The Telegraph Celebrates, Excuses Palestinian Atrocities
The Telegraph is now publishing Palestinian propaganda:
Half a century of frustration erupted in chaotic euphoria yesterday as thousands of joyful Palestinians flooded into the abandoned Jewish settlements of Gaza in a riot of dancing, looting, and score-settling... Many came from the refugee ghettoes of Gaza where Palestinians have lived in overcrowded squalor since being driven from their homes in 1948 at the creation of the Jewish state.
One might ask why these Palestinians were doing living in squalor while Gaza was under Egyptian occupation from 1948 to 1967, and why they were still there two decades later when Israel took the land over in a defensive war: questions like "gosh, why didn't the Egyptians absorb them" or "wow, just how much must the UN really hate Israel to keep people in refugee camps just to foment anti-Zionist hatred". But why ruin a factually correct (in that 1948 Arabs who left Israel during the War of Independence are still living in refugee camps) but totally misleading statement (in that for a good amount of time Israel had absolutely no control over those refugees or over Gaza) when you can play on your readers' ignorance of Israeli-Arab history and scapegoat Israel.
Gaza's problems remain formidable, but for a moment yesterday they were forgotten in an unprecedented display of Palestinian national pride... Rasmiya Najjar, 50, lost her three brothers, Mousa, Muhammad and Ali, in the fight against the Israelis and was in tears as she joined the celebrations. "I have never imagined that I would enter this settlement and walk on its land," she said as she took her first tentative steps inside the former Jewish enclave of Neve Dekalim.
Car keys get lost. People who get into fights with the IDF don't get lost. These three weren't misplaced - the "fight" against the Israelis
Even the most tone-deaf reader can tell that Said Ghazali and Tim Butcher aren't even trying to remain neutral: "chaotic euphoria", "thousands of joyful Palestinians", "the skies were yet to be lit by the rising sun", "the only explosions over Gaza yesterday came from fireworks lit in celebration by the crowds on a day of unprecedented Palestinian celebration" - celebration a day of celebration... someone's so excited about publishing vulgar propaganda they're not even taking the time to edit - "they were as one", "a historic day for the Middle East", "their flags and standards could be seen across the 'liberated' settlements - apparently if you put scare quotes around your propaganda as if you're quoting someone but you're just really expressing your own views, well, that's ok.
And then there's the not so subtle down-playing of Palestinian atrocities: "The synagogues were the first objects of attention for the crowds" - "attention" is apparently how we're now referring to blatant violations of international law and humanitarian norms. Or, worse, transparent apologias: "The Israeli authorities had forlornly attached signs saying 'Holy Sites' in Arabic to try to protect the 26 places of Jewish worship. But this was not enough to stop the angry crowds who surged into the buildings... The departing Israelis had already removed everything of religious significance... There was some grumbling from senior Israeli government figures at what they described as desecration, but in the eyes of the Palestinian crowds it was just payback for years of Israeli occupation" - the buildings themselves are of religious significance (as all houses of worship are); it was more than grumbling; and to refer to a mob gleefully destroying a synagogue as "payback" is disgusting.
And then come the outright lies:
A former Israeli army general, who came close to being arrested at Heathrow airport on charges of committing war crimes against Palestinians, said yesterday that it was unfair for soldiers to be persecuted for carrying out their military duty.
No he didn't. He said that he hadn't committed any war crimes. If he had simply said that - and a good way of checking is to see whether the Telegraph actually has a quote from him - then the Telegraph would have a great gotcha about a Jewish soldier essentially using the Nuremberg Nazi "just following orders" defense. But just because he didn't say that and they don't have a quote, that's no reason not to heavy-handedly and dishonestly invoke the "Israelis are Nazis" meme. We're not sure what bothers us more: celebrating real Palestinian atrocities or making up fake Israeli ones.
Half a century of frustration erupted in chaotic euphoria yesterday as thousands of joyful Palestinians flooded into the abandoned Jewish settlements of Gaza in a riot of dancing, looting, and score-settling... Many came from the refugee ghettoes of Gaza where Palestinians have lived in overcrowded squalor since being driven from their homes in 1948 at the creation of the Jewish state.
One might ask why these Palestinians were doing living in squalor while Gaza was under Egyptian occupation from 1948 to 1967, and why they were still there two decades later when Israel took the land over in a defensive war: questions like "gosh, why didn't the Egyptians absorb them" or "wow, just how much must the UN really hate Israel to keep people in refugee camps just to foment anti-Zionist hatred". But why ruin a factually correct (in that 1948 Arabs who left Israel during the War of Independence are still living in refugee camps) but totally misleading statement (in that for a good amount of time Israel had absolutely no control over those refugees or over Gaza) when you can play on your readers' ignorance of Israeli-Arab history and scapegoat Israel.
Gaza's problems remain formidable, but for a moment yesterday they were forgotten in an unprecedented display of Palestinian national pride... Rasmiya Najjar, 50, lost her three brothers, Mousa, Muhammad and Ali, in the fight against the Israelis and was in tears as she joined the celebrations. "I have never imagined that I would enter this settlement and walk on its land," she said as she took her first tentative steps inside the former Jewish enclave of Neve Dekalim.
Car keys get lost. People who get into fights with the IDF don't get lost. These three weren't misplaced - the "fight" against the Israelis
Even the most tone-deaf reader can tell that Said Ghazali and Tim Butcher aren't even trying to remain neutral: "chaotic euphoria", "thousands of joyful Palestinians", "the skies were yet to be lit by the rising sun", "the only explosions over Gaza yesterday came from fireworks lit in celebration by the crowds on a day of unprecedented Palestinian celebration" - celebration a day of celebration... someone's so excited about publishing vulgar propaganda they're not even taking the time to edit - "they were as one", "a historic day for the Middle East", "their flags and standards could be seen across the 'liberated' settlements - apparently if you put scare quotes around your propaganda as if you're quoting someone but you're just really expressing your own views, well, that's ok.
And then there's the not so subtle down-playing of Palestinian atrocities: "The synagogues were the first objects of attention for the crowds" - "attention" is apparently how we're now referring to blatant violations of international law and humanitarian norms. Or, worse, transparent apologias: "The Israeli authorities had forlornly attached signs saying 'Holy Sites' in Arabic to try to protect the 26 places of Jewish worship. But this was not enough to stop the angry crowds who surged into the buildings... The departing Israelis had already removed everything of religious significance... There was some grumbling from senior Israeli government figures at what they described as desecration, but in the eyes of the Palestinian crowds it was just payback for years of Israeli occupation" - the buildings themselves are of religious significance (as all houses of worship are); it was more than grumbling; and to refer to a mob gleefully destroying a synagogue as "payback" is disgusting.
And then come the outright lies:
A former Israeli army general, who came close to being arrested at Heathrow airport on charges of committing war crimes against Palestinians, said yesterday that it was unfair for soldiers to be persecuted for carrying out their military duty.
No he didn't. He said that he hadn't committed any war crimes. If he had simply said that - and a good way of checking is to see whether the Telegraph actually has a quote from him - then the Telegraph would have a great gotcha about a Jewish soldier essentially using the Nuremberg Nazi "just following orders" defense. But just because he didn't say that and they don't have a quote, that's no reason not to heavy-handedly and dishonestly invoke the "Israelis are Nazis" meme. We're not sure what bothers us more: celebrating real Palestinian atrocities or making up fake Israeli ones.
