A Sydney Morning Herald op-ed by anti-Israel activists George Browning and Sivan Barak entitled “Palestinians undefeated as Israel celebrates 70th anniversary” addresses violent clashes on the Gaza border, casting Palestinians in the role of peaceful protesters and the IDF as aggressive killers.
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What’s really happening?
Terrorists are using protesters as cover and as human shields while they attempt to infiltrate into Israel, threatening the safety of nearby communities. In building their news themed-fantasy, the authors entirely hide this very real threat.
Initially terrorists tried to breach Israel’s border while opening gunfire on the IDF. This was followed by further breach attempts using: plastic explosives, IEDs (some attached to kites that were flown into Israel), Molotov cocktails, burning tires, and the list goes on and on and on…
HonestReporting addressed some of the critical context in this video:
The authors make no mention of any of this context.
Instead, the article states, as if it were established fact:
Israel’s response has been to try and crush the demonstrations while keeping the death toll below a level that would provoke international condemnation.
Really?
No Israeli source has said such a thing, nor do Israel’s reactions reflect such an approach.
To the contrary, throughout these events, Israel’s stated policy is, and has always been as follows:
The IDF will not allow any harm to the security infrastructure or security fence and will continue standing by its mission to defend and ensure the security of the citizens of Israel and Israeli sovereignty, as necessary.
The policy says nothing about crushing demonstrations, nor anything about killing and avoiding international condemnation. It is merely a policy of defending the safety of Israel and of Israelis.
So from where do George Browning and Sivan Barak come to their dramatic conclusions? Perhaps they are mind-readers? Perhaps they are privy to information unknown to the entire rest of the world?
The article goes on to claim:
Medics in Gaza report an unusually high number of amputations caused by an “exploding bullet” that pulverises bone, tissue and arteries.
The referenced source is IMEMC.org, an agenda driven, Palestinian web site (not a news publication) which states:
…Israeli forces are shooting at demonstrators with a new type of round – never seen before – known as the “butterfly bullet”…
There’s a reason why the “butterfly bullet” has never been seen before: it doesn’t exist.
At least not to the knowledge of…anyone. This fantastical invention has not been reported in any mainstream press, it has not been seen, photographed, nor written about by any expert anywhere. In fact, the only indication of its existence is the Gaza Ministry of Health: an arm of Hamas, which is an internationally recognized terror organization and notoriously non-credible.
Bogus bolstering
To bolster their hallucinatory claims, Browning and Barak embark on a tirade of the standard anti-Israel talking points, long discredited stories and hateful tropes. Any professional newspaper editor should take care to not publish such obviously false and misleading diatribes, even in an opinion column.
Ethics
In an op-ed an author may express his or her own opinion, but is not permitted to simply make up untrue “facts.” Nor may an author assign thoughts or motivations to others without basis.
In this case, the Sydney Morning Herald has not published an op-ed, but a work of fiction that breaches all boundaries of professional ethics, and grossly misinforms its readers.
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Cover image: Vecteezy.com and Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90 with modifications
