UPDATE
In a particularly underhand maneuver, The Independent has updated its sub-header, inserting the words “In one example” at the beginning. This in no way fixes the issue. The sub-header is unnecessary, inappropriate and even inflammatory.
You can send your considered complaints about this ridiculous alteration to the sub-header and Robert Fisk’s dubious claims to The Independent – [email protected]
It’s no secret that The Independent consistently demonstrates an anti-Israel obsession. It appears, however, that it isn’t only nasty headlines and agenda-driven story choices that are a feature of The Independent’s behavior.
We were expecting the worst when we saw this sub-header beneath the headline of notorious Israel-bashing columnist Robert Fisk’s latest:
Yet, in a 13-paragraph opinion piece, the allegation relating to Palestinians in the sub-header appears as only one sentence in the penultimate paragraph:
An Italian professor of genetics says that tissue samples from the three-week 2008-2009 Israeli-Hamas Gaza war shows remnants of heavy metals in the wounds of Palestinians, both carcinogenic and teratogenic – which, she said, can lead to cancers and deformed children.
The vast bulk of the article isn’t concerned with Palestinians, Gaza or Israel. In other words, someone in The Independent’s editorial department made a conscious decision to include a sub-header that would appeal to a particular audience.
And it’s not the first time that Fisk has made the claim that Israel is employing “dirty” weapons. Most infamously, back in October 2006, Fisk was given the front page of The Independent to spread the libel that Israel had used uranium-based weapons in southern Lebanon. The charge was swiftly debunked by a panel of experts including representatives from the UN, the International Atomic Energy Agency plus various Lebanese scientific and security personnel.
Yet neither Fisk nor The Independent ever retracted this libel, which remains online both on The Independent’s website and anti-Israel sites.
As for the claim that Palestinians are suffering from long-term effects of war wounds, Fisk might like to consider the hundreds of Israelis who suffered life-changing injuries, and some who still have pieces of shrapnel embedded in their bodies as a result of Palestinian suicide bombs filled with lethal materials.
But we know that wouldn’t appeal to Fisk’s or The Independent’s readers.
