Media Coverage of the Israeli-Fakestinian Clash Is Built on a Myth

[Joe Cooper]

No matter how often Hamas tells us that rioters on the Israel-Gaza border
are armed, the media keeps referring to them as "protesters" and
"demonstrators." No matter how often Hamas concedes that those rioters
are part of a broader "war," the media simply won't report it as such.
And even though rioters assure reporters they have a desire to kill and
burn Jews, left-wing journalists and pundits continue to frame Israel as
the aggressor.

This week, a senior Hamas official bragged that 50 of the nearly 60
people killed by the Israeli Defense Forces at the Israel-Gaza border
were members of Hamas. Israel has identified around 24 of those killed
during the riots as Hamas members -- 10 of them reportedly members of the
internal security apparatus. All of this is an amazing coincidence
considering how the clashes have been portraying as a massacre of
innocent civilians and children.

Hamas, of course, has no problem boasting about these deaths, but it's
the goal. If you're going to embed armed terrorists in a ginned-up mob
that has been propagandized, paid, coerced and then sent toward military
installations and civilian centers across the border, you are counting on
causalities. Because martyrdom is the point.

Instead of taking them at their word, Hamas apologists continue arguing
that Gaza is an open-air prison. This is only true if you consider people
who lock themselves up as prisoners. The controlling government, which
took power through a violent coup against "moderates" after the Israelis
gave Gaza autonomy, won't accept any international laws or any set of
rules that would allow peaceful interaction with its neighbors. Hamas
runs a proto-terror state. And Iran, a fully formed terror state, has
continued to send arms to the military wing of Hamas.

Now, it's true that this entity isn't nearly as powerful or as advanced
as its neighbors, economically or morally. But al-Qaida and ISIS and the
Taliban are not as sophisticated as the United States. No one would frame
those groups as victims. The idea that Israel, and Israel alone, should
afford its enemies free reign over an adjacent territory does not comport
with the practices or ideals of any other free nation in the world.

And although it's rarely mentioned, Egypt has also had the border it
shares with the Palestinians closed for the better part of a decade, not
only because Hamas is funded by its enemy Iran but also because Hamas is
aligned with numerous other groups that embrace violent theocratic
methods to further its cause.

And despite what you may have heard, the United States embassy being
moved to the western part of Jerusalem is not the cause of the unrest.
Hamas itself didn't recognize the American embassy in Tel Aviv, or
anywhere else. It doesn't recognize Israeli sovereignty over any
territory. It is not alone. The precursor to Fatah, the Palestinian
Liberation Organization, was formed before the 1967 unification of the
Jewish capital. Since then there has not been a single Palestinian leader
who has conceded that Israel should have sovereignty over any part of
Jerusalem.

Then again, Palestinians have never defaulted to moderation on the status
of Jerusalem or anything else. Their far-flung fantasies regarding the
right to return (hitched to the historical myth of Nakba) consume them.
This is what stands in the way of an agreement. Fatah, the moderate
Holocaust-denying wing of Palestinian governance, still runs a martyr
fund that pays cash stipends to the families of those killed or
imprisoned for carrying out terrorist attacks against Jews. Thanks to the
help of international aid, they have been able to make those payments
increasingly generous.

Now imagine what the extremist wing of that movement looks like. These
riots are not driven by economic destitution but rather the frustration
of Hamas, whose attempts at suicide bombing have been thwarted and whose
attempts to fire missiles into Israel have been stymied by the Iron Dome
defense system. If this were about food and shelter, the Palestinian
rioters would be headed to the government building in Gaza City rather
than turning away Israeli trucks bringing them humanitarian aid. At this
point, everyone knows that Israel has repeatedly shown a willingness to
make peace with anyone who desires it.

The fact that those of Hamas are willing to sacrifice their lives (and
the lives of their citizens) doesn't suggest they aren't the instigators
or the guilty party. There's an obsession in the media with the
disproportionate number of Palestinians who die in these conflicts. Some
can't escape the hackneyed oppressor-oppressed news template. Others
allow their obsession with Donald Trump to cloud their view of the
situation -- not to mention their morality. The fact is that if Hamas
were to drop its claim on Israel proper and stop using every opening
provided to instigate violence, not a single Palestinian would ever have
to die in this war.

Source: http://bit.ly/Deliberate-Media-Lies-2rPGs6g

--
"Conservative actor James Woods let America know exactly what “#DACA is
about” in one devastating tweet that included a meme depicting Senate
Minority Schoolmarm Chuck Schumer ‘saying,’ “It’s very simple to
understand actually – If Americans won’t vote for Democrats, then we’ll
import people who will."” (Scott Morefield)