The Guardian has for once done a very good job of outlining the stark gap between the truth, and Israel’s “report” into the killing of four young children playing by the beach. It may be argued that this terrible tragedy is itself pretty irrelevant given that the Israelis killed 700 other children in Gaza that year. But the maintenance of this ludicrous, macabre and yes, evil, propaganda is fundamental to the self-image of many Israelis. They still contrive to see themselves as the good guys, under constant threat – despite the fact that Israel kills well more than a hundred for every Israeli killed.
This denial of the truth and claim of victimhood extends to the accusation of anti-Semitism trumpeted at every critic, including this one, despite the fact that I have the highest respect for the immense cultural and scientific achievements of the Jewish people. Israel is a different question entirely.
It is this absolute divorce of propaganda from reality that makes Tony Blair an ideal figurehead. Blair has now become head of a Council of Europe (loosely) linked body which claims to exist to promote tolerance, but in fact exists entirely to promote extreme Islamophobia and to shut down criticism of Israel. And it is a further sign of the estrangement from reality of the influential Israelis behind Blair’s appointment that they believe Tony Blair will influence public opinion positively in their favour. A remarkable example of confirmation bias.
Finally, I would merely note that it is not as insignificant as it may appear in terms of extreme corporatist bias, that the software auto-completes anti-Semitism for me (complete with capital letter), while it underlines Islamophobia as a non-existent word.
Telling – Blair – Bias — words of wisdom no less… and children at heart.
We are witnesssing the same evil here at this blog too. It’s a bit annoying to have the “Harley guy” kind of narrative being foisted upon us with no regard for our intelligence. And then embellished with ad-hominems and non-sequiturs with a chosen disregard. It’s satanic.
Microcock
Are you a spam-bot or a live human being, in which case a human comment should surely be forthcoming?
Well said Craig.
“Finally, I would merely note that it is not as insignificant as it may appear in terms of extreme corporatist bias, that the software auto-completes anti-Semitism for me (complete with capital letter), while it underlines Islamophobia as a non-existent word. ”
Your software may be out of date. Anti-Semitism is an old term whereas Islamophobia (my new smart phone has it as I type, by the way) is a rather recent and absurd neologism coined by some left-wing bigot, probably in academia, so as to make it an offence to criticise Islam, which is only a creed anyhow and should be open to any and all criticism wihout the ludicrous accusation that to do so is ‘phobic’.
We can but hope that appointing the World’s Most Mendacious Tosser as their PR will come back to bite the ECTR sharply in the bum. As detailed on An Apology (see latest posts), he’s been in close contact with a number of pro-Zion Israelis lately, and his appointment followed a visit to two Simon Wiesenthal events as well as another go at the Milken Foundation. The ECTR is an offshoot, and shares its president with, the EJC, which in turn has no other interest but to promote the Israeli line. However, they are very far from mainstream in the European Jewish community, parts of which are critical of their approach. Neither has any official connection with the EU, as far as can be seen, other than borrowing its logo on their websites.
Tony Blair will be reincarnated in Bethlehem on Monday, blairing at the International Conference on Religious Tourism at 6pm*. After which he will go to Krakow to blair at some businessmen.
I don’t think he’ll be making a lot of time to blair about holocaust-deniers, though, as the cash for that isn’t going into his own pocket (he says) but into his dogwhistle-Islamophobe Faith Foundation, where it will pay Justin Welby’s 12-year-old sprog to be an uninformed e-nuisance and echo his master’s voice. Which is obviously God’s, too.
* UN job. Wonder where Gaza fits into The Vision? Coach tours of the ruins? They’ll need some roads first…
http://middle-east.unwto.org/event/international-conference-religious-tourism-fostering-sustainable-socio-economic-development-ho
I’m glad that the Guardian article gives both the Israeli version of events and its own. I don’t seriously believe that Israeli forces would fire explosive rounds at people they knew to be children, though I can believe that they would make a mistake based on aerial reconnaissance because of the difficulty of resolution.
I hope Blair not only discourages antisemitism but also distinguishes the faith of Muslims who are not sympathetic to terrorism from those that are, as John Esposito appears to have done in his book “The Future of Islam” (of which I’ve ordered a copy).
^^^ That was me, mistyped the email addy.
Can’t believe that they would make a mistake based on aerial reconnaissance because of the difficulty of resolution?
I can, given that they use drones which can do everything but land on the target for surveillance. If we’re talking about the kids abolished by a naval shell fired from the sea, there is no conceivable excuse for not using their land capability to look at the target first. And then there’s the other 700….
Anon
The spellcheck does not belong to Craig, it comes with the website and is (presuming it has not been changed by the webmaster) the default wordpress US dictionary.
Did you not notice that as you type Anti-Semitism is not questioned whereas Islamophobia has a gert great wavy red line underneath? Perhaps you have taken some browser security precautions which disable the spellcheck.
Anti-Semitism is an old term whereas Islamophobia (my new smart phone has it as I type, by the way) is a rather recent and absurd neologism coined by some left-wing bigot, probably in academia, so as to make it an offence to criticise Islam, which is only a creed anyhow and should be open to any and all criticism wihout the ludicrous accusation that to do so is ‘phobic’.
The term ‘antisemitism’ was coined by one William Marr, who was expelled from Zurich in 1843 for communist activities. Originally an antisemite (the term was coined to distinguish antisemitism applied to the Semitic ethnic grouping generally from antijudaism specifically – one in the eye for the Zionist revisionists!) he recanted late in life. But not before influencing German thinking on the subject.
It could be argued that “Judaism is only a creed anyway, and should be open to any and all criticism without the ludicrous accusation that it is” ‘antisemitic’..or even ‘antijudaic’, too. Not something Mr. Blair is prepared to allow, though.
Sauce. Goose. Gander.
anti-semitism islamophobia
Correct Ba’al. Use of lower case for ‘semitism’ is also corrected to ‘Semitism’.
antisemitism. Saves typing, and the meaning is unchanged. Since Islam is a religion, it gets a capital, as would Judaeophobia. No doubt there’s a committe in Tel Aviv working on this one.
committee. Damn.
From the Medialens Editors.
‘NY Times’ helps Israel whitewash the killings of four boys playing soccer on Gaza beach
Posted by The Editors on June 12, 2015, 1:19 pm
By James North
Here’s yet another sad example of how the New York Times has dropped even the pretense of fair reporting about Israel. Jodi Rudoren acts as a stenographer for an Israeli government report that whitewashes the military of war crimes in last summer’s invasion of Gaza, in an article titled “Israeli Report Backs Tactics by Military in Gaza War.”
For now let us look at just one element of the whitewash: how Rudoren reports on the air strike that killed four little boys when they were playing soccer on a Gaza beach.
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/06/whitewash-killings-playing#sthash.rHPQBqnC.dpuf
~~~
The President and CEO of the New York Times Company is of course the ex Director General of ZBC.
http://www.nytco.com/executives/mark-thompson/
A one time visitor with his American wife Judy Blumberg to Ariel Sharon in 2005.
Isolated beach hut = Hamas compound
UN school = Hamas compound
Hospital = Hamas compound
Power station = Hamas compound.
You need to remember that, Mary.
Do you think this was a mistake too Abe Rene?
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/palestinian-teenagers-shot-feet-by-israeli-soldiers-after-playing-football-calls-fifa-israel-ban-1439183
The Guardian article
Israel exonerates itself over Gaza beach killings of four children last year
Israeli investigation says missile attack that killed boys aged between nine and 11 was ‘tragic accident’ in findings contradictory to journalists’ reports from scene
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/11/israel-clears-military-gaza-beach-children
A comment on the piece from Medialens –
‘This phrasing should inevitably raise questions over the way in which the Guardian reports on Israeli war crimes. Just one paragraph later we have this:
“According to the UN, 2,200 Palestinians were killed in the 50-day conflict, of whom 1,492 were civilians, 605 militants and 123 unverified.”
These figures show that this ‘incident’ was only exceptional in that it was witnessed by foreign journalists and therefore deemed worthy of being reported and ‘investigated’ by the Israeli military. And of course the Guardian felt obliged to offer up the old ‘war crimes on both sides’ narrative no matter how absurd it appears in light of the more than 2200 Palestinians killed versus any? Israeli civilians ?
And finally we have:
“What is not clear from the Israeli report is why Israeli targeters had failed to identify that children had been playing on the beach prior to the attack.”
They might as well have written that it was not clear why ‘Israeli targeters’ had failed to identify that Gaza was filled (with) civilians.’
and about the IDF Lt Col Peter Lerner quoted in the Guardian article. He is a settler from the UK as is the spokesman for the Israeli police, Micky Rosenfeld.
https://about.me/ptrlrnr
PS – First use of ‘antisemitism’: 1896. First use of ‘Islamophobia’ (in French, as ‘Islamophobie’*) 1918. Neither had their curent meaning, it might be said.
* By this guy. Who appreciated a nice nipple, evidently, and converted to Islam in the hopes of spending eternity with 144 more, perhaps.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasreddine_Dinet
“It could be argued that “Judaism is only a creed anyway, and should be open to any and all criticism without the ludicrous accusation that it is” ‘antisemitic’..or even ‘antijudaic’, too.”
No that does not stand up. Anti-Semites (capital S is correct) despise Jews for what they hold to be their racial characterisitcs. Certainly the Nazis did not distinguish between secular or observant Jews. An ‘Islamophobe’ (ghastly construction), on the other hand, is someone opposed to…
…actually do I really need to explain this or are you just fucking stupid?
“PS – First use of ‘antisemitism’: 1896. First use of ‘Islamophobia’ (in French, as ‘Islamophobie’*) 1918. Neither had their curent meaning, it might be said.”
Komodo’s been trawling Wikipedia. Where it is clear that, though there were one or two obscure and isolated references to ‘Islamophobia’, it did not gain any widespread usage until the 2000s.
As for the old chestnut that goes “Hey, but the Palestinians are Semites too, aren’t I so clever?”, the term came to mean anti-Jewish because of Europe’s long experience of and persecution of Jews, those being the Semites that Europeans knew, rather than some Zionist conspiracy.
lol. Anus1, you’re pwned.
Phil
“Did you not notice that as you type Anti-Semitism is not questioned whereas Islamophobia has a gert great wavy red line underneath? ”
No, my device recognises both.
I’m not aware of any crimes related to criticising Islam specifically, Anon1. It’s surprising that you don’t try to defend the slaughter of four children playing football on a beach by one of the best equipped armies in the world.
Perhaps the squadron of drones sweeping over Gaza were grounded that day or maybe the on-board state of the art cameras incorporating an amazing resolution capability were malfunctioning?
The most likely reason is that IDF soldiers consider the Palestinians as target practice with little chance of ever being punished for their criminality, no matter how heinous the crime. Statistics would support their view.
PLM; Palestinian lives matter….
Semitism Definition
dictionary.search.yahoo.com
n. noun
1. A Semitic word or idiom.
2. Semitic traits, attributes, or customs. ( And…wait for it.)
3. A policy or predisposition in favor of Jews.
Zeus has descended from lofty Olympus once again. Or perhaps he just fell off a ledge.
In reply to Anon1’s rather good (and definitive) post, all Komodo can come up with is:
“lol. Anus1, you’re pwned.”
I suspect this is because Anon1 suggested that Komodo had been trawling Wikipedia. I remember him getting into a similar huff with Dreoilin when she dared to question him (successfully). 🙂
Some collateral damage for y’all:
http://www.gazaschildren.com/
Israel’s new Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called for the genocide of Palestinians “It is a call for genocide because it declares that “the entire Palestinian people is the enemy” and justifies its destruction, “including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure.” http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-lawmakers-call-genocide-palestinians-gets-thousands-facebook-likes
Not recognize that the people playing soccer on the beach were children? Were those Israeli sailors the only sailors in the world that don’t use binoculars?