Thursday, February 14, 2013


In article discussed in yesterday's posting ended with the following bit of information:

"In a separate incident Saturday, the Israeli military said soldiers shot at a Palestinian who "tried to infiltrate Israel" from the West Bank. The military said soldiers called on the man to stop, then fired warning shots in the air, and finally fired at his legs when he refused to stop.
Palestinian police said he later died of his wounds.
It was the second shooting death on the borders with the Palestinian territories in two days. On Friday, Palestinian officials in the Gaza Strip said a man was shot and killed near the coastal territory's border fence. The Israeli military said he was part of a group that rushed the fence to damage it."

In both cases the youths who were shot and killed were unarmed. In neither case did they pose a real threat to the Israeli soldiers who killed them. In both cases they were gunned down by a foreign occupier.

Why did CBC omit all these details? Is it because the Israeli authorities that CBC loves to quote as legitimate sources prefer not to mention these details? At least the fact that they were unarmed and posed no real threat should have been included. CBC chose to omit this important detail. It was a choice that speaks volumes about CBC's objectivity on the Israel/Palestine issue.

In fact in the 4-day period (Jan 11 – 15), in four separate incidents, 4 unarmed Palestinian youths (ages 17 – 22) were shot and killed by the Israeli military. More details are available here:

http://electronicintifada.net/content/how-media-let-israel-get-away-murder/12107

When Gaza rockets killed 3 Israelis in November 2012, CBC reported on this with full headlines as major news. Why is the killing of 2 young Palestinians treated by CBC in such a cavalier fashion? 

 

In Britain there is an "old newsman's maxim that one Briton dead in a plane crash carries the same interest as 100 Frenchmen and 1,000 people from any developing country."
CBC seems to think that Canadians are Israelis, and that Israelis are of greater value to Canadians than Palestinians. When did Canadians come to see themselves as Israelis?

Are the young lives of Palestinian worth less than Jewish lives for CBC? The Palestinians are the occupied and oppressed people, not the Israelis. Normally Canadian sympathize with the underdog, and would abhor the ruthless shooting of unarmed youths. Is CBC unaware of this Canadian bias?
 
Have you noticed how often Israeli authorities are quoted in CBC articles? Do Israeli authorities deserve to be given so much credibility? We have heard that "truth is the first casualty of war", so it follows that the claims of people who are always at war, like the Israelis, should not be treated as reliable or credible. CBC does not afford the spokespeople of other belligerent countries (except perhaps the USA) with the same degree of respect. Why does CBC think Israeli spokespeople are so credible and quotable?
 
CBC is clearly favouring, amplifying and echoing the "weaponized words" coming from Israel on a routine basis.

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