There’s a saying that Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. It applies to the media, too. When there is no news from the front lines, the news directors at TV stations will pick up on whatever they think their audience might respond to, even if it isn’t true or not connected to the crisis.
The Israeli forces are obviously not in a hurry to get involved in an urban warfare scenario which might result in serious casualties. That’s one of the motivations for the “siege”. The follow up of concern about civilians and humanitarian issues becomes more important when there isn’t other news. So demonstrations and hand-wringing are getting extra coverage.
What’s missing here? Nobody seems to mention that while there are thousands of Gazans streaming south. The principle reason is that the IDF is trying to limit civilian injuries. Another ignored aspect is the refugee problem in Israel. There are more than 60,000 civilians that have been evacuated from the combat zone around Gaza (and another large number that will soon be pulled out of their homes along the Lebanese border). Israel is dealing with temporary housing and support for them. Two hundred have been taken in by Kibbutz Kfar Etzion which is about 8 kilometers from us. By way of contrast, Hamas tries to keep their civilians from leaving the areas where there will probably be fighting. Egypt, already overpopulated, doesn’t want more refugees in Sinai. US Secretary of State is working on ways to allow Gazans with US citizenship to leave via the Rafiah crossing into Egypt, and allow some humanitarian aid to flow north in return. Hamas has tried to turn this into a hostage negotiation deal and wants a halt to Israeli air attacks in return for information about how many hostages they currently hold. Some people really live in different realities.
When a real battle starts, war correspondents are not likely to be permitted to get anywhere near the actual fighting. Nearly a dozen have already been reported killed in Gaza (or is that also Hamas disinformation?).Meanwhile, side issue stories are getting some coverage. One of the Israelis killed by Hamas was an Arab taxi driver, another victim was in her car with her dog. The dog has been refusing to leave the car even though the body of the owner was removed.
Wetherhorn 