Propaganda Tactics

[breakaleg]

http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=11120&CategoryI...

Israeli officials and the Israeli media have in recent days been decrying the “bias against it” by the international media. Imagine the, for want of a better word, chutzpah.

As evidence, Israeli newspapers claim that the international media has not afforded much coverage of Israeli civilian victims of Hizbollah rockets. Well, here is some: 36 Israeli civilians have been killed by Katyusha rockets. The majority of Israelis killed so far have been soldiers.

On the other hand, more than 900 Lebanese have been killed in the fighting. The vast majority, over 700, have been civilian. So perhaps therein lies the answer to the perceived “bias” against Israel. When you are killing innocent bystanders at a rate of 20 - 1, it would be rather amiss of the international media not to concentrate on where the greatest damage is being done.

Now, apart from perhaps in the US, no one buys the Israeli “we are the real victim” line. Even Israelis, those not utterly indoctrinated by their own state’s propaganda, don’t buy such nonsense. Still, the Israeli tactic, one of many in the propaganda wars, is useful.
<snip>

[Casandra]

1. Amen!!

Good to hear someone speak it like it is! I'm so tired of the 'Poor Me' from Israel! That commercial on Faux is enough to make one really sick. I mean REALLY sick! ..asking for contributions for poor Israel, who is BEING ATTACKED!

To me..this isn't about Israel, Lebanon or anyone. It's about death, destruction, hopelessness and one side pounding another cuz they have the best 'toys'! Utter contempt here

[Iwasthere]

2. Ditto

I have been noticing the same thing. When is someone in the media going to mention that ratio?

[Opusnone]

3. Wolfie is the PR arm of the IDF

I don't know where Ted Turner would stand on the subject, but CNN, though often fair, seems to be a propaganda arm of the IDF.

[furman]

4. This article is anti-Israel propaganda

From the article:

Keeping an eagle eye on the media, Israel and its supporters have forced Reuters to withdraw one picture — one picture out of thousands — from Lebanon in which, according to the explanation of the news agency, “improper use” was made of photo software. The photographer was suspended.

Actually, Reuters killed over 900 pictures taken by the photographer, Adnan Hajj.
References:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09photo.ht...

“By the time I checked my e-mail at 10 Sunday morning, we had killed the doctored photo and suspended the photographer,” he said. The agency subsequently stopped using the photographer and has removed the 920 digital photographs of his in its archives. It is reviewing them to see if any others have been improperly altered.

http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=2&...

<snip>
And more evidence is mounting in the blogosphere that other pictures Reuters has distributed online and to newspapers have been manipulated, also in the direction of presenting Israel as an aggressor.

This is not the first time Reuters has been implicated in photo manipulation. Back in 2001, during the first year of the Palestinian intifada against Israel, CAMERA questioned Reuters’ misrepresentation of photographs from the region. The photographs Reuters distributed supported the news agency’s overall theme of Israeli aggressors victimizing Palestinians....until one looked closer.

<snip>

In light of the Reuters photo scandal, newspaper and photo editors must begin asking harder questions about the photos they receive from the war zone. Is truth being told or are the photographs tailored to the message?

<snip>

Photo editors have expressed shock that anyone would think to question whether the photos of the rescue workers carrying dead children were staged. But it must be remembered that Hezbollah controls the Qana war zone and also controls the information and photo opportunities available to journalists, stringers and photographers. The images of rescuers parading the bodies of dead children around, and holding them up to the camera in a variety of poses raises its own questions.

<snip>

The public is becoming increasingly skeptical of information and photographs coming from Hezbollah-controlled areas. Given the growing number of inconsistencies, news consumers are demanding explanations. It is time for newspaper and photo editors to do the same.

[Poll_Blind]

5. Still trying to get mileage out of Hajj? Let me know how that...

...works out for you.

PB

[furman]

6. Please explain: I am not trying to get any "mileage" out of this

I could go on and debunk the rest of the article if I wanted to.
I was only doing some fact-checking.

[mtice]

8. Still trying to deny the anti-Israel media fraud?

Hajj is hardly old news, it is a front and center, caught red-handed, perfect example of anti-Israel bias in the media. And he's only one of many.

Here's an irrefutable presentation on anti-Israel media manipulation:
http://www.aish.com/movies/PhotoFraud.asp

Hajj was not the only photographer involved.

Here's an example of what you would see in many of those pictures, had the photographer been standing another 10 feet back:




The anti-Israel manipulation is incessant and blatant. What I don't understand is how people can continue to deny it in the face of incontrovertable proof.

I'll tell you why I find it hard to get worked up about Lebanese casualties - because when the media says "civilian", it is just as likely that that alleged civilian was simply a Hezbollah fighter in civilian clothes.

[Poll_Blind]

9. "I find it hard to get worked up about Lebanese casualties"

Of that, I am certian.

PB

[OrechDin]

24. Yeah he should of ignored it nt

[breakaleg]

7. Just because they withdrew 900 photos, doesn't mean they found

all 900 to be fabricated. Likely, they withdrew all of his photos as his credibility was shot. This is not uncommon. They fire journalists all the time once their credibility is questioned. It doesn't mean that every single story they did was false.

[mtice]

10. More proof for the deniers

Here's the guy from Qana - the same guy who staged the same propaganda in 1996 in the same town, now at it again 10 years later, and caught on tape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vPAkc5CLgc

How does it feel to have your emotions manipulated like that?

[idontwantaname]

11. i thnk we have the IDF to thank for images like that. n/t.

[mtice]

12. No

You have Hezbollah propagandists and their sympathizers in the media to thank for that. Because if they couldn't get the propaganda boost from it, they would have no reason to turn places where innocents gather for shelter into military targets by setting up rocket launchers next to them.

It seems a typical canard that Israel kills for the sake of killing. If Israel wanted to do that it could do so on a far more massive scale, it could literally kill off hundreds of millions with its nuclear weapons, or 'mere' millions with conventional ones. It has concentrated targets with many thousands of its enemies all gathered together which it could wipe out completely to the last man. If there is to be an imputation or allegation that Israel wants to kill non-combatants, then you must answer the question of why they do not do so on a far larger scale than even the fraudulent Hezbollah version of events claims.

[breakaleg]

13. so the IDF didn't kill any civilians in Lebanon? hmmm....

[mtice]

15. The IDF is not responsible for civilan deaths in Lebanon

Hezbollah is. To absolve themselves of such responsibility they can do what every other legitimate armed force on the planet does, and don uniforms to distinguish soldier from civilian, and conduct military operations outside of civilian areas so as not to expose those civilians to counter fire.

Here's an excellent illustration of the difference between Israel and Hezbollah/Hamas/Fatah etc. Let's see if you can spot what makes them different:

[idontwantaname]

16. so by this rationale

nearly 60% of the citizens of israel are part of the armed forces and therefore ok targets???

[mtice]

17. Where'd that come from?

I must be missing a predicate assumption, because I can't figure out for the life of me what your post has to do with anything I said. Please elaborate.

[idontwantaname]

18. well

you posted the funny pic of the soldier in front and behind the baby.

the thing is, the israeli govt said theres only 1400 hezbollah terrorists in all of lebanon. 1400.

the other thing is that most israelis are enlisted actively or in the reserves waiting to be called to duty... so for the most part one 'could' view most of the israeli public as... non baby.

[mtice]

19. There's a lot more than 1400

I'd like to see a source for that claim; I do believe it is mistaken. Hezbollah in Lebanon is tens of thousands strong and reinforced by elite Iranian army units. If Hezbollah was only 1400 men at arms there is no way they could rule all of southern and western Lebanon as they have done for years. Lebanon has an army 60,000 strong and it dare not take on Hezbollah.

With regards to the Israelis - if they are active members of the armed forces, yes they would be legitimate military targets, were there a legitimate military force fighting against them. Those who are no longer in the military are no longer legitimate targets. That does not mean a soldier can put on civilian clothes and instantly become a civilian, of course, he must no longer be an active member of the armed forces. Given the current strength of the Israeli armed forces, perhaps 10% of the total population are legitimate military targets. A reservist at home not engaged in combat and not acting under military orders is a civilian.

Of course, Hezbollah is just firing rockets hoping they hit anyone or anything, they make no distinction whatsoever between what is a legitimate military target and what is not. It's sad that this most obvious of atrocities, one which needs no fraudulent photograph to substantiate it, is greeted here with equivocation and excuses only.

[idontwantaname]

20. link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

of course i dont support hezbollahs missiles into israel. one of our members here in DU is a reservist and i would hate for something to happen to him or his family. im just making a counter argument to yours.

-----------

ps- im going offline now. have a good night

[breakaleg]

21. And you have proof of this?

Check this out.


http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14435.h...

[mtice]

22. That article is easily refutable

Here's a key indicator that the author is quite biased:

"While there has been little convincing evidence that Hizbullah is firing its rocket from towns and villages in south Lebanon, or that its fighters are hiding there among civilians, it can be known beyond a shadow of a doubt that Israeli army camps and military installations are based in northern Israeli communities."



Pretty convincing evidence here, should he or you decide to look at it. Uniniformed (war crime #1) Hezbollah fighters hiding heavy weapons among residential buildings (war crime #2). The building in the center of the picture is the exact same one in Qana, the bombing thereof that was played out endlessly in the media a week ago, yet somehow has been completely forgotten now that the original claims of atrocity have been proven to be staged and fraudulent.

You can see more of the same and get further detail about the reality of Hezbollah's activities here:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,199600...

[breakaleg]

23. I've seen that picture and I see no woman or child standing in front

of that weapon. Does their clothing bother you? Is there some standard issue clothing that all resistance movements, militia and armies world wide are required to wear?

perhaps they didn't get that memo.

[mtice]

25. Standard issue clothing

Yes, it's called a uniform, and the memo was the very same Geneva Convention that all the anti-Israel posters here love to quote selectively and incorrectly. OK with you if Israel doesn't get those memos too?

[idontwantaname]

14. huh????

i dont doubt the IDF could do much worse to the lebanese, however thats no justification for the destruction theyve already done.

i also understand they do not intend to kill civilians, however THEY DID!

end of story. stop this shit and take some fucking responsibility!