"Amid Iran war of words, Palestinians are forgotten" -- but never by their patrons at Reuters

One can almost see Noah Browning's eyes welling up as he writes:

(Reuters) - A monumental wooden chair erected in Ramallah to symbolize the Palestinians' sought-after United Nations seat collapsed this week after months of wind and rain. Bulldozers quietly took away the shattered remains by night.
Its collapse and stealthy removal could well serve as an emblem of Palestinian hopes for statehood.  For the first time in years, meetings this week between U.S. and Israeli leaders were largely silent on the long-stalled peace process. Debate between Israel and Washington over a military strike on Iran knocked Israel-Palestinian peace talks to the bottom of Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu's agenda.

Yes dear; the world may have to wade through successive Iranian threats to incinerate six million Jews, another 7,500 people murdered in Syria, and perhaps three or four more savage Arab springs before finally turning its attention back to the apple of your eye, the Palestinians.

What will the 70+ propagandists in Reuters Jerusalem Bureau find to write about till then?  

Reuters continues sympathetic vigil for terror group leader

Last week, we commented on a Reuters appeal to pity for one of the leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, Khader Adnan, who is on hunger strike in an Israeli hospital, ostensibly to protest his detention.  Reuters expends only 16 words of the story for a background profile on Islamic Jihad, depersonalizing the group's many murdered and maimed victims by characterizing them as "Israeli targets".

That story was published on Day 55 of the hunger strike.  Yesterday was Day 62 and Palestinian Arabs in Gaza rallied in support of the terror group leader; so of course, Reuters runs yet another story about him:

"We will pursue our Jihad and resistance. We will sail in the sea of blood and martyrdom until we land on the shore of pride and dignity," top Islamic Jihad leader Nafez Azzam said during a Friday sermon at Gaza's oldest al-Omari mosque.

The Physicians for Human Rights group in Israel (PHR), which has been monitoring Adnan's condition in an Israeli hospital, said Friday he was "in immediate danger of death," adding that he had suffered "significant muscular atrophy." [...]

Adnan owns a bakery and a fruit and vegetable shop in his West Bank village, Arabeh. He has served as a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad, which describes him as a local leader.

Our hearts bleed for Adnan.

As do the hearts of the hundreds of victims of his group's murder campaign.

Reuters issues appeal to pity for Islamic Jihad member; dehumanizes group's victims

Reuters correspondents frequently write sympathetic human interest stories about Palestinian Arabs -- and almost never do the same about Israeli Jews.

In an often savage Arab war of attrition over the past century which has sought to kill and displace as many Jewish families in the region as possible, the public rarely hears from Reuters about Israeli suffering.  Other than quotes from government officials, maliciously adulterated by Reuters correspondents, Israeli Jews typically remain voiceless, nameless, faceless.  This alone, graphically demonstrates Reuters relentless reporting bias.

This bias can be particularly vile.

Take for example, this Reuters story about a member of the Palestinian terror group, Islamic Jihad, currently held in detention in Israel and on a hunger strike:

Khader Adnan, 33, a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group, has been refusing to eat since mid-December, shortly after his arrest in the occupied West Bank, and has only drunk liquids since then." He is not in good shape. People on a hunger strike for more than 50 days are in real danger. [...]

Randa told Reuters she had visited her husband on Tuesday and that he was shackled to his hospital bed and had lost 35 kg (77 lb). She said his skin was discolored, his hair had fallen out and he had sores around his mouth. "He couldn't pick up our daughter. He has no strength in his arms," she said, adding that he had started to vomit blood.

Reuters of course, barely mentions the bloody history of Islamic Jihad, referring only to the fact that "the group is committed to Israel's destruction and has been involved in numerous attacks on Israeli targets".

Since Reuters refuses to identify or humanize those Israeli "targets", even as the agency identifies and seeks audience sympathy for Adnan and his family, we will provide this information.  Here's a partial list of Israelis (and other nationals) murdered by Islamic Jihad over the years.  (Our apologies to the families of the hundreds of other victims, killed or maimed, not included in the list below):

Shlomo Atzmon, 60, of Lod

Kinneret Cohen, 14, of Jerusalem

Shimon Dahan, 27, of Herzliya

Emil Gorbman, 54, of Jerusalem

Dr. Shelley Volokov Halpenny, 32, of Vancouver, Canada

Rita Susan Levin, 39, of Philadelphia, United States

Tova Maimon, 19, of Or Yehuda

Nahum Mizrahi, 63, of Tel Aviv

Isaac Na'im, 47, of Holon

Esther Na'im, 45, of Holon

Matityahu Gershon Resnik, 25, of Givat Haim

Mordechai Rosenberg, 50, of Sha'arei Tikva

Fern Rykiss, 17, of Winnipeg, Canada

Ya'akov Shapira, 73, of Jerusalem

Shaul Chai Tzur, 21, of Netanya

Miriam Tzerafi, 41, of Jerusalem

Vered Mordechai, 13, of Afula

Asher Attia, 48, of Afula

Maya Elharar, 17, of Afula

Ilana Schreiber, 45, from Kibbutz Nir David

Meirav Ben-Moshe, 16, of Afula

Ayala Vahaba, 40, from Afula

Fadiya Shalabi, 25, of Iksal

Ahuva Cohen Onalla, 37, of Afula

Yehazkel Sapir, 36, of Kfar Sava

Yotam Rahat, 31, of Tel-Aviv

Elad Dror, 24, of Kibbutz Nahshon

David Ben-Zino, 20, of Ashdod

Adi Rosen, 20, of moshav Bitzaron

Yuval Tuvya, 22, of Jerusalem

Anan Kadur, 24, of Daliyat al-Karmel

Damian Rosovski, 20, of Kadima

Yehiel Sharvit, 21, of Haifa

Yaron Blum, 20, of Jerusalem

Maya Kopstein, 19, of Jerusalem

Daniel Tzikuashvili, 19, of Jerusalem

Avi Salto, 19, of Rishon Lezion

Rafael Mizrahi, 19, of Ramat Gan

Eran Gueta, 20, of Ashkelon

Soli Mizrahi, 18, of Ramat Gan

David Hasson, 18, of Ashkelon

Amir Hirschenson, 18, of Jerusalem

Gilad Gal-On, 18, of Herzliya

Ilie Dagan, 18, of Kochav Yair

Eitan Peretz, 18, of Nahariya

Eyal Levy, 20, of Ashdod

Yaniv Weiser, 18, of Givatay

Shabtai Mahpud, 34, of moshav Tnuvot

Giora Balash, 60, from São Paulo, Brazil

Zvika Golombek, 26, from Karmiel

Shoshana Yehudit (Judy) Greenbaum, 31, from Passaic, New Jersey, USA

Tehila Maoz, 18, from Jerusalem

Frieda Mendelsohn, 62, from Jerusalem

Michal Raziel, 16, from Jerusalem

Malka Chana (Malki) Roth, 15, from Jerusalem

Mordechai Schijveschuurder, 43, from Neria

Tzira Schijveschuurder, 41, from Neria

Ra'aya Schijveschuurder, 14, from Neria

Avraham Yitzhak Schijveschuurder, 4, from Neria

Hemda Schijveschuurder, 2, from Neria

Lily Shimashvili, 33, from Jerusalem

Tamara Shimashvili, 8, from Jerusalem

Yocheved Shoshan, 10, from Jerusalem

Samuel Miloshevsky, 45, of Herzliya

Yehiav Elshad, 28, of Tel Aviv

Inbal Weiss, 22, of Zichron Ya'akov

Mogus Mahento, 65, of Holon

Bella Schneider, 53, of Hadera

Alon Goldenberg, 28, of Tel Aviv

Aharon Revivo, 19, of Afula

Shimon Edri, 20, of Pardes Hanna-Karkur

Mikhael Altfiro, 19, of Pardes Hanna-Karkur

Meir Fahima, 40, of Hadera

Keren Franco, 18, of Kiryat Yam

Noa Shlomo, 18, of Nahariya

Shlomi Ben-Haim, 26, of Kiryat Yam

Nir Danieli, 24, of Kiryat Ata

Ze'ev Henik, 24, of Karmiel

Michael Weissman, 21, of Kiryat Yam

Shimon Stelkol, 34, of Kiryat Yam

Avinoam Alafia, 26, of Kiryat Ata

Liron Avitan, 19, of Hadera

Avraham Barzilai, 19, of Netanya

Dennis Blumin, 20, of Hadera

Eliran Buskila, 21, of Hadera

Zvi Gelberd, 20 of Hadera

Violetta Hizgayev, 20, of Hadera

Ganadi Issakov, 21, of Hadera

Sariel Katz, 21, of Netanya

Vladimir Morari, 19, of Hadera

Yigal Nedipur, 22, of Netanya

Dotan Reisel, 22, of Hadera

David Stanislavksy, 23, of Netanya

Sivan Wiener, 19, of Holon

Zion Agmon, 50, of Hadera

Adi Dahan, 17, of Afula

Shimon Timsit, 35, of Tel-Aviv

Eliyahu Timsit, 32, of Sderot

Sharon Tubol, 19, of Arad

Aiman Sharuf, 20, of Isfiya

Nir Nahum, 20, of Carmiel

Eliezer Moskovitch, 40, of Petah Tikva

Ilona Hanukayev, 20, of Hadera

Liat Ben-Ami, 20, of Haifa

Esther Pesachov, 19, of Givat Olga

Ofra Burger, 56, of Hod Hasharon

Iris Lavi, 68, of Netanya

Suad Jaber, 23, of Taibe

Indelou Ashati, 54, of Hadera

Anat Shimshon, 33, of Ra'anana

Osnat Abramov, 16, of Holon

Sergei Shavchuk, 35, of Afula

Mazal Orkobi, 20, of Azor

Mordechai Evioni, 52, of Holon

Moshe (Maurice) Aharfi, 60, of Tel-Aviv

Igor Zobokov, 32, of Bat Yam

Lilya Zibstein, 33, of Haifa

Amiram Zmora, 55, of Holon

Meir Haim, 74, of Azor

Hannah Haimov, 53, of Tel Aviv

Boris Tepalshvili, 51, of Yehud

Sapira Shoshana Yulzari-Yaffe, 46, of Bat Yam

Ramin Nasibov, 25, of Tel-Aviv

Ilanit Peled, 32, of Azor

Andrei Friedman, 30, of Tel-Aviv

Avi Kotzer, 43, of Bat Yam

Viktor Shebayev, 62, of Holon

Ion (Nelu) Nicolae, 34, of Romania

Mihai Sabau, 38, of Romania

Li Peizhong, 41, of China

Steven Arthur Cromwell, 43, of Ghana

Krassimir Mitkov Angelov, 32, of Bulgaria

Ivan Gaptoniak, 46, of Ukraine

Guo Aiping, 47, of China

Zhang Minmin, 50, of China

Nir Regev, 25, of Nahariya

Zvi Bahat, 35, of Haifa

Mark Biano, 29, of Haifa

Naomi Biano, 25, of Haifa

Hana Francis, 39, of Fassuta

Sharbal Matar, 23, of Fassuta

Mutanus Karkabi, 31, of Haifa

Osama Najar, 28, of Haifa

Irena Sofrin, 38, of Kiryat Bialik

Lydia Zilberstein, 56, of Haifa

George Matar, 58, of Haifa

Ze'ev Almog, 71, of Haifa

Ruth Almog, 70, of Haifa

Moshe Almog, 43, of Haifa

Tomer Almog, 9, of Haifa

Assaf Staier, 11, of Haifa

Brurua Zer-Aviv, 59, of Kibbutz Yagur

Bezalel Zer-Aviv, 30, of Kibbutz Yagur

Keren Zer-Aviv, 29, of Kibbutz Yagur

Liran Zer-Aviv, 4, of Kibbutz Yagur

Noya Zer-Aviv, 1, of Kibbutz Yagur

Rachel Ben Abu, 16, of Tel Aviv

Nofar Horowitz, 16, of Tel Aviv

Julia Voloshin, 31, of Netanya

Anya Lifshitz, 50, of Netanya

Moshe Maor Jan, 21, of Tel Aviv

Michael Koifman, 68, of Hadera

Perahiya Makhlouf, 53, of Hadera

Sabiha Nissim, 66, of moshav Ahituv

Jamil Mohammed Ka'adan, 48, of Baqa al-Gharbiyye

Ya'akov Rahmani, 68, of Hadera

Genia Poleis, 66, of Hadera

Larissa Grishchenko, 39, of Hadera

Daniel Golani, 45, of Nahariya

Alexandra Garmitzky, 65, of Netanya

Haim Amram, 26, of Netanya

Keinan Tsuami, 20, of Petah Tikva

Elia Rosen, 38, of Bat Hefer

Philip Balhasan, 45, of Ashdod

Rozalia Beseneyi, 48, of Romania

Piroşca Boda 50, of Romania

Marcel Cohen, 73, of Nice, France

Ariel Darhi, 31, of Bat Yam

Victor Erez, 60, of Givatayim

Binyamin Haputa, 47, of Lod

David Shaulov, 29, of Holon

Lily Yunes, 43, of Oranit

Lior Anidzar, 26, of Tel Aviv

Daniel Wultz, 16, of Weston, Florida, USA

Our understanding is that the above individuals will be, as is apparently the case with Islamic Jihad member Khader Adnan, unable to pick up their daughters.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

In the run-up to Christmas each year, Reuters is notorious for penning stories that depict hardship and gloom amongst Palestinians living in and around Bethlehem.  And blaming that despondency on -- you guessed it -- Israel.  We commented on several of these stories in 2009, pointing out that Reuters employs its usual holiday bag of propaganda devices, deceit and omissions to maliciously smear the Jewish state.

In 2010 and in the run-up to Christmas this year however, we noticed a marked dearth of such stories written by the usual suspects and we think we have discovered the reason why: a group of Jerusalem-based reporters were so fed-up with the annual insipid ritual, they started a Facebook group called Reporters against whiny christmas stories in Bethlehem:

A rebel group of Jerusalem-based reporters has reacted to the decade-long tradition of Bethlehem holiday stories by refusing to accept any holiday cheer this season.

Refusing editors' requests for "Christmas in the holy land" tales of Palestinian woe and tourist shows, the group has announced it will refrain from filing any articles until an actual news event occurs.

"We are doing this for the good of our readers. Who, if they have any memory whatsoever, will recall that we have written the exact same Bethlehem story for the past four years," said a spokesman for the group. He continued that the decision was also financial, hoping to save the dying newspaper industry the cost of commissioning a new piece when they could just rewrite the previous versions.

One journalist, who asked to remain anonymous, said the rebel group was trying to quell more extreme elements who called for a torching of all olive-wood products made in Bethlehem, and the expelling of shopkeepers who whined excessively.

Merry Christmas to our Christian readers.

Pure Reuters; pure propaganda

Reuters is infamous for its fauxtography (fabricated, doctored, or staged photos) intended for propaganda purposes.

Yesterday, the Israeli air force killed a Hamas operative and a member of Palestinian President Abbas' al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.  Here are the pertinent details from a Reuters story:

(Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip Thursday and Palestinians in the territory fired rockets deep into southern Israel in the latest round of cross-border violence.In Tel Aviv, an Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed an air strike had been carried out. She said the two men killed in the incident had been planning an attack on Israeli civilians and soldiers along Israel's border with Egypt's Sinai peninsula.  [...]
"(They) were affiliated with a terrorist squad that intended to attack Israeli civilians and soldiers via the western border," an army statement said.
Hamas, an Islamist group sworn to Israel's destruction, has ruled the blockaded Gaza Strip since 2007, while President Mahmoud Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority remains dominant in the occupied West Bank.
The army statement said that Essam had been involved in planning a suicide bombing in the southern Israeli resort of Eilat in 2007 in which three Israeli civilians were killed, and a number of other attacks, some of which had been stopped.
Essam was a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Abbas's Fatah movement, group officials said. The Hamas said Sobhi was affiliated with its own armed wing.

Reuters runs a photograph with the story.  Does the news agency show us the wrecked car from the scene?  A file picture of the two Palestinian terrorists?  A photo of damage caused by several of the hundreds of Palestinian rockets fired into Israel this year?  No.  Reuters employs the appeal to pity propaganda technique to suck its audience into sympathy with a mass murderer.

Check it out.

Money (that's what they want)

In a transparent appeal to pity, Reuters correspondent Ali Sawafta cries us a river for the Palestinian Arabs who are facing a deep-freeze in US taxpayer funds totaling $200 million due to their decision to thumb their collective noses at a negotiated peace deal with Israel.

Sawafta's piece winds its way through all of the humanitarian projects that will allegedly suffer as a result of the cash shortfall including water infrastructure, medical training, and hospital equipment.  Nowhere in his story of course, does Sawafta mention that hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid has been funneled to paying the salaries of Hamas terrorists in Gaza or Palestinians doing time in Israeli prisons for murder.

And the Palestinians are clearly annoyed:

"Some parties in the Congress stood not only against the interests of the Palestinian people but also against any possibility of achieving growth for a people under occupation," Economy Minister Hassan Abu Libda said. 

"It was strange, and I expect the decision will be viewed negatively by Palestinian public opinion and it will influence the entire credibility of the United States," he added.

So, we've taken a special request for the Palestinians, courtesy of Barrett Strong.  Enjoy.

Reuters quietly renounces earlier libel

In a recent story about Israel closing the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza following a successful Palestinian attempt to murder Israeli school children with an anti-tank missile, Reuters correspondents Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan openly libeled Israel by suggesting, falsely, that basic medicines in Gaza were lacking due to the border closure.  We pointed out that the chronic shortage of medicines was due, not to Israeli policies, but rather to ongoing disputes between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

In a new appeal to pity about living conditions in Gaza, al-Mughrabi, assisted by current Jerusalem Bureau Chief Crispian Balmer and former Bureau Chief Alastair Macdonald, corrects Reuters' previous libel -- well, sort of:

Mahmoud Daher, the Gaza office director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said shortages of medicine and medical equipment were at an "unprecedented" level, forcing the cancellation of some operations and evacuation of patients.
However, this problem cannot be blamed directly on Israel.
Daher said the two main reasons were a failure by the Palestinian authorities to pay suppliers on time and a lack of cooperation between health authorities in the West Bank and Gaza, which are governed by rival Palestinian movements.

With this story, Reuters has abandoned its previous calumny against Israel but, in violation of its Trust Principles and Handbook of Journalism, fails to openly retract the earlier false allegation.

Nakba Quackba

The last we visited with Reuters "special correspondent" Alistair Lyon, he was misrepresenting former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and libeling Israel.  Today, he reappears with a human interest story about those Palestinian Arabs living in Lebanon and their yearning to "return" to their "homeland":

(Reuters) - Like the crowds of Palestinian refugees who rattled Israel's border fences this week, Subhia Loubani yearns to return to the homeland she had to flee when the Jewish state was created in 1948.
Even though, unlike most of them, she has a brand-new house.
Loubani, 72, received a key last month to one of the first few homes built by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, in north Lebanon's Nahr al-Bared camp, which was utterly destroyed in fighting nearly four years ago.
Still, she said, given a chance, "I'd leave the house and go to Palestine, my country. I can't forget Palestine."
Sunday's border protests, in which Israeli gunfire killed at least 13 people, were a reminder that the plight of 4.5 million Palestinian refugees, often ignored in interim peace deals, lies at the core of an Arab conflict with Israel that has reverberated across the Middle East and beyond for decades.

Of course, there has not ever been a country called "Palestine" and the overwhelming majority of the 4.5 million "refugees" to which Lyon refers have never stepped foot in the territory in which their grandparents and great-grandparents may have resided for two years between June 1946 and May 1948 (the official UNRWA definition of a Palestinian refugee).  But hey, the Arabs and their acolytes at Reuters never let the facts get in the way of a good ole appeal to pity:

"When I left Nahr al-Bared, I felt I was leaving Palestine again," said the elderly widow, recalling that collective trauma known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or national catastrophe, whose anniversary was marked by the border rallies on May 15.
Loubani, only four years old in 1948, says her father had carried her from the village of Saasaa across the frontier into nearby Lebanon and a future of blasted dreams and despair.
The word nakba also springs easily to the lips of Jihad Awad, 49, a shoe-seller among the first refugees to be rehoused. "There's no worse catastrophe than this," he said of his family's flight from Nahr al-Bared and their wrecked home.

Note that at 49 years of age, Jihad Awad was not born until fourteen years after the Arabs living in the territory fled following the advice of those like Azzam Pasha, secretary-general of the Arab League, who in preparation for the 1948 invasion of Israel notoriously boasted:

"This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the crusades".

Try as they may, Alistair and Jihad will not win any sympathy from us.

The "human rights" racketeers

One of the Reuters websites we follow is called AlertNet, trumpeted by Reuters as "the world's humanitarian news site".  Reuters publishes stories here written by its own correspondents, freelance journalists and the public relations departments of a myriad of international NGOs that specialize in everything from providing food assistance to "conflict resolution/monitoring" to "advocacy/lobbying/campaigning".  Publishing rights on AlertNet are free and unfettered for contributing members.

In a story published last month entitled "'Humanitarian vulnerability' of East Jerusalem Palestinians rising - UN", Reuters correspondent Megan Rowling constructs a carefully contrived propaganda piece featuring a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) accusing Israel of policies and practices which put Arabs living in the eastern portion of Jerusalem at risk:

"Although Palestinians are remaining in the city [Jerusalem], in the long term, failure to address these 'push factors' risks undermining the Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem," the report says.

East Jerusalem has traditionally been the hub for Palestinian social, economic and religious activity, and access to the city from across the Palestinian territories is essential to maintain Palestinian life there, said Maxwell Gaylard, the U.N. humanitarian and resident coordinator for the Palestinian territories, in a statement.

"As the occupying power, Israel is responsible under international humanitarian and human rights law for ensuring that the humanitarian needs of people under its occupation are met, including in East Jerusalem, and that Palestinian residents are able to exercise their human rights, including the right to freedom of movement, work, housing, health, education, and to be free from discrimination, among others," the report concludes.

It's fascinating that notwithstanding these "push factors" allegedly "undermining the Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem", the Arab population in Jerusalem has more than quadrupled since Israel liberated the city from Jordanian occupation in 1967.  Apparently, the free health care, education, access, and housing policies established by successive Israeli governments since that time, have not prevented the Palestinian Arab community from growing and prospering.

But frankly, we wouldn't expect the UN humanitarian and resident coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Maxwell Gaylard, to participate in the production of an accurate or candid report on the impact of Israeli policies on Palestinian living conditions.  After all, this is the same fellow who, in an effort to demonize Israel last year, overtly lied about the infant mortality rate in Gaza:

"The decline in infant mortality, which has occurred steadily over recent decades, has stalled in the last few years."

With its institutionalized anti-Israel agenda, and under the guise of advancing human rights, Reuters continues to uncritically parrot this reprehensible character and his wholly partisan committee at the UN.

Propagating propaganda

By virtue of its position as the world's largest news agency, one that sells its print stories and video content to hundreds of other news and media outlets, Reuters has enormous power to propagate the ideology and political views of the company and its correspondents -- while camouflaging this partisanship as objective news.  Doing so expressly violates the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles, a corporate governance charter which forbids reporting-bias.  Yet with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict, pervasive and systematic bias supporting the Palestinian narrative and agenda is palpable in Reuters stories.

Take for example, this copy which appeared verbatim in at least three stories by different Reuters correspondents following the lethal bus bombing in Jerusalem yesterday:

Israel's three-week war in the impoverished coastal enclave in 2009 killed about 1,400 Palestinians, drawing heavy international censure. Hamas had mostly held fire since.

Having now been propagated in over one-hundred print and online publications, the first line in the paragraph is heavily biased and the second line, overtly false.  "Israel's war" was actually a war between Hamas and Israel, precipitated by the firing of thousands of rockets and mortars by Palestinian terrorists at Israeli civilian communities.  Both this fact and any reporting of the casualties, psychological trauma, and property damage suffered by these communities as a result of Palestinian attacks goes unmentioned by Reuters.

Further, the irrelevant reference to Gaza being "impoverished" and one-sided report of "international censure" of Israel (Hamas was also censured) reflect the use of the propaganda technique of appeal to pity in the former instance and a combination of card stacking and bandwagon propaganda devices in the latter.

As indicated above, the assertion that Hamas has "mostly held [its] fire since [the war ended]" is a fabrication.  Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, has launched or permitted to be launched, over 500 rockets and mortars at Israeli civilian communities since the war ended in 2009.

Thus, Reuters has, with a single 25-word paragraph, successfully propagated a heavily biased and patently false narrative, in sympathy with the Palestinian Arabs and condemnatory of Israel, which will be read by a global audience of millions of consumers who believe they are being provided impartial facts consistent with the Reuters Trust Principles.

Conjuring up the jinn

In a story appearing on Reuters' Alernet website, which provides free and unfettered publishing rights for "human rights" racketeers like Human Rights Watch, correspondent Nidal al-Mughrabi employs the logical fallacies appeal to pity, assertion, the red herring and non sequitur, as well as violating the Reuters Handbook of Journalism by failing to "take no side/tell all sides" when he writes that exorcisms and religious charlatans are flourishing in Gaza due to "war and poverty":

There are a lot of demons to chase in this poverty-riddled Palestinian enclave, say a growing number of Koranic exorcists who have set up shop in Gaza, offering to end the torments of their sometimes highly disturbed patients.

The growth of exorcist clinics is seen by some as a sign of rising religious fervor among ordinary Palestinians. Hamas, the Islamic militant group that runs Gaza, however, is increasingly concerned that many exorcists are simply charlatans [...]

The idea of demonic possession exists in many religions, and belief in the existence of demons and spirits, known as jinns, is widespread among Muslims, but many mainstream clerics doubt they can possess the human body, and disapprove of the work of the so-called Koranic clinics [...]

Sheikh Ahmed Nemir, a Hamas leader and well-known Muslim cleric, believes in the power of possession, unlike some of his peers. He says economic hardship and psychological traumas have encouraged evil spirits.
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on earth, with more than 1.5 million people crammed into the 360-square-kilometer, or 140-square-mile, territory, shut off from the rest of the world by Israeli and Egyptian security barriers.
Sheikh Nemir said Muslims with weak faith and values were vulnerable to possession by jinns acting as the agents of hostile religions.
"The spirits are Jewish and Christians," the white-bearded cleric said.
"Spirits who claim to be Muslims are collaborators because they obey the Jewish and Christians masters." Medical experts say Gaza's jinns are what most doctors would diagnose as symptoms of psychological illness [...]

Recent studies have shown that up to 12 percent of people in Gaza suffer from psychological trauma caused by the conflict with Israel, economic troubles and isolation.

Al-Mughrabi's premise here is that the incidence of mental illness in Gaza is due to intensely crowded and impoverished living conditions aggravated by the conflict with Israel.  Reuters has been attempting for years to make the case that Gaza is "one of the most densely populated places on earth" so let's begin there.

A population of 1.5 million people in Gaza over 360 square kilometers represents a density of 4,167 people per square kilometer.  In a comparison with other urban areas around the world, there are fifty-three cities or city-states more crowded than Gaza -- including Taipei, Singapore, and Tel Aviv.

Note also that anxiety disorders, like post traumatic stress disorder, are as prevalent in France and more prevalent in the US than the 12 percent psychological trauma rate for Gaza reported by al-Mughrabi.

On the economic front, many countries with a GDP per capita lower than that in Gaza also have lower reported rates of mental illness.  While as noted, many wealthy societies suffer relatively high rates of mental illness.

Which leaves us with the effects of the military conflict with Israel.  While we have no doubt that this has taken its toll on the civilian population in Gaza, al-Mughrabi is strangely silent on the comparable effects on Israelis who have suffered years of rocket attacks by Palestinian terror groups.  As we noted here, in border communities like Sderot, 45 percent of Israeli children under the age of six, 41 percent of mothers, and 33 percent of fathers suffer from PTSD.

Yet, we haven't read of a boom in exorcism clinics opening in Sderot to purge Israeli patients of Muslim demons and jinns.

Perhaps al-Mughrabi ought to consider the possibility that the Palestinian culture in Gaza encourages this type of irrational thinking.

A Palestinian state -- of despair

An appeal to pity is a logical fallacy and propaganda technique designed to evoke and win over the sympathies of an audience when the facts alone fail to convince.  Reuters has employed this technique over many years and in literally hundreds of stories on the Middle East conflict in an effort to manipulate its readers into adopting patronage toward the Palestinian Arabs.

For example, did you know that the Palestinians and their leader Mahmoud Abbas are:

"dejected... hopeless... despondent... pessimistic... crippled... and helpless"?

Sure, just ask Reuters correspondent Tom Perry who explains why the Palestinians are feeling so... well, depressed:

A resumption of Middle East peace talks inspires little hope among Palestinians who say the prospect of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel seems no more than a dream.

And who or what is to blame for this state of despair?  Perry interprets for us:

They say their hopes have been eroded by Israeli policies, the United States' failure to force Israel into concessions and the failings of their own leaders, who have grown ever weaker and more divided since Yasser Arafat's death in 2004.

Perry makes no mention of the unprecedented concessions (quoting Hilary Clinton) issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in acceding to a Palestinian state and in establishing a moratorium on Jewish residential building outside the 1949 Armistice Lines (a right enshrined in the Palestine Mandate).  Concessions that were met with intransigence and further demands by Abbas.

Nor does Perry reference any of the multitude of other concessions and good-faith efforts by Israel, the US, the UN, or the British over the last 80 years to facilitate Palestinian statehood.  Efforts answered by the Palestinian Arabs with the most heinous and savage acts of violence.

And note the absence of any semblance of personal responsibility for the failure to achieve statehood.  After all, it couldn't possibly be an embrace by the majority of Palestinians of the rejectionism, antisemitism and terrorism as endorsed by their elected leaders that has delayed Palestinian nationhood, could it? 

In a story of over 700 words (which includes interviews with six Palestinians), Perry devotes a total of 3 words to reporting on Israeli sentiment surrounding the talks:

... despondency reflects deep pessimism among Palestinians, mirrored in Israel, on the prospects for a new round of U.S.-mediated peace talks that are due to begin in September.

And of course, there are no interviews with Israeli Jews who, in Reuters universe, remain ever anonymous, faceless, and mute.

Black propaganda

Reuters correspondent Nidal al-Mughrabi, who writes fiction masquerading as news, tries his hand again at persuading readers that shops and market stalls in the Gaza Strip are only now receiving goods following the easing of the embargo:

Ramadan, the Muslim holy month where the devout fast by day and feast at night, is different in Gaza this year thanks to the partial relaxation of Israel's blockade, allowing shops to fill with special items for the occasion.

Colourful lines of candies, dairy products, pickles, dates and snacks crowd market stall and shelves of stores in Gaza City's main market that were scantily stocked last year...

Most of the Mediterranean coastal territory's 1.5 million people rely on U.N. food aid trucked in daily from Israel to sustain life, but this consists of necessary staples only.

It's a testament to the power and persistence of Reuters black propaganda efforts on behalf of the Palestinians, that despite the publication of numerous eyewitness accounts in newspapers and hundreds of photos appearing on websites over the last few years evidencing a plentiful supply of both food staples and specialty items in Gaza, the agency's correspondents make no apology for peddling the lie of destitution.  All of the photos below were taken in Gaza in preparation for the month of Ramadan over the years 2007, 2008, and 2009:

Al-Mughrabi follows this mendacious tale of historical food shortages with:

In addition to being short of cash, Gaza suffers a crisis of electricity. Chronic power shortages make most people wary of stockpiling food in freezers. Fresh food merchants worry constantly about their stock rotting in the summer heat.

It's not until six paragraphs down, in the final line of the story, that we can infer (al-Mughrabi does not explicitly say here but explained last week) that the latest power shortages are due, not to Israel, but to payment disputes between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

Reuters goes to Hollywood

On the occasion of the reopening of a cinema in Jenin, Reuters creates a few special effects for its audience.  Characterizing it as a former "outlaw city", correspondent Mohammed Assadi portrays Jenin along the lines of a locale one might visit in a spaghetti western:

The big screen is back in Jenin after a 23-year intermission, marking a fresh start for the West Bank city that was a bastion of armed militias at the peak of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation...

Competing militia groups swaggered around Jenin in their bandoliers during the hardcore days of the second intifada (uprising) that began in 2000. The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat used to call it "Jeningrad".

As Assadi's Hollywood production is rated PG (Palestinian Gratuity), the correspondent edits out any depiction of the bloody atrocities perpetrated by Palestinians who were based in the city alternatively known as the "Martyr's Capital" -- and the 124 Israeli victims of those atrocities:

[Wikipedia] By Israel's count, at least 28 suicide bombers were dispatched from the Jenin camp from 2000–2003 during the Second Intifada.^[11] One of the key planners for several of the attacks was Mahmoud Tawalbe, who worked in a record store while also heading the local PIJ cell.^[3] Israeli army weekly Bamahane attributes at least 31 militant attacks, totaling 124 victims, to Jenin during the same period, more than any other city in the West Bank.^[13]
Prior to the undertaking of the Israeli operation the IDF Spokesman attributed 23 suicide bombings and 6 attempted bombings to Palestinians from Jenin.^[14] Major attacks and suicide bombings linked by Israel to Palestinian militant groups in Jenin included the Matza restaurant suicide bombing.^[4] The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs attributed attacks to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Fatah.^[4]

Assadi does however, direct an appeal to pity on behalf of the Palestinians by focusing his camera lens on the subject of the movie that evening:

Mothballed in the grim atmosphere of 1987, Jenin Cinema was finally reopened on Thursday evening with a screening of "Heart of Jenin", a wrenching documentary that spurred its renovation.

The film tells the story of Ismail Khatib, whose son was shot dead in 2005 by Israeli troops who mistook his toy gun for a real one. The traumatised father, in an unusual gesture of forgiveness, donated the boy's organs to Israeli patients.

A tragedy yes, but one that perhaps could have been avoided if the Palestinians had not declared war on Israel in 2000 and media organizations like Reuters had not fueled that war with sympathetic and lighthearted portrayals of cold-blooded killers.

Reuters reports on UN finding regarding border clash; expediently switches photos

In what must be quite distressing for the agency, Reuters has had to acknowledge that, per the UN, Israel was within its own borders when the Lebanese army opened fire killing an Israeli Lieutenant Colonel and critically wounding another officer.  After reporting on this definitive finding however, Reuters returns to its usual "he said/she said" account of the incident with an amusing non sequitur from the Lebanese Information Minister:

Tareq Mitri said the area where Israel's activity took place was south of the Blue Line "but is Lebanese territory".

Makes perfect sense.

On the same URL where Reuters had published a picture of the Israeli army crane with a caption indicating the agency was in the process of "clarifying" the border location, Reuters has now removed the picture and replaced it with a photo of the crying daughter of a Lebanese soldier killed in the clash.  The not-so subliminal message: The Israelis were technically justified in defending against an unprovoked attack by the Lebanese army BUT... look at the pain and suffering they've caused.

Upstanding journalism.

UPDATE 11:20 AM: In an effort to rationalize the non sequitur above, Reuters edits the original story, adding:

Israel and Lebanon dispute parts of the Blue Line.

To be clear, there is no formal dispute with respect to the UN-drawn border at the point where the violence took place.

Reuters' Perry blames Israel for Gaza woes, evokes Yasser Arafat and Marshall Plan

In an inadvertently amusing piece of pro-Palestinian propaganda, Reuters correspondent Tom Perry pens a tale of destitution and depression in Gaza following the Israeli lifting of the embargo:

Jamal Basala once employed 20 people on his fishing trawler. Today, his access to the sea restricted by Israel, he employs four. He used to earn $5,000 a month. Today, he accepts assistance from aid agencies and can't afford his son's university fees. "I suffer depression," he said.

In the scores of stories Perry has written about the conflict over the last year, we have yet to see him refer once, to the economic distress or psychological trauma suffered by residents of Israeli border communities like Sderot.  Residents who were bombarded by thousands of Palestinian rockets precipitating the Israeli embargo on the Gaza Strip.  Perry fails to even mention the rockets as a factor in the embargo.

Mahmoud al-Hindi, a civil engineering graduate, once hoped for a career in a respected field. Today, more than a year since he graduated, Gaza's decaying economy has yet to provide him with his first job. "You find all the roads closed in your face," he said. "We have lost hope."

Obviously, Mahmoud was not on the Hamas-funded construction teams which recently completed the luxurious Grand Palace Hotel, a two-story shopping mall, the enchanting "Roots" restaurant, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, or the Al Mat-haf Museum and Cultural Center.  That's regrettable for Mahmoud but of course, not Israel's fault.

But where Israel is really to blame, according to Perry, is in making the late great Yasser Arafat into a liar:

The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat pledged to turn Gaza into Singapore on the Mediterranean. Today, four years of sanctions have turned it into something quite different.

Ah yes, because after all, Arafat selflessly devoted his life and European taxpayer wealth to building a Great Society for his people.

Perry then quotes a Palestinian economist who suggests a solution for Palestinian poverty:

"Gaza needs a Marshall Plan," said Palestinian economist Omar Shaban, referring to the U.S. aid plan that jumpstarted Europe's economy after World War Two.

Shaban and Perry apparently don't recall that the Marshall Plan came after the Nazis were defeated -- a triumph which has yet to be duplicated in Nazi-inspired Gaza:

Therefore, you can see them making consistent efforts [in that direction] by way of publicity and movies, curricula of education and culture, using as their intermediaries their craftsmen who are part of the various Zionist Organizations which take on all sorts of names and shapes such as: the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, gangs of spies and the like. All of them are nests of saboteurs and sabotage. Those Zionist organizations control vast material resources, which enable them to fulfill their mission amidst societies, with a view of implementing Zionist goals and sowing the concepts that can be of use to the enemy.

Still, one can always hope for change.

Spin, slant, and sucker

Reuters publishes another one of its infamous "Factbox" series on the Middle East conflict, this time focusing on political risk for the region.  There are so many gross mischaracterizations in this slanted piece, so much misleading and loaded language, it would take a lengthy critical monograph to fully address all of its fatal flaws.  For the time being, we'll simply paste an excerpt with emphasis added followed by our own "clarifications":

ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN DEADLOCK

Peace prospects look bleak, with a rightwing Israeli government dominated by advocates of Jewish settlement on occupied land, the Palestinians weak and divided, and few signs of progress in U.S.-mediated, indirect talks that began in May. Israel deeply angered one-time Muslim ally Turkey when its naval commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists on May 31 in a melee on board an aid ship running an Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, territory run by Hamas Islamists. Turkey's robust rhetoric and downgrading of ties with Israel won it many friends in the Arab world, underlining Ankara's growing diplomatic and economic clout in the region.

- "a rightwing Israeli government dominated by advocates of Jewish settlement on occupied land"

Reuters consistently characterizes the current Israeli government this way as if it were extreme or unique in its view on the future of Israeli communities beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines.  But the fact is, by a large majority, Israelis of all political stripes support settlement construction and even the relatively left-wing Kadima party advocates for a united Jerusalem.  And of course, the current Israeli Defense Minister (and de facto Foreign Minister), Ehud Barak, is a member of the even more extreme left-wing Labour party which itself supports retaining major settlement blocs in the disputed territories.

- "the Palestinians weak and divided"

As an appeal to pity, this facile characterization forms the core of Reuters Palestinian advocacy agenda.  The Palestinians are perpetually portrayed and consequently perceived by the global community as weak, destitute, divided, and oppressed by the Israelis who are alternatively painted as mighty and rapacious, intent on stealing land and keeping the Palestinians disenfranchised.  This false narrative must be maintained at all costs or thousands of journalists, UN agency bureaucrats, and "human rights" jobbers would be plunged out of work.

- "pro-Palestinian activists on May 31 in a melee on board an aid ship"

As is now well-known, dozens of passengers on the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara were armed members of the jihadist group İnsani Yardım Vakfı (IHH).  They had planned violence, prepared weapons, and embraced martyrdom.  The ship itself, carried no humanitarian aid whatsoever.  It's time to end the charade about "activists" and "aid".

-  "Turkey's robust rhetoric"

Nice euphemism; the Turkish Prime Minister has referred to Israel as "a festering boil in the Middle East".  But the Turkish government, which, if it did not dispatch, certainly permitted the Mavi Marmara to sail despite Israel's many exhortations to interrupt it, is clearly complicit in the violence and deaths that resulted from the attacks on the Israeli boarding party.  Yet, in more than 500 stories on the incident appearing on its website, Reuters has yet to even broach this subject.  Perhaps the news agency doesn't wish to arouse Turkish ire.  One never knows what "robust rhetoric" Erdogan might dream up for Reuters correspondents.

Two states for two people? Don't tell the Palestinian children

Reuters illustrates the logical fallacy/propaganda technique of appeal to pity by running a photo of Palestinian children in Gaza with the caption:

Palestinian children hold candles during a protest in Gaza City calling for an end to Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip

A blockade of course, which has been all but lifted except for the import of weapons and war materiel.

Children holding candles is becoming a popular motif in Palestinian/media propaganda photo shoots.  On June 2nd, Palestinian children were similarly deployed in another protest following the Turkish flotilla boarding.  Here's a pic that appeared on the website Demotix:

And here's another Demotix photo of the same protest from earlier in the day:

Notice the image of "Palestine" painted on the cheek of the child on the left.

Reuters photographers apparently missed the greasepaint -- along with the larger message.

Still no humanitarian crisis in Gaza; Reuters falls back to secondary sources

Reuters correspondent Yara Bayoumy, who fatuously characterizes the jihadists aboard the Mavi Marmara as "activists" while fastidiously referring to the "unsubstantiated Israeli allegations" of the transfer of Scud missiles from Syria to Hezbollah (right!), apparently has no difficulty parroting the Big Lie reportedly advanced by Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN Relief Works Agency:

Israel denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as Palestinians, UNRWA officials and rights advocates maintain.

Notice that Reuters has backed-off the false assertion, appearing in several of its previous stories, that the United Nations itself had accused Israel of causing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.  The news agency is now relying instead on the opinions of "rights advocates" and Filippo Grandi who has also hysterically referred to Gaza as "the world's largest outdoor prison".

With all but weapons and war materiel now making its way through the border with Israel, we expect Reuters will next be consulting with Ismail Haniyeh and Lauren Booth for their views on whether there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Questions and appeals to pity

With assistance from Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters correspondent Douglas Hamilton presents a "Q&A" on the Gaza blockade.  Hamilton, who has previously demonstrated that he cares not a jot for the well-being of the Palestinian Arabs except when he can exploit them as a weapon of propaganda against Israel, employs the Question and Appeal to Pity Answer format to demonize Israel and sanitize Hamas:

WHY IS GAZA UNDER BLOCKADE?
Because it is under the control of the militant Islamist movement Hamas, which does not accept Israel's right to exist and remains committed to armed resistance. The blockade was conceived three years ago as a way of suffocating popular support for Hamas, but the strategy has not worked. Hamas remains firmly in power and the blockade is denounced by critics as a form of collective punishment.  [emphasis ours]

Hamilton and al-Mughrabi are violating the Reuters code of ethics here by attempting to cloak in the euphemism "armed resistance", Hamas' proclaimed mission to eradicate Israel and exterminate the Jews.  And the Reuters pair conveniently ignore the 8,000 rockets and mortars launched in support of that mission by Hamas which precipitated and necessitated the Israeli blockade.

Let's not forget too, that Hamas received their mandate to rule Gaza from the Palestinian people in elections, so the charge by anonymous "critics" of "collective punishment" is indistinguishable from a claim for example, that NATOs bombing of Serbia to halt the ethnic cleansing of Muslims by Slobodan Milošević represented "collective punishment".  In both cases, non-combatants suffered for their elected leaders' militancy and gross violations of international and humanitarian law.  Indeed, Israel's embargo has been far more humane.

Reuters again:

WHO DECIDES WHAT GETS IN AND OUT OF THE ENCLAVE?
Israel alone decides on what is openly allowed to cross the closed borders of the Gaza Strip. Most commercial goods are banned. Humanitarian aid is allowed in. Gaza smugglers have dug hundreds of underground tunnels to Egypt on the southern border where contraband of all sorts, including weapons, is smuggled in. Gaza residents say they particularly miss ice cream, Coca-Cola and instant coffee that used to be brought in from Israel.  [emphasis ours]

This is false.  Egypt also maintains a blockade on Gaza and decides what is allowed to go in and out -- which explains the smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian side of the border.  We do however, appreciate the previous reference to "collective punishment" when it comes to the Palestinians missing out on Israeli ice cream.

Hamilton and al-Mughrabi continue:

SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
The United Nations aid agency charged with supporting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says people with power and money in Gaza can obtain "anything they want" via the tunnels. "There are lots of things to buy. But this stuff is out of reach of the abject poor," said spokesman Chris Gunness. The number of Gazans unable to afford sufficient food has risen threefold in the past year to 300,000.  [emphasis ours]

This is a very interesting figure.  300,000 Gazans represents about 20 percent of the total population.  With all attention focused by Reuters on Palestinian hardship, we never see reported, within the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict, the fact that 25 percent of the Israeli population lives in poverty with one in three children going to bed hungry.  Although the causes of poverty are numerous and complex, the fact that Israel has had to allocate immense national resources to defend against unremitting Arab military threats and terrorism over the last 62 years clearly plays a significant and adverse role in the nation's ability to feed its poor.  Absent the perennial presence of United Nations aid agencies and a sympathetic world media enjoyed by the Palestinians, Israel makes due without promoting its hardships.