http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
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"IDF combat soldiers and officers from the Gaza operation are now beginning to confirm what our enemies have been saying for months. They tell us that, contrary to our own beliefs and expectations, combat norms in Gaza exhibited a blatant disregard for Palestinian civilians. Their comments were not a left-wing leak, but emerged from a frank discussion at pre-army training institute. As Amos Harel writes: 'The soldiers are not lying, for the simple reason they have no reason to.'
...Yet we still must ask ourselves: When Jews around the world literally endangered themselves marching in solidarity rallies in January this year, was this what they had in mind? Were Jewish communities and individuals, and of course the vast majority of the Israeli public, were we all in favor of a lax attitude to civilian casualties? Or did not we all take comfort in the IDF's high moral standards?
Searching for cold comfort, we can nevertheless pride ourselves on the vibrant, dynamic, and brutally honest democracy of Israel. It is unlikely that issues such as these are exposed or ever debated in the countries of Israel's enemies..."
http://makom.haaretz.com/topic.asp
--->But what about the dishonesty of Israel's supposed friends? Ethan Bronner, The NY Times' chief propagandist for Israeli militarism, had this to report last weekend: “'When we entered houses, we actually cleaned up the place,' said Yishai Goldflam, 32, a religiously observant film student in Jerusalem...'There are always idiots who do immoral things. But they don’t represent the majority. I remember once when a soldier wanted to take a Coke from a store, and he was stopped by his fellow soldiers because it was the wrong thing to do.'
300 plus children dead in Gaza, and the NY Times is talking about an Israeli soldier returning a Coke. No "brutally honest democracy" in sight in the good old USA.
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"Protesters mark Iraq war anniversary across U.S... Although participation is shrinking, anti-war protestors still marked the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war across the country on Thursday.
A group of war veterans made a modest protest near the White House in the morning. Known as 'Iraq Veterans Against the War,' the group said it would hold a three-day vigil outside the White House to call for ending 'occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.'
Adam Kokesh, who served in Iraq, was critical of President Barack Obama's Iraq and Afghanistan policies. 'Relabeling the remaining forces in Iraq 'non-combat troops' will not change the fact that these occupations are being perpetuated to maintain a criminal empire,' he said."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/20/content_11039458.htm
--->Compare this story in China View with its eight photographs and interviews of Iraqi War Vets to the coverage in the NY Times. Coverage? One must read a Chinese newspaper to find out about last weeks demonstrations against the war. Demonstrations that took place all across the US.
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"Human Rights Watch report claims Israel committed war crimes in its use of air-burst white phosphorus artillery shells
'Israel's military fired white phosphorus over crowded areas of Gaza repeatedly and indiscriminately in its three-week war, killing and injuring civilians and committing war crimes,' Human Rights Watch said today.
In a 71-page report, the rights group said the repeated use of air-burst white phosphorus artillery shells in populated areas of Gaza was not incidental or accidental, but revealed 'a pattern or policy of conduct.'
It said the Israeli military used white phosphorus in a 'deliberate or reckless' way..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/25/israel-white-phosphorus-gaza
--->Rather than covering this story, Ethan Bronner of the NY Times gives it one sentence, buried in an article that disputes Israeli soldiers' accounts of committing war crimes in Gaza. I wonder if Israeli citizens would put up with this level of dishonesty from their own media?
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"Israeli soldiers routinely and intentionally put children in harm's way during their 22-day offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, according to a United Nations report made public Monday.
The report said a working group had documented and verified reports of violations 'too numerous to list.'"
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/23/israel.gaza.un.report/
---> The CNN World account cited numerous examples of the IDF's use of children as human shields. CNN World, by the way, is far superior to the CNN we get in the US. Readers in other nations would never put up with the censorship imposed on the US public. This story was buried in a NY Times report on Netanyahu. It got one line.
