Israel Baffles With War Information Offensive

Hamas Held Solely Responsible for Gaza Suffering

Dec 30, 2008

To avoid the same errors in Lebanon 2006, Israel launches a questionable information campaign to justify an absurd aggression against helpless civilians.

The Israeli government has launched an all-out information offensive to present its justification for the brutal strikes against the 1.5 million Palestinians living in squalid conditions in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas -not the Palestinian people- is the world’s enemy, insists Israel. Palestinians were “mistaken” when they elected Hamas. Months of sanctions did not “fix” the problem. Israel has no choice but to take matters into its own hands and do it for them. After all, the US has set the precedence in many areas around the globe. 462,082 Iraqi deaths (believed to be the most modest figure) and over 4000 US deaths “liberated” the Iraqi people for example. To date, the price of physically “liberating” the Palestinians in Gaza has been well over 350 Palestinian to 4 Israeli deaths over three days of air strikes.

To ensure that the media stick to the message, no journalist is allowed to enter Gaza and distract public opinion. It will not help if CNN reporters were to file images of Anwar and Samira Balousha from Jabalya refugee camp mourning their five daughters who were killed as they slept in their bed the night of December 29, 2008. The air strikes are precise, targeted attacks on Hamas - not the Palestinian people. Unless you happen to "live" right next to a mosque.

If foreign journalists were allowed into Gaza, they will witness 21st century war casualties: victims suffering from lethal chemical burns. (Some reports are already coming out of Gaza hospitals that human bones were melting to the touch). Israel already acknowledged using phosphorous shells in Lebanon in 2006. “The International Red Cross is of the opinion that there should be a complete ban on phosphorus being used against human beings and the third protocol of the Geneva Convention on Conventional Weapons restricts the use of "incendiary weapons," with phosphorus considered to be one such weapon,” reports Haaretz, October 22, 2006. Not surprisingly, Israel and the United States are not signatories to the Third Protocol. The US admitted using white phosphorous in Faluja, Iraq, in November 2004.

The message must stay on track: homemade Hamas rockets against F-18 strikes -minus the white phosphorous shells and cluster bombs they were dropping on heavily populated areas. Israel’s case in the court of public opinion is solid: Hamas is an Islamic, militant party funded by two “terrorist” states (Iran and Syria), supported by other “terrorist” organizations like Hizballah.

To further ensure the message is delivered in the clearest of manners, the Israeli government has established a media center for foreign journalists providing services in English, Russian, French, and Spanish in the town of Sderot, where Hamas rockets land (as reported by Canwest News Service, December 30, 2008). If journalists cannot provide images from Gaza- except possibly for the plumes of dark smoke, then images of big craters in the ground disrupting the tranquility of life will have to suffice, in four languages.

It helps when Israel’s allies in the West are on its side delivering the same message. In its December 30, 2008, editorial, the Chicago Tribune makes it all but clear who is to blame for the woes of the Palestinian people: “2009 may or may not be the year the Palestinians in Gaza finally figure out who’s to blame for their misery: Hamas. And act accordingly.” But they may not even need to act. There are two more days left to the end of 2008. Israel will do the job for them. And after it is done with Hamas, it will decide which puppet government -or more accurately local administration- can run their daily affairs. In the meantime, Palestinians would greatly assist the Israeli government if they stopped procreating. There is too much of them. And the land they live on -albeit in miserable camps- is diminishing by the day. Tahrir (17), Ikram (15), Samar (12), Dina (8), and Jawaher (4) Balousha “with space running out in the cemetery ... had to be buried in just three graves, one for the eldest and the others forced to share,” reports the Herald.ie on December 30, 2008.

The copyright of the article Israel Baffles With War Information Offensive in Palestine is owned by Khadija Muhaisen Dajani. Permission to republish Israel Baffles With War Information Offensive in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Dec 30, 2008 5:42 PM

Craig Sanders :

It's good that some one is reporting on the Palestinian side of things. Both parties are equally guilty in my opinion: Hamas for the constant firing of rockets into Israel, and Israel for using overwhelming and brutal force. It seems to me that this conflict will continue to go back and forth until there is an actual paradigm shift--instead of blaming the other for the bloodshed, to take responsibility for their own actions and make postitive steps to change it.

BTW: i think that Israel responded this way because of the upcoming election. Politics as usual. Of course, if Hamas wasn't shooting off rockets at Israel constantly, there would be no motive to invade. Both sides are at fault. again.