Left I on the News

There have been a number of well-publicized (ok, strike that, "well-publicized everywhere but the corporate media) incidents of out-and-out lies and fabrications being propagated by the Israeli military and government in their attempt to sway things their way (these are lies over and above the "basic" ones about Israel "defending" itself or their commando assault forces being "ambushed" and "lynched"). Claims that people on the ship repeatedly shouted "Go back to Auschwitz" based on crudely doctored audio tapes, claims that there were 40 "terrorists" on board, etc., have all been retracted, but all had their effect in both whipping up sentiment within Israel and providing "ammunition" for U.S. media and politicians to defend the indefensible.

But on going over some papers that came while I was away, I found the one that perhaps takes the cake. It's from an AP story that appeared in my local paper on May 31, the morning after the event, headlined "Report: Israeli ship attacks activists/At least two killed in flotilla headed to Gaza." And what do we read in this article, after first reading about the reports sourced to Turkish TV and Al Jazeera? This: "The Israeli military denied today that its forces attacked the boats."

Now why, you may ask, would they do that, when it is completely obvious that the truth would be known within hours? Because they are habitual liars? Well, they are, but they don't just lie for lying sake. They lie for a reason. We can guess that in this case, they hoped to delay the international outcry and pressure on them for a few hours, enough to get complete control of the situation and have the boats being towed to Israel.

With completely obvious lies like this being fed to the press, why would the press ever give the slightest credibility to anything coming out of the mouths of the Israeli military (or government)? You know the answer. It's the same reason that they continue to print everything the U.S. military and government have to say.