Fake news round-up from Israel

Today is fake news day. It’s the one chance you have each week to read news knowing that what you read really is fake.

This week’s edition looks exclusively at that gospel of truth, Aljazeera news. Here are some recent headlines from that Sourcepool.  Take a look:

-Nadim Nashif, “Facebook vs Palestine: Implicit support for oppression”, April 16, 2017. This op-ed essay explored how Facebook has become complicit with the crimes of the oppressor Israel.  Shockingly, Facebook cooperates with Israeli authorities. It believes Israel's lies when Israel says it has found 'incitement' on 'Palestinian' Facebook pages. Because of this criminal cooperation, 'Palestinians’ are routinely arrested by Israeli security forces. 

Of course, Israelis also commit acts of 'incitement' on Facebook. In 2016, for example, Israelis posted more than 675,000 inflammatory posts themselves. But no Israelis were arrested.  Can you imagine that?

The writer failed to state how many inflammatory posts came from ‘Palestinians’. But then, he didn't need to note that number because 'Palestinians' weren't the bad guys to this essayist. Facebook was.

--

-“Israeli soldier killed in 'car attack' near Ramallah”, April 6, 2017. This news story apparently didn’t report news—just  ‘alleged’ news.  For example, in this alleged story, 23-year-old Ahmad Moussa Hamed allegedly drove his car into an alleged concrete barrier, behind which stood two Israeli soldiers, allegedly on duty. The car allegedly rammed into the two soldiers. One soldier was allegedly killed. The other soldier was, allegedly, lightly injured. The driver was allegedly shot, but not allegedly killed.
---

--Shaeen Nassar, “Zionism's problem with intersectionality”, April 6, 2017. This opinion piece told us there was an 'organic' connection between all peoples of color. All such people--including 'Palestinians'--suffer from Apartheid. They experience ethnic cleansing, racial hate and race-based oppression. Because of such shared experiences, all people of color are just like 'Palestinians’.

The essayist talks about 'intersectionality'. But he never gets around to defining what that is. He simply states that intersectionality unites all oppressed people. Through intersectionality, he says, these oppressed groups can share “racial subjugations, humiliation, and exploitation” which is, the essayist seems to assume, exactly what people of color everywhere want to do every day, all day.

The essayist doesn't explore how intersectionality--whatever that is--could be used to make life better for oppressed people (Helen Lewis, "The uses and abuses of intersectionality", newstatesman, February 20, 2014). Instead, this essayist is more interested in using 'intersectionality' to blame 'Zionism' for all suffering and oppression--everywhere.

That's not philosophy. It's propaganda. Nevertheless, in the fake news world, this is a good piece of work. It sounds intellectual, it blames the Jews--and it leaves you feeling educated (because of the big word). 

This might be fakery at its best.
---

-Nigel Wilson, “Israeli army 'among world's child rights violators'”, April 11, 2017. This essayist uses an old Al Jazeera tool--the anecdotal--and often fake--testimony of a child (youth aged 17 and younger). According to this writer, 'Palestinian' children are shot and killed by Israeli soldiers while engaged in purely innocent activities—like strolling outside during a nearby clash between dozens of ‘youth’ stoning IDF soldiers on a patrol across a nearby dirt road. Indeed, based upon this--and other, similar--essays, one could easily conclude that strolling is a leading cause of death among 'Palestinian' children.

These anecdotes appear on Al Jazeera all the time. You've probably seen them. They go something like this: Question: tell me, what was your child doing near that wild riot against the IDF before he was killed? Answer: He was strolling. 

One learns from this story that nearly all the children killed in October, 2015 (a particularly high-casualty month for Arab youth in Israel) were killed either during a self-initiated attack against Jews, or while participating in large, wild clashes with Israeli soldiers. This writer fails to see any connection whatsoever between a child’s death and any riot-participation or knife attacks upon armed soldiers. Apparently, for this journalist—as for many others—wilfully stoning armed soldiers or openly attacking them has nothing to do with being killed. The children were killed only because IDF soldiers used an indiscriminate shoot-to-kill policy.

It’s all fakery. Here’s the real story: unfortunately, ‘Palestinian’ parents encourage their children to get themselves killed by IDF soldiers, as if that’s the greatest accomplishment a parent would want for his/her child.  Children should die so essayists like this can propagandize against Israel?  Yes, that’s it exactly.

---

That’s it for today’s fake news round-up. Come back next week. I have every expectation there’ll be more fakery to share with you.