*The New York Times Has an Ugly Anti-Palestinian Bias* by Ben Burgis, Jacobin, Feb. 29, 2024 https://jacobin.com/2024/02/new-york-times-anti-palestinian-bias . . . But the specific allegation made by Schwartz and her coauthors in “Screams Without Words” is that “the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern.” That’s an extremely serious allegation, and the stakes are very high. An ethical journalistic organization would approach it with caution and rigorously fact-check every detail.
The stakes are high because the Israeli state’s narrative about the events of October 7, which has included a heavy emphasis on sexual assault, has been used to justify atrocities on a massive scale. At the time of writing, 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been displaced from their homes and hunger is rampant. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been so systematic in their quest to destroy the territory’s civilian infrastructure that the last university standing in Gaza was destroyed in a controlled demolition. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, including over twelve thousand children. And, in a depressing but unsurprising twist, there’s credible evidence that the Israeli atrocities have included sexual violence, which wouldn’t be the first time. . . . *Here are the latest examples of the astonishingly dishonest ‘NYTimes’ coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza* The New York Times continues to set new records for dishonesty in its coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, including blaming the Palestinian victims of Israel's "Flour Massacre" for their own deaths. by James North, Mondoweiss, March 3, 2024 https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/here-are-the-latest-examples-of-the-astonishing-dishonest-nytimes-coverage-of-israels-war-on-gaza/ The New York Times continues to set new records of dishonesty in its coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza. First, instead of starting to correct its questionable reports on sexual violence during the October 7 Hamas attack, the paper is conducting an internal witch hunt, one that targets its Middle Eastern and Muslim employees, to track down the sources of leaks about the scandal. Second, the Times continues to blame the Gazan victims for the February 29 Flour Massacre, in which Israeli soldiers opened fire on a crowd of hungry Palestinians, killing more than 100 people and wounding another 700. . . . *Report from Rafah: U.S. Airdrops Food to Gaza While Arming Israel to Drop Bombs* DemocracyNow!, March 4, 2024 https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/4/gaza_starvation_akram_al_satarri . . . *For more, we go to Rafah for an update from Akram al-Satarri, the Gaza-based journalist.Akram, your brother was at the aid convoy when Israeli soldiers opened fire. What did he explain to you happened, what’s being now called the flour massacre, for the flour that people were coming to get to make bread?* AKRAM AL-SATARRI: Good morning, Amy. Yes, indeed, my brother was one of the people who were targeted by the Israeli tanks and artillery fire in that area of al-Rashid Street, particularly al-Nabulsi roundabout, when they were trying to seek food for their children. To start with, it is the very personal story of my brother in mind, who was in direct contact with me, seeking to secure any help whatsoever for his children. He was taking that unsafe trip towards al-Nabulsi roundabout. He was waiting there. He was waiting from 3:00 in the afternoon. He was hoping that he would get at least some wheat flour for his children, because they have not eaten bread for around 25 days or even more than 25 days. He saw many people there coming from the Gaza north, as well, in the hope that they can secure some food for their children. All of a sudden, the bombardment started — not the bombardment; rather, the tanks’ gunfire started. And, of course, the tanks are using 1.5-millimeter caliber guns, and those guns are very lethal. They can split a person into two halves. The fire started. The tanks never stopped shooting at them. And the observation that was — the observation that was made by the people who were there, including my brother, that the number of the tanks that were present in that particular time was [inaudible], in the sense that in the last few days they knew tanks were like there, but not in the large number that was in that particular day. The fire started. The fire never stopped. People were shot. People were falling on the ground. People were running. And some of the wounded people were grabbing the legs of the other people, asking them to save and help them. The ones even whose legs were pulled were shot, as well, and were killed. So, people were crawling. My brother told me that he was crawling for around 1.5 kilometers, from this al-Nabulsi roundabout up to al-Shalihat roundabout, which is an area that is around 1 kilometer or 1.2 kilometers far away from the area that they were in. The firing never stopped. And to him, it looked like that was preplanned and that the massacre that was planned, according to the description of my brother and any other people, was intentional. And the firing never stopped 'til that very large number of people were killed. And a very large number of people also was injured. Some of them are dying every day. And this specific incident was replicated the day after this massacre took place and the day, three days or even four days after that. So it looks like this is a policy that is followed by the Israeli occupation army, and it looks like the objective is to continue the starvation of the people of Gaza and to kill them when they dare to think that they can secure something to feed their children. So they were killed when they're trying to get the wheat flour. They were killed while they were seeking life. AMY GOODMAN: So, the Israeli military says it started a preliminary review and that Israeli forces did not attack the convoy, but that most of the fatalities were caused by a stampede. At the same time, the director of the Al-Awda Hospital told the United Nations some 80% of the wounded brought into the hospital had been shot. If you could respond further, Akram? AKRAM AL-SATARRI: Well, according to the preliminary diagnoses of the hospital and of the people who were there, most of the people who were there were suffering from upper body parts injuries, which is indicative of the gun that was used, of the fire that was used against them. Some were hit also by shrapnel because of the — by artillery fire that was hit at them. ... . . . -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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