Posted on 05/10/2002 4:02:25 PM PDT by My Identity
When I write a screenplay, I start out with an agenda. I decide who my hero is first and who is the villain. Then I fashion scenes to build my dramatic case and make it believable. That is, I believe, exactly what occurred with regard to at least two reporters, Sheila MacVicar of CNN and Tom Miller of the Los Angeles Times, on Tuesday, April 16 in the Jenin refugee camp.
I was there. I saw everything they saw, I heard everything they heard, I smelled everything they did not smell. And the truth is there was no smell of death on that day, despite what Miller wrote in his feature article of April 21.
Miller needed a smell of death that wasnt there, and MacVicar needed bodies for her story. That was a problem, because absolutely no bodies were found while the press tour, of which we all were a part, was in the Jenin refugee camp. In addition, Miller evidently needed to be seen as an intrepid reporter overcoming Israeli restrictions in order to piece together what really happened.
"What exactly happened in the Jenin camp has been cloaked in mystery, largely because Israel for days banned the entry of rescue workers, journalists and other independent eyes. Reporters who circumvented the restrictions, have pieced together the events of the camp..." Miller wrote in his April 21 article in the Times.
That is very dramatic prose. Unfortunately, where Miller is concerned, it is also untrue. Miller, far from circumventing the restrictions of the Israeli military, rode into the Jenin camp in an Israeli armored personnel carrier with me, courtesy of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
For the record, I am biased. I am an Israeli American who served in the IDF and was, and continue to be, a peace activist, who has held talks with members of the PLO and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine long before Oslo. I have had high-level, and sometimes secret, meetings in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza long before it was legal for an Israeli to do so. I continue to believe that Israel will never have the security it desires without a peaceful Palestinian state next to it, and that the Palestinians will never get the state they want without deciding once and for all to live in peace with Israel.
I went to Jenin to find out what happened there.
"Before the Israeli forces invaded two weeks ago," intoned MacVicar in her lead-in, "this was the crowded center of the Jenin refugee camp. There were apartment houses in twisting, narrow streets, bustling and busy. That neighborhood is now gone, erased by Israeli bulldozers, turned into a river of concrete and twisted steel spreading over two city blocks. Everywhere there is evidence of life interrupted."
Now, let me tell you what there is also evidence of. Before one enters the refugee camp, one passes through the very pleasant little town of Jenin. The entrance to the camp is roughly 100 meters from the rest of the town, which has handsome single-family homes and yards, businesses and apartments. Not a one of those buildings appears to be touched no bullet holes from Israeli machine guns, not one house bulldozed, indeed, not even a broken window anywhere in sight. All this only 100 meters away from the scene of the fighting.
The reason there is no devastation here is quite simple: No one was shooting at the Israeli reservists from these buildings, and so, quite properly, they did not shoot back.
And who lives in these suburban homes? Are they of a different racial stock, perhaps, and thus were spared? Are they Swiss? No. They are the Palestinian Arab residents of the town of Jenin.
The difference between them and those waiting for the reservists in the booby-trapped camp was a very simple one. They were not terrorists. They were not fighters. Those waiting for the reservists in the camp were.
One reservist sensed MacVicars hostility. He was a soft-spoken man who approached her and introduced himself as the reserve units medical officer, Dr. David Zangen. He told her that when the fighting was over, they found photograph albums of children from roughly 6 years of age up through early and mid-teens. It was an album of photos of children who would be the next crop of suicide killers, with notations indicating when each of the children would be ripe. The reporter had no time for the doctor, however.
"Perhaps you should ask yourself why," she said, dismissing him.
"I do, madam," he said, "I ask myself why. I cant imagine it. I cant imagine sending ones child out to be a mass murderer who commits suicide to kill women and children."
"Well, I can explain it," said the reporter. "For me it all comes down to one word, occupation."
"But madam," the doctor said, "Jenin hasnt been occupied for nine years."
MacVicar just turned and walked away. She was looking for scenes of bodies being pulled from the rubble, as will be recalled, and she still hadnt gotten the footage because none had been found that day. Thus, there would have been ample time for the doctors comments, as there would have been space for them in Millers article, but they didnt fit the script.
How did MacVicar solve her body problem? She simply used footage from another day, footage she hadnt shot, one bare foot sticking out from under a piece of rubble, which she had never seen, which had been shot by someone else when the pickings were better.
I am sure MacVicar and Miller have their own version of these events, and Im open to hearing their side of the story, which is more consideration than they offered the doctor.
For a dose of truth: | |
WSJ: The Massacre That Wasn't - Part I http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/668601/posts Non-evidence and Pali fabrication of evidence |
Steyn: The UN is running out of blind eyes to turn http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/669411/posts Interesting link on UN backpedaling |
WSJ: The Massacre That Wasn't - Part II http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/669632/posts Palestinians drop their hyped-up "massacre" charges |
The Massacre That Never Was http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/668572/posts The testimony of pathological liars |
WSJ: The Massacre That Wasn't - Part III http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/672189/posts Hey, Jimmy Carter has an opinion too!! |
There was No Massacre in Jenin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/668650/posts Gullible acceptance of Pali lies tells much |
WSJ: The Massacre That Wasn't - Part IV http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/672160/posts Yet more non-evidence and Pali fabrication of evidence |
NY POST: THE MASSACRE THAT WASN'T http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/667529/posts Peres: There wasn't a house that wasn't booby-trapped |
WSJ: The Massacre That Wasn't - Part V http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/673145/posts The Pali's contradict themselves and blame it on Israel |
Steyn: It's time to snap out of Arab fantasy land http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/669063/posts Some great Oriana Fallaci quotes/links as well |
WSJ: The Massacre That Wasn't - Part VI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/678521/posts Pali grave-digging and UN jury-rigging |
Jenin's 'Massacre' Death Toll Reduced to 56 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/675752/posts Say it slow: Israel told the truth; Palis did not |
An interesting juxtaposition of tales: |
|
Message From An Israeli On The Front Lines http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/673234/posts "Entire families exploded themselves! It was horrific." |
Palestinian Fighter admits: No Massacre in Jenin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/671903/posts 2,000 bombs and booby-traps placed in the camp |
Pediatrician: terrorists used children in Jenin camp http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/670962/posts Doc: IDF did everything possible to avoid civilian harm |
Palestinians Booby-Trap Wheelchair in Jenin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/670810/posts NOTE: The wheelchair was occupied!! |
Jenin War Diary of a Hasidic Soldier - Part I http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/672951/posts Israeli citizen-soldier describes what went on in Jenin |
Massacre Claims Unsupported by Pali Fighters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/675129/posts Pali eyewitnesses all support the Israeli version |
Jenin War Diary of a Hasidic Soldier - Part II http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/678298/posts There is no army as humane as the IDF |
Palestinian fighter's version of the Jenin battle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/672896/posts Pali Plan: Trap Israeli soldiers, then blow them up |
The Yellow Press: Controversy, Yes! Truth, No! |
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Atrocities of the British Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/669206/posts Huge amounts of ink devoted to unverified Pali tales |
Reporters Back Down From 'Massacre' Reports http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/668509/posts World press forced to face the truth: No Massacre |
Jenin: The Big Lie. Fighting the Media War http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/667296/posts World media falls for Goebbels's 'Big Lie' ... again |
How the [L.A.] Times Distorted Jenin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/681552/posts First, you start with an agenda... |
The Media and 'The Massacre' http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/668719/posts Quick to report fantasy, slow to correct errors |
The Big Jenin Lie http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/679694/posts Pali Propaganda Panned Promptly - Thanks FR! |
We're from the UN. We're Here to Help. |
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The Overseers of Jenin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/675737/posts UN runs camps that are centers for terror |
U.N.'s Point Man In Jenin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/673541/posts Arafat's various militias count on Mr. Roed-Larsen |
Guilty until proven guilty http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/675043/posts Surprise! UN has a not-so-hidden agenda |
The Jenin Probe Ends http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/675737/posts UN unhappy about Israel's possible exhoneration |
And so, in conclusion: |
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The 'Jenin Massacre' Hoax http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/677148/posts Living in a world of monstrous moral inversion |
The Phantom Massacre http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/672761/posts War Crimes in Jenin were committed by the Palis |
Terrorists admit they carried out atrocities http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/679306/posts Fanatics use women, children, old men, cripples |
Jenin's War Criminals http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/675340/posts What the Palestinians did was the real war crime |
The Criminal News Network |
Remember Jane there is another news source now ......people are seeing thru the bias on CNN...
BUMP!
But you know the drill. Journalism is negative and superficial for business reasons--they'll be (gasp!) ignored if they don't find scary reports to sling out at us. Or if their reports are well-considered and moderate, meaning that it takes time and perspective to create them, leaving them vulnerable to being scooped.The "massacre at Jenin" is the Rodney King police brutality case. No contrary evidence is acceptable since police brutality makes a "great" (too scary to ignore) story. And since the Israelis are a nation of liberals who've been mugged, they're too much like American conservatives to require any trial before sentencing.
LOL Bump.
LA Times = liberal rag. Not even useful to line your parrot's cage with -- too insulting to the bird.
-- A Former Angelino
When I would visit my brother ... who lived near Los Angelos ... I would read the LA Times ... and feel the need to wash my hands ... and not because of the newsprint ... feh ... ...
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