Andrew Bolt: Truth dies fast when Israel is under attack

Despite hundreds of rockets being fired into Israel, it is still seen as the aggressor and Palestinians the victim. The truth can’t get in the way of that narrative.

In all wars, truth is the first casualty. And with missiles now falling on Jerusalem we’re reminded truth dies fastest when it’s Israel under attack.

Again we get that media script. Palestinians must be the victim. Israel must be the aggressor, even when hundreds of rockets are again fired into it.

And the truth can’t get in the way of that narrative.

Let me demonstrate by going through the tweets of the ABC’s Middle East correspondent, Tom Joyner. Consider this a too-typical case.

Joyner last week tweeted what a wonderful time he’d just had in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave on Israel’s border that is run by Hamas, an Islamist group banned in Australia as a terrorist group.

“It’s been a really life-changing experience over the last few days,” enthused Joyner.

“The people in Gaza are strong and generous … can’t wait to go back.”

I have seen no tweets by Joyner gushing over Israeli Jews.

Since then, Joyner has retweeted pictures and videos from this growing conflict in Israel, including of Israeli forces last week trying to stop mobs of Arabs from rioting and throwing rocks down from the Temple Mount.

On May 8, he reported “53 Palestinians wounded in clashes tonight”. He did not mention the six Israeli police who had been injured.

But Joyner did apologise for his language. A pro-Palestinian group complained about the word “clash”, upset it didn’t make clear Israel was the villain, and saying it was “implying a degree of equality in the use of violence and that both sides are equally to blame”.

Vehicles ablaze after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP

Replied Joyner: “Good points made. I used ‘clashes’ today in coverage. I will stop from now on.”

That’s not all that he did with the effect of blaming Israel and excusing Palestinians.

Nowhere in his tweets has Joyner mentioned how one of the leaders of Gaza’s “strong and generous” people was whipping up that violence.

Hamas political bureau member Fathi Hamad, a former interior minister, was filmed last week shouting at a rally: “People of Jerusalem, we want you to cut off the heads of the Jews with knives.”

Hamad even pointed at his throat to show just where to stab: “Cut their artery from here. A knife costs five shekels. Buy a knife, sharpen it, put it here and just cut off (their heads) …

“The Jews have spread corruption and have acted with arrogance, and their moment of reckoning has come.”

Joyner never mentioned this. How often do we see this — the media not giving such context, thus making Israel’s self-defence seem wilful aggression?

But Joyner did retweet footage of a car driven by a Jewish settler into a Palestinian protester. Again, he left out the context, making the Israeli seem the aggressor.

That footage, not cut by Joyner himself, left out the start of this clash.

The full footage shows Palestinian protesters stoning the Israeli’s car and trying to open its doors, with the driver first trying to reverse out of trouble, and then, blocked, accelerating and crashing into a bollard and one of the attackers.

Hamas Political Bureau member Fathi Hamad.

Then, last Sunday, Hamas started firing rockets into Israel. Most — as video clearly shows — were shot from between houses, using civilians as human shields or as propaganda if Israel fired back and killed them.

This time Joyner did quote a Hamas spokesman, who said these rockets were in response to Israel’s “crimes and aggression in the Holy City, and its harassment of our people”.

Hamas has since fired hundreds more missiles, hitting even Jerusalem, stopping flights into Ben Gurion airport and killing five people, including a seven-year-old girl.

Joyner on his Twitter account does not mention any of the Jewish dead, but does show a dead Palestinian and again quotes Hamas: “Gaza health officials say at least 20 people, including 9 children have been killed in the Israeli retaliation.”

Joyner does not add that Israel says some 150 Hamas rockets fell short and exploded in Gaza itself, killing at least three of those children.

Nor did he warn Hamas has a notorious record of forcing Gazans to lie about Israel’s supposed war crimes.

To be fair, reports on the ABC’s own website are a bit fairer.

Of course, the ABC won’t show that Hamas leader calling on Palestinians to cut Jewish throats because that would be racist. Or may make you realise Israel is fighting people who actually want the Jews dead or gone.

That’s the biggest truth that dies when Israel is at war.