"On Palestine, the Media Is Allergic to the Truth. Once again, the media are trying to depict the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians as a round of meaningless violence from 'both sides' of an equally matched contest — the reality on the ground be damned.
There are two ways you could report on the bloody conflict unfolding right now in Israel and Palestine. One would be to put every new headline and story, whether that’s about Hamas’s rocket attacks or Israel’s wildly disproportionate airstrikes, in context.
That would mean explaining that the rockets came in the wake of a series of outrageous and criminal Israeli provocations in occupied East Jerusalem: a series of violent police raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam during its holiest month, that have damaged the sacred structure and injured hundreds, including worshippers; that Israeli forces were attacking Palestinians who were occupying Aqsa both to pray and to protect it from bands of far-right Israeli extremists who have been marching through East Jerusalem, attacking Palestinians, and trying to break into the compound; and that all of this sits in the shadow of protests against Israel’s most recent attempt to steal land from Palestinians in the city, and the ramping up of Israel’s theft of Palestinian land more broadly under Trump."
-->The mainstream media is disinterested in the possibility that its reporting on Israel's war crimes are biased. Only a leftist magazine can tell us the truth about what Israel is doing, and how our media is complicit in hiding its war crimes.
=====
The Guardian UK
"Cali is the cockpit of chaos as Colombia protests threaten to spiral out of control. ... [The city] is the focus of a nationwide wave of demonstrations against poverty and inequality exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
But a string of incidents in which men in civilian clothing have brandished assault rifles and opened fire on protesters has prompted fears that the country – which is only just clawing its way out of war – is heading for broader conflict.
In the last 24 hours, indigenous protesters blocking roads have been shot at by assailants, fresh skirmishes have erupted between demonstrators and riot police, and residents have been trapped in their homes by clashes on the streets.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/10/cali-colombia-protests-violence
-->The NYT and the rest of the US media are underreporting these massive protests against an authoritarian government backed by the US. The NYT reserves its coverage of rebellions to Pentagon approved targets for US military intervention like Venezuela and Nicaragua. Our "newspaper of record" did print a tepid opinion column urging peace in the region, as well as a high school "Lesson of the Day" on Columbia, although most of the important facts were glossed over.
=====
Common Dreams:
"As Israel continues its deadly assault on Palestinians throughout the occupied territories, a new analysis released Monday night shows that if congressional lawmakers in the U.S. approve the federal budget unveiled last month by President Joe Biden, the nation would give $1.3 billion more to the Israeli military than to the global climate response.
Although Biden has yet to release his official budget request for FY2022, he shared a preview, which was heavily criticized by progressives. ... In response to the analysis, Left Flank Veterans, a group of anti-war veterans, said Biden's spending priorities indicate that the president thinks 'preserving apartheid is more important than fighting climate change.' "
-->Israel has just slaughtered another 212 Palestinians, including 61 children, 36 women, and 2 doctors. Is there a speck of morality in our government's policy of rewarding Israel for its war crimes? How did Israel buy our president and so many members of Congress? And why doesn't our mainstream media report the full measure of Israel's racist carnage?
