Flotilla Cover-up: The New York Times Accused
by David Morris on June 28, 2010
For the past month, the alternative media have sought concrete evidence that the mainstream U.S. media, including the New York Times, willfully aided Israel’s cover-up of information about their Gaza flotilla attack.
Prima facie evidence of their complicity is abundant.
The Times’ role in the cover-up ranged from suppression of facts and failure to follow leads that might (and did) contradict Israel’s version of the massacre, to serving as a shameless conduit for Israeli propaganda. The Times persisted in publishing and republishing the official line of Israel and became a virtual bulletin board for crackpot opinions and commentary. A prime example is Michael Oren’s “An Assault on Israel, Cloaked in Peace,” arguing delusionally that this humanitarian effort was an “act of aggression” that threatened the very nation of Israel.
[more...]
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22 comments
Ruben Misrahi
July 3, 2010 at 12:25 am (UTC 1)
Funny, you talk about freedom of press, but block my comment from USMediaAndIsrael.com.
Yes, freedom of press is important, but even freedom of expression is limited, as in screaming fire in a theater or used to incite people.
What I don’t understand is why the press is in factSOo Anti-Israel. While in Kyrgyzstan a few thousand people are killed and tens of thousands displaced, the story that 9 people were killed by Israel has a prominence beyond proportion. If there was media-complicity, none of this would make the news, which if you judge objectively represented a point of pressure for Israel to ease the blockade. Do you see the fallacy of your argument here? It’s called reductio ad absurdum.
In any event, I’m happy that a cartoon as insulting as this one didn’t trigger violence, as was the Mohammed cartoons that left over 150 people dead. Where was the outrage at freedom of press then?
Steve Reply:
July 3rd, 2010 at 7:17 am
@Ruben Misrahi,
Thank you for your comment. No comments are censored by me. I don’t know what comment you are referring to from USMediaAndIsrael.com ?
Ruben Misrahi
July 4, 2010 at 3:41 pm (UTC 1)
Thanks for posting my comment.
I tried to post this same comment on http://intifada-palestine.com/2010/07/flotilla-cover-up-the-new-york-times-accused/ and it was removed. Ditto for USMediaAndIsrael. This is a Kafkian world, where the site that publishes an article that deplores press suppression, suppresses comments.
Have to take off my hat to you for having the honesty of posting comments that don’t necessarily agree with you.
Respectfully,
Ruben Misrahi
ian
July 5, 2010 at 1:14 pm (UTC 1)
Ruben,
USmediaandisrael receives hundreds of comments from each of its posts. As you can imagine many are anti semitic rants. Redddit publlishes every comment, regardless. I believe David Morris culls his responses both to advance his agenda and not overwhelm his readers
ian
July 5, 2010 at 1:28 pm (UTC 1)
Ruben,
I just read a actual posted comment from USMI that dealt with your point but 180 degrees apart. The murder of a single Jew–Klinghoffer, was hyped by USl mainstream media for years. Another link in the “cover up” post cites that more than 3000 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis over the past four years. While 37 Israelis were killed. In the US the death of each Israeli is front page news
Ruben Misrahi
July 5, 2010 at 11:51 pm (UTC 1)
Ian, this is a good point. Klinghoffer was indeed prominent news for awhile.
I’d argue that at the time, the number of terrorist attacks was much smaller, and the world have not heard of taped people while being decapitated or suicide bombers for that matter.
News can actually be measured in binits and roughly speaking is directly proportional to the probability of the “unexpectedness” of an event (the more unexpected, the more information). In that regard, Klinghoffer was an unprecedented act of cruelty, considering that he was an older handicapped Jew in a wheelchair thrown overboard.
Regretfully, we’ve become more used to violence. Close to a million Hutus killed in Rwanda don’t get the news they deserve, ditto for the more recently couple thousand Kyrgystanies dead.
Here’s a video that shows “the other side” of the coin. We all feel we get the short stick not only in the news, but in world attention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3PsKON936M
The fact is: Israel doesn’t have ties with other nations based on religion, language or ethnicity. Look at the world around you. Can you name any other country in the same situation? China perhaps, India maybe, but hey, they have together over 35% of the world population. Jewish population is but 0.2%. Totally disproportionate with -let’s face it- Jewish contributions to humanity in science, medicine, art, etc. And the same can be said for Israel itself. This sure points to the reason the UN direction.
ian
July 6, 2010 at 12:58 pm (UTC 1)
Good points, Ruben. Racism is everywhere in the world–particularly in local media. My disagreement would be that Israel certainly has religious and cultural ties to the US.
The pro-Israel media accentuates that bond for 300 million Americans
Ruben Misrahi
July 7, 2010 at 2:57 pm (UTC 1)
I finally found a site where civility reigns and opposite viewpoints can be discussed intelligently. Thanks Steve.
Back on the collusion of the Media and Israel:
See what the NYT’s agenda is in our eyes.
See the main article (NYT Shocker) on
http://www.honestreporting.com/
Steve
July 7, 2010 at 3:47 pm (UTC 1)
Believe it or not I’m not a totally stupid goy. I know a double act when I see one as will the majority of visitors reading these posts. I don’t censor posts because I believe the content will speak for its-self and everyone is entitled to an opinion. “honestreporting” is clearly anything but – but a very pro Israeli site. It’s my personal opinion and belief that the state of Israel is an illegal occupation and the aggressor in Palestine. Unfortunately Jewish people are caught up in the racist Zionist plot and so also suffer at the hands of evil in-human Zionists too. Now – your understanding of the word legal and illegal will differ – mine is based on natural morality where everyone is treated as equal, your definition will be based on Zionist, racist, corrupt money controlled bigotry. I think Israel became an evil regime in the eyes of the world after seeing white phosphorous used against civilians. There is now a clear worldwide majority that see Israel for what it is. Israel and its supporters may fool its-self and its bought friends – but the world has finally woken up. How much better things would be in a Zionist free world. Are you pro Israel because you are a Zionist ? or racist Anti-Arab ?
http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/
http://www.jewsagainsttheoccupation.org/
Jews Against the Occupation is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel. Our points of unity are as follows:
NO OCCUPATION IN OUR NAME
We as American Jews reject the Israeli government assertion that it is “necessary” to subjugate Palestinians for the sake of keeping Jews safe. We assert that security can only come from mutual respect, and that the occupation of Palestine is only worsening the position of Jews in the Middle East and around the world.
RESTORE HUMAN & CIVIL RIGHTS
The Israeli military fires bone-crushing rubber bullets and live ammunition at unarmed Palestinian civilians engaged in peaceful protest, failing to distinguish between peaceful and violent resistance. The Israeli government has been demolishing Palestinian houses and crops in the Occupied Territories, while allowing Jewish settlers — many of them American — to illegally occupy the same land.
END U.S. AID TO ISRAEL
The U.S. government provides more aid to Israel than to any other country—the vast majority of this is for military purposes. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have propped up the occupation and fueled the Israeli government’s war machine (as well as disguising the occupation’s true cost). This aid must end.
STOP ECONOMIC ATTACKS ON PALESTINE
The Israeli government has attacked the Palestinian economy by: closing Palestinian banks; imposing extreme taxes on business; withdrawing operating licenses; destroying industrial equipment; bulldozing farmland and banning fishing; restricting workers’ movement; controlling the export of Palestinian goods; closing the borders of the Occupied Territories; and refusing to fund infrastructure like water and electricity — even in Arab villages within Israel.
LET PALESTINIANS RETURN HOME
Thousands of Palestinians were driven out of their houses and off of their farms during and after the creation of Israel. They must be allowed to return to their homeland.
ANTI-SEMITISM VS. CRITIQUES OF ISRAEL
Jews Against the Occupation stands firmly against anti-Semitism and racism in all its forms. We see our historical struggle against anti- Semitism–a cornerstone of European white supremacist ideology–as inherently linked to all struggles against oppression. We therefore stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom.
Judaism is a cultural and religious identity, which must not be equated with Zionism, a political movement. Criticism of the state of Israel, its policies, or the idea of a Jewish state does not by itself constitute anti-Semitism. Dismissing critics of Israel or of Zionism as “anti-Semitic” is a means of stifling debate and masking the impact of the occupation.
Ruben Misrahi
July 8, 2010 at 6:32 am (UTC 1)
Steve, I don’t think that you’re a stupid or a smart Goy. I look at the facts, and there are so few verifiable facts in your post, and so much rhetoric: “subjugate Palestinians, European white supremacists, Zionist, racist, etc.” I’ve heard all of it.
Here are some indisputable historic facts, because life didn’t start in 1967:
Palestinians are the ONLY refugees that:
1. Needed to claim having lived in the land for only 2 (TWO) years to be considered refugees.
2. Their descendants are considered refugees as well. Unprecedented as well.
Regarding productive land, let’s not forget that the land left by the 8,000 expelled Jews from Gaza, which was destroyed by Palestinians. Read a bit more about what that “productive land” was like before Jewish settler bought (yes bought) it before 1948.
We are racist? What does that mean? I’m not white and I’m Jewish. More than 1/2 the population in Israel comes from Arab countries (would-be refugees have they not been absorbed by Israel, among them members of my family that fled Syria).
The help that Israel receives from the US… Israel would get more if it kept the Sinai, just from the oil reserves there. But Israel the “expansionist” returned Sinai in exchange for… peace! Is anyone having a case of cognitive dissonance here? If Israel didn’t have this many enemies, it would not need such a large military budget.
If you’re really interested in understanding what goes on in the ME, read Michael B Oren, Efraim Kirsch, any honest historian. See what children are being taught in Hamas-run schools. And if you read the revisionist historians, you will never find the word Palestinian in the historic documents they cite. Only Arabs from Palestine. Big difference!
What is Israel expected to do with people that lost 4 wars trying to destroy it (clear intentions voiced by their leaders in (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973). Is there a historic precedent to this? Is Israel expected to ask for forgiveness for not loosing a war (that one would be the last one) and capitulate?
The 1948 vote to create Israel and Palestine was rejected by the Arabs. Transjordan became Jordan when it took over the West Bank. The majority of Jordan’s population is Palestinian. Why they don’t claim being refugees? If all they want is the land lost in 1967. Why were there terrorists acts from 1948 to 1967?
Can we be confident that giving away that land they will be peaceful? Or will we have another Gaza all along Israel with Tel Aviv and Jerusalem at close range?
Would the US consider rockets from Tijuana a minor problem?
And these are only just a few arguments people miss. But truly, the only solution is in EDUCATION. As long as Arab maps don’t include Israel and we’re treated as the Zionist enemy and mindless people who think they are righteous keep condemning Israel. The violence will stop, because make no mistake, the Jews now days are not the lambs that the world knew 100 years ago, and that may be what many people cannot stomach: a fighting Jew.
I don’t blame you if you don’t post this. Too strong for you audience.
Steve Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 9:03 am
@Ruben Misrahi,
We can quote dates, speeches at each other for ever. You as a Zionist feel superior to any goy and as such will never listen to any argument but just consider your next attack statement. This seems to be the state of play when Zionists are involved at that is your nature. The world knows Zionist Israel is racist. Why is it that most of the worlds MSM is pro Zionist and the rest of the world is anti-Zionist ? Have you ever asked yourself – why is the world so anti-Zionist ? As I said before, the world has woken up. Zionists will stop at nothing and unfortunately for Israeli’s their days are probably numbered. If you follow the webbot as I do, it looks like the Zionists are preparing to sacrifice Israel soon. What a sorry state of affairs. As a human being above all else you must surely condemn the way your regime treats civilians in your takeover bid. This discussion can go nowhere. As a Zionist, your views are set in stone, as a free thinking unencumbered human being, I am free to see and think untainted by race, national ideology, religious dogma or race driven hatred. You are free to post responses to any posts on this site. I think we all like to see an attempt at Zionist justification for some of the actions hi-lighted in the various Israel related posts. Thank you for your contributions so far.
Ruben Misrahi
July 8, 2010 at 3:24 pm (UTC 1)
Thanks for leaving my post Steve,
First let me tell you about a little secret: We DON’T feel superior. We feel IN SIEGE. As you clearly point out, the “world has woken up.” To me, it means, the world is against us. How they say: You’re not paranoid is people are out to get you. Same argument: No ties with anyone based on religion, language or ethnicity (btw, on ethnicity: we have blacks, whites and colored people in Israel, which begs the question how racist can we be).
You say you “will never listen to any argument…” and in the same paragraph you say “as a Zionist, your views are set in stone.” You see the problem here?
By the same token, this article points to the Jewish-Media conspiracy, and you bring up ALL these Jewish groups against Israel. So what is it?
You can believe it or not, but we DO care about Palestinians. Not more than we care about Israel, but we do care. So much so that their life expectancy is 73 (Israel: 76, Egypt: 60, Syria: 67). I’ve personally seen Israeli hospitals, such as Haddassah full of Palestinians. It pains me to see how they’re used by other Arab countries as pawns to their own political needs. There are injustices? Of course there are! And they need to be dealt with.
What you see with all these Jewish groups is a true democracy at work. No two Jews think alike. No two human beings think alike. The main things is to not stop listening to the other side, and -it seems to me- it’s exactly what you decided you will do. I agree, THIS is a sorry state of affairs.
As Voltaire said: I may disagree with what you say, but I will fight to death for your right to say it.
Steve
July 8, 2010 at 8:03 pm (UTC 1)
Ruben, they say a picture paints a thousand words.
Have a look here…
http://whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/GazaHolo/index.html
ian
July 9, 2010 at 12:08 am (UTC 1)
I try to separate the Israeli government from the Israeli people. The former I feel is arrogant, hypocritical, greedy, and yes–evil. The Israeli media is far more critical of its government policies than is the Us Media.
In the USA no rational discussion is allowed. The cartoon backstory in USMediaandIsrael says it all
Steve Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 8:42 am
@ian,
Cartoons attempt to say it with a degree of humour, hoping that people “get it” in a picture that sums up the situation. Cartoons can be more powerful than whole articles because the viewer is the interpreter and the conveyed message bypasses language. However, a cartoon is – “just a cartoon”. These pictures bypass language at tell you exactly how it is – you the viewer can’t do anything else but “get it”. PICTURES
ian
July 9, 2010 at 12:14 pm (UTC 1)
Phewwww. Okay, point and game taken. I was trying to say why Americans are so stupid about the middle east. I suggest submitting your July 9 reply to “NY Times censored cartoon” as a comment.
Steve, you are performing an important service by attempting to spur awareness. Thanks
Steve Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
@ian,
Thank you Ian.
I appear to be barred from commenting.
ian
July 10, 2010 at 1:04 am (UTC 1)
I might be able to get your comment and “pictures” added to the ” Cartoon Censored by the NY Times” blog
Jeb
Steve Reply:
July 10th, 2010 at 8:32 am
@ian,
Please feel free to use any content on this site or any other at any time to promote awareness.
Steve Reply:
July 10th, 2010 at 8:34 am
@Steve,
http://www.petitiononline.com/12101982/petition.html
Steve
July 10, 2010 at 4:35 pm (UTC 1)
Calling People ‘Anti-Semitic’ is a ‘Trick’ We Always Use to Discredit Critics, says Former Israeli Minister – VID
ian
July 10, 2010 at 5:32 pm (UTC 1)
Vid,
And the common (and highly effective) silencing weapon used against Jews who criticize Israel is “self-hating Jew.” See the blog entry below:
http://USMediaAndIsrael.com/?p=134