Propaganda 101 - Repetition

Update [Letter to RTE]

Dear Mr. Good,

Last nights 9 O'clock News had several special reports covering the latest civilian slaughter in Qana. Scenes of children's bodies being removed from the broken building were interspersed with numerous opportunities for Israeli apologetics. In all cases they attempted to shift blame for the bombing onto Hizbullah, as if dropping bombs on a sovereign country is not a crime in itself. A day after the killing of over 50 people, mostly children, by Israeli Defense Forces an RTE report covering the massacre devoted half the coverage to Israeli justification for the bombing. We were told that it is Hizbullah's fault for attacking Israel, we were told the people were warned to leave, we were told they were used as human shields. Richard Crowley reported that Hizbullah is not only attacking from behind civilian shields, but 'effectively forcing people at gun point to stay in the villages.'

Mr. Crowley offered no evidence for this contention and no Israeli spokesperson suggested these people were held at gunpoint, effectively or not. This might have been implied, again without evidence, by the Israeli story that the people could have escaped before the building collapsed. However this version of events is refuted by eye witnesses:

"Witnesses at the scene corroborated the IDF claim that the strike on the building, which is located in the Hariva neighborhood of Qana, was carried out at 1:00 A.M. After the initial strike, some of the building's residents exited in an attempt to survey the damage, in effect saving themselves.

A few minutes later, IAF planes struck the building once again, causing the walls to collapse on the residents who did not vacate, killing them in the process."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744332.html

The extent to which this sort of propaganda has infiltrated the news media is evidenced in a recent Guardian article. Where there were once Lebanese villages there is now a "Fresh ground assault on Hizbullah villages."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,1833965,00.html

I have yet to see such 'open minded' reporting of Hizbullah's killing. While Israel apparently use precision guided munitions in order to minimise civilian casualties, Hizbullah fire indiscriminately, in order to terrorise. Yet the ratio of civilian to military death caused by Hizbullah gives no weight to this argument.

Jonathan Cook noted recently that "Hizbullah's rockets have been targeted overwhelming at strategic locations: the northern economic hub of Haifa, its satellite towns and the array of military sites across the Galilee. "....It is obvious to everyone in Nazareth, for example, that the rockets landing close by, and once on, the city over the past week are searching out, and some have fallen extremely close to, the weapons factory sited near us.

Hizbullah seems to have as little concern for the collateral damage of civilian deaths as Israel -- each wants the balance of terror in its favour -- but it is nonsense to suggest that Hizbullah's goals are any more ignoble than Israel's."

http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1153978821.html

The basis for the Israeli defense of the bombing is suspect. The idea that Hizbullah use Lebanese civilians as human shields is not entirely convincing. Firstly, Hizbullah's existence relies heavily on the support of the Lebanese people. Secondly, in all the bombings by Israel that have resulted in civilian casualties, and therefore elicited an excuse, there have been few if any Hizbullah fighters among the dead.

Israel has since given further justification for the attack with the release of video 'evidence' allegedly showing Hizbullah launching rockets from the Qana area. Yet the footage shows the area the rockets were launched from were not, as the building in question was, in a reasonably built up area.

Tom Clonan's article in today's Irish Times addressed this Israeli excuse:

"The type of missiles being fired by Hizbullah at Israeli cities cannot be fired from within houses, mosques, hospitals or even UN facilities as has been suggested by the IDF. Due to the massive "back-blast" caused by the rocket launchers of these missiles, they can only be fired from open ground. To fire them from within a building would result in the instant death of the missile crew and probable destruction of the missile before launch. Most of the missiles are truck-mounted and are fired - on open ground - from the backs of flat-bedded trucks or larger four-wheel-drive vehicles."

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0731/1154075777662.html

The constant repetition of the 'human shield' story may explain why the "Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir, reportedly said: "We have never had it so good. The hasbara (propaganda) effort is a well-oiled machine.""

http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1154350404.html

The Israeli Minister for Justice has himself rebutted the idea that the Hizbullah force non-combatants to act as human shields:

"Asked whether entire villages should be flattened, he [Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon]said:"These places are not villages. They are military bases in which Hezbollah people are hiding and from which they are operating."

"All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah,"he said."

Former Labour government adviser, David Clark, wrote in the Guardian recently, "Israel's chief of staff, General Dan Halutz, promised to "turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years"
As in Lebanon, the intention is to force civilians to turn on the militias by inflicting as much pain and suffering as the Israeli government thinks it can get away with."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1833930,00.html

The man who wrote the IDF code of ethics, Professor Asa Kasher told The Jerusalem Post it may be "morally justified" to obliterate areas with high concentrations of terrorists, even if civilian casualties result.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153292016092&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

Mary Rafferty took the definition of 'terrorism' and applied it to Israeli actions in Lebanon; "Bombing civilian populations back to the Middle Ages, to a condition where they have no electricity, no water, no sewerage, no fuel, no roads, no vehicles and are running out of food certainly qualifies as an act of state terrorism."

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0720/1152913471089.html

Which leads us back to Mr. Cowley's suggestion that Hizbullah holds civilians at gunpoint. It could be argued that Israel's bombing of major infrastructure as well as fleeing convoys of families, may in fact amount to their holding of civilians at gunpoint, yet this would I presume never be reported by RTE.

While much has been said of Hizbullah's 'indiscriminate' rocket attacks, Jonathon Cook has been alone in commenting on Israel's use of Muslim villages as human shields:

"Several Israeli armaments factories and storage depots have been built close by Arab communities in the north of Israel, possibly in the hope that by locating them there Arab regimes will be deterred from attacking Israel's enormous armory. In other words, the inhabitants of several of Israel's Arab towns and villages have been turned into collective human shields – protection for Israel's war machine."

And little has been made of Human Rights Watch's statement that:

"(The Qana attack) is the latest product of an indiscriminate bombing campaign that the Israel Defence Forces have waged in Lebanon."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744765.html

While Hizbullah's tactics are rightly criticised, Israel's own penchant for the same tactics, on a much larger scale, are rarely commented on.

It is imperative that the media make the distinction between Israeli propaganda and the reality of this conflict.

I look forward to your response.

Regards,

RTE propagate the alleged Hizbullah tactic of holding the civilian population as human shields and at gunpoint in tonight's 9 O'Clock News.

While RTE went to great lengths to make clear the IDF warned people to leave, although also pointing out that they accepted that some could not, they repeated the Israeli sponsored story that Hizbullah uses the Lebanese population as human shields. As if this in some way excuses the massacre in Qana.

Further to this is the worrying development, reported by Richard Crowley, is that Hizbullah is not only attacking from behind civilian shields, but 'effectively forcing people at gun point to stay in the villages.'

He offered no evidence for this contention and no Israeli spokesperson suggested these people were held at gunpoint, effectively or not. This might have been implied, again without evidence, by the Israeli story that the people could have escaped before the building collapsed. Yet, given that Hizbullah relies on support from the Lebanese people, this sounds less than believable.
The BBC explain where this idea originated from; "Hezbollah blockaded the city before the battle began, and we now know at gunpoint forced the Lebanese residents to stay inside the city," Cpt Spielman said.

However, with Israel bombing major infrastructure as well as fleeing convoys of families, it could be argued that Israel may in fact be holding civilians at gunpoint, yet this would I presume never be reported by RTE.

While much has been said of Hizbullah's 'indiscriminate' rocket attacks, Jonathon Cook has been alone in commenting on Israel's use of Muslim villages as human shields:

"Several Israeli armaments factories and storage depots have been built close by Arab communities in the north of Israel, possibly in the hope that by locating them there Arab regimes will be deterred from attacking Israel's enormous armory. In other words, the inhabitants of several of Israel's Arab towns and villages have been turned into collective human shields – protection for Israel's war machine."

The Israeli apologies for the civilian slaughter are also at odds with the words of their Minister for Justice:

"Asked whether entire villages should be flattened, he [Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon]said:"These places are not villages. They are military bases in which Hezbollah people are hiding and from which they are operating."

Ramon said Israel has given civilians in southern Lebanon sufficient warning to leave the area, and that those left behind should be considered Hezbollah sympathizers."All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah,"he said."