Once again, Hamas wins a round of the media war. The Israeli targeting of 2 senior Hamas leaders in Rafah was turned around by the Hamas propaganda team into another ‘blame Israel’ circus. It’s possible that they even planned part of it beforehand. In any case, the Israeli attack was followed by a large secondary explosion and a fire that killed several Palestinians (how many is really immaterial, but the Gaza Ministry of Health number was the first one given to the media, and it has not been changed). Israel was not prepared for another ‘genocide’ accusation. Despite a quick response by the IDF investigators, the initial story became the ‘scoop’ of record. The findings of the investigation were mostly ignored.
And what were those findings? First, the secondary explosion came from a truck loaded with explosives that was parked more than a mile away from where the Israeli bombs hit. That’s well outside the distance one would normally expect a secondary explosion to be triggered, but it is possible. It also raises the question of what a truck full of explosives (or possibly rockets?) would be doing parked next to a civilian tent encampment. IDF investigators are unable to answer that question. Hamas certainly isn’t going to tell anyone that they put it there to kill Palestinians and make media points (although doing so would fit in nicely with the way they have behaved in previous incidents). Second note: Wasn’t it convenient how quickly the report was released to the press, complete with video? Does Hamas have camera crews on standby everywhere in Rafah, just waiting for this kind of event? The film did not catch the actual explosion, but it was already rolling well before ambulances arrived. The initial report contained few details beyond an official casualty count and the standard ‘blame Israel’ items. Since we know there is no true free press in Gaza, so that should not surprise anyone. It seems that even when the war has gone on for so long, the old axiom about war reporting is still accurate: “Truth is the First Casualty”.
Wetherhorn 