Notes on the War!

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Notes On The War

OCT 9, 2023 10:00 AM BY HUGH FITZGERALD

1. On Saturday, Oct 7, I began monitoring as many different news programs as I could, to see how they covered Hamas’ attack and Israel’s response. I started by listening to the BBC coverage of the war. The BBC, I noticed, consistently underreported Israeli casualties. When the rest of the news sources online had already been reporting that 200 Israelis had been killed, the BBC’s Julian Marshall reported that “at least 100 Israelis have been killed.” The real number, as of 5 p.m. EST, when he broadcast, had already reached 250, as other news sites were then starting to report. Those killed were overwhelmingly civilians, murdered in cold blood as Hamas gunman came across them as they raced through towns and villages in southern Israel, on jeeps, motorcycles, automobiles, and on foot. They murdered 260 people at a music festival. They murdered mothers with their children on the street and in their houses. They tricked Israelis to open the doors of their safe rooms, and then murdered them. It was clear that the victims were overwhelmingly civilians. But this was not made clear in any of the reports from non-Israeli sources, where it was simply reported that “both soldiers and civilians” were killed, without any attempt to verify or report that the vast majority were civilians. We now know that 700 Israelis have been killed (as of Oct. 8, 3 p.m. EST), and that the IDF knows of 44 soldiers who have been killed. These two figures suggest that 94% of all those killed were civilians.

2. The same BBC announcer, Julian Marshall, interviewed both Israelis and Palestinians on his news show. He wanted to have voices from both sides. This means he sought not the truth, but “balance.” Imagine if the BBC had been reporting during World War II in a “balanced” manner rather than a truthful one. The Israeli journalist Marshall chose to interview, presumably representing the the Israeli side, was Gideon Levy, a far-left journalist who writes for the far-left Haaretz. Asked to explain the surprise attack, Levy said it was a long time coming, because when you have people “locked up, blockaded for 17 years” — or words to that effect — what do you expect? Gaza is an “open-air prison.” Levy also mentioned the “occupation” of Gaza. Marshall did not point out, as he should have, that there is no longer any “occupation of the Strip; not a single Israeli civilian or soldier has been living in Gaza since 2005.” Nor did he say, as he ought to have, that Israel’s is a most porous blockade; no humanitarian items — food or medicines — are blocked. The items that are kept out of Gaza are “dual-use” items, such as steel, cement, and tin, that can be used to build weapons, terror tunnels, rocket launchers, and bunkers for fighters. Nor did Marshall remind listeners that Egypt, too, has a “blockade” of Gaza.

3. Many news programs reported that Israel had bombed the 14-story Palestine Tower in Gaza, that then completely collapsed, and showed the video of its demolishment, but they referred to it as containing only “apartments.” They failed to note what Israel had announced to explain that choice of target, that the Palestine Tower had housed Hamas offices as well as apartments. Only two of the news stories I heard about the bombing included the important information that Israel had given a warning to the inhabitants to leave, a full ten minutes before the IAF struck the building. And only one of the many news reports about the Palestine Tower included the information that there was not a single Palestinian killed or wounded in that strike. Surely both items of information would have made clear how Israel constantly tries, through its warning Palestinians to leave places about to be targeted, to minimize civilian casualties.

4. Reports on the BBC and on American networks on the evening of October 7 included this remark: “Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel today.” Israel said Hamas fired 2,200 rockets. Hamas said it had fired 5,000. Why didn’t the news networks provide both figures, and where they came from, so that listeners could decide for themselves which to believe?

5. Twitter, or X, the plaything of Elon Musk, has been running interference for Hamas, by taking down its most ghastly videos, that show gleeful Hamas fighters delightedly driving trucks piled high with Israeli bodies, while there is much Allahu-akbaring by the bloodlusty bezonians, and Gazan children are seen passing around candy in celebration. Now most of that is gone. One such video, showing the body of a murdered Israeli girl, stripped of her clothes, continued to stay up until Sunday, but has now been taken down.

Hugh, there has to be some level of decency here. How would you like to be a parent and see your child's naked body on a video?

6. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has sent out to all members of its news staff a directive that includes the following: “Please do not describe 2005 as the end of the occupation” and “Please do not describe militants, soldiers, or anyone else as ‘terrorists.’”

I watched 10 minutes of CBC's Live reporting, the second 5 minutes was an interview with an NPR reporter who spent the entire 5 minutes justifying the Palestinians attack. I turned it off and removed the CBC from my list of news sources.

7. The BBC also uses the phrase “Hamas militants.” The word “terrorist” has not been used, as far as I know, in any BBC report on the matter. Nor has it been used by The New York Times, The Washington Post, or The Guardian. Why not?

8. The United States, France, Germany, the U.K., and Canada have all unequivocally condemned Hamas and expressed full support for Israel.

Canada almost always says the right thing, but then...

9. The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “this horrific violence must stop immediately. Terrorism and violence solve nothing. The EU expresses its solidarity with Israel in these difficult moments.” But only massive violence by Israel will “solve” the problem of Hamas, in the only way possible — by destroying it. Anyone who calls for a halt to violence at this point, even while expressing sympathy for Israel, is denying Israel the right to protect itself, by killing those who murdered more than 700 of its civilians and soldiers, and have kidnapped 100 more.

10. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Saturday made the right noises: “Civilians must never be the target of attack,” he said, pointing to reports that Israelis have been taken hostage. “I am shocked and appalled at reports this morning that hundreds, possibly thousands, of indiscriminate rockets have been fired by Palestinian armed groups towards Israel, and that at least 22 Israelis [in the first hours have been killed and hundreds injured.” But then he undid that, by calling on Israel not to retaliate: “I call for an immediate stop to the violence, and appeal to all sides and key countries in the region to de-escalate to avoid further bloodshed,” he said. You are not expressing “solidarity with Israel” if you ask Israel to refrain from “violence” now, after hundreds of its citizens have been murdered.

11. In Iran, without whose help Hamas could never have launched such a massive attack, there were celebrations in major cities, where children passed out candy to Allahu-akbaring crowds. These ghoulish celebrations were not shown on any Western network. Few of the reports mentioned that Iran necessarily had to have been involved, though on CNN at least one of the guests — a retired American general — mentioned the indispensable role that Iran must have played in Hamas’ attacks. And the BBC’s Paul Henley did raise the issue of Iran’s role in a question to an Israeli guest.

12. On a very few news programs there was discussion about the “roots” of the problem that led Hamas to act as it did. Many talking heads limited themselves to saying that “over the past year tensions have risen.” A handful said that “the problem really goes back to 1948, when the Palestinians [sic] left or were expelled from ‘Palestine.” Not a single program that I saw on television or listened to on the radio suggested that waging Jihad against Infidels was an imperative for Muslims; the word “jihad” was never mentioned by anyone, on any news programs on radio or television. Nor, of course, did anyone suggest that the “problem” between Muslims and Jews began 1400 years ago, and that the only way to keep the peace between the parties was deterrence, and Israel would have to deal a massive blow to Hamas in order to restore its ability to deter — that is, to make Israel’s Arab enemies understand that, despite the initial and shocking success of Hamas, Israel still remained overwhelmingly more powerful.

13. On Sunday the BBC pleasantly surprised me. First, Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s senior foreign correspondent, who for years has been predictably anti-Israel, reported from Jerusalem in quite a different, even sympathetic tone, about the “unprecedented” attack, the large number of Israelis who had been murdered, and the certainty that Israel would have to “respond.”

14. India’s Narendra Modi denounced the Hamas attack, and notably, did not call for Israel to exercise “restraint” or for “an end to violence.” This is quite a change from his predecessors in the Congress Party, who always lined up on the side of the Palestinians.

15. In solidarity with the people of Israel, the Brandenburg Gate in Germany’s capital Berlin was illuminated in the colors of the Israeli flag on Saturday.

And a little later this evening (Oct. 8) I’m going to find out how the evening news, on American, British, Italian, French, and Russian television, covers the war on Day 2.

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