Never confuse the truth with facts

GS Don Morris, Ph.D.

The media, the media, what are we to do. There are so many examples of revisionist news reporting that it often boggles the mind or is so irritating that one could …!
For example, let’s examine CNN’s latest gaffe. The following are but a few samples; make sure you know the facts when you engage in a discussion/conversation regarding the Israeli-Palestinian “Conflict”.

CNN said …

Israel's security barrier has reduced "the flood of tourists [to Bethlehem] to a trickle."

The facts are:

The number of tourists visiting Bethlehem for the Christmas season actually increased dramatically after the security barrier went up between Bethlehem and Jerusalem in December 2005.

“The number of tourists went from approximately 5,000 in 2004 (AP, Ravi Nessman, Dec 25, 2004) to 30,000 in 2005 (AP, Sarah El Deb, December 25, 2005). Tourism decreased to about half that (15,500) in 2006, but this was due to Palestinian in-fighting between Hamas and Fatah (AP, Dalia Nammari, Dec. 25, 2006 ). Now that the in-fighting has been somewhat subdued in the West Bank, tourism is back up. There were approximately 29,000 visitors to Bethlehem this past Christmas season (AP, Dalia Nammari, Dec. 25, 2007).”

CNN said:

“President Bush won't see the hospital wards where babies, just weeks old, are dying because their doctors can't get permission from Israeli authorities to go to Israel for treatment as they did in the past.

The facts are:

Israel has allowed thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to travel into (or through) Israel for medical care since Hamas took over Gaza. According to a November 23, 2007, World Health Organization (WHO) report , 82.5% of the 4,074 patients in Gaza who applied for travel permits out of Gaza on medical grounds received them. And this high approval rate is despite Palestinian terrorists using ambulances, and even patients themselves, to transport explosives into Israel.

CNN said:

“Israel has also severely restricted imports in Gaza to essential humanitarian goods. Four out of every five Palestinians depend on international food aid, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.”

The facts are:

“Regarding Palestinian claims that they lack medical supplies and spare parts, CNN should have reminded its readers that in July 2006, after Palestinians made similar claims, Israel offered to donate to Gaza $11 million dollars worth of such supplies. The Hamas leadership turned down the offer, saying they preferred to have the cash, not the medical supplies.”

CNN said:

“ CNN visited the intensive care unit in Gaza's Nasser Pediatric Hospital. Hospital director, Dr. Anwar Khalil, explained that a third of their incubators have broken down because of a lack of spare parts. The electricity goes out on a regular basis because the power is cut up to eight hours a day after Israel reduced fuel supplies.”
The facts are:

“CNN appears to only want Bush to see scenes of "misery" in the West Bank and Gaza. But why not examine the roots of this misery - the schools, mosques, TV stations, and other sources of extremism and incitement that fan the flames of hatred and violence against Jews, Israel, America and the West in general?

If President Bush is to really understand how the conflict affects both sides, why not encourage him to visit one of the many Israeli hospitals, rehab centers, or mental health facilities treating the thousands of terror victims and their families, whose lives have been forever changed by Palestinian suicide bombers? And how about a tour of Sderot, to see the livelihoods that have been ruined, the bombed homes, and the parents of children murdered by Palestinian Qassam rocket attacks?

Yes, there is misery on both sides of this ongoing “conflict”. I conclude this piece with some statements attributed to a “learned” man. We all look at our world through our own lenses-the question for me is are we willing to examine the structure of our lenses-at least from time to time.

"We are cursed," said Iyad Sarraj, a Gaza psychiatrist and a human rights activist. "Our leaders are either Israeli collaborators, asses, or mentally unstable."

Sarraj warns that what he describes as the siege of Gaza will blow up in the face of Israel in another intifada, or uprising. "From the first intifada, which was only stone throwing, to the second intifada, which brought suicide bombing, the third intifada will be much, much worse, and I suspect that it will be chemical weapons and chemical warfare."

There is no possibility of “peace” if this is the lens one chooses to act upon!

Thanks to CAMERA.