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| Al Jazeera reporter, Shireen Abu Akleh (CNN) |
The not so subtle message is the following: ‘There they go again!’ The big bad Israeli occupiers of the West Bank just committed another atrocity - assassinating a reporter whose coverage of the ‘conflict’ was unfavorable to them. Then the media ‘left the building’ for Buffalo.
That Palestinians take advantage of situations like this should not be surprising. They will twist a story like this to their own advantage every time it happens. Lying or distorting the facts as needed to fit their agenda.
One would expect better from legitimate journalists. One would expect that all the relevant facts be determined before placing blame on any one side. But there is hardly ever an attempt at objectivity anymore. The self righteous left of which the media is a part, already knows who’s guilty and who’s innocent in any conflict. The underdog is always innocent. Israel is always the aggressor.
There was no thought that the victim, Shireen Abu Akleh, might have been killed by gunfire from the Palestinian side. They just assumed her death to be at the hands of the Israeli soldiers. As though she was targeted by them for execution. They didn’t say so outright. But the manner in which they reported the incident sure made it look as though it was Israel that shot the fatal bullet for nefarious purposes.
That Israel was in Jenin responding to the numerous murders of innocent Israelis by terrorists from there was barely mentioned. As kind of an afterthought - as though that didn’t matter.
But even if it was an Israeli bullet that shot her, it was surely an accident. Israel has no interest in killing reporters. Even if they are Palestinians whose perspective on Israel is negative. There are just too many of them for that to make any difference anyway.
Besides, Israel is well known to have a high degree of ethics when in battle even with their mortal enemies. No country goes more out of their way to spare enemy civilian lives during battle than Israel does. But the media hardly ever mentions it.
What kind of country would assassinate a reporter that behaves with such care for the lives of people that hate them?
None of that prevents the media from imputing blame to Israel. Which adds to the canard that Israel is an Apartheid state guilty of persecuting the indigenous Palestinian population without much provocation. Implying that the killing of a Palestinian reporter was no accident but instead the planned execution of a constant critic of Israel. All part of Israel’s Apartheid agenda.
I am so sick of media bias. Especially when it comes it Israel. They should have reported that it is yet to be determined where theshot that killed her came from. Which a PA forensic scientist confirmed after his own preliminary examination:
a Palestinian forensic scientist who examined Abu Akleh’s body also said that more analysis was needed before a determination could be made about the gunshot’s origins.
The media also ignored the fact that the PA rejected Israel’s request to do a joint inquiry to determine the facts. Facts be damned! All that matters is vilifying Israel as an Apartheid state. That has been the PA’s overt - and the media’s subtle narrative.
The media is therefore complicit in the lie. Who actually shot Abu Akleh will makes no difference. Not to the PA and not to the media. The Palestinians want to assure that Israel be blamed no matter what. And they are not going to allow the truth to come out by allowing Israel to be there and see for themselves. The media just goes along with that without comment.
Where was all the righteous media indignation when Israelis were recently killed by Palestinian terrorists from Jenin? And shouldn’t Israel have the right to respond to that by seeking and finding other terrorists like that in Jenin where Abu Akleh was killed covering that story? Should Israel just have shrugged and overlooked those murders?!
There is a double standard in the media. No doubt about it. The underdog is always right. They are always the aggrieved party. Israel is always guilty as the oppressive occupier.
This explains why the media blamed Israel for disrupting Abu Akleh’s funeral. As though they showed up there for that purpose. Isn’t it possible that they were provoked by extremists at the funeral?
Possible?! I believe it was likely! Unbelievable.
Israel was their for security purposes. They were attacked with stones hurled at them by the mob carrying the casket. Israel responded. Not as the media implied - that they were there to disrupt the funeral.
It also appears as though the funeral itself might have been hijacked by Muslim extremists as suggested by Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll in a tweet:
Basically, Muslim extremists took the coffin against the wishes of the family & church, turned Shireen into a prop & paraded her around Jerusalem. They highjacked her funeral, using her again in the conflict.
When will the media finally report Israel fairly? Never, I guess.