Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Mohammed Omer, "Darkness Falls on Gaza": A Propaganda Piece Finds Its Way Into the Times

In a guest New York Times op-ed entitled "Darkness Falls on Gaza" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/opinion/gaza-under-israels-onslaught.html?ref=opinion&_r=0), subtitled "Gaza Under Israel’s Onslaught," Mohammed Omer writes:

"RAMADAN, when night descends, is usually a joyous time. Friends and family gather to break their fast at the iftar meal. Not this year.

Nights are the worst. That is when the bombing escalates. Nowhere is safe. Not a mosque. Not a church. Not a school, or even a hospital. All are potential targets."

Okay, we know that Hamas launches rockets from mosques, schools, hospitals and cemeteries (see: http://www.algemeiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Shujaiya-2.jpg). But why does Omer interject "churches"? Christians in the Muslim Middle East, especially in Gaza, have been singled out for persecution. As Michael Curtis, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Rutgers University, wrote in a Gatestone Institute article entitled "The Disquieting Treatment of Christians by the Palestinians" (http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/2838/palestinians-christians):

"Christian graves in the Gaza Strip have been dug up. Anti-Christian graffiti has appeared, and Christian cemeteries and statues have been defaced. . . . In Gaza in June 2007 a leader of the Baptist Church, one of the oldest in the area and which contains Gaza's only Christian library, was kidnapped and murdered. The Sagrada Familia school in Gaza was torched, and the nuns' building in the Convent of the Sisters of the Rosary in June 2007 was looted, and holy images and sacred books were burned."

Notwithstanding discrimination against Christians by Palestinian Muslims, Omer is obviously intent upon winning over Christian readers of the Times.

Omer goes on to say:

"The long siege has bled the Gaza Strip dry. There is no money for public services; the majority of the population lives in abject poverty. And now at least 120,000 Gazans have been displaced by the fighting, thousands taking temporary shelter in United Nations schools. Many will return to homes damaged or destroyed, with little or no means to rebuild. Cement is especially severely rationed because Israel suspects it is diverted by Hamas to build tunnels for fighters."

Fascinating! Israel "suspects" that cement has been "diverted by Hamas to build tunnels for fighters"? Are we to believe that the miles of tunnels leading out of Gaza, which were intended for attacks against Israeli agricultural communities, are the product of spontaneous generation and were not built with cement imported from Israel? And tunnels for "fighters"? Is this what people who indiscriminately target Israeli civilian population centers are called? Sorry, Mohammed, but "terrorists" is a far more apt description.

Omer continues:

"A cease-fire agreement is possible, but all parties need to be at the table; Hamas was not consulted over the one proposed by Egypt last week. Even peace might be possible — if the international community has the courage to engage in dialogue with Hamas. The terms outlined by Hamas for a cease-fire are the same as those the United Nations has called for repeatedly: open the border crossings; let people work, study and build the economy. A population capable of taking care of its own would enhance Israel’s security. One that cannot leads to desperation."

"[I]f the international community has the courage to engage in dialogue with Hamas"? Needless to say, no mention by Omer of the Hamas charter, which denies Israel's right to exist and calls for the murder of all Jews, not just Israelis. Omer would have us believe that it takes "courage" to chat up such monsters? Personally, I think it takes "stupidity."

However, far more odious than Omer's op-ed is the escalating barrage of venomous commentary being aimed at Israel by Andrew Rosenthal's New York Times op-ed page. Nathan Thrall's "How the West Chose War in Gaza" (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2014/07/nathan-thrall-how-west-chose-war-in.html) was absurd. Omer's opinion piece amounts to abject propaganda.

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Just a few words about the fighting in Shajaiya, where Hamas has introduced a brigade-sized force to confront the Israeli army. We are witnessing a learning curve involving IDF ground-air coordination, and tactics are evolving, which should reduce IDF casualties.

3 comments:

  1. Glad to hear of the "learning curve" because each picture of a fallen soldier is a searing ache.

    As I've said before, I commend you for being able to read this shite. It would overwhelm me. I have enough with the looney toons elsewhere in social media.

    What I truly wonder is if they believe what they write or are they just getting paid per word.

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  2. "Glad to hear of the "learning curve" because each picture of a fallen soldier is a searing ache."
    Yes, I looked just at some of them - striking faces - intelligent, beautiful faces. I can't look at more.
    I agree with the rest of your comment, anonymous, too. Jeffrey is a soldier. I can't do this. I am intellectually equipped to deal with some issues, but I am unable to deal emotionally.

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  3. BTW, Jeffrey, you title is incorrect. The New York Times EXISTS for antisemitic propaganada.

    ReplyDelete