Over the weekend, Yousef Munayyer of the US Campaign to End the Occupation seized on the news that a rocket had been fired on Israel from Gaza. He tweeted:
There are reports of the first projectile fired from Gaza into Israel in months. No one reports on near daily Israeli violations in Gaza.
Later he tweeted that it was the first projectile reportedly fired from Gaza to Israel since December 2014. “Here‘s what Israel fired at Gaza since then.” The list of all the Israeli attacks is at the bottom of this post, and was compiled by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Munayyer also linked to a new Middle East Monitor report on Israeli attacks that states:
“In the three months January-March, there were six military incursions – when Israeli forces invade the Gaza Strip then withdraw – and 67 shooting attacks on land and at sea.”
Today Munayyer returned to the subject of the double standard in a series of tweets:
1. Here is a list of Israeli attacks on Gaza during a nearly 4 month period with ZERO projectile fire
2. Even when there is no rocket fire from Gaza, there is routine fire into Gaza’s land and waters by Israel targeting Palestinians.
3. Western media largely fails to cover this since they consider attacks on Palestinians to be the norm, only attacks on Israelis newsworthy
4. So when next inevitable Gaza war starts, readers/viewers see situation completely devoid of context thinking rocket fire unprovoked
5. Journos covering Israel/Palestine who fail to cover this fail to cover central component of reality in Gaza and mislead readers/viewers
6. Fisherman & farmers are routinely shot at or arrested by Israel in Gaza but that’s not considered provocative enough of Journos to cover
7. But if a projectile from Gaza lands in an open field, its a headline. This shows how for western journos, Israeli lives more important
Here is that UN OCHA list of attacks on Gaza over the first 3-3/4 months of the year.
April
• At least 22 incidents involving Israeli forces’ opening of “warning fire” at Palestinian civilians in the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) at land and sea were recorded in the Gaza Strip, one of which led to the injury of three Palestinians, including a child.
• One Palestinian child was killed, when a fire broke out inside his house north of Gaza city, where candles were being used during a power outage. Previously this year five other Palestinians were reportedly injured in four similar incidents in the Gaza Strip.
March
• On at least 36 occasions, Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian civilians in areas near Gaza’s perimeter fence and at the sea, resulting in the injury of five civilians, including two children.
• Overall, 197 Palestinians were arrested across the oPt, including 10 near the fence surrounding Gaza, during attempts to cross into Israel.
• At least 21 incidents involving Israeli forces opening ‘warning’ fire into Access Restricted Areas (ARA)on land and at sea in the Gaza Strip were recorded this week, one of which ignited fire in a vehicle. Israeli forces entered Gaza east of Rafah and carried out land leveling on one occasion.
• At least 23 incidents involving Israeli forces opening ‘warning’ fire into Access Restricted Areas (ARA)on land and at sea were recorded this week, none of which lead to injury or property damage. Israeli forces entered Gaza near Al Maghazi Refugee Camp and carried out land leveling on one occasion.
• Israeli naval forces shot and killed a Palestinian fisherman who was fishing west of Gaza city, in unclear circumstances. On another 30 occasions, Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian boats sailing near the Israeli-imposed 6 nautical mile fishing limit, including one incident resulting in the injury to two fishermen and in damage to their boat, and another in the detention of six fishermen.
February
• Incidents involving Israeli forces fired “warning shots” at Palestinian civilians in the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and at sea continued on a daily basis, with at least 24 such incidents reported during the week, none of which led to injury.
• Incidents involving Israeli forces opening fire into the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and at sea continued on a daily basis, with at least 15 such incidents reported during the week, one of which led to injury
• In one incident on 23 February, Israeli forces fired two shells to the east of Al Maghazi Camp with no injuries reported.
• Incidents involving Israeli forces opening fire into the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and at sea continued on a daily basis, with at least 17 such incidents reported during the week, none of which led to injury. In at least two incidents, Israeli naval forces opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats reportedly sailing within the Israeli-declared sixnautical-mile fishing limit, forcing them ashore.
• Incidents involving Israeli forces opening fire into the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and at sea continued on a daily basis, with at least 26 such incidents reported during the week, including one leading to injury. On 8 February, Israeli forces special units reportedly entered Gaza, shot and injured and subsequently detained a 21-year-old Palestinian man while he was working on agricultural land, 300 meters from the perimeter fence, east of Al Magazi Camp.
• In at least seven incidents, Israeli naval forces opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats reportedly sailing within the Israeli declared six-nautical-mile fishing limit, forcing them ashore.
• In at least two incidents on land, Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered approximately 150 meters into Gaza, northeast of Khan Younis, and east of Rafah, and leveled land. During the week, Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians, including one merchant who was arrested at Erez crossing.
• Incidents involving Israeli forces opening fire into the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and at sea continued on a daily basis, with at least 29 such incidents reported during the week, none of which resulted in injuries. In at least ten incidents, Israeli naval forces opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats reportedly sailing within the Israeli declared six-nautical-mile (NM) fishing limit, forcing them ashore. In two incidents on land, Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered approximately 150 meters into Gaza, northeast of Khan Younis, and east of Rafah, and leveled land.
January
• Incidents involving Israeli forces opening fire into the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and at sea have continued on a daily basis, with at least 19 such incidents reported during the week. In one incident on 16 January, Israeli forces positioned along Gaza’s perimeter fence east of Jabalia, opened fire towards a group of Palestinians who threw stones at them, injuring one Palestinian civilian. In another incident on 15 January, Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians, reportedly during an attempt to infiltrate into Israel. In at least three incidents, Israeli naval forces opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats reportedly sailing within the Israeli declared six-Nautical-Mile (NM) fishing limit, forcing them ashore.
• Incidents involving Israeli forces opening fire into the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and at sea have continued on a daily basis, with at least 32 such incidents reported during the two week reporting period, leading to the injury of three Palestinians civilians. In one incident on 2 January, Israeli forces positioned along Gaza’s perimeter fence east of Jabalia, opened fire towards a group of Palestinians who threw stones at them, injuring two 19-year-old youths.
• In at least nine incidents, Israeli naval forces opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats reportedly sailing within the Israeli declared six-Nautical-Mile (NM) fishing limit, forcing them ashore. On 30 December, the Israeli navy fired warning shots at Palestinian fishing boats west of Rafah City. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli naval forces forced three fishermen on board to swim towards the navy boat, before detaining them and confiscating their boat. The fishermen were released a few hours later without their boat. In another incident on 3 January the Israeli navy opened fire at Palestinian boats west of Rafah, injuring one Palestinian fisherman and setting one boat on fire.
This is good stuff. Facts.
Another good thing is arguments. It would be valuable to get into text what Norman Finkelstein said about the unfairness of the “international law” types blaming Hamas and other Gazans for firing un-aimable “rockets” and mortar shells into Israel as, you know, war crimes. He makes much in that speech of how little damage was done by them, and this essay says about the same.
For me, this is one of the key issues highlightning how the struggle against Jewish apartheid is different than the struggle against white Apartheid.
There seems to be an idea that Jews can’t quite do it, and furthermore, there is a lot of journos in the West who support Jewish apartheid, like Jodi Rudoren and half the NYT, which backs up Jewish apartheid in a way that white Apartheid never was in the elite media.
This is central to understanding how people can be so misinformed for so long on this issue. Apartheid didn’t last much more than 50 years and even after 20, it was largely discredited. By 30 it was a landslide. Yet Jewish apartheid is now pushing 50 years and even now most of the Western media won’t even describe it as such.
For me that is stunning.
Thanks for the UNOCHA report.That is a keeper .
I have this problem with the Irish times who very rarely report when Israel attacks/arrests or kicks Palestinians from their homes.The Burning of the Palestinian teen was enough to get their attention but most of these almost daily crimes never see the newsagents paper rack.
There is also the problem of leaving out the word occupied when referring to the so called Golan. AJ , always refers to the Syrian heights as “Occupied Golan “which at least gets the word occupied on record but omits the Syrian connection.I have called the foreign affairs dept at the Irish times and asked why they do not refer to the Golan as occupied and they claim they did not know.So I point out the relevant UNSCR with number and advise them to look it up.That is if they wish to publish fact based reports to their readers.It seems not.Today I noticed the abscence of occupied from the discourse again.
I have to ask , if the Israel embassy in Dublin is scripting their reports for them.
These “Access Restricted Areas” were declared so by Israel and are actually on the land of Palestinian farmers.
While we were in Gaza in 2009, leaflets were dropped by Israeli forces informing Palestinians about the zones, stating Palestinians entering these areas would be shot. Many farmers lost access to their best farm land. In effect, Israel “expanded” its borders….leaving Gaza in
These “Access Restricted Areas” were declared so by Israel and are actually on the land of Palestinian farmers.
While we were in Gaza in 2009, leaflets were dropped by Israeli forces informing Palestinians about the zones, stating Palestinians entering these areas would be shot. Many farmers lost access to their best farm land. In effect, Israel “expanded” its own borders.