What would be the reaction in this country if people from an enemy countries that are at war with us and whose militias are sworn to murdering most of our population tried to infiltrate its borders and some of those people died when being fired on?
What would the newspaper headlines be?
This is the headline attributed by the Age newspaper when protesters tried to infiltrate Israel's northern borders with Syria and Lebanon to demonstrate against the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the Jewish State.
Israeli troops gun down Palestinians in day of protest
The article from Jason Koutsoukis reporting from "Qalandia, West Bank" is not much better. He explains that the demonstrators had gathered to mark Nakba Day which he describes as "the Arabic word for catastrophe that attempts to define the dispossession and loss experienced by up 750,000 Palestinians who fled their land and homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War."
Koutsoukis fails to mention that behind the dispossession and loss was a failure by Arab armies massed along the nascent State's border to massacre its Jewish inhabitants.
He also fails to mention other reports that indicate that most if not all of the causalties might have been caused by the Lebanese Army:-
"In similar clashes along the Lebanese border, conflicting reports spoke of between 3 and 10 people killed, while the IDF said that most and possibly all of the casualties were caused by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). At the same time, scores of Palestinians attacked IDF soldiers at the Kalandiya border crossing between Ramallah and Jerusalem with stones and gasoline bombs. In the Gaza Strip, one Palestinian was killed and at least 80 others were wounded when thousands of Palestinians marched toward IDF troops at the Nahal Oz and Erez border crossings, sources in Gaza City said." - Abbas: Those killed in Nakba Day marches are martyrs
Blank page stuff that Age readers will never read about from an ailing newspaper whose bosses will try to tell you produces a balanced coverage.
We all know that Arab regimes often cynically use the Palestinian cause to shift the focus away from their own failures and abuses. This is what the butchers in Syria have done and guess what?
ReplyDeleteKoutsoukis has swallowed this hook, line and sinker.
Congratulations Jason. They'll be shooting Syrians in the face thanks to your PR work.