Eyeless in Gaza

GAZA: The Mass Media Take from THE WEEK 1-16-2009

Thomas Riggins

While the world watches the Zionist massacre of Palestinian children as Gaza is turned into a free fire zone and the US Congress plays the role of cheerleader for barbarism, The Week (a news magazine that prints excerpts from different sources) presents some views about all this from the mass media. Here are 5 opinions two of them seem ok but three of them are outrageous. Most of the press doesn't seem to see what is going on before its nose.

From THE ECONOMIST: “the scale and ferocity of the onslaught on Gaza have been shocking.” [To say the least!] Israel’s actions are out of proportion and it had another option than mass killing. “If Israel had ended the blockade” Hamas could not have used it as a justification for firing rockets.

From the CHICAGO TRIBUNE: “What would be a proportionate response?” [Well a 100 to 1 does seem a little lopsided. The Germans were happy with a 10:1 kill ratio but they were fighting a real army or two]. The Tribune wants Israel to go all the way and wipe out Hamas not just eliminate the rocket attacks. [The plan seems to be to wipe out the people who voted for Hamas.]

From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Max Boot writes that Israel will have to take over Gaza and run it [you can’t trust Arabs to vote the right way] and “If Israel is to continue to exist, it will have to continue to wage low-intensity war [if Gaza is low intensity what is high intensity?] for a long time to come--- possibly centuries.” [There has got to be some problem with your conduct if you have to be at war with your neighbors for centuries. The U.S. has to pay for all this-- lets call the dogs back in-- who let them out?]

From SALON.COM: Gary Kamiya says “burning hatred” is what Israel’s actions produce [burning children too, now that white phosphorous is being dumped on Gaza]. Obama “must make it clear that the blank check is expired." Bush has been to uncritical. [At least he nixed Israel's plan to attack Iran.]

From THE ATLANTIC ONLINE: ROBERT D. KAPLIN informs us that Gaza is not really a territory of Sunni Arabs and a potential part of the Palestinian homeland. It is really a part of Iran. "Israel has, in effect, launched the war on the Iranian empire that President Bush can only have contemplated." It is really Iran that is being attacked. If Israel fails to win the U.S. won't be able to deal with Iran from a position of strength. We must stand up to the expansion of the Empire of Iran. "Now that Israel has launched a war [Kaplan is off message-- Hamas is supposed to have started the war], we need it to succeed." [What does that mean? Send in General Petraeus with a surge of armed settlers from Brooklyn if the IDF can't win?]

Well, that is some of what is in the bourgeois press.