MEDIA CRITICISM

[A]lmost breathlessly both CBS News and Breitbart.com, an abject rightwing disinformation outfit operating deep within the parameters of the Republican noise machine, joined forces yesterday (6 August) to furnish “proof” of Hamas villainy. The clip (by an Indian TV crew) is obviously in support of one of Israel’s main propaganda themes during the current massacre in Gaza, that Hamas uses civilians (“cowardly and unfairly”) as human shields. Much has been made of this, although the Israelis routinely use Palestinian prisoners as shields in their police and military dragnets and while this is a war crime according to international human rights statutes, no one seems to notice or care. Palestinian life is cheap.  Point is, what would the Israelis and their apologists have Hamas do? Gaza is one of the most densely populated enclaves in the world—no fault of the Palestinians, mind you—hence any point chosen by Hamas to mount any type of military retaliation, is liable to be near some human habitation. Obviously the Israelis would prefer Hamas militants to stand in the open, in the few square centimeters still not allocated to some function in that tortured land, so that they could be swiftly turned into a bug splat, courtesy of some advanced missile.