What is with the MSM and its credulous acceptance of Hamas propaganda? Time magazine captioned the above photo:
“Blackout: The Israeli embargo has left the Gaza Strip without electricity. The Palestinian Parliament was forced to meet by candlelight on Tuesday night.”Except look at the window and the door and you'll see this photo was taken in broad daylight. Time has since corrected the caption to indicate this was "symbolic." I think the word they're looking for is "faked for benefit of easily fooled or collaborationist Westerners."
Hamas is blaming Israel for a loss of power in Gaza, but in fact it's Hamas that shut the power off. Which wouldn't have been to hard to find out if any journalist cared to investigate. Or heck, just greet the claims of terrorists with the same skepticism with which they greet anything President Bush says. Noah Pollack writes:
The terrorists of Hamas may be brutal, but they understand how to wage war in the media far better than the Israelis do. They knew the fact that Israel had never cut the electricity to Gaza or even reduced it was entirely beside the point, and would probably not be investigated by reporters–and they understand that images of people sitting in darkness with their faces illuminated by candlelight are visually compelling and can do more to convince the world of Palestinian victimization than a hundred press releases could ever accomplish.Yes it would, and ditto WaPo, Time and everyone the heck else. And while we're at it, remember those photos of Arafat giving blood for the victims of 9/11? Staged. To counter the damaging images of Palestinians dancing in the streets. (The story doesn't mention it, but as a probable AIDS patient, he could hardly give blood could he?)Yet the fact remains that the speciousness of this story is readily available to anyone with an internet connection and a basic sense of skepticism and curiosity. But that hasn’t stopped the rigorously fact-checked exemplars of the MSM from repeating it. Here is yesterday’s New York Times editorial:
We are deeply concerned about the many innocent Israelis who live along the border with Gaza and must suffer through the constant bombardment. But Israel’s response—shutting off power and other essential supplies—is a collective punishment that will only feed anger and extremism.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the Times editorialists could become deeply concerned with getting their facts straight?
Curtsy: Powerline
