January 09, 2024
The New York Times has claimed that Israel is cutting back its brutal war in Gaza:
The Israeli military has begun a new and less intense phase of its invasion of Gaza, its chief spokesman said on Monday, after weeks of pressure from the United States and other allies to scale back an offensive that has caused widespread devastation and civilian deaths.
The Nation however finds that this is certainly not the case:
The Israeli Defense Forces spokesman, Radm. Daniel Hagari, gave the Times the interview that it used for its headline. But Hagari’s quotes never actually promise the “less intense phase” in the Times paraphrase. Hagari instead describes the focus of the pitiless Israeli campaign shifting southward—while his superiors in the Israeli government indicate that it could expand regionally.
The Times isn't the only main stream media to lie about the war. CNN is routing all news through its Jerusalem bureau where an Israeli military censor takes care that everything is 'sanitized'. This while the Washington Post is sending out its most Zionist reporter to write a hit piece about pro-Palestinian news sites.
The Canadian Broadcast Corporation is using harmless language to describe Israeli air attacks while it brutalizes reports of Hamas ground attack. It even justifies this:
“Different words are used because although both result in death and injury, the events they describe are very different,” Waugh wrote. “The raid saw Hamas gunmen stream through the border fence and attack Israelis directly with firearms, knives and explosives. Gunmen chased down festival goers, assaulted kibbutzniks then shot them, fought hand to hand, and threw grenades. The attack was brutal, often vicious, and certainly murderous.”“Bombs dropped from thousands of feet and artillery shells lofted into Gaza from kilometers away result in death and destruction on a massive scale, but it is carried out remotely,” Waugh continued. “The deadly results are unseen by those who caused them and the source unseen by those [who] suffer and die.”
All these censorship and disinformation efforts hide the reality of the brutal war from the western public.
This while the extremely brutal Israel attacks on Gaza continue as the occupation forces now move into the center of the strip:
Israeli attacks around central Gaza’s last remaining hospital caused hundreds of displaced civilians to flee over the weekend and forced most medical workers to evacuate, leaving wounded people with no good options for seeking care as fighting intensifies in the area.Organizations including Doctors Without Borders, the International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians have pulled their staff from al-Aqsa Hospital in recent days, after the surrounding areas in the Deir al-Balah region came under drone attacks and sniper fire, and residents received warnings from the Israel Defense Forces to evacuate.
The people who had already fled from north Gaza now have to move further south towards Rafah where Israel is bombing them too.
The targeted killing of journalists and academics continues. However none of these are Hamas and Israel's declared aim of eliminating it is certainly not in sight. Hamas missile strike on targets in Israel continue. Even though most are harmless they cause alarms. In the north of Israel the tit for tat attacks between Hizbullah and the occupation forces continues likewise.
Ali Hashem علي هاشم @alihashem_tv - 9:54 UTC · Jan 9, 2024Hezbollah announces the targeting of the northern region command headquarters of the Israeli army in the city of Safed (13 kilometres from the border) with a number of explosives laden drones. The attack was in retaliation to Israel’s killing of Saleh Arouri and Wissam Tawil.
This was the deepest attack by Hizbullah since October 8. Later Israel attacked the burial of Wissam Tawil, a member of Hizbullah's special forces. The number of alarms in Israel from rockets launched from the north are growing on a daily basis.
Israel is driving this escalation while Hizbullah is still holding back. Its missiles could reach far further and will do so should Israel continue to escalate.
The U.S. is alarmed about the Israeli attempt to draw it into the conflict:
In private conversations, the administration has warned Israel against a significant escalation in Lebanon. If it were to do so, a new secret assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) found that it will be difficult for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to succeed because its military assets and resources would be spread too thin given the conflict in Gaza, according to two people familiar with those findings.
Private warnings are useless as long as Israel still gets U.S. support.
The Biden administration wants to be seen supporting Israel.
It also wants to be seen tamping down and ending the conflict.
But it can't have it both ways.
Shutting down ammunition support for Israel, if only for a short time, is likely the only way to bring some senses to Israeli minds.
Posted by b on January 9, 2024 at 14:16 UTC | Permalink