[Jerusalem Post] David Horovitz - On March 2, at the height of Israel's military effort to prevent the rocketing of its civilians within range of Gaza, I watched journalist Al Scardino review the early editions of British newspapers live in the studio at Sky News, a 24-hour news network widely viewed across Europe and beyond. Scardino firmly and confidently informed viewers that the Israeli targets coming under rocket attack [Ashkelon, Sderot] were situated beyond Israel's sovereign borders. These were areas that the international community did not consider part of Israel, he said, but that Israel claimed nonetheless. Scardino also confidently asserted that at least 100 Palestinians civilians had been killed in the Israeli fire, creating the misconception among his viewers that the primary victims of Israel's response, indeed quite possibly the only victims, were civilians. The territory being attacked by the Gaza rocket crews is not, of course, disputed by the international community. It is not beyond Israel's borders, but is sovereign Israeli territory. Furthermore, the overall death toll was about 100 in total. Nobody credible was claiming that 100 Palestinian civilians had been killed. Scardino was not offering a debatable perspective. He was spouting basic factual untruth.
2008-03-11 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive