Gaza War: 4 Media Myths to Be Wary Of
December 27, 2008 23:10 by BackSpin EditorNow that Israel's fighting back in Gaza, here are four media myths to be on the lookout for.
Myth 1) Israel's response to the rockets is disproportionate and excessive.
When measuring a response to an enemy in wartime, you don't just consider the amount of force needed to end the immediate threat. You weigh in the need to deter future attacks. Anything less sets you up for a war of attrition. Richard Cohen of the Washington Post summed this up best in 2006:
For Israel, a small country within reach, as we are finding out, of a missile launched from any enemy's back yard, proportionality is not only inapplicable, it is suicide. . . It is not good enough to take out this or that missile battery. It is necessary to reestablish deterrence: You slap me, I will punch out your lights.
Myth 2) Hamas merely wants to break the siege of Gaza.
Uh, rockets have been fired from Gaza since 2001. They were fired at Israel both before and after disengagement. They were fired during periods of time when the Palestinian Authority "controlled" Gaza, and they've been fired since Hamas took over. Just about any excuse has been a reasonable pretext to fire rockets at Israel.
Myth 3) This is just an escalation in a "cycle of violence."
If you really believe that the Israeli-Gaza fighting is simply a "cycle of violence," then you'll take this argument to its logical conclusion just as The Economist did in March:
In the preceding weeks exchanges of Palestinian rockets and Israeli missile attacks on Gaza, in which cause and effect had merged into a seamless continuum, had intensified.
"Cycles" and "seamless continuums" don't have clear beginnings and ends. Muddying the waters makes it harder for the outside observers to judge a constantly changing situation, which benefits the bad guys launching the rockets. The language encourages further terror.
Myth 4) The camera doesn't lie.
Yes it does. Palestinian photojournalists have Hamas press credentials just like the other stringers the Western papers rely on. Lenny David already raises the possibility of AP "fauxtography."
Dotan Mazor
12:25 pm
Dec 28, 2008
Finally someone who’s willing to say it out loud:
Israel is fighting back.
Thanks!
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Runforfun54
3:27 pm
Dec 28, 2008
Good job … too bad this can’t get into the mainstream media or the left wing blogosphere.
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Di
7:19 pm
Dec 28, 2008
Xcuse me boss, I think you went very far with your thoughts that they are now myths by themselves. I disagree on two points the first and the last. Israel’s response is indeed disproportionate and excessive and the camera doesn’t lie. Apparantly you didn’t see the footage from Gaza, dead bodies are stacked in the streets, second, Israel could have shut up these rockets by simpler techniques through their allies here and there as they was doing always. Now they want to erase Hamas, and more important, they wanna shine their image in front of the Israeli voter. They even forgot about their prisoner with Hamas, SHalit.
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Firmbeliever1
7:09 am
Dec 29, 2008
William Tecumseh Sherman’s timeless words should resound in the ears of Israel’s leaders: “War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.”
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Xav
11:12 am
Dec 29, 2008
human race should be wiped off the face of the earth- This is the only thing that comes to my mind when reading ur words. I really feel so sorry for you
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rima
4:54 pm
Dec 29, 2008
In a time where there’s no such thing as “free media”, neither you, nor I, have the ability to classify what we hear and see as myths or facts.
You can keep quoting Israel-pro media, and another can quote Palestine-pro media, but we will get no where.
It is true we are living in a world where you find yourself surrounded with up-to-date news everywhere you go, but still, none of it is the “whole story”.
Millions believe in what you just labeled as myths, and here’s some photos that, in my opinion, don’t lie.
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