One of the many myths about the Arab-Israeli conflict that the Huffington Post likes to encourage is the idea that the rockets fired from Gaza are "bottle rockets" and don't actually hurt anyone. Is it any surprise then that they failed to publish
this news from Israel?
"A Qassam rocket exploded near a kindergarten in a kibbutz within the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council on Tuesday morning just as dozens of parents were bringing their children to school.
A 14-year-old girl was lightly injured by shrapnel and glass fragments. She was evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. Several people suffered from shock, including a young boy and a gas-truck driver.
The Qassam exploded at around 8 am on, just seconds after the 'code red' siren was sounded. Residents rushed to take cover. The injured 14-year-old was in her home, not far from the kindergarten, and was preparing to leave for school."
Just another war crime committed by the Palestinians.
Matt: If an Israeli air strike hit an outlying community near Rafah and the HuffPo ran a headline saying "Israel Drops Bombs in Rafah," you would claim they were being disingenuous.
ReplyDeleteThe kibbutz in question is not in Ashkelon, it is in the regional council, meaning it's a few miles away from Ashkelon at least. Would it be so hard to title this post "Rocket hits *near* Ashkelon"?
*Bryan*, The rocket hit near a kindergarten, IN a kibbutz, at a busy time for that kindergarten. It was obviously meant to target women and children, as most of the rockets are, and I am thankful that the injury was not more serious.
ReplyDeleteTo imply defense of this action by squabbling the exact geographical location is beyond cherry picking. The FACT remains, that a qassam rocket was fired at a school for young children, with the intent to kill, maime or harm young children and their mothers or fathers, as well as teachers.
Had the attack come from Israel, I assure you, you would have been screaming and chastising Israel, but because it was an attack AGAINST Israel, all you can say is to argue geographic location?
What a sad commentary for an obviously hateful individual.
Wow. Holy mother. When did I defend the action? It was obviously a war crime. I did not criticize Matt's description of the act or his moral judgment, because I agree with both of them. All I did was chastise Matt for not being accurate enough with his headlines. We can't accuse the other side of deliberately blowing things out of proportion if we do exactly the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI spend all day arguing with people and defending Israel, but I make one constructive criticism and I'm a Hamasnik. Good grief.
Just the kind of rockets Sharmine "Dignity Rockets" Narwani has no problems with! What gets her fans all upset is Israel having the effrontery to defend itself against such attacks!
ReplyDeleteIt's your tone, bryan.
ReplyDeleteHere is the tip off:
"Would it be so hard to..."
That is a statement of contempt, and haughtiness.
A helpful criticism would have just been to give the exact location of the Kibbutz (which you aren't even sure of yourself), and leave it at that.
Now to an important observation about The Huffington Post:
They seem to have done a purge of commenters (both sides) and may have fired bloggers on the anti-Israel team.
Things seem to be heating up all over the place, and the Huff might be trying to cool things down. We'll see.
@Bryan. In all honesty, I had no idea that you were pro-Israel from that post. It truly sounded to me like the sort of deflection the haters use when they can't bring themselves to condemn something, so rather, they cherry pick.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies if I incorrectly *assumed* that was the case.
It really was not clear.
For reference, the kibbutz's name is Zikim. It's about 8km from Ashkelon. While I didn't know the exact location when I first commented, the article states that the rocket fell within the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council; Ashkelon is an independent municipality and isn't included in the Regional Council, so the rocket couldn't have fallen in Ashkelon proper.
ReplyDeleteIt may also be worth noting that there is an IDF base (Bahad 4) near Zikim. That doesn't justify Hamas shooting inaccurate weapons near a civilian population--which is inexcusable--but it is true nonetheless.
I do apologize for launching right into criticism, though, and for my tone. That was unkind of me, and I am sorry.
Bryan, thanks for the heads up. I thought within the Regional Council meant in Ashkelon, so that's what I titled the post. I've changed it now, though.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, thanks for standing up to Bryan ;)
It is also true that the vast majority of this escaped mention:
ReplyDelete"In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory for the week of 09 – 15 December. 2010, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) found that two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. In addition, two Palestinian children were killed by the explosion of an object left by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank (PCHR photo)
Two Palestinian resistance fighters were wounded by flechette shells fired by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces continued to fire at Palestinian workers, farmers and fishermen in border areas in the Gaza Strip, wounding 12 Palestinian workers and one farmer.
A Palestinian civilian was wounded by Israeli gunfire in al-'Eissawiya village near Jerusalem. Israeli forces continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank. Two Palestinian civilians were wounded. Israeli forces abducted 3 international human rights defenders."
Balance?
I think it's great how we all end up getting along regardless of the pressures we are all under. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThis is tough work...running these sites and battling these forces on other forums. But we keep at it. Thanks for the info Bryan.
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ReplyDeleteGuys, I think you're really being a bit tough on HuffPost here. You see, it was much more focused on delivering timely news about vital things that are going on now, that actually impact events and perceptions, today, rather than making mention of this story.
ReplyDeleteFor example, HuffPost decided that it was far more important for this story to be posted near the top of its front page this evening, than to acknowledge this rocket attack:
"Rare color photos of Nazi Christmas party"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/22/a-nazi-christmas-party-ra_n_800595.html
/snark off