Thursday, May 08, 2008
Power Line: The Truth Laces Up Its Shoes
In line with the closing thought, I think "most readers" of the news, and most viewers of TV news, get a faulty biased version of many things.
Perhaps, I've said that before [tongue in cheek]...
Perhaps, I've said that before [tongue in cheek]...
This was posted by John Hinderaker on the Powerline Blog:
"On its web site, B'Tselem 'called on the IDF Spokesperson’s office to publish all the material in IDF hands that documents the incident, especially the UAV photos, which could prove or refute this claim.' Two days later, the IDF did just that: it released not just photos, but its video of the incident.
So B'Tselem's questioning of the IDF account, to which AFP gave the last word on Saturday, did not contradict the evidence of the video. On the contrary, it predated the IDF's release of the video on Friday. Moreover, B'Tselem wrote that the IDF was guilty because it fired at a terrorist who was 'about one meter from the gate of the Abu Me'tiq family’s house.' So the initial AFP story told us that the Israelis must have targeted the Maateq home because it was 'more than a kilometre from the scene of the clashes,' while the second AFP report adopted B'Tselem's claim that the IDF's account was incredible because Israeli aircraft fired at a terrorist who was only 'one meter' from the Maateqs' gate. Which is it?
It is hard to escape the conclusion that, as far as AFP is concerned, any facts will do as long as they put Israel in the wrong. Meanwhile, what of the IDF's video? It appears, to my eyes, to support the conclusion that the Maateq children's deaths resulted from a secondary explosion of munitions carried by a terrorist who was in the act of trying to kill Israelis. If there is some reason why that interpretation is incorrect, what is it? AFP offers no meaningful rebuttal. Yet most readers will take away only the message of AFP's headline: 'Four children among victims of Israeli strikes on Gaza.'"
