Expel The Media

By Jack Engelhard

The major news organizations, all across the firmament of newspapers, radio and TV, are complaining that Israel won’t let them into Gaza.

Ain’t that a shame.

A newscaster named Smith spoke for his fellow foreign correspondents when he said that reporters have a “right” to gain access to the conflict.

Israel has an “obligation” so that the “truth” can be told.

The last big “truth” I remember was the Muhammad al-Durra hoax that was staged in cahoots between Palestinian and French “journalists.” This blood-libel provoked a killing spree against Israelis even after the facts came out to reveal that 1.the boy was killed by Arab gunfire, not Israeli; 2, the boy wasn’t killed at all. He walked off the set with his father after the director yelled “cut” (and you thought only Hollywood made movies).

Meantime the damage was done. Through the inflammatory and popularized image of a Palestinian boy cradled in his father’s arms against “Israeli bullets,” Islamic terrorists now had their justification to commence a second Intifada with the usual suicide bombings throughout Israel. Yes – rivers of Jewish blood.

There were few retractions when the facts came out. Why bother with the facts when the fiction is so good – and so harmful to Israel?

Worldwide, Journalism has served as an active and activist second front against Israel. Israel is facing an enemy that uses its own women and children for cover, an Islamic army of MEN IN SKIRTS, but pick up any newspaper or turn to any channel and behold the one-sided coverage. We find the BBC’s correspondent in Gaza, Fayad Abu Shamala, addressing a Hamas rally in Gaza as follows:

“Journalists and media organizations are waging the campaign shoulder-to shoulder together with the Palestinian people.”

That was during an earlier conflict, but there it is – the news media “shoulder to shoulder” together with the Palestinian people.

That BBC pep talk was recorded by honestreporting.com and cited by Israel’s press officer, Daniel Seaman, who further noted that “Palestinians who work with the media attend a course in media manipulation at Bir Zeit University -- and exercise control over information flow.” [Ed Note: Documentation for this and for Journalism’s war against Israel can be found in Engelhard’s paperback thriller, "The Bathsheba Deadline."]

Today, Mr. Smith accuses Israel of trying to “control the message.” Too bad.

In time of war, what nation allows reporters to roam freely within zones of combat? Israel has no “obligation” except to protect its citizens.

During my own years as a combat reporter, I recall a particular visit to Israel with a group of journalists from around the world.

Shlomo, a captain in the IDF, was ready to give us a tour of Israel’s glories. The busload murmured and then rose up in revolt. They wanted “the Palestinian Villages to see the suffering.” They wanted nothing about Israel as a light unto the nations and her vast contributions to civilization. Shlomo, a hero of many wars, gave up and old me in private, “It’s hopeless.”

I caught journalists feeding “quotes” to Palestinian “victims” and cueing tears for the cameras. Back at the lavish American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem, Arab “fixers” are welcomed by these journalists who, in need of a story, are advised by these Islamic tipsters that incidents can be staged and filmed for FRONT PAGE.

Notice how this time around the media seeks out Israel’s “Atrocity of the Day” to make the case for Hamas. This morning’s New York Times portrays Gaza jihadists as “fighters” – heroic and “defiant.” TIME magazine betrays its wishful thinking with a front page cover story that screams “Israel Can’t Win.”

History proves otherwise, that throughout the generations, King David’s Army fights and wins.

Don’t let them in, these propagandists posing as journalists. Keep them out – for the sake of truth.

(This commentary first appeared on www.israelnationalnews.com.)

Novelist Jack Engelhard, author of “The Bathsheba Deadline” and “Indecent Proposal,” can be reached at his website www.jackengelhard.com.