Israel Matzav

Maan: Making up the news

In the spirit of Suha Arafat's blood libel that Israel was poisoning the waters of Gaza, Maan published the image at top left along with claims that Israel is using some sort of horrific new weapon in the latest fighting in Gaza.

The head of an emergency ward in a Gaza City hospital said Monday that Israeli forces were using new, more brutal weapons against residents of the Gaza Strip.

On Thursday, Israeli forces began a four-day bombarded the coastal enclave killing 14 Palestinians and wounding dozens more in a series of airstrikes and drone attacks.

Dr Ayman As-Sahbani said patients were admitted with horrific injuries and that some bodies delivered to Al-Shifa Hospital were so badly burned they were unrecognizable.

He said Israeli weapons made no distinction between women, children and the elderly, pointing out that a two-year-old toddler and a 13-year-old boy were among those killed in the latest escalation.

Do any weapons distinguish between men, women, children and the elderly? No. As it happens, the two-year old was killed because he was being used as a human shield. The boy's father was the owner of the home where the Popular Resistance Committees leadership was meeting on Thursday evening, and he kept the child home as a human shield. The 13-year old was also a passenger human shield in a terrorist's car.

But it was the picture that really got me. I spent a long time trying to figure out if it was a photoshop (I am not an expert). In the end, I decided that it looks like napalm - an image I grew up with in the Vietnam era. But so far, I cannot find a similar image to this one online. I'm still working on it if anyone has any ideas. I am convinced that the image did not come from Gaza and was not shot in the last week.

UPDATE 2:24 PM

If you look in the comments, you will see that reader Rungholt has found the same image in a 2009 blog post - probably from Operation Cast Lead. White phosphorus (which is legal when used properly - as it was used by Israel during Operation Cast Lead) perhaps?

UPDATE 10:07 PM

The picture is picture number 9 here. It was taken on January 3, 2009 (Hat Tip: Tamzen L).

Labels: chemical weapons, Maan News, napalm, photoshop, Vietnam

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:40 PM