U.S. Media and Israel

Americans deserve a Flotilla Factcheck: the New York Times allows Israeli propaganda minister to justify the Mavi Marmara massacre

by David Morris on June 8, 2010

With predictable chutzpah, the U.S. media characterized last week’s Gaza Aid Flotilla as an act of aggression that supposedly threatened the very existence of the nation of Israel.

The New York Times ran Israeli ambassador Michael Oren’s “An Assault on Israel, Cloaked in Peace” op-ed, arguing that piracy and killings by the Israeli government was “regrettable” but wholly justified.

The news we Americans received on the massacre seemed written by an Israeli propaganda minister — in fact, some of it was. The Israeli army generously provided our TV networks with a carefully edited video of their attack, which the evening news dutifully broadcasted.

Long-distance images of civilians defending themselves against commando killers (including a woman brandishing a deck chair) were presented as evidence of armed resistance. The fabrications knew no shame. The imprisonment in Gaza of an Israeli soldier four years ago was cited as justification for executing nine peace activists, two shot in the back of the head at point-blank range.

Once again, the U.S. media failed to serve the America people by denying us fair, objective reporting of events in the Middle East. Whatever moral authority America once held in the world has now vanished.

What do you think about the Flotilla coverage?

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