The IDF is committing a war crime, but not a word on Israeli broadcast media
The most important thing currently happening in Israel is the ethnic cleansing carried out by the state in the northern Gaza Strip. But during about six hours of prime-time news programs, not a single bloody word was said about it on any channel. ■ And this ethnic cleansing is taking place against the backdrop of a complete media blackout on Israel’s broadcast media. ■ The media is failing in its job and cooperating in hiding a war crime
By Rogel Alpher • Translated by Sol Salbe
Four major news broadcasts were aired in Israel on Monday evening. In total, this is about six hours of television reporting on everything that informed Israelis have the right and duty to know about. It’s the reality they need to know they live in it and that they, as a collective, shape. The most important thing currently happening in Israel is the ethnic cleansing carried out by the state in the northern Gaza Strip. This transfer [the long-standing Israeli euphemism] is a war crime and a crime against humanity committed by IDF soldiers — on behalf of all citizens of the country. On behalf of Channel 11 viewers, Channel 12 enthusiasts, Channel 13 supporters and Channel 14 loyalists. In the name of E*V*E*R*Y*O*N*E.
But during about six hours of prime-time news programs, not a single bloody word was said about it on any channel. There were no reports that the IDF was besieging the northern Gaza Strip. It has not been reported that the IDF is starving the population of the area and prodding them to move south. It was not reported that it is obvious to everyone that residents of the northern Gaza Strip would not be allowed to return. The sole purpose of the transfer is to prepare the ground for the construction of settlements in the northern Gaza Strip and the annexation of the region. This is inconsistent with the demand of the entire international community for an end to the war, reconstruction of Gaza, a full withdrawal of the IDF to the recognised border, and the return of the population. And it is inconsistent with Hamas’ demands for letting go of the abductees.
And this ethnic cleansing is taking place against the backdrop of a complete media blackout on Israel’s broadcast media. Many Israelis just don’t know. Dictatorial regimes like to work in the dark, and in the northern Gaza Strip there is no free media, and hardly any media at all. The mass killing of innocent Gazan civilians in the northern Gaza Strip, including children, is reported in a truncated fashion as despicable rumours spread by Hamas and adopted as its own by the global antisemitic media conglomerate.
But lo and behold, the day after the media silence on the issue, Giora Eiland, the progenitor of the siege and starvation plan, announced in the studio that “the northern Gaza Strip has been besieged for a long time,” and again suggested evacuating “all civilians.” He explained that this was the most legitimate thing in war. It is as legitimate as slicing vegetables to make a salad. According to him, it will be possible to trade in the northern Gaza Strip in exchange for the abductees. Does it seem to him that after the transfer, when the land is ready for settlements, Netanyahu and the Kahanists will return the territory in exchange for abductees?
Oh, not really. He, too, predicts that “little by little, the northern Gaza Strip, including Gaza City… They will become some distant dream. Just as they forgot Ashkelon [Askalan], they will forget this region as well.” A vision of transfer and annexation. And it happens. As we speak. Gaza City becomes Ashkelon. It’s just not reported. Because the media is failing in its job and cooperating in hiding a war crime. And because everyone is denying it. The army, the regime, and even the plan’s architect himself, who insisted that the Americans were wrong, and that what is now being implemented in Jabaliya is not his plan. The Americans are not wrong. Like the Judicial Coup, ethnic cleansing is creeping toward its criminal goal.
