Media War
Ynet suggests Israel is losing it and suggests keeping the western media out of Gaza was a mistake. Anyone ever think Israel had a shot at winning the media war? Letting the handwringing Israel-bashers in would mean more of what we have seen from those that are already in there. News roundup kicks off with glad tidings from the Beeb. Israel is pushing in deeper. Uh oh, accidentally whacked the UN compound, and Reuters:
Israeli tanks have pushed deep into Gaza City, prompting fierce exchanges of gunfire with fighters of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The UN’s relief agency, Unrwa, says part of its HQ in the city is on fire after being shelled by the Israelis.
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon expressed outrage at the attack, and said Israel had told him it was a grave mistake.
Well, hang around with terrorists in a war zone, stuff happens. If the UN was more interested in ending terrorism before matters got to this point … In any case, it’ll be interesting to find out whether there was any fire coming from the vicinity, as was the case with that school/firing position last week.
FOX, via Hot Air, the UNRWA school employed known terrorists and teaches hate speech. Or third-world liberation phraseology, whatever …
And we have a winner, FOX again, via Dollard, IDF had come under fire from the compound. AP has Olmert saying the same thing. OK, are we supposed to be outraged about the IDF firing on a UN compound that was a terrorist-harboring, terrorist-propaganda-disseminating terrorist firebase?
Awaiting outrage on the UN using our money to employ terrorists, disseminate terrorist propaganda and provide them with firing positions. Also awaiting outrage on Hamas firing from a compound allegedly full of alleged refugees.
… still waiting.
OK, back to the Beeb:
The BBC’s Hamada Abu Qammar in Gaza says the coastal enclave has come under extremely heavy artillery fire from the east, and the skies are full of thick smoke.
He said Israeli tanks seemed to be pushing closer to the heart of Gaza City, close to the UN headquarters, and that there were reports of 21 people killed in fighting since the early hours.
Rushdi Abu Alouf, the BBC’s Gaza producer, says the building where he lives in Tel al-Hawa, south-west of Gaza City, has been surrounded by Israeli tanks.
Tank shells have hit the lower floors two or three times.
“People have been screaming from their balconies, calling for help,” he says.
He says that from his window he can see fighters from Hamas and other Palestinian factions firing at Israeli tanks from rooftops and balconies, and that the Israeli tanks have been firing back.
Sounds like Hamas is setting up still more tragedy, using people’s apartments as firing positions. Meanwhile, more tragedy apparently narrowly avoided as an office building housing Reuters and other terrorist-friendly news agencies takes a hit. Awaiting the war-crimes accusations and news on whether Hamas was firing from that vicinity, as well. Again, hang out in a war zone with terrorists, stuff happens.
Joan Rivers at NPR’s OnPoint talks mainly about boob jobs and facelifts, but also blasts away at Jon Stewart and other deeply concerned commentators who think Israel should take Hamas missile barrages quietly. She suggests a barrage of missiles on Stewart’s house, and see how he feels about that. I’m suddenly a big fan. By the way, Rivers was shilling her important books, Men Are Stupid . . . And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman’s Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery and Murder at the Academy Awards: A Red Carpet Murder Mystery
NYT News Analysis: War On Hamas Saps Palestinian Leaders. No “Hamas saps” jokes please.
“The Palestinian Authority is one of the main losers in this war,” said Ghassan Khatib, an independent Palestinian analyst in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “How can it make gains in a war in which it is one of the casualties?”
Israel is proposing, with the tacit agreement of Egypt and the United States, to place the Palestinian Authority at the heart of an ambitious program to rebuild Gaza, administering reconstruction aid and securing Gaza’s borders. But that plan is already drawing skepticism. Mr. Khatib, for example, called the idea of any Palestinian Authority role in postwar Gaza “silly” and “naïve.”
Perhaps more dispiriting to the ever fewer who believe that any overall settlement is possible now — with peace negotiations suspended and Palestinians divided between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank — is that Israel itself does not really hold out high hopes for a larger postwar role for Fatah. Israel’s proposals seem dutiful, an acknowledgment of a stalemate that not even so ferocious an assault on Hamas can undo.
“There are not too many realistic ideas around,” conceded Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The reason: Most ideas, he said, largely rely “on the good will of Hamas.” That may be in short supply, because Hamas, deeply embedded in Gazan society both as a fighting force and a provider of social services, seems highly likely to survive in some form after this war.
Sounds like a good reason not to call a ceasefire until the firing ceases. Here’s an idea. Once Hamas is out of the picture, almost universally recognized as a desireable goal, then Europe, oil-rich Arab nations and the United Nations can step in to help the PA rebuild and maintain the peace. Anyone have any better ideas? Let me guess: Ceasefire, let Hamas retain power, rebuild, start it all over? Next …
Vodkapundit welcomes Osama bin Laden’s call for jihad in Gaza. Because OBL’s calls for jihad have worked out so well for him.
Klinghoffer: The new Arab chant, “Death to Hamas!” Someone tell NYT.
JPost: Top Hamas official won’t be down for shawerma.
Topics: Israel, Palestinians, media
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:06 am Comments (4) on Thursday, January 15, 2009
4 Responses to “Media War”
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January 15th, 2009 at 10:59 am
I don’t understand.
Hamas wants martyrdom for itself and for the people who voted them into power. Israel wants to help them achieve their goals.
What is the problem?
January 15th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Maybe the tipping point has been, or will soon be, reached for the majority of Muslims. The brutality of these Islamofascist groups has shamed them, and they’re finally waking up to the contradictions and lies. Not a moment too soon.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Would it be possible to have Israel move some tanks to Turtle Bay? That’s a pretty large rallying point for terrorists.
January 18th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
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