.com/world/2019/mar…
It starts as it means to go on: “Gaza is on edge before a planned Saturday protest to mark the anniversary of mass rallies along its frontier, after a year in which Israeli soldiers have shot thousands of people.”
These “mass rallies” have really been mass orgies of violence which have resulted in 2,000 violent incidents, 694 explosive devices, 9,000 acres of land burned and 1,323 missiles fired
This is why thousands of people have been shot – when violent riots threaten to breach a border, when terrorists are firing missiles and launching incendiary balloons, the danger is very real
Israel’s soldiers do their utmost to reduce casualties – the Guardian often reports on the large number of leg wounds from bullets. This is the IDF trying to neutralise violent rioters and terrorists using nonlethal methods
But none of this mass, organised violence is considered. It lists in detail the UN report (omitting to mention that it was the UNHRC, an odious, anti-Israel body) on Israeli methods to combat violence, it is dismissive of the very violence that Israel is attempting to combat
The report continues, saying there are demands from Israel to further crack down on the protests, which Israel refers to as “violent riots”.
Why the quotation marks? These ARE violent riots, and any sane, credible reporter actually observing events honestly would recognise this
To repeat: 2,000 violent incidents, 694 explosive devices, 9,000 acres of land burned and 1,323 missiles fired
And in a truly surreal turn, even for the @guardian, the article reports uncritically that Hamas has warned participants to keep the event “peaceful and popular”
What has Hamas really said about the riots? “When we talk about ‘peaceful resistance,’ we are deceiving the public”. The aim, as Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar said: is to “tear out their hearts from their bodies.”
It's all very well for the Guardian to distort reality in opinion pieces and leaders. That's one thing. But reporting is a different affair - it needs to be objective, impartial, honest and fact-based. @guardian barely even tries.
