On May 2, 2003, British TV news cameraman James Miller was shot and killed in the Rafah refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip portion of the Occupied Territories.
Israeli soldiers had been shooting in Miller's direction at that time, but the Israeli military claimed that Miller had been "killed in crossfire"-- that he'd been killed by Palestinians, not Israelis.
Now there is persuasive autopsy, video and audio evidence which make it seem near certain that Miller was killed by the Israeli military, and that there might have been no "crossfire" whatsoever.
So Israel has taken a bold new step to deal with the recent outbreak of shootings of foreigners by its own soldiers in the Occupied Territories:
Well, that's not how Israel phrases it, but let's call a spade a spade. If you sign a document that "absolv[es] the army from responsibility if it shoots [you]", then the army is under no legal obligation to not shoot you. Once you sign the document, it is ok for Israeli soldiers to shoot and kill you as soon as you set foot in the West Bank or Gaza.
To enter these zones, you must also declare that you are not a peace activist, you cannot come near Jewish settlements inside the Territories, and cannot enter areas declared "military zones" by the Israeli military.
This new policy has several very obvious goals:
- shift blame for any accidental deaths of foreigners from the military to the victims themselves. You signed the waiver, if you get killed, there's no one to blame but yourself.
- cripple or destroy the International Solidarity Movement. ISM is a group of peace activists who put their bodies on the line to protect Palestinians who might otherwise be attacked or killed by trigger-happy Israeli soldiers. The keystone of the ISM's activity is that the soldiers would be less likely to kill "internationals" than they would be to kill Palestinians, because of the potential international controversy it could cause. This new policy neatly removes this keystone.
- eliminate negative press coverage of Israeli operations in the Occupied Territories by frightening journalists away or by outright banning them from the hot zones. Foreign journalists are not allowed in the "military zones," and can now only enter the rest of the Palestinian areas accepting a much greater threat of physical harm.
That ain't good.
Do I have to point out how ridiculous and immoral all that is? Nah, I think y'all are capable of auto-generating your own outrage.
While on the topic, I should probably remind you about a section of my site here called Reports from Palestine. Last summer, my friend Garrick Ruiz and his friend Tamara Rettino spent months in the Occupied Territories as part of the ISM. They both sent back regular email reports about their experiences. Anyone who feels that Israel is justified in its actions towards the Palestinians should certainly give this a read, because it shows the other side with a deep, personal touch (Garrick's reports are often fueled by disgust and anger, Tamara's more by shock and grief). I can't condone terrorist attacks on Israel, but it seems quite obvious to me (partially made apparent by these two's personal reports) that the Israelis are carrying out a grossly immoral repression against the Palestinians, the vast majority of whom pose no threat and are guilty of no crime.
Ok, this proves Holocaust really happened. Mr. Sharon has learned a lot from nazi germans and is becoming more efficient than his teachers.
Posted by: Joe at May 11, 2003 03:42 PMAs many have pointed out, the SCLM style guide specifically says: If Palestinians kill someone it's an "attack", "murder" and/or "terrorism", but if an Israeli kills someone it is either "in retaliation" and/or the person was "killed in crossfire".
Posted by: Z at May 13, 2003 09:39 PMLying Media Bastards is both a radio show and website. The show airs Mondays 2-4pm PST on KillRadio.org, and couples excellent music with angry news commentary. And the website, well, you're looking at it. Both projects focus on our media-marinated world, political lies, corporate tyranny, and the folks fighting the good fight against these monsters. All brought to you by Jake Sexton, The Most Beloved Man in America ®. contact: jake+at+lyingmediabastards.com |
Media News |
November 16, 2004Tales of Media WoeSenate May Ram Copyright Bill- one of the most depressing stories of the day that didn't involve death or bombs. It's the music and movie industries' wet dream. It criminalizes peer-to-peer software makers, allows the government to file civil lawsuits on behalf of these media industries, and eliminates fair use. Fair use is the idea that I can use a snippet of a copyrighted work for educational, political, or satirical purposes, without getting permission from the copyright-holder first. And most tellingly, the bill legalizes technology that would automatically skip over "obejctionable content" (i.e. sex and violence) in a DVD, but bans devices that would automatically skip over commericals. This is a blatant, blatant, blatant gift to the movie industry. Fuck the movie industry, fuck the music industry, fuck the Senate. Music industry aims to send in radio cops- the recording industry says that you're not allowed to record songs off the radio, be it real radio or internet radio. And now they're working on preventing you from recording songs off internet radio through a mixture of law and technological repression (although I imagine their techno-fixes will get hacked pretty quickly). The shocking truth about the FCC: Censorship by the tyranny of the few- blogger Jeff Jarvis discovers that the recent $1.2 million FCC fine against a sex scene in Fox's "Married By America" TV show was not levied because hundreds of people wrote the FCC and complained. It was not because 159 people wrote in and complained (which is the FCC's current rationale). No, thanks to Jarvis' FOIA request, we find that only 23 people (of the show's several million viewers) wrote in and complained. On top of that, he finds that 21 of those letters were just copy-and-paste email jobs that some people attached their names to. Jarvis then spins this a bit by saying that "only 3" people actually wrote letters to the FCC, which is misleading but technically true. So somewhere between 3 and 23 angry people can determine what you can't see on television. Good to know. Reuters Union Considers Striking Over Layoffs- will a strike by such a major newswire service impact the rest of the world's media? Pentagon Starts Work On War Internet- the US military is talking about the creation of a global, wireless, satellite-aided computer network for use in battle. I think I saw a movie about this once... Conservative host returns to the air after week suspension for using racial slur- Houston radio talk show host (and somtime Rush Limbaugh substitute) Mark Belling referred to Mexican-Americans as "wetbacks" on his show. He was suspended for a couple of weeks, and then submitted a written apology for the racial slur to a local newspaper. But he seems to be using the slur and its surrounding controversy to boost his conservative cred with his listeners. Stay Tuned for Nudes- Cleveland TV news anchor Sharon Reed aired a story about artist Spencer Tunick, who uses large numbers of naked volunteers in his installations and photographs. The news report will be unique in that it will not blur or black-out the usual naughty bits. The story will air late at night, when it's allegedly okay with the FCC if you broadcast "indecent" material. The author of this article doesn't seem to notice that Reed first claims that this report is a publicity stunt, but then claims it's a protest against FCC repression. I'd like to think it's the latter, but I'm not that much of a sucker. More Media News |
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Snapshots |
Mission: MongoliaJake's first attempt at homemade Mongolican barbecue: Failure. What went right: correctly guessing several key seasonings- lemon, ginger, soy, garlic, chili. What went wrong: still missing some ingredients, and possibly had one wrong, rice vinegar. Way too much lemon and chili. Result: not entirely edible. Plan for future: try to get people at Great Khan's restaurant to tell me what's in the damn sauce. |