Posted on 04/18/2002 3:45:55 PM PDT by pabianice
The Massacre That Wasn't
A headline in today's London Independent promises "Fresh Evidence of Jenin Atrocities." The evidence? An autopsy conducted on a Palestinian man killed at the "refugee camp" found that he had been shot twice, once in the foot and once in the back. Oh, and a Scottish doctor says: "It is not believable that only a few people have been killed, given the reports we have that a large number of people were inside three and four-storey buildings when they were demolished."
That's it. One guy with two bullet wounds and some old "reports" is the extent of the Independent's "fresh evidence." But then the guys at the Independent seem to consider themselves independent from the need for evidence. As we noted Tuesday, they've already declared the Jewish state guilty of "a monstrous war crime" based on nothing more than Palestinian rumors.
A pair of Reuters dispatches from this morning illustrate the peril of relying on residents' claims of Israeli atrocities. The first, which hit Yahoo news at 5:08 a.m. EDT, leads with this news: "Palestinians dug five survivors from the rubble of the shattered refugee camp in Jenin Thursday and said they had heard others crying out for help, witnesses said." But the second, from 8:20 a.m., reports: "Palestinian health officials denied a report that five survivors had been dug from the rubble of Jenin refugee camp Thursday."
No doubt a substantial number of Arabs died in the battle of Jenin; there is, after all, a war on. And when you're dealing with an enemy whose chief tactic is terrorism, it's hard to distinguish between soldiers and civilians, a point this Jerusalem Post report underscores:
The soldiers operated slowly and cautiously, he said, moving from house to house. "We covered 600 meters in three days due to the intense gun battles," [Hagai Tal, an Israeli soldier who is also a Post employee] said. "In one of the buildings we entered we found two women and children who were screaming and yelling. We offered them sweets and then placed them in one of the rooms in accordance with regulations.
"One of the women told us there was no one else in the house, but when we told them to remain in the room she called out to her husband that soldiers were inside and told him to run away. They began shooting at us--soldiers in a house opposite opened fire and killed them," said Tal.
I couldn't help but wonder, "where'd they put the ladder?"
The Lamestream press will believe anything, if you just have a good set of histrionics to go with it.
Broadcasting live RIGHT NOW! "Trueblackman" will be broadcasting his inaugural show on RadioFR! Tonight it's a FREEPFORALL! TBM will be discussing several current issues! Call in with your questions and topics!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.