Tag: israel

How a Secluded 1984 Conference Forged Israel’s Unprecedented Influence Over US Media

As Israel’s October 1 invasion of Lebanon unfolds, the media’s complicity in shaping public perception raises urgent questions, particularly when viewed through the lens of a controversial 1984 conference where influential advertising and media figures gathered to refine Israel’s narrative strategies. This conference laid the groundwork for a sophisticated propaganda campaign—Hasbara—that sought to sanitize Israel’s actions and cast its military operations in a favorable light. Today, as Western journalists whitewash, distort, and conceal Israel’s the realities of Israel’s deadly campaign of violence, the enduring legacy of this meeting becomes alarmingly clear, revealing how narratives crafted decades ago continue to shape the coverage of a conflict that claims countless lives.

In the first week of October, Israeli forces fired 355 bullets at a car containing a five-year-old, then shot at rescue workers who rushed to save her life. A horrific crime – yet, per many Western media headlines, she was simply a “girl killed in Gaza.” The circumstances and perpetrators of her death, if mentioned at all, were invariably buried at the bottom of reports, well hidden from the 80% of the news-consuming public who only read headlines, not accompanying articles.

By contrast, on October 15, Sky News was very keen that its viewers know the names and faces of four “teenage” IDF soldiers “killed” in a “Hezbollah drone attack,” humanizing and infantilizing individuals who, by mere token of their service in Israel’s military, are by definition, guilty of genocide. In passing, the same report briskly noted: “‘23 die’ in Gaza school strike.” Their identities, ages, and photos, let alone clarity on who or what murdered them, weren’t provided.

Moreover, the inverted commas incongruously hovering around the number of Palestinians killed subtly undermined that claim’s credibility while reducing the child victims to an afterthought compared to the considerably more important quartet of deceased IDF genocidaires. MintPress News senior staff writer Alan MacLeod put it succinctly when he Tweeted, “In years to come, students in university departments around the world will be studying the propaganda embedded in this headline. It’s truly incredible how much propaganda has been packed into 16 words.”

The mainstream media’s systematic use of distancing and evasive language, omission and other duplicitous chicanery to downplay or outright justify Israel’s murder of innocent civilians while simultaneously dehumanizing their victims and delegitimizing Palestinian resistance against brutal, illegal IDF occupation is as unconscionable as it is well-documented. Amazingly though, ‘twasn’t ever thus. Once upon a time, mainstream news networks exposed Israel’s war crimes without qualification, and anchors and pundits openly condemned these actions on live TV to audiences of millions.

The story of how Western media was transformed into Israel’s doting, servile propaganda appendage is not only a fascinating and sordid hidden chronicle. It is a deeply educational lesson in how imperial power can easily subordinate supposed arbiters of truth to its will. Comprehending how we got to this point equips us with the tools to assess, identify, and deconstruct lies large and small – and effectively challenge and counter not only Israel’s falsehoods but the entire settler colonial endeavor.

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Israel’s War on Journalism

There are some 4,000 foreign reporters accredited in Israel to cover the war. They stay in luxury hotels. They go on dog and pony shows orchestrated by the Israeli military. They can, on rare occasions, be escorted by Israeli soldiers on lightning visits to Gaza, where they are shown alleged weapons caches or tunnels the military says are used by Hamas.

They dutifully attend daily press conferences. They are given off-the-record briefings by senior Israeli officials who feed them information that often turns out to be untrue. They are Israel’s unwitting and sometimes witting propagandists, stenographers for the architects of apartheid and genocide, hotel room warriors.

Bertolt Brecht acidly called them the spokesmen of the spokesmen.

And how many foreign reporters are there in Gaza? None.

The Palestinian reporters in Gaza who fill the void often pay with their lives. They are targeted, along with their families, for assassination.

At least 134 journalists and media workers in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, have been killed and 69 have been imprisoned, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, marking the deadliest period for journalists since the organization began collecting data in 1992. 

Israel bombed a building on Friday in southern Lebanon housing seven media organizations, killing three journalists from Al Mayadeen and Al Manar and injuring 15 others. Since Oct. 7, Israel has killed 11 journalists in Lebanon.  

Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi, who was shot in the neck in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza by an Israeli sniper earlier this month, is in a coma. Israel has refused permission for him to seek medical care outside of Gaza.

Like most of the targeted journalists, including his murdered colleague Shireen Abu Akleh, he was wearing a helmet and flak jacket that identified him as press.

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South Africa Files ‘Overwhelming’ Evidence of Genocide

South Africa filed 750 pages of “overwhelming” proof that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands on Monday, the deadline for submitting final evidence in the ongoing trial.

South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusi Madonsela delivered the legal document — known as a memorial — to the ICJ headquarters in the Dutch city. Under the court’s rules, the contents of the memorial cannot be made public at this time.

According to a statement from the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the memorial is a “comprehensive presentation of the overwhelming evidence of genocide in Gaza.”

The office said the document “contains evidence which shows how the government of Israel has violated the Genocide Convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians living in Gaza, physically killing them with an assortment of destructive weapons, depriving them access to humanitarian assistance, causing conditions of life which are aimed at their physical destruction, and ignoring and defying several provisional measures of the International Court of Justice, and using starvation as a weapon of war and to further Israel’s aims to depopulate Gaza through mass death and forced displacement of Palestinians.”

“The evidence will show that undergirding Israel’s genocidal acts is the special intent to commit genocide, a failure by Israel to prevent incitement to genocide, to prevent genocide itself, and its failure to punish those inciting and committing acts of genocide,” Ramaphosa’s office added.

South Africa’s filing comes amid Israel’s ongoing 387-day assault on Gaza, which according to Palestinian and international agencies has killed at least 43,020 people — most of them women and children. At least 101,110 others have been wounded and over 10,000 Gazans are missing and believed dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed homes and other structures. Millions more Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened by Israel’s invasion and “complete siege” of Gaza.

The filing also comes one week after senior members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet and national lawmakers spoke at a conference advocating the ethnic cleansing and recolonization of Gaza.

Ramaphosa’s office lamented that “Israel has been granted unprecedented impunity to breach international law and norms for as long as the United Nations Charter has been in existence.”

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Einstein Opposed Zionist Colonization in Palestine and Predicted the Current Catastrophe

A few weeks before the creation of the State of Israel, Shepard Rifkin, executive director of the Stern Group, requested that representatives of the group meet with Albert Einstein in the United States, “the greatest Jewish figure of the time” according to I.F. Stone. Einstein’s response was unequivocal:

“When a real and final catastrophe should befall us in Palestine the first responsible for it would be the British and the second responsible for it the Terrorist organizations built up from our own ranks. I am not willing to see anybody associated with those misled and criminal people.”[2]

To grasp Einstein’s prescience, one need only replace “the British” with “the Americans” and “terrorist organizations” such as the Stern Group and the Irgun group with the Netanyahu government, the political descendants of the leaders of these groups, Menachem Begin and Yihtzak Shamir.

Einstein said that his “life was divided between equations and politics.” Yet, among his biographers—there are hundreds of them—and in the mainstream media, his extensive political writings on Israel and Zionism have been, at best, swept under the rug, at worst, completely distorted making him a supporter of the State of Israel.

That is, until the late Fred Jerome sought them out, found them, had them translated, mostly from German, and published them in the book Einstein on Israel and Zionism. Unfortunately, the first edition of this book, published by a New York publishing house, had a very small print run, was never promoted or made into an e-book, and sold out in no time, the publisher having bowed to enormous pressure from the Zionists. That is why Baraka Books has published a new edition with the agreement of Jocelyn Jerome, the author’s widow.

It was in Germany in the 1920s, a time of rampant anti-Semitism when the theory of relativity was attacked as “Jewish science,” that Einstein was drawn to the Zionist movement. It was not until 1914, when he arrived in Germany, that he “discovered for the first time that he was a Jew,” a discovery he attributed more to “Gentiles than Jews.” Before that, he had seen himself as a member of the human species.

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Israel’s Extremists Have a Plan for the Day after the Genocide 

Under the slogan ‘Gaza is Ours, Forever’, a large number of Israeli extremists and right-wing politicians met in the settlement of Be’eri, near the Gaza border region, on October 20-21.

The group represented the who’s who in the Israeli right, far right and ultranationalists. They included Israeli Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir, May Golan and Bezalel Smotrich, as well as ten MKs of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

The event, entitled “Preparing to Resettle Gaza”, was organized by one of Israel’s most extreme settler movements, Nachala, led by the notorious Daniella Weiss.

To appreciate how extremist this 79-year-old settler is, consider this: on June 27, the Canadian government, though one of the most stalwart supporters of Netanyahu and his wars, imposed sanctions on her, due to her “role in facilitating (…) acts of violence by Israeli extremist settlers against Palestinian civilians.”

The hate-filled conference, however, was but a culmination of a year-long effort to build a case of why Israel should ethnically cleanse Palestinians in the Strip and re-establish illegal settlements.

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Despite History of Fabrication, Press Uncritically Covers IDF-Provided Documents on Hamas

Earlier this month, the New York Times (10/12/24), Washington Post (10/12/24) and Wall Street Journal (10/12/24) each published front-page articles based on different sets of documents handed to them by the Israeli military.

Israel claims it seized all the documents—in the form of meeting minutes, letters and planning documents—in its ground invasion of Gaza, and that they reveal insights into Hamas’s operations prior to the October 7 attacks. The documents include alleged evidence of Hamas’s pre-10/7 coordination with Iran, plans to blow up Israeli skyscrapers, and even a scheme to use horse-drawn chariots in an attack from Gaza.

Documents received directly from intelligence agencies should always be treated with skepticism, and that’s especially true when their government has a well-documented history of blatant lying. Yet leading newspapers took these Israeli document dumps largely at face value, advancing the agenda of a genocidal rogue state.

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Israel is acting with the same tools against Gaza, Lebanon and now starting in Syria

Because of the time limits I have at the moment, I will provide shorter posts until I can get internet and computer usage for long enough to follow up with a full article. This section of an article by the editor of Lebanese media outlet Al Akhbar, Ibrahim Al Amin provides a succinct and accurate description of what Israel’s agenda is in the region:

“Yesterday the clown Hochstein returned from a new show. To be honest, the problem is not with the man who does what is good for him or what is required of him, but with those who still listen to him and take him seriously, With those who believe that the Americans are in a position to pressure Israel to stop the war in Lebanon.”

“In practice we are facing one truth and that is that Israel is acting with the same tools against Gaza and against Lebanon. It started the same thing in Syria and is preparing to move to Iraq and then to Yemen. Netanyahu does not hide his continued preparations to strike Iran. Those who demand to separate the arenas do not want to understand that what Israel is doing with the support of the United States, Britain, Germany, and with the partnership of several Arab countries, is the unification of the arenas by force.”

“Since this is the case, the resistance project is the only option and the alternative is life or death by starvation in oppression and humiliation. And anyone who continues to accuse the resistance (Hezbollah) of being responsible for what is happening should know that from now on he is a partner in this aggression.”

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How Israel is trying to beat the ‘Axis of Resistance’ by dominating the regional supply chain

I am republishing an article published yesterday by Mondoweiss because it confirms so much of what I have been saying since October 7th. As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said quite clearly – Israel is important to the US as a prevention strategy against China, Russia, Iran and a free “Global South”. The article is written by Ahmed Alqarout.

The article in full:

In a recent public address on October 4, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei highlighted for the first time what he described as U.S. and Israeli plans to control the region’s natural resources. He stated that Israel’s current war campaign aims to position Israel as a hub for exporting energy to Europe and importing technology to ensure its survival. Khamenei called for resistance against the so-called India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a proposed land bridge connecting India, Saudi, the UAE, Jordan, Israel, and Europe. 

Days after his call, the Iranian parliament discussed introducing a bill for a defensive alliance with the countries belonging to the “Axis of Resistance.” Khamenei further elaborated on this vision on October 27, calling for the establishment of “a global political and economic alliance, and if necessary a military one” to confront Israel and stop its ongoing crimes against the peoples of the region. This signals a clash of markets might be the next phase of the war. At the heart of this clash is the conflict over dominance in regional and global supply chains. 

Supply chain disruptions have become a recurring global issue since the outbreak of COVID-19, which caused countries to implement stringent controls over imports and exports. The concept of supply chain security swiftly became a central concern. The U.S. government adopted protectionist measures, particularly regarding vaccine exports, while Russia and India imposed restrictions on food imports and exports, and China limited the export of protective equipment and medicines. This experience highlighted the importance of supply chain security for many nations.

The emphasis on supply chain security was not solely driven by pandemic-related concerns but also by the escalating geopolitical competition between the West and the BRICS nations. The U.S., in particular, began wielding supply chains as a strategic tool against China and Russia, especially in light of the semiconductor and Ukraine wars. The U.S. imposed restrictions on Chinese companies’ access to critical semiconductors produced using American technology, affecting major firms like Huawei and ZTE. In the aftermath of the Ukraine war, the U.S. led a Western coalition in imposing broad sanctions on Russia’s supply chains, attempting to isolate the country from the global economy. In response, Russia and China retaliated by limiting critical exports of rare earth minerals and uranium to the West.

The global supply chain conflict extended to the MENA region. In the context of its war on Gaza in 2023, Israel sought to exploit its integration within global and regional supply chains to achieve its military objectives. By weaponizing its position within these supply networks, Israel aimed to further its strategic goals. 

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Israel Bombed Medical Supplies Delivered to Kamal Adwan Hospital – UN Confirms

“OCHA tells us that the third floor of the Kamal Adwan Hospital was bombed today, resulting in the loss of medical supplies that was delivered just five days ago” – Stephane Dujarric

The Spokesperson of the United Nations Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, revealed on Thursday that Israel bombed the medical supplies that were delivered five days ago to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

Quoting the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the spokesperson told a press brief that the scale of destruction is “overwhelming” touching almost all the areas of the besieged enclave while Israel’s deadly aggression in the north continues especially in Jabalya, Beit Lahya and Beit Hanoun.

Dujarric confirmed that the siege on Jabalya refugee camp and surrounding areas is still ongoing.

“OCHA tells us that the third floor of the Kamal Adwan Hospital was bombed today, resulting in the loss of medical supplies that was delivered just five days ago,” he stated, adding that the aid delivery operation was done through UN agencies.

“Hospitals are under assault and rescue teams are unable to work, due to the arrests of personnel and the confiscation of essential equipment, including ambulances and a fire truck,” Dujarric pointed out.

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Witnesses Say the Israeli Army Is Using Facial Recognition Technology in Its Assault on North Gaza

Ishaaq al-Daour, 32, was sheltering with his family at the UN-run Abu Hussein School in Jabalia refugee camp when the Israeli army stormed the shelter on October 20, forcing over 700 hundred people out of the school and leading them into a large ditch that had been dug in advance by the military.

“They made all of the men go down into the ditch first,” al-Daour told Mondoweiss from the Remal neighborhood in Gaza City. “Then they ordered us to climb out of the ditch one by one and stood each of us in front of a camera that had been installed nearby.”

The army made the men stand in front of the “camera” for at least three minutes per person, al-Daour said, long enough for the cameras to scan their faces and reveal personal data seemingly already stored in the Israeli military’s system. After the scans, al-Daour said the soldiers would reveal information about each individual, including their “name, age, work, family members and names, place of residence, and even their personal activities.”

“When they suspected someone, they took him away [to an unknown location” al-Daour said. As for those who had relatives who belonged to Palestinian resistance movements or who personally belonged to resistance factions, al-Daour speculated that “their fate was immediate death,” citing stories he had heard from others in Gaza, whose friends and relatives were taken at checkpoints and had not been seen again, or who returned to Gaza in body bags. 

Al-Daour is one of the thousands of people who were expelled from the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza and ordered to move south at gunpoint by the Israeli army. The forced exodus of thousands out of Jabalia is part of an Israeli offensive on northern Gaza that started on October 5. Its objective is to implement a proposal put forward by a group of senior Israeli generals that aims to empty northern Gaza of its inhabitants through starvation and bombardment, the so-called “Generals’ Plan.”

Survivors from Jabalia like al-Daour report that the Israeli army is using facial recognition technology to screen residents in the ongoing assault, often identifying people from long distances and picking them out from a crowd. 

Witnesses say that the Israeli army has set up security checkpoints throughout northern Gaza where the facial recognition technology is being deployed. The military is also reportedly using this technology when it storms shelters for the displaced. Witnesses report that in these cases Israeli forces will corral people in enclosed places, usually ditches dug by military bulldozers, and process them individually.

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