Angry Arab points out that the New York Times has become a propaganda machine on the teargassing killing--
the New York Times barely reported on the murder of Jawahir Abu Rahmi but it found it necessary to devote more than half a page for Israeli military propagandists to peddle their lies:
Meantime, the Forward is doing actual reporting on the case:
Abu Rahmah is the 21st person to die in these protests since 2004, according to Jonathan Pollak, a spokesman for the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, which organizes demonstrations in villages across the West Bank. Abu Rahmah’s own brother, Bassem, died in April 2009 at age 31 when a tear gas canister hit him in the chest....
A 2009 article in the British Medical Journal came to similar conclusions, noting that tear gas is “not a gas at all, but a toxic chemical irritant.”
RE: “The New York Times has become a propaganda machine on the teargassing killing…Meantime, the Forward is doing actual reporting on the case” – Weiss
MY COMMENT: It does not surprise me at all that the Forward has a journalistic ethos superior to that of the New York Times.
Abu Rahmi was out of doors and not near the CS ignition point. She could only have gotten a few whiffs of gas. This isn’t enough to cause death. But: Apparently she was already ill with something else. I’ve read that she had been receiving cancer treatments. If there had been an autopsy, we could be certain.
Given the circumstances, the death appears to be quite accidental. If that low concentration of CS gas normally caused death, then thousands and thousands of people would have died of it at protests and such all over the world. The Israelis don’t make their own CS, they buy standard police equipment overseas, so there would be plenty of bodies if the stuff was that dangerous.
She died of 24 hour cancer, Area Man. It’s a vicious condition that affects non violent Palestinian protestors who come into contact with the IDF and the condition can only be identified by the IDF press office. Or Arutz Sheva.
Some 9 or more years ago I stopped reading the NYT primarily because of its highly biased reporting of the Middle East – it was over an article that reported 4 deaths in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Three of them were Palestinians – and only one of those could be loosely described as a terrorist – the fourth was a Jewish land-stealer on the West Bank. The title was “Jewish Settler Killed” and only by reading to the final paragraph of a very long article could you discover about the deaths of the Palestinians.
If you click on a NYT site you give them money. Stop reading it! It cannot be regarded as a newspaper of note any more. There are plenty of other sites which report what is really happening in the Middle East.
“Stop reading it! ”
and don’t forget to send them an email explaining why you stop reading it
Bingo. And if you want to read it. Go into Starbucks and pick up a used one. Don’t buy it.
Generally, one can get syndicated comics online now. Same with classifieds. That covers about the only things of value in the NYT, so why go to even that much trouble?
CS is a Chemical Warfare (CW) substance having the capability to disrupt and disable unprotected soldiers. Unlike policing tear-gas, which is dispersed in a vapour form from a heated cartridge, CS can be dispersed as a concentrated powder along with CS in vapour form. The first effect CS has is to the eyes, causing uncontrolled tearing and incapacity to keep eyes open, effectively blinding the recipient. Also the inhalation of the substance causes pulmonary distress that interferes with the ability to breathe, effecting asphyxia on the recipient. Continuing exposure to breathing CS vapour or especially powder causes a chemically induced pneumonia to the victim. The victim will attempt to expel these chemicals from the body to regain normal function. Vomiting is the attempt to expel the substance from the esophagus (and lungs), the frothing at the mouth is evidence of the pneumonia reaction of the lungs attempting to clear the chemical from those organs.
Witnesses stated that CS was laid down in front of the protesters bringing them to a halt, then behind the protesters cutting off their retreat, and then more was laid down in their midst. Pictures taken show little or no wind dispersal, the fog and dust hung in the air over the protesters. Those who were able made their escape to uncontaminated ground, protecting themselves as best they could while recovering from the CW assault. One could not. Blinded by the CS, not breathing is not an option, further gassing set into motion the fatal pneumonia and chemical poisoning causing death. Any other narrative suggesting some other cause is patently false, and the source of that narrative is a provocative liar in the service of propaganda.
The reason CS is a chemical weapon rather than a policing tool is the strength of its affect. At one time, it was restricted to military use only and the recipients were provided counter measures that enabled survival but restricted the recipient’s ability to respond. Civilian populations are not equipped to protect themselves from tear-gas’ more lethal counterpart. But then, what does one expect from an immoral army in pursuit of amoral goals, which uses white phosphorus and cluster bombs on captive populations indiscriminately.
The New York Times has been a bloody rag for Israel and the I lobby for decades. Nothing new.