By Peter Crownfield*
Recent media articles have called for an end to ‘half truths’ about what is going on between Israel and Palestine. I agree wholeheartedly with the need for more complete and unbiased reporting, but not more propaganda from the Israeli government.
The latest round of debate was triggered when Israel attacked civilian ships in international waters and then claimed that this is justified under international law because the vessels were trying to break the blockade. That’s an example of the type of half truth used in propaganda—they did not mention that the blockade of Gaza is itself illegal under international law and the Geneva conventions. Dozens of countries throughout the world have condemned the blockade, as have the International Committee for the Red Cross, the U.N. Security Council, Amnesty International, the U.N. Human Rights Council, Jewish Voice for Peace, and even Israeli organizations such as B'Tselem.
But even an acknowledgement that the blockade is illegal wouldn’t give us the full story—international law also requires every effort to protect civilians. Autopsies showed the commandos shot several people in the head at close range, while others were severely beaten. If we seek the whole truth, let’s ask why the Israeli defense forces found it necessary to smash cameras, jam broadcasts from the ship, and confiscate all film and video footage? And why does Israel refuse an impartial fact-finding commission? We heard all kinds of allegations about the passengers being armed terrorists, but they all were released without charge as soon as the Israeli propagandists had framed the issue as defensive.
Some commentators have called the flotilla a ‘cynical public relations stunt’, because tons of aid already flow into Gaza each week. That’s another half-truth: while tons of aid do enter Gaza, it is nowhere near enough for 1.5 million people. Many international aid organizations have determined that the total supplies delivered are only a small fraction of what is needed to sustain the 1.5-million inhabitants of Gaza.
The propagandists are right about one thing, though: the Freedom Flotilla is not just about the cargo; it is also a way to call attention to the plight of people in Gaza—the daily violations of human rights and the urgent health crisis created by the blockade. If that makes it a ‘publicity stunt’, as some have said, so were the Boston Tea Party, Rosa Parks refusing to yield her seat on a segregated bus, and the young conscientious objectors who publicly refuse to serve in the Israeli military.
But isn’t the blockade needed to keep weapons out of Gaza? That’s a commonly-heard claim that generates sympathy for Israel, but it is not the reason for the blockade. (If it were, why would they ban such things as macaroni and even writing paper?) A recently-released Israeli government document secured by Gisha—an Israeli human rights group—refutes this by clearly stating that the purpose of the blockade is to destabilize Gaza with ‘economic warfare’.
U.S. and Israeli politicians love to berate Hamas because it does not renounce all use of violence or unequivocally recognize Israel’s right to exist. I think those are legitimate criticisms, but this is another convenient half-truth: First of all, Israel also refuses to renounce the use of violence—and Israel is much more violent than the Palestinians. A 2007 report from the U.N. stated that 971 Palestinian and Israeli children were killed between September 2000 and July 2007, and 854 [88%!] were Palestinian. (And that’s before the military attack on Gaza at the end of 2008.) And Israel also refuses to recognize Palestine’s right to exist. Yes, they give lip service to the idea of a two-state solution, but they continue to create more and more illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, demolish Palestinian homes and villages, and starve the people of Gaza.
Look at just a few of Israeli’s actions over the last few years: In 2003, an Israeli army bulldozer deliberately ran over U.S. citizen Rachel Corrie as she protested demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza. She was crushed to death. Only one month later, an Israeli military sniper shot British student Tom Hurndall as he tried to lead a group of children to safety; he had severe brain damage that proved fatal. In 2008, Israel broke a long-standing truce—during which rocket fire from Gaza dropped to almost nothing despite the fact that Israel reneged on opening the borders—and then launched a massive assault on Gaza, destroying schools, mosques, and other civilian targets. Just a few weeks ago, the Israeli military assaulted the Freedom Flotilla, with nine dead and scores wounded. And on June 2, Israeli forces shot two tear gas canisters next to a U.S. student protesting the occupation; when she didn’t move, they shot another directly at her face, putting out her eye.
One big part of the problem is that most media in the U.S. offer only minimal coverage of events in Israel and Palestine, and most of that biased and deceptive. Over the past 10 or more years, there has been a clear and persistent pattern of overstating violence by Palestinians while excusing and rationalizing the far greater violence by the Israeli government. They like to pretend that Israeli violence is only a ‘response’ to provocation or violence by the Palestinians, but it would be more accurate (although still not the whole picture) to report that every incidence of Palestinian violence is a response to the cruel and brutal occupation by the Israeli forces.
Most U.S. media and politicians toe the Israeli line and go along with the implication that any criticism of Israel is a form of anti-semitism. But the international media offers far more open and unbiased coverage than we see here in the U.S., and major newspapers in Israel freely publish news and opinion on both sides of the issue. Partly as a result of this coverage, discussion in Israel is far more open than here. Sure, one or two critics might be anti-semitic, but many more are just trying to be honest. And many Israelis are dismayed by their government’s reliance on belligerence and violence—are we to believe they are anti-semitic?
We need to get beyond blind acceptance of the self-serving rhetoric of Israeli (and U.S.) politicians. We need to start basing our policies on facts and real analysis, instead of the half-truths and propaganda that we are being fed. We need the media here to cover the complex issues of Israel and Palestine fully and fairly so we can learn the truth. We need to stand up for peace and oppose the massive use of force to humiliate, dispossess, and kill defenseless people. We need to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
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* Peter Crownfield is a local activist for peace and sustainability. He is a member of LEPOCO and the Alliance for Sustainable Communities–Lehigh Valley and has served on the steering committees of both organizations. Peter also was a co-founder of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee of the Lehigh Valley, the Alliance, and the Collective Memory Project of the Lehigh Valley. He can be reached at peter@sustainlv.org
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