Wars produce atrocities. They also produce lies about atrocities. From Jonathan Cook at antiwar.com:
Myth-busting documentary finally breaks the stranglehold of Israel and its western media acolytes over the story of what happened on October 7
For weeks, as Gaza was battered with bombs and the body count in the tiny enclave rose inexorably, Western publics had little choice but to rely on Israel’s word for what happened on 7 October. Some 1,150 Israelis were killed during an unprecedented attack on Israeli communities and military posts next to Gaza.
Beheaded babies, a pregnant woman with her womb cut open and the foetus stabbed, children put in ovens, hundreds of people burned alive, mutilation of corpses, a systematic campaign of indescribably savage rapes and acts of necrophilia.
Western politicians and media lapped it up, repeating the allegations uncritically while ignoring Israel’s genocidal rhetoric and increasingly genocidal military operations these claims supported.
Then, as the mountain of bodies in Gaza grew still higher, the supposed evidence was shared with a few, select western journalists and influencers. They were invited to private screenings of footage carefully curated by Israeli officials to paint the worst possible picture of the Hamas operation.
These new initiates offered few details but implied the footage confirmed many of the horrors. They readily repeated Israeli claims that Hamas was “worse than Isis”, the Islamic State group.
The impression of unparalleled depravity from Hamas was reinforced by the willingness of the western media to allow Israeli spokespeople, Israel’s supporters and western politicians to continue spreading unchallenged the claim that Hamas had committed unspeakable, sadistic atrocities – from beheading and burning babies to carrying out a campaign of rapes.
I am sorry Bob. Can you please explain what about this article was appealing to you? Are there any facts stated? Are any of the “evidence” or “proof” by Al Jazeera available for the rest of us to review? Are you going to now claim that Israel sent Hamas into Israel and assisted in the Oct. 7 killings? Really? What’s next? Holocaust denial? I would love to hear a logical criticism of the what has occurred. But to say that Israel is committing genocide while completely ignoring the fact that Hamas operatives are using hospitals, schools and mosques as military base as well as the human shields they have used from day 1, is completely absurd. Is Hamas and their conduct to be ignored? There would have been no such loss of life but for Hamas October 7 attack. Hopefully we can all agree to that. Having initiated force and having attacked Israel, Hamas and Gaza can scarcely claim that they have any form of moral claim or superiority at this point. Hamas must be destroyed having commenced the war. Any other conclusion will simply guarantee further killings down the line by Hamas or Hamas-niks.
smokhtarzadeh
I answered most of your criticisms in my lengthy reply to your last comment, so I will not repeat myself on those points. The point I will address is what about this article was appealing to me. Since October 7, we have been bombarded by U.S. and Israeli propaganda. It is on every mainstream channel and in all the mainstream press. We have legislators and governors proposing legislation banning criticism of Israel’s government as antisemitism and a hate crime. I have not seen a press onslaughts this one-sided since COVID and Ukraine, and look how they turned out. Thankfully, there are now alternatives to the party line, and one of the reasons I do SLL is to expose people to those alternatives. Yes, Al Jazeera can be expected to have its own slant. The Israeli and U.S. governments don’t? I don’t think their story has any trouble getting out there. Netanyahu just kicked Al Jazeera out of Israel pursuant to newly enacted legislation, so that’s one less alternative viewpoint we’ll hear from, at least as far as on the ground reporting.
There has been quite a bit of controversy over what really happened on October 7. No evidence has been produced for some of the more lurid claims, like beheading babies and cutting a fetus from the womb. The article says that Al Jazeera collected hundreds of hours of bodycam footage from both Hamas and Israeli soldiers. I haven’t watched the documentary yet, but that certainly piques my interest. If you just want the endlessly repeated Israeli talking points about October 7 and the subsequent war, I don’t think you’re going to get any satisfaction from SLL, but there are plenty of other websites, media shows, and publications from which those are available. I will continue to post what I deem to be the best of the other side of the story, just as I did with Russiagate, COVID, the COVID vaccines, the 2020 and 2022 elections, Ukraine, climate change, and other now discredited or in the process of being discredited mainstream narratives.
Thank you for your timely reply. Unfortunately, I have not seen your last response to one of my comments, so I am wondering what were your comments previously. I don’t know how to find it, so if you can cut and paste your prior comments, I would be interested.
You are absolutely correct that Al Jazeera and/or Israeli media all have their own slants, opinions and interpretations. However, facts are facts. A is A. The fact is on October 7 Hamas attacked Israel. Is that in dispute? On October 7, Hamas broke the cease fire that was in place. Is that in dispute? On October 7, Hamas kidnapped over 1000 individuals from Israel. Is that in dispute? These 1000+ hostages are still hostages of Hamas or Hamas related entities. Is that in dispute? If these hostages were released on October 17, 27, or November 10, 20, 30, etc., then, the so called “genocide” would have ended. Is that in dispute? There would have been no 30,000+ Gazans killed if the hostages were released in October, November or even in December 2023. Is that in dispute?
Now we can have our opinions on these facts and why what is happening is happening. Israelis are fighting for their survival. Hamas is out to destroy Israel. Unfortunately, civilians are getting killed while Hamas tries to destroy Israel and while Israel is trying to defend itself. Do we agree that Hamas initiated this war on October 7? And if so, is there any dispute that Israel has every right to retaliate?
The consequences of what has occurred would have been avoided but for the October 7 atrocities. Now if you want to dispute what happened on October 7, perhaps you should either take a trip to Israel and see what happened at the site, or review the reports by the objective folks who were there and who observed what remains at the site of the concert that was taking place on October 7, etc., as well as the sites that were attacked by Hamas. . . . Are any of these facts in dispute? Or do you think that reality is now subjective? A is A. You know that and I am sure you have not forgotten that.
My best to you, Austin and Roberta.
smokhtarzadeh
Here is the link to the article with your comment and my reply:
I think my comment addresses most of your points.
My best to you and yours as well.
Sorry Bob. The link button is not working. Let me know the name of the article. I will find it.
Meanwhile you can answer the last comment if you wish. It is pretty simple.
Thanks in advance.
The article is “Israel is Starving Gaza,” and you can access it by putting that title in the search function. I believe my response to your comment addresses the points in your most recent comment. Two points I will make. Most of the journalism that disputed the original October 7 accounts came from Israeli publications, and only then did the criticisms get picked up in the alternative, but not the mainstream, Western media. In this country the beheaded baby and fetus ripped from the womb stories are still widely believed and repeated. It was, I believe, Israeli publications that discredited those two. The other point is that you and most Israeli proponents argue as if history began on October 7. My initial comment reviews some of the history prior to October 7 and I refer you to it. It is similar to people who treat history in Ukraine as if it began when Russia invaded and completely ignore the relevant backstory.
I believe that Oct 7; ie, 10/7 was and is another 9/11, prove me wrong.