Today's New York Times features an article entitled, "Cameras Emerge as a Tool in a Conflict Over Land". A more apt headline might have been, "Cameras Emerge as a Weapon in Conflict Over Land".
The story focuses on an initiative undertaken by B'Tselem, a controversial Israeli human rights organization, providing Arabs living throughout Judea and Samaria with video cameras enabling them to document violent attacks against them.
The article then shares with us the immediate success of the initiative:
Are there no other people in all of Israel who know how to say "leave" in Hebrew, aside from the Jews of Hebron?
Is it not possible that those against the presence of Jews throughout Judea and Samaria, whether out of political or ideological motivations, could have simply put on masks and carried out the actions described in the article, knowing full well that their actions were being filmed and would be broadcast around the world, further demonizing those referred to as "settlers"?
In the end, we are left with an article presuming guilt on members of the Jewish community of Hebron, with little actual evidence to back it up, aside from the fact that the masked men spoke Hebrew, and the incident took place with a "settlement" in the background.
Of course, this is hardly the first instance of such an approach by the international media to run with anything that could portray Israel in a negative light. One only need look at the coverage of the killing of Mohammed Al-Dura, back in September 2000. For nearly 8 years, this event has been used to portray the IDF as an oppressive army, deliberately targeting children. The fact that a recent ruling in a French court shows that to be highly unlikely does little to change that perception.
Too little, too late.
At this point, it hardly matters whether the masked men were "settlers" or not, because the guilty verdict has already been handed down by an international media willingly allowing itself to be used as a weapon of mass production against the Jewish State, in order to drive the Jewish people from their Homeland.
The story focuses on an initiative undertaken by B'Tselem, a controversial Israeli human rights organization, providing Arabs living throughout Judea and Samaria with video cameras enabling them to document violent attacks against them.
The article then shares with us the immediate success of the initiative:
Muna Nawajaa, one of the two wives of a Palestinian shepherd from Khirbet Susiya, used a handheld video camera to film what appeared to be masked Jewish settlers viciously beating members of her family with clubs — images that have since been broadcast by news networks all over the world.Alongside this quote is the picture featured above, with the caption:
Mrs. Nawajaa, 24, said it was the first scene she had filmed.
A still image from the video that Muna Nawajaa recorded of the attack. The men at the right appear to be Jewish settlers.Similar language is found throughout the article.
Sitting on the floor of a tent in the family’s encampment in mid-June, Imran Nawajaa, 33, a nephew of Khalil Nawajaa, recalled the morning of the attack. He said he was out tending a flock with his young sons when two masked settlers rode up on a tractor and ordered him, in Hebrew, to leave.And again,
The camera captured four lean men, their heads swathed in colorful cloth, striding toward the farmers, clubs in hand. In the background are the whitewashed, red-roofed houses of the settlement.Now, what is it about the masked men in the picture above that makes them appear to be "settlers"?
Are there no other people in all of Israel who know how to say "leave" in Hebrew, aside from the Jews of Hebron?
Is it not possible that those against the presence of Jews throughout Judea and Samaria, whether out of political or ideological motivations, could have simply put on masks and carried out the actions described in the article, knowing full well that their actions were being filmed and would be broadcast around the world, further demonizing those referred to as "settlers"?
“The only weapon we have is the media,” said Khalil Nawajaa...And it is a role that the media seemingly embraces, as can be seen from the fact that Isabel Kershner, who wrote the article for the New York Times, doesn't include any response from the Jewish community of Hebron regarding the incident in question.
In the end, we are left with an article presuming guilt on members of the Jewish community of Hebron, with little actual evidence to back it up, aside from the fact that the masked men spoke Hebrew, and the incident took place with a "settlement" in the background.
Of course, this is hardly the first instance of such an approach by the international media to run with anything that could portray Israel in a negative light. One only need look at the coverage of the killing of Mohammed Al-Dura, back in September 2000. For nearly 8 years, this event has been used to portray the IDF as an oppressive army, deliberately targeting children. The fact that a recent ruling in a French court shows that to be highly unlikely does little to change that perception.
Too little, too late.
At this point, it hardly matters whether the masked men were "settlers" or not, because the guilty verdict has already been handed down by an international media willingly allowing itself to be used as a weapon of mass production against the Jewish State, in order to drive the Jewish people from their Homeland.
