I was awakened at 0400 by a warning siren. The Houthis had launched another ballistic missile at Israel. It was intercepted, but it brought home to me the need to write some more about what is really happening here. The mainstream media, despite all their hype and self-proclaimed coverage, are really doing a very poor job. (and many governments , including the UN, are helping them.)
Let’s start with casualty reporting. Even the UN spokesman spent most of his time talking about the “civilians” in Gaza. CNN has gone back to repeating Hamas controlled Gaza Health Ministry figures which are actually produced by the Hamas propagandists. Does anyone actually believe the=at the US bombing in Yemen, which has been going on longer and is more intense than the Israeli attacks in Gaza and resulted in 53 deaths (Houthi figures) is killing fewer people than the IDF? CNN said over 400 Gazans were killed half children and most of the rest women. They even provided film footage from inside a hospital. (and the press release was said to have been made even before the IDF attacks finished!) No one noticed that the IDF dropped warning leaflets in the areas to be hit before they attacked. The Americans didn’t do that, and yet the death toll from their attacks was almost 8 times lower!.
The UN spokesman complained that another UN employee was among the dead, and that distribution of aid was affected. I wonder why there are still UN employees in Gaza at all. Israel ordered UNRWA to shut down in all territory under Israeli control (They were sent out of pre-1967 Israel in 1950!) Israel has been reclaiming some facilities that UNRWA “appropriated”. One example that comes to mind (although it has not been taken back) is the Daheisheh refugee camp south of Bethlehem. It was built on land owned by the JNF (Jewish National Fund) but was locate in 1949 on the Jordanian side of the cease-fire line. (Cease-fire line, NOT border).
My final item for today is note that the UN spokesman cited above criticized Israel for not protecting civilians, and called for “all sides” to release hostages and observe humanitarian rights, but the UN has yet to condemn Hamas for the October massacre. Bias? Antisemitism? Or maybe it was just the media focusing on just one part of his presentation (why would they do that?)
Wetherhorn 