Adloyada says Human Rights Watch now says it “cannot contradict” (huh?) the findings of the Israeli Defence Force that the fatal explosion at a Gaza beach was not caused by Israeli artillery fire.
As of now (8.38 am BST) the front page of the BBC’s multi-million pound news website says that… Palestinian workers receive wages.
Given the wall-to-wall coverage by the BBC of this story when the explosion happened, and of the earlier claim by HRW that the explosion was caused by incoming Israeli artillery, it will be interesting to see how much attention this latest turn of events receives.
Expect updates to this post.
UPDATE 9.29am: Though not yer something new to report type of update. The most likely cause of the explosion, Human Rights Watch now say, was unexploded Israeli ordnance from some earlier clash. Mr Garlasco of HRW is also quoted as saying,
“… that he was impressed with the IDF’s system of checks and balances concerning its artillery fire in the Gaza Strip and unlike Hamas which specifically targeted civilians in its rocket attacks, the Israelis, he said, invested a great amount of resources and efforts not to harm innocent civilians.”
Will these remarks of Mr Garlasco’s be quoted as widely by the BBC as his earlier assessment 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”? I trust the old stories will be updated.
UPDATE: 10.15am. Here is the BBC’s Middle East front page. Nothing there on this. OK, so why do I expect there to be? Because, as this Newswatch piece twice says, this story is “so significant.” Images of Huda Ghalia screaming in grief flew round the world on media wings. The story was presented then by the BBC as one of the Israelis first being trigger-happy and then trying to dodge responsibility. The BBC said (middle link under “as” above):
Of course, the Palestinians have rejected this case. On top of that, a military expert for the Human Rights Watch organisation, Mark Garlasco, says the evidence he has seen points to Israeli shelling as the cause.
He has been to the site of the blast. And he happens to be a former Pentagon intelligence analyst.
Smug, or what? Now the same former Pentagon intelligence analyst has praised the Israeli inquiry. The same man now thinks that the most likely cause of the tragedy is one – unexploded Israeli ordnance – that, while it can still be attributed to Israel’s past actions, is no longer in Israel’s power to clean up, since Gaza is under the control of the Palestinians. If everlasting peace were to be declared between Israel and Hamas this afternoon people would still occasionally be killed by UXBs for years to come. If Garlasco’s and HRW’s views were news last week they ought to be equally newsworthy this week.
UPDATE 6pm. Dunno why I call it an update. Still nothing from the BBC. But Barker John has pointed out that the subject is being discussed on this BBC message board. See Message 29 onwards. Here are two samples:
Message 31
A Pentagon-trained ballistics expert working for the US-based organisation Human Rights Watch is here in Gaza.
He has surveyed the scene and has forensically examined evidence from the beach.
He concludes that the explosion was *caused* by an ISRAELI shell.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/…
Even the LIES of Israel are clear for all to see.
And
Message 33
“And even Mr Garlasco of Human Rights Watch, who blamed ISrael, has now cleared Israel of responsibility. In fact he even praised the IDF’s professional investigation.”
I can find no evidence for this statement.
Can you provide a reference for it?
I just came across the same article at AugeanStables – yes, it is an excellent dissection of the Pallywood treatment of the Gaza beach incident.
Amazing – one week the BBC brings us (and keeps bringing us) the unchecked allegations of US troops massacring people in Ishaqi – his John Rather moment, I would like to think.
The next week they bring us the Gaza beach story that had all the hallmarks of a Pallywood production, they refuse to correct their errors properly or prominently, they give credence to a non-expert “military expert”, they suppress some of the key rebuttals by the Israelis, and the spin goes on.
What lies we look forward to this week ?
Where’s John Reith?
He has a peculiar talent for ducking out of the picture precisely when the BBC has proven its bias in a particularly damning fashion – as in the Gaza beach cover-up.
I’ve asked Reith several times about ‘his’ opinion of the Death on the Beach video, and the BBC’s ‘improved’ edition of the producer’s raw footage as seen on CNN.
Allan@…
I’ve lost track of how many times you have asked reith that question.
John Reith said he was waiting for the dust, or something, to settle and then he was going to answer the question.
This could take months.
And meanwhile the BBC will have successfully swept yet another dismal journalistic failure under the carpet.
In my local newspaper letters page our own regular peacenik was blathering about the massacre on the beach by Isrealis.
Unfortunately I will nt write in as one can’t remain anonymous, and in my City I would genuinely fear for my safety.
Anybody know what’s happened to those arrested (a long time) after the anti-cartoon march?
Have they been let off yet?