This morning the media are off on another feeding frenzy over the death of Palestinians in Rafah. As usual, everyone is blaming Israel. And as usual, no one is looking beyond the simplistic headlines and horrific graphic images provided by Hamas. Let’s start by agreeing on a few facts. Yes, Israel attacked a location in Rafah, targeting a couple of Hamas senior leaders. Yes the attack did kill them, Yes, it appears that a nearby fuel storage tank was also set aflame. The blaze resulted in about 20 additional deaths (not 45, as reported by the Hamas Gaza Health Ministry). amas Gaza Health Ministry)H and finally, yes, it’s a tragedy that should not have occurred.
Now let’s go a little deeper. Did Israel target those victims? No. Did some of them die because the local civil defense and fire fighters are not effective? Probably. Hamas, unlike Israel, does not invest in protecting their citizens. Israel dropped 2 bombs. During the past day Hamas and Hezbollah launched about 80 rockets and drones at Israeli civilian targets. Were any of those attacks reported in the media? No. Perhaps it was because no one was killed (I haven’t any proof of more nefarious media motives). Part of the reason there were no deaths caused by terrorist rockets is that the Israeli Defense Forces, true to their name, defended Israeli citizens. It is a fact that, unlike the Israeli attacks, the terror attacks were made with the intention of inflicting casualties on Israeli civilians. They failed because Israeli defense capabilities are better than the terrorists offensive capabilities. But it seems very unfair to me to direct attention to tragic unintentional results and not to even mention those many attempts to murder that are failures.
Our local war is not the only conflict out there. Ukraine does get coverage. But, with the exception of France24, no major media is paying any heed to the attacks by the Turkish forces against the Kurds. Some of those attacks have actually been delivered against Kurds living in Iraq, not Turkey.
The Kurds don’t have an experienced propaganda department like that of Hamas. Is that why there is no activity in the UN to recognize Kurdistan as a state?
Wetherhorn 