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Settler violence and harassment in Sheikh Jarrah
[Hate speech in article title corrected by imc-sf-editorial]
They do it in the middle of the night. On dark nights. Quietly, stealthily. In large groups. Well organized militias - armed and all. A crowd of about 50 religious settlers. Came in the night to two houses in Israeli-annexed, Arab East Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah, over the Green Line. They threw a child out of the broken window they'd entered by. A two-year-old flying baby, falling from the 2nd storey window, five meters high, ending up in hospital traumatised.
They do it in the middle of the night. On dark nights. Quietly, stealthily. In large groups. Well organized militias - armed and all. A crowd of about 50 religious settlers. Came in the night to two houses in Israeli-annexed, Arab East Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah, over the Green Line. They threw a child out of the broken window they'd entered by. A two-year-old flying baby, falling from the 2nd storey window, five meters high, ending up in hospital traumatised.
Settler violence and harassment in Sheikh Jarrah
Annabel Frey, writing from occupied Jerusalem
5 May 2003
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1433.shtml
SHEIKH JARRAH, EAST JERUSALEM (28 April 2003) -- They do it in the middle of the night. On dark nights. Quietly, stealthily. In large groups. Well organized militias - armed and all. A crowd of about 50 religious settlers. Came in the night to two houses in Israeli-annexed, Arab East Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah, over the Green Line. They threw a child out of the broken window they'd entered by. A two-year-old flying baby, falling from the 2nd storey window, five meters high, ending up in hospital traumatised. They hit a man so badly he was driven away unconscious in an ambulance; I saw him go. Three others also hospitalised. Blood everywhere, broken doors, broken windows, chains and padlocks they put on gates to stop the neighbours coming to help.
They were organised like a small army brigade and came even though the court has yet to rule finally on this matter. Two even reconnoitred earlier that evening, arriving at 7.00 pm at the houses, lying to the people living there that they were from the Municipality: "How many people live here? We just want to know if the water's running and electricity switched on?" The residents wouldn't let them in, knowing at that hour no one comes officially.
By the time I arrived, summoned from sleep by the phone, the baby was in hospital. Thankfully, a resident phoned a diplomat, the police and a peace activist. A small handful of us gathered to witness the aftermath, to learn the truth, to show support and solidarity; while Saudi TV got it down on film.
And the Police and Border Police called for help let the settlers (these "so called" religious men) go with no arrests, despite the injuries they'd inflicted. No arrests, no handcuffs .. the police just let them trickle out of the houses with their skullcaps neatly in place and their sleeping bags stowed neatly in their backpacks. Each one's hand-gun neatly out of sight, though witnesses later told how every single one was armed. We hurled insults at them in Hebrew, they looked amazed and the police verbally abused us instead. They offered the police chocolate, these covetous colonials. Stood in small clusters chatting with them by the four police jeeps as if there'd been no crime, no criminal activity. "Moshe, where's my water?" one called to another, as if nothing unusual was going on. And huddled there, defying outraged, silent Arab neighbors, reorganizing strategy, before loading into their parked vehicles which drove away. For now. They will be back ... As if there'd been no crime.
Since one of them was a Cabinet Minister (Minister of Tourism, Benny Elon), one must suppose they felt protected by the law and even above it... They are his gang, his followers, this group of thugs: "Homat Shalem" activists - an organization he runs. Maybe they'd even obtained rabbinical sanction for their acts, like Yigal Amir before murdering a Prime Minister. Benny Elon is also a rabbi. He who denied, recently in court, knowing of Rabin's murder in advance. Contrary to what Amir claims.
Today is Monday, 28th April 2003. There is a Road Map initiative under way in which settlements should be vacated, the Occupation ceased and land returned to its owners. Are these the last desperate acts of ethnic cleansers? Or is this their business-as-usual, arrogantly obscene gesture at the peace process?
No doubt they'll be back, they'll keep on trying, using every trick as they always have. Hebron was such a case. Ras al Amud, Silwan, the list goes on... Even now, today, the country's main newspapers deny the flying baby, talk of a compromise forced on local residents by police, an eviction order, a lawyer's escort with the gang and a lawyers' compromise. But the lawyer for the residents tells me all such reports are lies. Whatever the truth, it's another hotspot, another bloody thorn in the side of peace. Created by sneaky people, armed thugs and sundry terrorists, who come in the dark of night, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Stealing someone else's birthright. Stealing people's homes. Creating refugees. Creating occupation. Using terror. I called one, to his face, a Nazi. It seemed the fitting word.
Annabel Frey is an Israeli peace activist and alternative tour guide who volunteers with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Rabbis for Human Rights, Women for Human Rights (Machsomwatch) and other Israeli peace organisations. She lived in Sinai, Egypt for four years, immigrated to Israel from South Africa in 1981 and is originally British.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1433.shtml
Annabel Frey, writing from occupied Jerusalem
5 May 2003
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1433.shtml
SHEIKH JARRAH, EAST JERUSALEM (28 April 2003) -- They do it in the middle of the night. On dark nights. Quietly, stealthily. In large groups. Well organized militias - armed and all. A crowd of about 50 religious settlers. Came in the night to two houses in Israeli-annexed, Arab East Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah, over the Green Line. They threw a child out of the broken window they'd entered by. A two-year-old flying baby, falling from the 2nd storey window, five meters high, ending up in hospital traumatised. They hit a man so badly he was driven away unconscious in an ambulance; I saw him go. Three others also hospitalised. Blood everywhere, broken doors, broken windows, chains and padlocks they put on gates to stop the neighbours coming to help.
They were organised like a small army brigade and came even though the court has yet to rule finally on this matter. Two even reconnoitred earlier that evening, arriving at 7.00 pm at the houses, lying to the people living there that they were from the Municipality: "How many people live here? We just want to know if the water's running and electricity switched on?" The residents wouldn't let them in, knowing at that hour no one comes officially.
By the time I arrived, summoned from sleep by the phone, the baby was in hospital. Thankfully, a resident phoned a diplomat, the police and a peace activist. A small handful of us gathered to witness the aftermath, to learn the truth, to show support and solidarity; while Saudi TV got it down on film.
And the Police and Border Police called for help let the settlers (these "so called" religious men) go with no arrests, despite the injuries they'd inflicted. No arrests, no handcuffs .. the police just let them trickle out of the houses with their skullcaps neatly in place and their sleeping bags stowed neatly in their backpacks. Each one's hand-gun neatly out of sight, though witnesses later told how every single one was armed. We hurled insults at them in Hebrew, they looked amazed and the police verbally abused us instead. They offered the police chocolate, these covetous colonials. Stood in small clusters chatting with them by the four police jeeps as if there'd been no crime, no criminal activity. "Moshe, where's my water?" one called to another, as if nothing unusual was going on. And huddled there, defying outraged, silent Arab neighbors, reorganizing strategy, before loading into their parked vehicles which drove away. For now. They will be back ... As if there'd been no crime.
Since one of them was a Cabinet Minister (Minister of Tourism, Benny Elon), one must suppose they felt protected by the law and even above it... They are his gang, his followers, this group of thugs: "Homat Shalem" activists - an organization he runs. Maybe they'd even obtained rabbinical sanction for their acts, like Yigal Amir before murdering a Prime Minister. Benny Elon is also a rabbi. He who denied, recently in court, knowing of Rabin's murder in advance. Contrary to what Amir claims.
Today is Monday, 28th April 2003. There is a Road Map initiative under way in which settlements should be vacated, the Occupation ceased and land returned to its owners. Are these the last desperate acts of ethnic cleansers? Or is this their business-as-usual, arrogantly obscene gesture at the peace process?
No doubt they'll be back, they'll keep on trying, using every trick as they always have. Hebron was such a case. Ras al Amud, Silwan, the list goes on... Even now, today, the country's main newspapers deny the flying baby, talk of a compromise forced on local residents by police, an eviction order, a lawyer's escort with the gang and a lawyers' compromise. But the lawyer for the residents tells me all such reports are lies. Whatever the truth, it's another hotspot, another bloody thorn in the side of peace. Created by sneaky people, armed thugs and sundry terrorists, who come in the dark of night, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Stealing someone else's birthright. Stealing people's homes. Creating refugees. Creating occupation. Using terror. I called one, to his face, a Nazi. It seemed the fitting word.
Annabel Frey is an Israeli peace activist and alternative tour guide who volunteers with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Rabbis for Human Rights, Women for Human Rights (Machsomwatch) and other Israeli peace organisations. She lived in Sinai, Egypt for four years, immigrated to Israel from South Africa in 1981 and is originally British.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1433.shtml
For more information:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article14...
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#2 Annabel Frey is a credible reporter who does not use such discredited terms as "Zionazi."
#3 There is nothing about "bloodsucking" of any kind in the original article, let alone that of "Zionazis," so it can be assumed that whoever reposted this under Annabel Frey's name is far more interested in invoking the disreputable idea of the "blood libel" against Jews in general and in discrediting Annabel Frey and Electronic Initfada than they are in supporting the Palestinian struggle.
SF IMC's practice of moving stories such as this up to their "Global Newswire" from their "Other/Breaking Newswire" is a questionable practice that reflects on the collective's apparent preference for promoting these sorts of COINTELPRO-friendly behaviors than they are in fostering dialogue and communication.
All the commentor did was prove the point that the posting of such disinformation here is probably designed more to discredit the Palestinian cause, Electronic Intifada, Annabel Frey and SF IMC. Only SFIMC has the power to do anything about such material and instead of letting it scroll qucikly off the lowest Newswire on the page, someone there has chosen to give it the SF IMC seal of approval by moving it up the page by editorial decision.
It is a sad day for Palestine and for SF IMC when it allows agents of disinformation free rein on these pages.
Why don’t you hate the Arab leadership that teaches its people, its better to kill Jews than make peace with them. I hate their followers that let their children be taught that hate and violence. This is the answer to the poverty that their leadership has lead them to. Arafat is a corrupt brutal leader.
But if by citizens u mean jews, yu are obviously blind to the way palestinians(called arabs by isrelis jews) are mistreated.:
Until 1966, the Palestinian citizens of Israel lived under military administration. Still today, despite supposedly being equal citizens of a democratic state, the Palestinian minority continues to be subjected to systematic institutional and legal discrimination, and is completely marginalized by the Israeli government. Israeli prime ministers from left and right have recently acknowledged this discrimination, yet little has been done to bridge the wide gap that has been created between Jews and Palestinians.
When one looks at the economic conditions of Palestinians in Israel, this gap becomes apparent. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics has classified all communities in Israel into 10 clusters according to their socio-economic status. All 10 communities in the lowest cluster are Palestinian. Out of 26 communities in the second lowest cluster, 23 are Palestinian. None of the Palestinian communities ranked higher than the five lowest classifications. Moreover, almost 50 percent of the children living below the poverty line in Israel are Palestinian, despite the fact that Palestinians do not comprise more than 20 percent of Israel’s entire population. Palestinians in Israel also receive less education than their Jewish counterparts. Sixty percent of the Palestinian labor force have a maximum of nine years of education. Only five percent of Palestinians have college degrees or higher, compared to 17 percent of Jews in Israel.
In addition, Palestinians encounter problems of overcrowding. They own less than three percent of Israel’s land, and less than 50 percent of that land is under their local authority’s jurisdiction. The severe lack of appropriate, updated urban plans for their neighborhoods has created a serious housing problem. This shortage has resulted in a high population density, as well as more than 10,000 illegal houses threatened to be demolished under court order.
http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/pubs/20001222ib.html
some suggestions
affermative actiom
SARS
African transition to western society
Democrats for 2004
global warming
etc
Look through the comments above posted by the organized disinformation squad from the ADL and you won't find even one remark expressing sadness or sympathy for the poor kid. Everything is written to discredit the article without reference to the ugly evil that the zionazis have committed.
THAT kind of red herring diversionary strategy is the hallmark of the zionazi.
If the zionazis don't like these articles, no one is forcing them to read them. This is a website that demands social justice. If you can't handle it, go away.
http://www.wsahara.net/history.html
2]An Egyptian Army Unit Attacks the Charity Isle of Patmos & St. John the Beloved Coptic Monastery of Nuns in Egypt
http://www.copts.net/detail.asp?id=419
http://www.copts.net/detail.asp?id=423
In any case, all of them are irrelevant to the issue of the barbarity perpetrated against a two-year-old by the zionists, who are the enemy of the entire human race.
But you knew that, and that's why you chose this diversionary strategy.
That is a good sign that SF IMC is willing to deal with the most balatant forms of hate posted on this site. Now if SF IMC was just as willing to deal with the more subtle forms of such it as the mis-titling of the original article, there would be hope for picking this place up out of the gutter that it so often finds itelf in so that it could really be an asset to the Palestinian cause.
Maybe it's just harder to imagine that day to day reality of horrific stuff, a whole population trapped in a military prison, than to argue about linguistics.
Anyone who has used SF IMC for more than two minutes is well aware of the situation in Palestine. Unfortunately, headlines falsified with the intent to bring the artilces they are attached to has become an extremely common occurence here. That is why I brought up the subject in the first palce, which is why such material is promoted by the SF IMC editorial team. It makes you wonder whether they have been infiltrated by disniformation specialist when they use such uncritical standards.
I can understand why this was allowed to stay on the Other/Breaking Newswire. The question is why it was promoted to the Global Newswire, which is a vliad question udner the circumstances, where it only serves to discredit the Palestinian cause. The comments that say this should not be questioned seem designed to achive that same unfortunate goal.
http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/12/1548433.php
If you do it again anywhere else on this board, it will be removed and so will everything else you have ever written. We're getting mighty tired of you, and of people like you, hijacking topics and diverting attention from the subject at hand. This thread is not about SF-IMC. It's about yet another Zionist atrocity. Stay on topic or get 86ed. The choice is yours.
Capiesc?
NO MORE U.S. AID TO RACIST, MURDEROUS, ANTI-DEMOCRATIC, APARHTEID ISREAL!
There seems to be a connection between neo-liberals and neo-conservatives when is comes to stifling talk about Israel. Get too effective in organizing for Palestinian justice and both the mainstream left and right shoots down the legitimate critisism, like being stuck between two walls of ignorance..
That a two year old child's death is being ignored on this segment while accusations of "anti-semitism" fly around is classic of the lack of meaningful dialogue that actually relates to the deeper issue of Israel's continued abuse of the Palestinians, funded by the United States..
A few days ago an eighteen month old Palestinian infant was killed in his home by an Israeli bullet., and the same thing happened. Very little, if any, comment was given to the incident, itself, but plenty was written about Israel the good, Palestine the bad.
Now a youngster has been tossed from a second floor window, and what do we read here? The same old time worn garbage. If an Israeli child was tossed from a two story window (or anywhere else) the mainstream US media would have a field day.
Certainly to the family of this youngster it is terror, pure and simple, and to those of us who care about justice, it is mind bogglilng that such an outrage can go unpunished. What effect is this going to have on the child? How cruel are people. How evil!
You can try and deflect justifiable criticism by the age old trick of diversion, but it doesn't alter the horror of such a crime, and we have to ask ourselves what kind of people would do such a thing, and what kind of police would stand around talking with the criminal element as if it were a social occasion?
I suppose we'll read soon that this youngster was a terrorist who was thrown from the second floor in self defence.
zionists are not responsible for what is being done in their names, most often behind their backs... just as you are not responsible for the criminal acts that your state is undertaking.
I could see using the term "zionazi", as long as it is used like "zionazi elite".
it is the zionists and nazis who are directing the course of history.
They use people and religions as a cover for their horrific conduct.
Israelis and Jews who identify as Zionist are thus manipulated into believing that an attack on one of them is an attack on all of them, and you contribute to this notion by using the inflammatory rhetoric exhibited in the post above.
Shame on you, fool
Number of Muslim countries that have offered the Palestinians a state: 0
Number of Christian countries that have offered the Palestinians a state: 0
Number of Buddhist countries that have offered the Palestinians a state: 0
Number of Jewish countries that have offered the Palestinians a state: 1
Sometimes facts do speak louder than hateful propaganda.
At this point we have an article aserting that some Jews are bad, and do nasty things. OK. What's the context in which we should evaluate that assertion? PART of the context is that seemingly literate people can't get a grip ontheir emotionsd and resort to terms like "Zionazi", and that further, their analysis of the importance of any given events can be discarded as hypermetabolic foaming idiocy. If you guys want discussion, be credible. You aren't credible: end of story.
The topic of this thread is the two year old victim of an Israeli atrocity.
Stay on topic.
The only mentions I can find are from Indymedia and Electronic Intifada. Neither of these sites are exactly bastions of unbiased well-researched news.
Otherwise this is just another attempt at a blood libel.
• March 3: A Palestinian gunman kills 10 Israelis; again, Arafat’s Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades takes responsibility.
• March 9: Palestinians using assault rifles and grenades kill Avia Malka, 9 months, and Israel Yihye, and wound about 50 in Netanya; again, Arafat’s Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades takes responsibility.
• March 9: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 11 people and wounds 54 when he detonates himself in a crowded café in Jerusalem. Hamas takes responsibility.
• March 12: Gunmen kill 6 Israelis when they attack Israeli cars traveling near the border with Lebanon.
• March 20: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 7 Israelis and wounds 30 in an attack on a bus. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
• March 21: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills Gadi and Tzipi Shemesh, and Yitzhak Cohen, and wounds 86 people, when he detonates himself in a crowded shopping area on Jerusalem’s King George Street. Arafat’s Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades takes responsibility.
• March 27: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people and wounds 140 when he detonates himself in the middle of a crowded Passover celebration in the Park Hotel in Netanya. Hamas takes responsibility
For a people resisting invasion, the Palestinians seem to kill an awful lot of children. Those Israeli infant soldier brigades must be terrifying.
I don't believe this article is reliable. It has a multitude of outright lies. You keep saying "please don't pay attention to the lies, pay attention to the violence done to the baby. Pay no attention to the lies"
Why should I? What is in this article that gives any reliablity? Why should I believe that the "main point" is any more true?
Do tinfoil helmets provide adequate protection against mind control rays?
A lot of people probably think helmets to ward off mind control rays were invented by some smart-ass having a little fun with the feebs. Uh-uh. Check out the detailed instructions for creating your own helmet (using metal window-screen mesh) at morethanconquerors.simple net.com/MCF/starshld.htm.
"What I did was make a hood like you see on a hooded sweatshirt," inventor Lei Jessira Starfire writes, "and to make this thing look 'natural' you can actually attach this hood to a sweatshirt so that you don't stand out like a sore thumb and look like a dork. The more odd we look the easier it is for others to justify their claims that we are just a bunch of loonies making this all up. Even if we do have miles of evidence and X-ray proof. . . . I also put a drawstring under this as well to cinch the back down because this is the important area where most transmitter/receivers seem to be." One more thing: "Duct tape--very important."
Ms. Starfire says the shield works. "For me this has been such a relief. As for the telepaths, I have learned to recognize them and ignore them and without their transmitters to force me to acknowledge them and force me to open up to them I can keep all the voices out because of the [radio frequency] shield hood!!!"
See, scoffers? It works. Every bit as effective as homeopathic pills. Still, you have to wonder whether this is truly a cost-effective solution. As Straight Dope Science Advisory Board stalwart Jill notes, "I just ignore the telepaths. The worst thing you can do is block them and piss them off. When it gets to be too much, I put my fingers in my ears and sing, 'FLINTSTONES, MEET THE FLINTSTONES.'"
Moreover, from an engineering standpoint, the Starfire shield frankly bites. What these people need is professional help. A Faraday cage can protect against radio-frequency energy, but only if properly designed. The Faraday cage was originally conceived as a shield against static electricity: the free electrons carrying whatever charge the cage has repel each other and spread out along the cage's convex conductive surface, leaving the interior electrically neutral. In a dynamic electromagnetic environment (radio waves), things are a little more complicated, but you do have something called the "skin effect," in which a Faraday cage will cause significant attenuation of an incoming signal, depending on the cage's construction and the signal's frequency. To work properly, however, the cage must fully enclose the shieldee. If, like a dork (excuse me, Ms. Starfire, but one must call a spade a spade), you cover only a portion of yourself with the helmet, not only will the cage not shield you, the edges of the helmet will serve as an antenna, broadcasting your innermost thoughts (or electromagnetic traces thereof) to the world.
A partial solution is to ground the cage. Initially I thought one might drag a chain for this purpose, in the manner of the old gasoline trucks, but Uncle Al, the well-known sci.physics guru, sternly informed me, "Dragging a chain won't do it. You must drive a thick steel spike into the water table and connect to it with a substantial copper or aluminum cable." There's also cage construction to consider. Uncle Al recommended "multiple layers of grounded conductive foil interleaved with electrically resistively lossy high-dielectric-constant stuff as per stealth plating (ferrite in carbon-loaded polymer)." Clearly he's thinking of increasing the cage's capacitance, with obvious salubrious consequences. "One might add further interleaved layers of carefully annealed Co-Netic alloy or mu-metal, too, to bleed off magnetic fields," but admittedly this is tougher to come by at the supermarket than Reynolds Wrap.
Some prefer a completely different approach. Check out accessnewage.com/articles/HEA LTH/psyack2.htm from New Age author Eileen Nauman (courtesy of Straight Dope friend of science James Carr): "Whenever I go on the road and have to give seminars or talks, I always pack my trusty Saran Wrap! It is three sheets or layers, one on top of the other. I tuck it beneath my bra so that it hangs over and covers my solar plexus. . . . [If] my attention is too scattered and pulled and I can't focus like I need to, then I excuse myself and go slap on my Saran Wrap and there's a happy ending. The only bad thing about this is: you'll sweat like a pig beneath it." But at least your solar plexus will be safe.
However, I don't see anything about any of the almost 3000 Palestinians who have died in this conflict. There are no stats released on them, no pictures of them, no pertinent data.. It is as if they were non human and of no consequence.
Dear God, how totally tragic!
http://www.flashpoints.net/
scroll down to
Monday, May 12, 2003
-Nothing in the Guardian
-Nothing in Le Monde
-Nothing in Haaretz
All above , no friends of Israel
Total fabrication!
You guys should thank God everyday for Israel. What else would you be talking about?
THIS is all that was reported on "Flashpoints"?
Oh, come on. Second or third-hand story, that you can't verify anywhere else.
I'm sorry - this isn't journalism, this is gossip.
Personally, I only believe what I see with my own eyes, and not all of that, not by a long chalk.
Bottom line - no verification offered.
Could it be that the palistinians just dont care?
obviously the israelis arent going to count the people who are trying to kill them but it seems the palistinians arent either
"Well, she never lied to me before!" is SUCH good proof.
Did you know there are web sites that promote the health benefits of drinking your own urine? It must be true - they never lied to me before, right?
I look at the ONE web site with this story, there's no verification, no links out on this story, no way to even verify it, the site itself has an agenda that's evident to even the most casual observer - yet you take it as an utter and absolute truth that this happened?
Your credulity is amazing. I'll bet telemarketers and e-mail spammers just LOVE you. (After all, they've never lied to you before...)
That's all I'm asking. It's on you to prove she's telling the truth by providing verification of her claim - it's not on me to prove she's lying when she doesn't show anything to back up her claim.
If she lied, prove it. If not, either shut up or get back on topic. Stop changing the subject. The topic is not her veracity. The topic is a Zionist atrocity, one of many. Why don't you want to talk about that?
Journalism, the Weekly World News excepted, is about providing verifiable information. When the accuracy of the information is questioned, why the hand waving and pointing at the Zionist Atrocities instead of verifying the info - which would PROVE the atrocities?
That there IS no verification casts doubt on the event happening the way it's being cast here. Why is that so hard to understand?
"She made an allegation. Until and unless it is disproven, it is considered true. That's how debate works."
That isn't how journalism works, or our legal system. This isn't a debate - it's her reporting on an event. If that event cannot be verified, it casts doubt on HER. (And her handlers in the community. It's interesting how it morphed from a man being stabbed to a baby being thrown out a window, from her interview on Flashpoints.net)
"I was phoned at about 1 in the morning…told that somebody was stabbed, but when I got there I learned that a child was thrown out a window…"
And she apparently never saw the baby.
To me, that creates a reasonable doubt that the event happened the way it did, that a child was thrown out a window. Someone may have told her that - I'll agree to it. But did SHE do her job and verify the info?
As has been pointed out - there's no other verification. Like it or not - there needs to be.
Interesting. Someone posts a 'news report' about "Zionazi bloodsuckers" allegedly throwing a baby out of a window.
"one of the editors" states that if anyone questions the veracity of the story, or why it was posted on the site in the first place, they will be banned and the entire history of their posts sent down the memory hole. That way, if anyone finds the story through a search engine or links, they will see no discussion on any topic except the alleged baby throwing: "The topic of this thread is the two year old victim of an Israeli atrocity." "This thread is not about SF-IMC. It's about yet another Zionist atrocity". (Note that while masquerading as a news outlet, IMC is accepting an unproven claim of criminal behaviour as fact, rather than an allegation).
Well I'm going to make it quite clear that my post is completely relevant to the article posted and that in fact it is difficult to be relevant to that article without at least inadvertently calling SF-IMC's credibility into question.
I personally do not believe the claim that the baby was thrown out of the window. I believe that those who promote the story are (knowingly or unknowingly) being used in the service of propaganda agencies. (I do not deny that both sides in the dispute use propaganda, in fact I would say this is the most important thing to keep in mind when looking at any aspect of the Palestine issue.) Therefore, I want to examine the story with a view to determining its veracity.
The story, like much that appears on IMC sites, is a Pilgerism. That is to say, it makes claims which will not stand critical analysis, but offers the sort of emotional charge that certain people don't want to subject to such analysis. Whether this is through the fear that after doubting such an horrific story it might turn out to be true, or whether it is because the readers have a strong emotional commitment to a cause which would be supported by the story, the insulation of the story from critical attention is the same. It is in this light that "one of the editor"'s bullying threats should be seen.
Let's take a look at the story.
The allegation is that a large group of Israeli settlers, with people holding high office (including a Cabinet Minister) among them, posed as municipal employees at 7pm, and later entered a house through a second storey window then threw a baby out the same window.
The claims rely heavily on assumptions which are difficult to believe.
Why would a Cabinet Minister be directly involved in a militia group? Why would a supposedly well-planned operation include something as absurd as posing as a municipal employee out of hours? Why would they enter through a second floor window rather than say, the door or a lower window? If they were "all armed", why did they hit people and throw them out windows? Why not simply shoot them? If the police are known to condone such activity, why were they called?
The report is from a site which is clearly biased, containing the word 'intifada' (uprising) in its name. It is poorly written and contains no photographs, names of alleged victims or other evidence. At one point, Frey states that she called the alleged perpetrators nazis, suggesting that this article is not news, but rather is a propaganda exercise coloured by hatred.
Another point some here seem not to understand is that according to the basic principles of reason and argument, a claim, if it is to be taken seriously, should be 'falsifiable'. That is, it should be structured in such a way that if it were not true it would be possible to demonstrate its falsity. Repeated failures to do so therefore would lend credence to the original claim.
Simply asserting that one heard something happened is not at all credible. Providing evidence that others can independently test is more credible - provided that your evidence is not immediately contradicted! Any 'journalist' should be aware of these issues. If they fail to provide testable evidence, we should immediately be suspicious of their claims.
By the time I arrived, summoned from sleep by the phone, the baby was in hospital. Thankfully, a resident phoned a diplomat, the police and a peace activist. A small handful of us gathered to witness the aftermath, to learn the truth, to show support and solidarity; while Saudi TV got it down on film.
Frey had numerous opportunities to establish credibility here, provided the event actually took place.
She could have visited the hospital and taken a photo of the baby (or even the broken windows, barred gates, the alleged attackers etc), reported the name if the baby, the hospital, the diplomat, the peace activist... A particularly lazy person trying to support these claims could simply supply a reference (or link) to the Saudi TV report. Unless of course there is no such report.
There is only one concrete, testable piece of information in the story: that Tourism Minister Benny Elon was at that location on the 28th April 2003. For all the claims made, this is fairly slim. How about a picture of the broken window? A picture of the blood, the settlers, the settlement, the broken window, indeed anything at all. Until some actual evidence has been offered, it is pointless to ask doubters to disprove the evidence. So far almost nothing has been said which can in any way be tested.
Given that the only person offered as a reference is Annabel Frey herself, there is no logical reason to believe the claim.
Propaganda depends on pilgerisms, and truth does not need them.
TS.