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The Media's Palestine Narrative Reads Like Fan Fiction
(Weekly Standard) Matthew R.J. Brodsky - During the recent events in Gaza, the prevailing narrative was that strong-armed Israelis were shooting and killing unarmed peaceful Palestinian protesters, when in fact there were a series of violent riots planned by Hamas as cover while they attempted to breach the security fence, pour into Israel, and kidnap or kill Israelis. News outlets simply rationalize facts away. The Palestinians waving machetes in Gaza don't really want to kill Israelis; they're just props. Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas Political Bureau chairman who runs Gaza didn't mean it when he led chants at the May 11 riots: "Khaybar, Khaybar, oh, Jews! The Army of Mohammed has begun to return!" Sure, it may refer to the wholesale Muslim slaughter of Jews near Medina in the year 628, but it's probably just a figure of speech. After 70 years of a failed strategy to secure their statehood in place of Israel, Palestinian leadership would still rather use its population as cannon fodder for a media stunt and its reconstruction aid for building terror tunnels than devote resources to building the institutions necessary to run a state and provide for its people.