We get constant news of the “Israeli offensive” and the “Gaza offensive” but both refer to action by Israel. What about the Hamas offensive?
This phrase does not exist in mainstream media. It doesn’t come up in a Google search.
And without the concept of
“Hamas offensive,” the fact that Israel is fighting a defensive
war stays out of focus.
American and UK media report on IDF soldiers and Palestinian
civilians. Hamas fighters are invisible.
We hear about Hamas rockets, though not often about the ones
landing inside Gaza. Mostly the rockets are mentioned in terms of their
uselessness against the rather mysterious Iron Dome.
Israelis who are not currently serving in the IDF are nearly
as invisible as Hamas fighters. As the
war reporting continues, Israelis seem to be receding into the background, as
if each story
is titled, “what did the IDF do to Gaza today?”
The gruesome casualty count continuously reported from Gaza
-- but not from other conflicts
-- does not distinguish Palestinian combatants from civilians.
The source for this count, so far, is Hamas itself or the
Gaza Health Service that is run by Hamas. And the familiar words: “most of them
civilian,”
cannot be accurate given that a majority are men of fighting age.
Simultaneous strikes at a Gaza hospital and the Shati
refugee camp provoked outrage. Israel showed photos to demonstrate that they
were not targeting these areas and reiterated that they never target
civilians. But media went with
identifying Israeli strikes or equalizing
Hamas and Israeli “claims.”
Yet, whenever a reporter is brave enough to say what’s
really happening we hear the truth, as occurred last week in tweets from
Italian reporter, Gabriele Barbati:
Out of #Gaza far from #Hamas retaliation:
misfired rocket killed children yday in Shati. Witness: militants rushed and
cleared debris
@IDFSpokesperson said truth in communique released yesterday about Shati camp
massacre. It was not #Israel behind it
Journalists
could help by acknowledging the limitations of their sources and the intimidation reporters and photographers
face from Hamas. There could be blazing
headlines with information of the kind Gabriele Barbati shared.
published at Honest Reporting
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