The fact that AJ+, the social media wing of Al Jazeera, is vehemently anti-Israel, is not really surprising. But even by their standards, AJ+ managed to stoop to a new low this week, by using the murders of four Israelis in a terrorist attack, to demonize the Jewish state even further.
On Sunday, a Palestinian man killed four soldiers and injured seventeen more, in a truck ramming attack reminiscent of those that have taken place in Nice and Berlin. The soldiers, all in their twenties, all leave behind mourning families, grappling with the loss of their children in the prime of their lives. Illustrating the volume of Israeli lives lost to terror, Shira, one of the soldiers killed, was the three-hundredth graduate of her school to have been killed in the conflict.
But when cities around Europe joined in marking Israel’s suffering, AJ+ responded in anger, upset at the fact that Israel was being shown sympathy. Paris, Berlin and Rotterdam all flew the Israeli flag on public buildings, to show unity with the people of Israel, in a moral gesture of sympathy, but AJ+ described it as a “controversial tribute to Israel.” This is the title of a video that they produced, which turned Israeli suffering into an opportunity to blacken Israel’s image, through a series of lies and distortions.
AJ+ ask in their post, “Where was the Palestinian flag when Israel attacked the West Bank and Gaza?” This is a total distortion – Israel has gone to war three times in Gaza in the past few years, every time acting in self defense, to stop the rockets fired by the Hamas terrorist group at Israeli civilians.
But for Israel’s haters, every act of Israeli defense is one of aggression, and defending the country from thousands of rockets is an attack on Gaza. This theme is also true about a tweet shown in the video, which says that if the Brandenburg Gate lit up every time Israel killed a Palestinian, it would be permanent. This is deceiving – Israel does not indiscriminately kill Palestinians. Rather, the IDF acts in self defense, and indeed has killed many Palestinians who were in the midst of engaging in terrorist attacks. And to say that Israel is “permanently” killing Palestinians is totally unfounded – one that no serious media agency should be repeating.
There is no other country in the world about whom such ridiculous exaggerations are tolerated – no one would ever say that the Americans, the British or the French are constantly killing people in the wars they fight, but somehow Al Jazeera considers such absurd exaggerations legitimate when they are made about Israel.
There is also reference made to children killed in Gaza in 2014. AJ+ employs the worn out and inaccurate accusation that Israel indiscriminately kills Palestinians, when nothing could be further from the truth. Israel fought a defensive war in 2014 to stop hundreds of Hamas rockets, and took incredible efforts to limit human casualties.
By contrast, Hamas uses its children as human shields, deliberately using civilian areas as the strongholds for its fighters. It is also worth noting that whereas Israel does not want or encourage the death of Palestinian civilians, the Fatah and Hamas leadership does reward and support the killing of Israeli civilians. Hamas praises terrorist attacks, and Fatah gives stipends to people who kill Israeli citizens. Even in the case of this recent terrorist attack, Hamas called a rally to celebrate, and the murderer’s sister praised the attack. But AJ+ is interested in twisting Israel`s self defense to make them look wicked, whilst ignoring the incitement and hatred which underlies Palestinian terrorism.
But beyond being insensitive, malicious and misleading in their video, AJ+ fundamentally harms prospects for peace by following their narrative. If you tell Israelis that their acts of self defense are murder, you are telling them they have fewer rights than other countries. If you tell the world that Israel doesn’t deserve any sympathy when four of their young adults are mowed down in the street, then you tell the world Israeli lives do not matter. Peace requires an understanding of the genuine concerns and feelings of each side. AJ+ considers Israel to be so low, that it doesn’t even deserve the dignity of sympathy in its time of mourning. Once again, AJ+ continues to churn up hate in the world, rather than pursuing any chance of peace.
Contributed by CAMERA intern Aron White.
