Friday, March 7, 2008

Media portrayal of latest Palestinian conflicts

Oh how amusing it is to wake up today and check the usual news sites to see their infatuation with the 8 Israelis who were shot dead today by a Palestinian gunman. You would think that they would have also talked about the 200 innocent Palestinians that have been murdered in the past week or so, but no. Palestinians aren't people, so we don't write about them.

One of the most disgusting aspects of this whole affair is how the Israeli propagandists have claimed that most of the dead are "militants". This is probably untrue. And ignoring the distinction between combatant and non-combatant is the first step in the process of genocide - where they successfully depict the entire population itself as a threat. And so what if it is true? Hamas is a popularly elected mass movement and is the legitimate governing party of Palestine. It is a movement of resistance that stands against occupation and Zionism. Killing Hamas members and calling them "terrorists" or "militants" is not better than killing civilians, especially since these attacks are largely unprovoked. (Sderot? Give me a break). The people of Gaza have been placed in a cage and are now the subject of planned extermination. The streets of every major city in the world should be raging in protest.

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