Palestinians may have caused Gaza beach deaths, Olmert says:
Both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz indicated Sunday that Friday’s blast on a Gaza Strip beach that killed seven civilians may have been caused by the Palestinians, and not by the IDF.
Peretz told the weekly cabinet meeting that he had established an investigative committee headed by a major-general, which is to present its findings on Tuesday.
Peretz said the panel’s preliminary findings showed that the Ghalia family was not killed by a shell fired by the IDF ground forces or the IAF. Peretz said that one of six artillery shells fired by the IDF was unaccounted for, but that there was a gap between when the shells were fired and the time the Palestinians said the shells landed.
Peretz told the ministers that some 40 Kassam rockets were fired at Sderot and nearby communities over the weekend, and that Nati Angel – the Sderot man seriously wounded by a Kassam Sunday morning at a school near the city – was a “personal friend.” Peretz lives in Sderot, where he used to be mayor.
If this does turn out to be the cause, or even a distinctly possible cause, of this tragic incident, I expect the BBC, particularly given their intensive coverage of the original story, will be extremely keen to revisit the story in depth, in order to ensure that the truth is fully investigated and reported in an impartial manner, lest another serious falsehood is perpetrated and established. But I won’t be holding my breath while waiting for Haw-Hawley and co. to leap in to action.
Update: According to Funerals for Gaza beach victims:
The BBC’s Simon Wilson in Jerusalem says that Saturday’s rocket attacks appear mainly symbolic.
Try telling that to Nati Angel (see above). I can think of some a***s that could do with a symbolic rocket or two up them…
But a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam brigade, said next time the rockets would be longer range and hit deeper inside Israel.
Presumably for even greater ‘symbolism’, eh Mr. Wilson.
Hat tip: commenters dumbcisco re. JP link and Big Mouth re. Wilson quote.
Oscar, if those really were Katyusha rockets, then they would not be “crude, homemade” ones beloved of the BBC. They are multi-barrel devices firing 122mm diameter rockets and produced by the Soviets and others in vast numbers. Not accurate weapons but highly effective nonetheless.
TheCuckoo – is it the Getty Images picture of an Israeli gunboat I mention here?
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/114948315469804100/#286983
I wonder if Al Beeb will pour their fire on Hamas for not putting up warnings about the beach being mined. After all, they were always going on about how horrible mines are. Somehow I doubt it.
Like with those pictures the Mirror had or the terrorist supplied video of a ‘massacre’ in Iraq there was something wrong with the video of this ‘attack’ from the start. The BBCers must have had doubts but still broadcast it.
Well, CNN are already reporting it was a Hamas mine on the beach.
‘JERUSALEM (CNN) — An explosion on a Gaza beach that killed seven people last week was caused by explosives planted there by Palestinian militants, not artillery fire from an Israeli navy gunboat, Israeli military sources said.’
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/13/mideast.probe/index.html
Al Beeb must be writing their own version of events.
Al Beeb have changed the story I mentioned earlier from this
‘The beach explosion was initially blamed on Israeli shelling near the area where a family was enjoying a picnic.
However, an Israeli military inquiry is close to deciding Israel was not responsible, media reports say.’
To this
‘The beach explosion was blamed by Palestinians on Israeli shelling near the area where a family was enjoying a picnic.
However, Israeli officials say a military inquiry has ruled that Israel was probably not responsible and that the blast could have been caused by a mine planted on the beach by the Hamas government.’
Is this all we get to correct their wrongdoing? A footnote to another story & still they suggest a probablity!
Why no new page explaining how wrong they were to blame Israel?
Bastards!
“Bastards!”
No, Enemy propagandists.
This new ‘Popularity’ feature they have installed also shows that nobody is reading the Palli bombing incident page & enabling them to get the updated version of events.
I suppose if I was really cynical I would suggest they have been using this technology to stealth edit stories. If they want to bury a bit of news they initially got wrong they just have a peek at the meter & whip the page or link elsewhere if too many people are looking at it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/live_stats/html/map.stm
Going to go & watch some football for a bit. Can’t wait to see the retraction on the news later! Not
I wonder if Al Beeb will pour their fire on Hamas for not putting up warnings about the beach being mined. After all, they were always going on about how horrible mines are. Somehow I doubt it.
And how many people will be aware of the true identity of those responsible for the explosion from watching/listening to Al Beeb? Another low point for the once respected BBC. How long can this go on before they are properly taken to task for their shoddy journalism and blatant bias?
And at the end of all this bias and rabble-rousing by the BBC, there is a Pallywood video (Benny Hill style) broadcast by CNN and edited by the BBC to give it some authenticity in order to cow the Jews. Does the BBC have any idea as to how close they are getting to the ideal espoused by Josef Goebbels?
allan @ aberdeen (and others)
Please can you post a link to the longer version of the video.
The BBC video looks dodgy to me, but where is the longer and dodgier version ?
Jack,
Never seen completly unedited footage of the beach bomb, guess AP or Reuters were sold/given it initially.
Best I can give you is a link to LGF where they have the CNN edit & Al Jazeera’s version too.
Have to scroll down 3/4 of the page.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/
Jack, its here:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=20998_Cynical_Palestinian_Exploitation_Watch&only
Thanks Biodegradable, never knew how to pinpoint articles!
Breaking news on News24 with Israeli conference about the incident. BBC are having to cover it of course.
I want Bowen on his knees later when he gives his third report about Gaza beach bombings.
The BBC are really hammering the police over the raid (no surprises there). Just look at the picture they have used of the copper who made the apology:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5077198.stm
Could they have chosen a picture which made the police look more pathetic and abject? I don’t think so. Still, no surprises there either.
Jesus, Beeb are editing like crazy. I was writing a response to the page dedicated to the new Israeli evidence & they changed it. HWR & Hamas were both given 1/3 of the page to refute the Israeli’s in it’s first draft.
Anyway, here is the link to this dubious BBC take on things if you haven’t already seen it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5074792.stm
Israel denies responsibility:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5074792.stm
Note the interesting use of words some way in:
“The Israeli military initially said it regretted Palestinian civilian deaths …”
Which must mean that now the Irsael military DOESN’T regret them.
Last comment from me, I’m taking up too much of this thread. Maybe later!
Quote – An expert working for the Human Rights Watch said the Palestinians’ injuries were not consistent with a blast taking place beneath them – such as one caused by a mine.
“All of the evidence is pointing to a 155mm shell as having killed and injured the Palestinians here on the beach,” Mark Garlasco said.
“My assessment [is] that it’s likely that this was incoming artillery fire that landed on the beach and was fired by the Israelis from the north of Gaza.”
Only one person needs to step on a mine & receive the upward blast. The others would be hit from the side by flying debris. No expert wheeled on there then! Where did the Beeb editors go to school? Pillocksville?
Gaza Beach Libel:
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Gaza_Beach_Libel.asp
Barker John – LGF entries always have a “link only”, that’s the one to copy.
BBC are quoting “An expert working for the Human Rights Watch” as if he were a forensics or ballistics expert! WTF? Ending of course with his bottom line:
“My assessment [is] that it’s likely that this was incoming artillery fire that landed on the beach and was fired by the Israelis from the north of Gaza.”
Even the left wing Haaretz can’t bring itself to argue with the truth:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/726442.html
The foreign media unequivocally blamed Israel for the deaths, and the Israel media (including Haaretz) tended to do the same.
But as time passed, and more data was amassed, the IDF’s assessment changed: Some pieces of data seemed to rule out the possibility that an Israeli shell was responsible, while others bolstered the theory that a Palestinian mine was to blame.
The importance of the committee’s findings are obviously mitigated by the fact that ultimately, the IDF is being cleared by an IDF investigation. This is not an international inquiry, or even an external, civilian inquiry. Thus the next step will be leveraging these findings to affect public opinion – Israeli (where the battle is already largely won; even human rights organizations cast doubt on the Palestinian claims on Monday), international and even Palestinian.
But not the “human rights organizations” quoted by the BBC!
From The Jerusalem Post
Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that Israel would launch a “propaganda offensive” across the globe to prove its innocence if indeed the investigation exonerated the IDF of any blame for the explosion.
“I am aware of international officials to whom the truth is unimportant, nevertheless, Israel will try its best to explain its policies.”
During the press conference at 10 Downing St. yesterday Olmert mentioned that he’d recieved a call from Kofi Annan expressing his concern. Olmert said something along the lines of how he’d told Annan he’d like to recieve such calls from Annan following Palestinian suicide bombings.
Video link from that BBC page.
Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said the blast could not have come from an Israeli shell – 53 seconds.
Relatives of the victims of the beach shelling speak out – 02:12 mins
Balanced reporting?
Equal time given to both sides?
This whole thing stinks. Who are this ‘Human Rights Watch’ and what kind of an investigation did they conduct? Not one with the forensic evidence of Israel, that’s for sure. But let’s face it this is media wars – nothing to do with the truth. Its Pallywood backed up by al beeb against real evidence forensically examined in a professional manner. And who wins? Pallywood and Al beeb co-productions hands down.
@Biodegradable: Yep same story, sorry, didn’t see your original post.
Radio 4 have FINALLY carried the news at 8pm – but cut straight to a live comment from Human |Rights Watch.
HRW are a very leftie outfit, backed by George Soros and suchlike, usually very hostile to the US and especially towards Israel :
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=95001755
http://www.variant.randomstate.org/21texts/HRW.html
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/archives/infofile.htm#hrw
So, if the BBC is now using HRW to try to give legs to its libel on the Israelis – shouldn’t they issue a health warning abiout the clear bias at HRW ?
Bryan,
Do you have a link to the WHYS programme? I’ve found the blog, but not the actual audio/video link.
The way that the BBC covers news events such as the Gaza beach mine with its spinning and focusing away from unpalatable truths is so reminiscent of a political party rather than a public service broardcaster that it’s a wonder they don’t stand for parliament. Oh, forgot, they’re already pretty well represented by Gorgeous Georg G and the LibDems–that sounds like a rather naff early 60s merseybeat band, doesn’t it? Seriously, though, it’s extremely disturbing for a publically-funded organization like the BBC to meddle in politics. The government simply can’t allow this to go on as it is potentially very damaging to Britain’s standing in the world and seriously undermines public confidence in the reliability of what we are told. Come on, Blair, do something about it before it’s too late!
I know it’s an issue rehashed over and over but did anyone else notice BBC World Report (radio) used the word militant three times in reporting supposedly direct speech from the Israelis.
Bet the Israeli spokeman used the word terrorist! Guess the editor hadn’t read the latest report.
Oscar asks:
This whole thing stinks. Who are this ‘Human Rights Watch’ and what kind of an investigation did they conduct?
I saw the Mark Garlasco quoted by the BBC on Spanish RTVE1’s 9 o’clock news tonight (I live in Spain) walking around what was presented as the Gaza beach pointing at what he said were craters left by incoming Israeli artillery fire. I haven’t seen that particular piece of video anywhere else yet.
The point is the IDF inquiry states that their shells, which stopped falling 10 minutes before the alleged fatal round, all landed 250 meters behind the beach.
A google search for “Mark Garlasco” gets 645 results, the first of which is:
http://www.motherjones.com/radio/2005/10/garlasco_bio.html
Compare Mark Garlasco quoted by the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5074792.stm
“It has been suggested by some that the family was killed by a land mine, and this is patently not the case,” Mark Garlasco said.
“All of the evidence is pointing to a 155mm shell as having killed and injured the Palestinians here on the beach,” he said.
“My assessment [is] that it’s likely that this was incoming artillery fire that landed on the beach and was fired by the Israelis from the north of Gaza.”
The same Mark Garlasco quoted by The Scotsman:
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=873222006
An investigator for international rights group Human Rights Watch told reporters in Gaza earlier that the evidence pointed to Israel but he had to leave the door open to the possibility that something else might have caused the blast.
Human Rights Watch Report on Israel and Palestine
Regarding suicide bombings, Stork said there was no question that civilians were targeted by this method, and that if suicide bombings are the result of a systematic policy, they also fall into the category of war crimes. He later stated, however, that armed groups did not bear the same degree of responsibility as a state.
During the question-and-answer session, Stork said that issues such as closure and restriction of movement were human rights concerns, and that, as such, HRW still considered Gaza occupied territory…
Did the Beeb fly him out to Gaza at our expense?
Guess that Bowen was popping a bottle out the back somewhere tonight, hope he chokes on it.
Grimer, no sorry I checked the WHYS page at bottom right of the main HYS page, but none of those audios are the right one.
I suppose it can be found with a more involved search of their ‘Listen Again’ facility – if they keep the programmes.
Mebbe ask Archduke.
Hmmmm, HYS have finally updated their blurb on this topic:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=2151&&edition=2&ttl=20060613223811
Is this the end of the Hamas ceasefire?
The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, has said it will no longer respect a self-imposed truce.
The announcement followed the death of seven civilians on a Gaza beach on Friday.
But Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz says Israel is not responsible for the deaths, making public the findings of an inquiry into the attack initially blamed on Israeli troops.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for a full independent inquiry.
What do you make of the findings of the inquiry? Have you been affected by the incident? Is Hamas right to end its ceasefire? How should Israel respond to the declaration by Hamas?
Published: Friday, 9 June, 2006, 21:03 GMT 22:03 UK
And they’ve finally started to accept more comments as well.
Alan Johnston, speaking in his dreary monotone on the World Service this afternoon, said that the Israeli investigation will indicate that some kind of landmine was responsible for the deaths of the family on the beach. He was apparently on that very beach with his Human Rights Watch munitions ‘expert’, Mark Garlasco. Johnston drones on about how Garlasco spent three days going to and from the beach, [no doubt trying to find the evidence as Hamas was removing it] while the Israeli team hasn’t been able to get near it. [Hint, obfuscate, imply. He’s good at that.]
Johnston quotes his ‘expert’ as saying that it couldn’t have been a landmine because it would have caused lower body injuries and the injuries were to the head and torso of those killed and wounded, and that indicated to him incoming shell fire.
At that I nearly fell off my chair. I have little knowledge of these matters but even I can see that that is a crock of sh*t.
*People lie down on the beach
*Children dig holes on the beach
*They generally use their hands to dig, not their feet
*If they’d accidentally detonated the landmine, it could just as easily have been by digging it up as treading on it
*And is this expert really telling us that incoming shell fire wouldn’t cause damage to the lower body? What if the shell exploded behind people who were lying down?
Someone like pounce needs to Fisk this!
A few hours later Johnston is back. And he’s got some info for us that he somehow omitted to mention previously: his expert found shrapnel at the site stamped with the markings of the same shells that are fired into Gaza on a daily basis. Riiiight!
The whole thing stinks to high heaven. But then it is courtesy of the BBC.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/726162.html
Kalifi’s committee examined a great deal of material, including film footage shot by Arab television stations at the scene. Some of the findings have already been reported: that five of the shells definitely landed some 250 meters from the beach, and that the explosion occurred at least eight minutes after the missing sixth shell was fired. However, this evidence has now been bolstered by three new findings
Melanie Phillips gives her take on this:
http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/archives/001741.html
and she has been talking on the BBC about her book:
http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/archives/001740.html
OK, here’s an idea. There is a computer program that will take a small photo/graphic & blow it up to a wall sized image if you want it so. You can print it out on your computer & stick it togther. 6’x4′ sized images at a reasonable cost & no printshop morality quiz.
How about we all start to billpost our localities with anti BBC messages or anti Palestinian propaganda by posting huge ‘Pallywood’ signs around the country. Something like ‘Google Pallywood’ etc etc
It’s a people power thing, direct action.
I’m going to do the Pallywood poster & can upload a template to imageshack/photobucket if anyone is interested. CG is my trade.
Here is the link to the program, it’s very easy to use.
http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/
We could publish the BBBC website address, although I suggest we should ask Natalie first.
I live in a reasonably large city & it will have cctv around, but I am willing to take a risk. I know professional billposter people & they get away with it 99% of the time.
It’s just a thought!
Here’s more from the £4 billion biased babies:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5074798.stm
They take as fact anything the Palestinians say and strongly imply that Israel may not be telling the truth. In the original report, no children had been killed, but one Palestinian interviewed had SAID that 2 children died!
There are lies, damned lies, and the BBC. The virulent hatred that is being directed towards Israel is truly frightening. Remember the “two-minute hate” from Orwell’s 1984? I can see the presenters, editors, producers at the Ministry of Lies situated at Broadcasting House gathering round the telescreen. Orla, Caroline, Barbara, James, John, Matt and the rest are all there. Suddenly the telescreen screams into life to the strains of the Star-Spangled Banner and images of fat white Americans stuffing down Big Macs with one hand while driving truck-sized SUVs bristling with guns. Cut to a giant image of George W and on the soundtrack there are sounds of explosions, gunfire and children screaming. As one the watchers begin a gnashing of teeth and a wringing of hands. Cut to scenes of ranks of Israeli soldiers marching, row after row in a neverending column, guns at the ready, the gleam of madness and bloodlust in their eyes. Cut to a giant image of Ariel Sharon speaking about withdrawing from Gaza. Caroline cracks and hurls a copy of the Respect party manifesto at the telescreen as she screams, face distorted into a masque of revulsion. Suddenly the image is replaced by the beaming face of Yassar Arafat and the Pally national anthem plays over the soundtrack. The watchers fall to their knees, emotionally drained, staring up into the blessed face. Barbara and Orla burst into tears and are comforted by Caroline. The screen goes blank. The two-minute hate is over for another day.
I enjoyed that Corsair.
LGF people are suggesting that the mine would have been a ‘Bouncing Betty’ or it’s modern equivalent. When stepped on it leaps up into the air & detonates. Sounds plausible to me. This would also discount the HRW expert upward blast BS theory.
http://www.landmines.org.uk/325
I think most Israelis are well aware of the pro-Palestinian bias of much of the world’s media. No matter how much evidence the Israeli investigation comes up with, the response of the media is a collective fingers in ears while chanting “Nah, nah, we can’t hear you!” Exactly why the left has it in for Israel baffles me, but the close relationship between the US and Israel may be enough to justify it in their minds. Get at America by attacking its friends. It can’t be Israel’s human rights record for countries like China, Cuba (the darling of the left) and Iran have truly horrendous HR records yet are given a virtual free ride by the Beeb and their allies. Fortunately, Israel doesn’t usually make the mistake of pandering to the western press. They have their standards and stick to them no matter what the Beeb et al think.
Have any of you ever spoken to a real left winger? Because I have and do. They dont give a dam about the BBC telling lies. It is a meens to their end. Propergander is how the minority controls the minds of the magority. A minority that knows that it could not win a logical democratic argument any other way.
The Jews and capitalism represented by the USA are so much socialists entire problem that any enemy of the USA and Israel is a close friend of theirs. To a real socialist, BBC lies and propergander, is just a counterpoint to Rupert Murdock and his “great capitalist media conspiracy.” Dont laugh, they meen it.
The small disafected peoples of the world v The American capitalist giant.
All is fair in LOVE AND WAR and socialist politics.
A great clue to a lier is one that says he is UNBIAS. To my knowledge the only organisation that still claims to be this is the BBC. The BBC has to continue to claim this because it has a charter that says it must be.
Do any of you highly intelligent people out there, really think that, the also highly intelligent people working for the BBC, REALLY think that the BBC is UNBIAS?
Because my common sense tells me they could not possibly believe so, and dot give a monkeys, whether you think the BBC is or not.
I think the issue is this. . . . who were the editors and producers responsible for foisting this hoax on the public?
What actions are the BBC taking to investigate how hoaxed footage found its way unchallenged into their news programming?
What actions are the BBC taking to ensure that it doesn’t happen again?
What are the disciplinary measures the BBC intends to take against them?
For reference – Piers Morgan got the chop from the Mirror for publishing hoaxed pictures.
The point should be hammered home time and time and time again. . . . you may or may not view this as the result of deliberate bias. But without any shadow of a doubt, it was extremely poor journalism – shamingly poor journalism, actually.
Stealth editing is no response.
Sorry I sould have added. If the BBC reporting of these latest events in Pallestine dont proove my last point in particular by now, nothing can or will.
Michael Taylor
Very Very good points. I can only refer you to my above point. You have to remember the BBC has been doing this for a long time. It is just that now we have the internet to expose these lies. But as I have indicated the BBC does not give a damm what we think.
One other thing: we still don’t know where the original film was sourced from.
So, relevant questions:
i)how did the BBC come into possession of the footage?
ii) who reviewed it and found it credible?
iii) on the expectation that the footage was sourced from outside the BBC, how much money was paid, and to who, for this footage?
Someone, somewhere, knows the answers.
According to Israeli sources the Palestinians have had 111 truckloads of TV’s delivered in PA Land over the last few weeks.
This could be so they can view the World Cup where they have no representatives. It could also be that they wanted lot’s of people to see the Beach Film they had planned for mid June. Remember, they had continuous rolling footage for a day or two according to Palestinian Media Watch.
Don’t know how accurate the story is but it makes me think this was well planned propaganda on the Palestinians part. I’m no fan of conspiracy theories but this is getting weird.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=105033
Story again via LGF.
The Israelis have now officially denied that the explosion was an Israeli shell.
Straight away on Today we get a Palestinian spokesman rubbishing the Israeli version. He got a soft ride – the interviewer even pointed out that recent pal-on-pal violence would “blunt his message”. I am not sure if this is the job of the BBC – to take sides like this.
This is turning into a “he said / she said”. So the BBC bring on an “independent expert”. Oddly enough he is from an organisation that is very anti-Israel.
Going back to the original point – the film looks very fake.
Does anyone remember the preposterous JReith’s holier-than-thou defence of the BBC for refusing to report on the ISLAMIC religious affiliation of various murderers & terrorists (eg the psycho who murdered a kidnapped Parisian Jew, shouting ‘allah ak-bar’ down the phone to his relatives) on the basis that they “had to be extra-careful in checking the sources” etc etc? Strangely, he’s been remarkably quiet about the BBC rushing into print with John Simpson’s fake Marines’ massacre story and, above all, this Palestinian self-suicide attack on its own bathing public…
I think the best answer is to have an IBCC (Independent Broadcasting Complaints Commission) which investigates independently and forces the beeb to broadcast corrections prominently.
When I complain to the beeb they never accept the point, always deflect it, and even if they did agree that they were wrong it’s just known between me and them.
If the general public got to know of these acts of bias and their frequency and direction we could get back to something a lot closer to honest reporting.
As other posters have said, most people accept uncritically what the beeb says and are shocked when the true facts are explained.
One enormous caveat though: how do we make sure that the IBCC is independent. Perhaps there should be a permanent judicial review process where the public could present its own critiques of any IBCC reports and have the whole matter thrashed out in front of a panel of experienced Judges.
Far from issuing an apology, and just in case anybody might actually believe the Israelis, the BBC are back on the case:
Doubts over Gaza deaths inquiry
More quotes again from Mark Garlasco and Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat urged the United Nations to launch its own investigation.
Why yes! Let’s have an official UN investigation now that the “Palestinians” have removed evidence and possibly brought in “evidence” of their own.
Israel is indeed the Jew among nations!