The ABC鈥檚 on October 16 featured a segment on the corporate media鈥檚 coverage of Israel鈥檚 assault on Gaza.
Host Paul Barry made the wildly understated observation that 鈥渋nitially we saw little protest from the Western media or [United States] President Joe Biden, who is right behind Israel鈥.
In fact, the 鈥淲estern media鈥 was and is enthusiastically cheerleading Israel鈥檚 genocidal attacks. Its main method is to focus attention on Hamas and its alleged brutalities.
Barry highlighted the particularly lurid allegation, initially raised by an Israeli journalist, that Hamas had beheaded babies.
This unimaginably horrific claim cannot be taken seriously without evidence. and the .
Barry cast doubt on the allegation, however, he left the question hanging after asserting that the 鈥渟tory was confirmed by Israel鈥 only for 鈥渢hat claim to be contradicted鈥.
In other words, he left it as claim and counter claim.
Israel is notorious for telling outright lies about its occupation atrocities. Take, for instance, about the May 2022 killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
It is just one compelling and typical example. Israel falsely accused Palestinians as being responsible for shooting Abu Akleh, lied about where she was standing and eventually admitted it 鈥渕ay have been鈥 an Israeli soldier that shot her, by聽accident.
Later that Israeli soldiers shot her and that it was deliberate.
Hamas should not be let off the hook for any war crimes. However, Israeli assertions about Hamas鈥 鈥渟avagery鈥 needs to be scrutinised.
An Israeli woman聽who survived the October 7 Hamas assault on settlements near the Gaza border聽 that the Israeli military 鈥渦ndoubtedly鈥 killed their own citizens.
鈥淸Hamas] did not abuse us, they treated us very humanely,鈥 she told Israeli radio. The killings only began hours later when Israeli soldiers turned up. Nobody was executed according to her testimony, although people were killed when a 鈥渧olley of bullets鈥 began 鈥渟uddenly鈥 after Israeli soldiers arrived.
In the Media Watch segment, Barry reserves special criticism for social media like X (formerly Twitter) and the Murdoch media, which undoubtedly deserve to be condemned for spreading misinformation.
However, in framing his piece this way, Barry helps launder the reputations of the non-Murdoch 91自拍论坛 of the establishment media.
He wants to credit them for recognising that 鈥渁s the week wore on, the plight of civilians in Gaza became more obvious and more desperate鈥.
Reporting the plight of civilians is not the same as scrutinising Israeli lies, holding Australian MPs to account for supporting Israeli war crimes and telling the truth about Israel鈥檚 attempted genocide of Palestinians.
鈥淕enocide鈥 is the right word to use.
Within days of the October 7 surprise break-out from Gaza, led by Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was using terms such as聽鈥渂rutal savages鈥 and 鈥渢errorists鈥 to describe Hamas and, implicitly, the people of Gaza. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called them 鈥渉uman animals鈥.
Dehumanising聽language is used by the Zionist government to justify its policy of ethnic cleansing.
Israel initially ordered people to leave Gaza within 24 hours, even though they had no means of escape.
Raz Segal, an Israeli expert on the topic, 聽on October 16 that Israel鈥檚 assault on Gaza is a 鈥渢extbook case of genocide鈥.
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