Read MintPress founder Mnar Muhawesh’s Op-Ed: What The Media’s Getting Wrong About Israel And Palestine — And Why It Matters here.
MintPress News exclusive report and whitepaper on the Gaza Conflict with resources and timeline.
MintPress founder and editor-in-chief, Mnar Muhawesh, discusses the profound personal effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In light of the way the corporate and mainstream media have been covering the attacks on Gaza since Israel launched its Operation Protective Edge earlier this week, it’s important the public understands the facts behind what flared this violence.
In the last month alone, American media has ignored the truth about the conflict in Israel and Palestine and is framing the current violence as an equal playing field where Israel is responding to Hamas rocket fire into Israel.
Why is the deadly Israeli assault collectively punishing over 1.7 million people in Gaza? Many analysts covering this conflict believe the following to be true:
- To wreck the recent Palestinian unity government between Hamas and Fatah
- To continue advancing the illegal settlements across the occupied Palestinian land
Escalating Violence in Palestine and Israel: A Timeline
- Three Israeli teens were kidnapped & murdered in the West Bank
- In response, Israel launched a raid in search of those teens on the West Bank
- The raid resulted in nearly a dozen Palestinian deaths, arresting hundreds and seizing property of Palestinians
- Hamas denied any involvement in the kidnapping &killing of the three Israeli teens
- ISIS claimed responsibility of the death of those three teens
- 17 year old Mohammad Abu Khdair was kidnapped, tortured and burned alive from the Shu’fat, Jerusalem neighborhood by Israeli settlers in a revenge killing
- Nearly ten more Palestinian children were rescued in revenge and lynch attacks by Israeli settlers
- 15 year old Tarik Abu Khdair, an American Palestinian and cousin of slain Mohammad was nearly beaten to death by Israeli border police
- Protests erupted in Shu’fat, a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem in response to Abu Khdair’s murder
- Protests erupted across most Palestinian neighborhoods & cities in response to Abu Khdair’s murder
- Israeli lawmakers call for a genocide of Arabs in response to murder of three Israeli teens
- Facebook pages were created by IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens calling for genocide of Arabs
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls for vengeance for the death of Israeli teens on Hamas
- Despite having no evidence that Hamas committed this crime, this tragic incident was used as an excuse by the Israeli army to launch its dragnet across Gaza
- It’s still unclear who started the rocket fire, Hamas or Israel?
- Israel has called for at least 300,000 Palestinians living in Gaza to evacuate or be displaced for a more aggressive ground assault
Why are we staying silent?
The New York Times led with “Death Toll Rises in Gaza, as Hamas Hits New Targets in Israel,” placing all blame for Palestinian casualties on Hamas’ actions instead of reporting that the Israeli bombing attacks is a form of collective punishment that actually killed those civilians.
The Wall Street Journal led with “Israel Targets Gaza Rocket Launchers,” not mentioning the Israeli rockets that have targeted civilian homes in Gaza.
The Los Angeles Times ran “Palestinian rockets reach farther into Israel,” reporting that the rockets have not killed a single person, but failing to mention the Israeli missiles that have left about 70 Palestinians — mostly women and children — dead in Gaza. The number of deaths and injured continue to rise.
“What’s happening amounts to a massacre. It’s not a war… An occupying power does not have the right to self-defense. It has an obligation and duty to protect the civilians under its occupation.” – Noura Erakat, Human Rights Lawyer.
The United States considers Israel a beacon of democracy and a civilization in an uncivilized land, yet when Americans are murdered, the accused stand trial and the U.S. government doesn’t go on a killing spree to collectively punish American neighborhoods and cities. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, collective punishment, which results in atrocities, is a violation of international law.
Historically, occupying powers have used collective punishment to retaliate against and deter attacks on their forces by resistance movements by destroying entire towns and villages where the attacks occur.
Since Operation Protective Edge began earlier this week, over 80 Palestinians have been killed, including 22 children and 13 women, plus 469 wounded including 166 children and 85 women, and over 75 houses destroyed. That number continues to rise.
From 2000 to 2007, about 1,000 Israelis have been killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and over 4,200 Palestinians have been killed. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Information’s latest report on civilian casualties, one Palestinian child has been killed by Israel every three days for the last 13 years.
Malcolm X once said, “If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
Additional Resources:
(Video) Gaza Is Burning: Here’s What the Corporate Media Isn’t Telling You
(Report) Human Rights Council Report on UK Involvement in Drone Testing on Refugees
(Video) Israeli Peace activist & author speaks up against Israel’s assault on Gaza
About MintPress News:
MintPress News is an independent online journalism startup providing issue-based-original reporting, in-depth investigations and thoughtful analysis of the most pressing topics facing our nation and its foreign policy through the lens of social justice and human rights. For editorial questions or concerns, please contact MintPress News Editor-in-Chief, Mnar Muhawesh at [email protected].