Israel Matzav: Times drops any pretense of objectivity

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Times drops any pretense of objectivity

There's an article in today's New York Times by Jerusalem correspondent Steve Erlanger whose headline makes very clear where the Times - and possibly Erlanger himself - stands on what is going on in Gaza. The headline reads "Once Again, Gazans Are Displaced by Israeli Occupiers." It gets worse from there.

The story is that of one Khairi Edbary and his family of eight and "his brother and his family of eight," who have heeded the advice of the IDF and left their home on the edge of the Dhaniyeh airport in southern Gaza. The Edbarys are now being sheltered in a UNRWA school in Rafah. After detailing the Edbarys condition (they are apparently safe and sound and there is little more than that you can ask in a war zone), Erlanger goes on to interview John Ging, UNRWA's director of operations in Gaza.

Ging complains that with the closure of the Karni border crossing because of security alerts, “we’ll run out of broad beans and whole milk in another day.” Maybe Ging should tell Hamas that and get them to stop trying to tunnel under Karni.

But even Erlanger is forced to admit that the Israelis are trying to help:

The agency [UNRWA CiJ] now distributes food packages to 725,000 of Gaza’s 1.4 million people, an increase of 100,000 in the last month, he said. There are 235 shipping containers of food in Israel, he said, at the Ashdod port, waiting to be brought through the Karni crossing.
According to the World Food Program, “the last two weeks have had a significant impact on food security,” with shortages of milk and sugar, and only a week’s supply of flour remaining, said a spokeswoman, Kirstie Campbell. Food companies and bakeries are struggling with the power cuts, she said, and fishermen are not allowed out beyond the harbor, though on Monday Israel allowed the program to bring in some canned meat and flour through the Erez crossing, normally used only for people.
“The issue is capacity,” she said. The one truck through Erez took an hour and contained 25 metric tons of food, she said. But 1,000 metric tons of flour is waiting in Ashdod, though that represents only a third of the agency’s monthly needs for its 160,000 recipients.

Mr. Ging doesn't want to debate whether there's a 'humanitarian crisis.'

“There’s growing resentment expressed to me about the debate whether it’s a humanitarian crisis or not. It is a humanitarian crisis.”

But the truth is that things cannot be so bad as the Times is portraying them. Gaza's 'civilians' are still willing to be human shields for the terrorists. And that's what this is all about:

In Shuka, Mr. Edbary said he supported the raid into Israel that captured the soldier, and thought Israel should be willing to negotiate some form of prisoner exchange.
“At least Israel should release the women and children prisoners of ours that they have,” he said. “It’s shameful.”
Does he think his government bears some responsibility for the troubles he now has? Mr. Edbary’s eyes wandered. “I don’t care about politics,” he said. “I care about our dignity.”

If the 'Palestinians' weren't shooting Kassams all the time and had not invaded Israel and kidnapped Gilad Shalit, there would be no invasion of Gaza right now. But the 'Palestinians' did shoot Kassams, did invade Israel, and did kidnap an Israeli soldier. And they did so as a community: even those not directly involved in terrorism overwhelmingly support the terrorists. Mr. Edbary is not alone.

And where does the Times stand on all this? The headline holds the answer:

Once Again, Gazans Are Displaced by Israeli Occupiers