by Stephen Lendman

Journalists daring to criticize Israel responsibility face likely dismissal and banishment from MSM employment.

Once again, Israel waged cold, calculated premeditated aggression against near defenseless Palestinians.

An Israeli Goliath mercilessly attacked a Palestinian David. It did so for unjustifiable reasons. Mass slaughter, destruction and human misery followed.

Non-combatant men, women and children suffered most. They were deliberately targeted. They comprised over 80% of deaths and injuries.

Israeli casualties hardly compare to around 2,000 mostly civilian Palestinian deaths, up to 10,000 injured, large parts of Gaza in ruins, hundreds of thousands forcibly displaced, and families losing all their possessions.

Operation Protective Edge is the most devastating Israeli aggression on Palestinians since its 1947-48 war.

A shaky ceasefire could end any time. Heavy Israeli shelling and bombing could resume. Palestinian casualties could continue mounting.

The fate of about 1.7 million Gazans hangs in the balance. They're trapped in the world's largest open-air prison. They're unable to find refuge anywhere.

Every square inch of Gaza is fair game. Israel inflicts collective punishment mercilessly. Civilian men, women and children are considered legitimate targets.

So are schools, hospitals, mosques, residential neighborhoods and vital infrastructure unrelated to military necessity. Terror bombing and shelling reflect longstanding Israeli policy.

Precision weapons can mass slaughter with technological ease. Banned terror weapons are used against defenseless civilians in densely populated residential areas.

They include 4cm-long metal darts called flechettes. They're anti-personnel weapons able to penetrate bone deep enough to inflict horrific injuries.

One artillery shell can deliver up to 8,000 of them. On impact, rupturing releases them at high speed in a funnel-shaped pattern over an area of about 300 meters.

White phosphorous is devastating to human flesh. It's a flammable chemical. Israel uses it as an incendiary weapon and smoke screen.

When exposed to air, it spontaneously ignites. It burns to the bone. It keeps burning until consumed or deprived of oxygen.

It causes severe second and third degree extremely hard to treat chemical burns, as well as suffocation, convulsions, severe eye pain and inhalation complications.

Affected muscles and body cells are completely destroyed. Hemorrhaging is common. So are bone fractures.

Dense inert metal explosives (DIMES) from tungsten alloy can cut victims to pieces. They kill, mutilate and pose a longterm cancer risk.

Israel uses these and other banned terror weapons with impunity. Doctors report never before seen injuries.

Wars let Israel test new weapons in real time. Mostly civilian victims have no place to hide. Media scoundrels ignore what demands condemnation.

They blame victims for horrendous Israeli crimes. Like Cast Lead (December 2008 and January 2009), Pillar of Cloud (November 2012), and countless less extreme Israeli attacks, truth is turned on its head.

Upside down reality persists. Truth is systematically suppressed. Big Lies substitute.

Cold, calculated premeditated IDF aggression is called self-defense. Legitimate Palestinian self-defense is called terrorism.

Palestine's democratically elected Hamas government is outrageously called a terrorist organization.

Police state Israel is called a democracy. How can it be when Jews alone have rights. Arab citizens are considered fifth column threats.

Elected Arab Knesset members are powerless. They're little more than potted plants. They're parliamentarians in name only.

They're treated like enemies of the state. They're unable to help the people they represent. They can't protect themselves when wrongfully persecuted and vilified.

Israel is more hypocrisy than democracy. It's more rogue state than egalitarian. It rules Occupied Palestine ruthlessly. It attacks Gaza whenever it wishes for any reason or none at all.

Every day is Kristallnacht in Palestine. Israel terrorizes Palestinians with impunity. So do radicalized settlers.

Fear is constant. Collective punishment is official Israeli policy. Public demonstrations are banned.

Population centers are isolated. Borders are closed. Normal daily life is denied.

Economic strangulation and institutionalized racism are imposed. So are curfews, roadblocks, checkpoints, separation walls, electric fences, and other barriers.

Neighborhood incursions, land, sea and air attacks, bulldozed homes, land theft, ethnic cleansing, slow-motion genocide, targeted killings, mass arrests, torture, and gulag imprisonment reflect daily life.

It's for praying to the wrong God. It's for wanting to live free from oppressive rule. It's for believing in peace, equity and justice. and struggling to achieve it.

It's for rejecting state-sponsored racism, colonization and apartheid. It's for belonging to the wrong political party.

It's for wanting self-determination and long denied justice. It's for wanting Israel held accountable for crimes of war, against humanity and genocide.

Operation Protective Edge is the latest example of Zionist depravity. Palestinian lives and welfare don't matter.

Media scoundrels support what demands condemnation. The New York Times has a long history of pro-Israeli bias.

Its Jerusalem bureau chiefs are ethically challenged. Its columnists and op-ed contributors see justice through Israeli eyes.

It's editors consistently blame Palestinians for Israeli crimes. Ten days after Israel's premeditated aggression, they headlined "Israel's War in Gaza."

They turned a blind eye to horrendous Israeli crimes. They turned truth on its head claiming "Israel sent tanks and ground troops into Gaza to keep Hamas from pummeling Israeli cities with rockets and carrying out terrorist attacks via underground tunnels.

Fact: Israel's Operation Protective Edge was cold, calculated, premeditated aggression.

Fact: It wasn't in response to Hamas rocket attacks.

Fact: They followed in self-defense.

Fact: They're crude and ineffective.

Fact: They're no match against sophisticated Israeli weapons able to hit targets with pinpoint accuracy.

Fact: Israeli tunnel propaganda worked as intended.

Fact: It stoked fear and hysteria.

Fact: Netanyahu claiming they're used to attack kindergartens in nearby kibbutzes and other civilian targets are Big Fat Lies.

Fact: They're for self-defense against IDF attacks only.

Fact: Don't expect NYT correspondents, contributors or editors to explain.

Fact: Or other scoundrel media liars.

Fact: Regurgitating propaganda and other misinformation is official MSM policy.

Fact: NYT misreporting is longstanding.

Fact: It's an establishment publication supporting wealth, power, privilege and the worst of US and Israeli high crimes against peace.

Netanyahu is a world class thug. Not according to Times editors. "There was no way (he) was going to tolerate the Hamas bombardments," they said.

"They're "indiscriminately lobbed at Israeli population centers," they claim.

Fact: Hamas fires rockets in response to naked Israeli aggression.

Fact: They carry small warheads.

Fact: They're crude and ineffective.

Fact: They're not "lobbed at Israeli population centers."

Fact: They do more to generate fear than deaths and injuries.

Fact: They most often prove harmless.

"Hamas leaders deserve condemnation for storing and launching rockets in heavily populated areas," said Times editors.

Fact: Gaza is small - about 140 square miles.

Fact: It's one of the world's most densely populated areas.

Fact: Except for farmland, practically no open spaces exist.

Fact: Don't expect Times editors to explain.

Fact: Or tell readers responding to Israeli aggression is legitimate self-defense under international law.

Times editors admit no military solution is possible. At the same time, they support illegitimate Palestinian president Abbas.

Israel rigged his 2005 election. His term expired in January 2009. He refuses to call new elections.

He's a longtime Israeli enforcer and collaborator. He's hugely corrupt. He's mindless of the rights of his own people.

He sided with Israel during Operation Cast Lead. He failed to forcefully condemn Israeli Operation Protective Edge mass murder and destruction.

Don't expect Times editors to explain. Or denounce Israeli crimes too horrendous to ignore.

On August 11, Mondoweiss contributor Patrick Connors headlined "Serving Israel's aim of lowering civilian deaths, 'New York Times' Gaza tally says 15 - 17-year old's aren't children."

Its days earlier article shamelessly supported Israeli propaganda. It lied claiming half or more of Gazans killed were "terrorists."

Over 80% were civilian men, women, children, infants, the elderly and infirm. None were terrorists.

Hamas fighters struggle for freedom. Claims otherwise are Big Lies. Times correspondents, op ed contributors and editors proliferate some of the most outlandish.

They bury truth. They feature managed news misinformation. It's unfit to print. It's one-sidedly pro-Israeli.

Fundamental international law is ignored. Israeli rights alone matter. Civilian non-combatants are considered militants.

Israeli aggression is called self-defense. Palestinian self-defense is called terrorism. Facts are what Israel and Washington say they are.

Longstanding Times pro-Israeli bias consistently blames Palestinian victims for Israeli crimes.

According to Connors, Times reporting "supports the perpetuation of Israeli Jewish privilege at the expense of basic Palestinian rights."

Don't expect its editorial policy to change. Or CIA-controlled Washington Post misreporting and analysis.

Its July 23 editorial was typical. It
headlined "The US should push for the disarming of Hamas in Gaza-Israel cease-fire," saying:

"The tunnels are the reason that (Netanyahu) decided (to) launch a ground invasion of Gaza…"

They "show why it has been difficult to reach a cease-fire and why any accord must forge a new political and security order in Gaza."

"Hamas's offensive tunnels should not be confused with the burrows it has dug under Gaza's border with Egypt to smuggle money, consumer goods and military equipment."

"The newly discovered structures have only one conceivable purpose: to launch attacks inside Israel."

"The depravity of Hamas’s strategy seems lost on much of the outside world…"

"…Hamas's leaders deliberately placed (tunnels) and among homes…"

"(T)hey continue to reject cease-fire proposals, instead outlining a long list of unacceptable demands."

Ceasefire terms should "be negotiated with the Palestinian leadership of Mahmoud Abbas."

It should return Gaza to "the security forces of the Palestinian Authority, the disarmament of Hamas and elections for a new government."

Fact: Israel's Operation Protective Edge was well planned in advance premeditated aggression.

Fact: It aimed to destroy Gazan resistance in all forms.

Fact: Israel wants Palestinians left defenseless.

Fact: It affirms the right to attack them throughout the territories for any reason or none at all.

Fact: It does so for total unchallenged control.

Fact: Durable ceasefires and peace in Palestine are impossible because Israel prioritizes violence and instability.

Fact: It blames its crimes on Palestinian victims.

Fact: WP and other media scoundrels regurgitate Big Fat Lies ad nauseam.

Fact: Hamas tunnels are mostly conduits for badly needed supplies unavailable because of Israel's illegal blockade.

Fact: Others are for self-defense in response to Israeli aggression.

Fact: WP editors consider legitimate Palestinian self-defense "depravity."

Fact: They support the worst of US and Israeli high crimes against peace.

Fact: Gaza is one of the world's most densely populated areas.

Fact: Other than farmland, few open spaces exist.

Fact: So-called "unacceptable" Hamas demands include long denied justice.

Fact: Hamas is Palestine's democratically elected government.

Fact: Abbas serves illegitimately.

Fact: He's a longtime Israeli collaborator against the fundamental interests, needs and rights of his own people.

Fact: He's a Palestinian Quisling.

Fact: Disarming Hamas and other resistance groups is a non-starter.

Fact: Palestinians alone should decide who'll lead them - not Israel, Washington, other Western countries or WP editors.

Wall Street Journal editors one-sidedly support Israel. On July 20, they headlined "Israel's Gaza Offensive," saying:

"(I)t's hard to see what other choices the country's leadership had to defend its citizens from the terror group Hamas's unrelenting missile attack."

"Israel warned Palestinian civilians to move out of harm's way…"

"Hamas's political-military strategy (involves) civilian casualties…"

"…Israel should stay the course until it achieves its strategic objective of neutralizing Hamas's missile attacks."

"Hamas won't stop its rocket and other attacks until it concludes that the military and political price it is paying is too high."

"Until that happens a democracy like Israel is obliged to take the steps necessary to defend itself."

Fact: Hamas fires rockets at Israeli targets only in response to Israeli aggression.

Fact: Self-defense is fundamental and sacrosanct under international law.

Fact: Telling Palestinians to move out of harm's way was a transparent Israeli PR stunt.

Fact: Deliberate Israeli attacks on UN shelters, schools, hospitals, residential neighborhoods and other non-military targets showed every square inch of Gaza was unsafe.

Fact: Hamas' "political-military strategy" is achieving long denied justice.

Fact: Israel considers civilian men, women and children legitimate targets.

Fact: Its longstanding strategy is total unchallenged control regardless of the human cost.

Fact: It bears repeating. Hamas responds solely to Israeli aggression.

Fact: Israel is no democracy, never was, and won't be under its racist apartheid policies, lawless occupation, and denigration of its Arab citizens.

NYT, WP, WSJ and other MSM print and electronic media consistently show one-sided pro-Israeli bias.

They blame its worst crimes on targeted victims. Long denied justice is nowhere in sight.

Israel repeatedly gets away with mass murder and destruction unaccountably. Expect nothing different this time.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

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