Nov 1 Media Critique: 'Guardians One-Sided Analysis"

Same old same old.

And a rather inauspicious start,

HonestReporting has previously debunked the misleading charge that Gaza is 'under siege'.

Yes, and wasn’t that just hilarious.

So why are HR in a flap this time? It’s over an excellent piece from the Guardians’ Seamus Milne, ‘The siege of Gaza is going to lead to a violent escalation’.

For starters it’s “one-sided”.

A classic case of projection. HR, being such one-eyed partisans of a pro-Israel nature, assume that everyone else shares their motivation - to be a cheer squad for one side against the other. Milne’s piece is a fair and reasonable analysis of where the conflict is headed. HR see a conspiracy lurking in every word, ie use of the word “resistance” means that Milne “reveal[s] where his sympathies lie”.

And of course it is “littered with bias”, ie. it mentions facts that HR don't like.

Milne refuses to hold Hamas responsible for the situation in Gaza. Instead, in a perverse inversion, an increase in Qassam attacks is blamed on Israel.

And why not. Hamas are surely responsible for the 40 yr occupation of Gaza, aren’t they?

Milne also refuses to hold Egypt responsible for restricting access to its border, stating, incorrectly, that "Israel continues to control all access to the Gaza Strip". In any case, Israel, like any other state has every right to exercise border controls, particularly when its neighbor represents a serious security threat.

Oh dear, they are in a muddle. Having just said that Israel has a right to control it’s borders, HR want Milne to lay that same criticism at Egypt as well. Small problem. The Rafah crossing with Egypt is the best access to the outside world the Palestinians have. And Egypt control it at Israels insistence. And the control over borders far exceeds that of normal border control . Israel controls the airspace over Gaza and prevents the Gaza port from operating. That is Occupation, not border control.

Engaging in appalling moral equivalency, Milne states: "Unless Hamas recognised Israel, renounced violence and signed up to agreements it had always opposed, the western powers insisted, the Palestinian electorate would be ignored. No such demands, needless to say, have been made of Israel."

Ah, “moral equivalency”, that meaningless phrase to be deployed whenever you do’t like something but can’t come up with any rational objection.

How “appalling” that Israel might be required to renounce violence and recognize a sovereign Palestinian state. How could anyone imagine that Palestinians are equal to Israelis?

Again, ignoring Palestinian responsibilities and obligations, Milne states that "the Israeli government is resistant to any timetable for statehood - let alone serious negotiation on Jerusalem, refugees and final borders". This, despite increasing controversy within Israel over the concessions that Israeli government ministers have suggested may be on the table at the forthcoming Annapolis conference, particularly relating to the status of Jerusalem.

Yes, there is huge debate within Israel about Jerusalem. The hardliners say ‘an undivided Jerusalem forever’ and the moderates want an undivided Jerusalem, but offer the “concession’ that the Palestinians can have the small suburb of Abu Dis on the outskirts of East Jerusalem as their capital and they can call that ‘East Jerusalem’.

“MORE "BAD NEWS"”

Following on from ‘Bad News from the Netherlands’, there is more delusion from our pro-Israel fanatics that Israels’ problem is not its’ behaviour, but the media reporting of its’ behaviour.

All you have to do is to compare them with 'Bad News From Israel' and you’ll see the reality. On one, you can read stories of drunken Uni students, poor parking, and over tested school children, and on the other discriminatory land laws, an army shooting 8 yr old girls dead, and soldiers telling of how they enjoy beating up women. Can you guess which stories come from Israel and which from the Netherlands?