If Israel is making itself look this ridiculous, then it’s no wonder the western press are not lining up to help it cover up this particular misdeed, argues Caitlin Johnstone.
Channel 4 screenshot.
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com.au
A new report from the U.K.’s Channel 4 News adds to the surprising amount of opposition we’re seeing in the mainstream press to Israel’s narrative about the deadly explosion at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza this past Tuesday.
The report, led by Channel 4 chief correspondent Alex Thomson, spotlights glaring plot holes in Israel’s claim that a failed rocket by Palestinian Islamic Jihad was responsible for the blast, and in the supposed audio clip Israel published which it claims is an intercepted conversation between two Hamas fighters saying Israel was not responsible. It also presents an argument that will be inconvenient for Israel apologists who’ve been claiming photos of the damage to the hospital rule out the possibility of an Israeli airstrike.
“So what of Israel’s explanation?” says Thomson. “Sensing a major problem they worked through the night to get their version out. Press conference first thing. Conclusion: an Islamic Jihad rocked caused it all.”
“They present what they say is two Hamas operatives talking about the attack,” Thomson reports. “Hamas call this an obvious fabrication. Two independent Arab journalists told us the same thing, because of the language, accent, dialect, syntax and tone. None of which is, they say, credible.”
“Equally, Israel claims the Islamic Jihad failed missile was fired from here: a cemetery very close to the hospital,” Thomson continues. “But look again at the video of the event — the trajectory of the missile doesn’t line up with that location. Too high. Too horizontal. Confusingly, the Israelis’ presentation also says the missile was fired from a location down in the southwest; it can’t be both.”
Thomson also reports that while the photos of the blast site do appear to rule out a ground-detonating Israeli munition, they’re entirely in keeping with other munitions used by Israel which could easily have taken such a toll on human life.
“This is what you see at the hospital today — small craters you’d expect to see from a mortar strike or artillery round, not a missile,” says Thomson. “Surrounding buildings have only superficial damage, not structural collapse. Some of the windows of an adjoining church remain intact. This makes a ground-detonating Israeli missile strike unlikely, but it doesn’t rule out an airburst munition, which could cause major loss of life, but would produce far less structural damage.”
Thomson also notes that “Israel has form when it comes to war propaganda”, citing its false denials of the IDF killings of British filmmaker James Millerand Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
On Twitter (or whatever we’re calling it now), Thomson’s remarks on the Israeli audio file were even more pointed.
“Several experts confirm Hamas’ view to Channel 4 News that the audio tape of ‘Hamas’ operatives talking about the missile malfunction is a fake,” tweeted Thomson. “They say the tone, syntax, accent and idiom are absurd.”
This is a still developing story with much still to be revealed, but this to me might be the most damning evidence against Israel yet. If Israel didn’t bomb that hospital, then why is it publishing fake audio clips of people posing as Hamas fighters agreeing with each other that Israel definitely didn’t bomb that hospital?
I mean, if people were saying I bombed a hospital, and I knew I didn’t, the last thing I’d do is publish an audio file of me pretending to be two guys talking about how Caitlin definitely didn’t bomb the hospital.
Picture a recording of me doing two blokey-sounding voices going,
“Hello my evil friend!”
“Hello!”
“Did you hear that Caitlin definitely did not bomb that hospital?”
“She didn’t?”
“No! It turns out it was we, the Evil Bad Guys!”
“We did it?”
“Yes, it was us!”
That would look pretty silly, right?
If Israel is making itself look this ridiculous, then it’s no wonder the western press are not lining up to help it cover up this particular misdeed. They’ve got to maintain at least some credibility if they’re going to keep manufacturing consent for other wars, after all.
Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes. For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.
This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com.au and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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Well, I mean well done. Gol darn auto “correct.”
Caitlin, you’re one of the best journalists working right now. We’ll done!
Israel’s response to their egregious acts, which could constitute war crimes, is immediate denial, even when there is irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Their subsequent investigations into these crimes, could be described as a whitewash mechanism designed to pre-empt the International Criminal Court from carrying out its own investigations.
Following Operation Protective Edge, 2014, when more than 2200 Palestinians were killed, 526 children, Israel’s Military Advocate General, (MAG) ‘investigated’ complaints against the Israel forces.
B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights, refused to refer complaints to the military law enforcement, despite receiving a request to do so, because they stated that there was no accountability after Operation Cast Lead in 2008/09, but were still prepared to withhold judgement stating that they will eagerly retract their decision, “if we see that serious independent investigations are carried out.” Two years later they concluded that after Operation Protective Edge there was no accountability either.
However, the credibility of the MAG’s investigation was thoroughly dismantled by Norman Finkelstein in his book, I Accuse. In a forensic examination of the MAG investigation, he demonstrated the difference between fabrication and truth. The MAG investigation not only told blatant lies but also lied by omission. It is a must read for those that wish to know the truth.
If history is anything to go by, Caitlin has got the verdict on this occasion correct.
Biden’s presence in the ME is only making things worse, of course, and whatever actual proof that this another Israeli war crime he’ll back Bibi and blame all inconvenient truths on Putin.
He’s already directly linked Putin to Hamas:
Xxxx://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/20/joe-biden-tv-address-to-nation-oval-office-speech-vladimir-putin-hamas-aid-for-israel-ukraine
“Biden draws direct link between Putin and Hamas as he urges aid for Israel and Ukraine”
If only the control of Israel could be wrested from the USA. Without the USA’s “help” Israel would have had no hope to take over the whole land it has decided God gave it and refuse to let the inhabitants already there have any rights at all. If they are really Israeli “owners” let them interact like real genuine fair humans and share it with the real owners. The USA is not at all interested in Israel having peace with its neighbors. Just the opposite.
Actually, it is remarkable that Israel has managed to fabricate something that Western media was unwilling to repeat. It suggests that there must be a limit somewhere.
When was the last time we saw anything of that sort?
Odds are in favor of Israel being the bomber. Especially in light of the fact that they favored bombing hospitals in the past, although it may have been a while.
Then we have the case of bombing friendlies in order to stave of investigations of their conduct of atrocities during the 1967 war. It has been a while since that happened with the U.S. Liberty. Certain excuses then were that it had been a mistake, although they continued trying to sink a ship that stubbornly resisted all their efforts. Continued until the U.S. Navy sent fighters to the rescue, too little and tool late, but the Israelis did break of the attack at that point.
The current situation could be one of their hot shot pilots just decided to act on his own.
Steve Naidamast makes a great point, Anonymous makes a great point. If they are regime supporters Israelis, Jews of the opinion the Palestinians are “subhuman”, or Zionists they would likely lie even if the truth worked better.
Thanks CN
Like in the United States, the Israeli leadership and its many institutions have succumbed to rabid incompetence brought about the corruption of their twisted belief systems as well as their shoddy agendas in administering said institutions.
As a result, Israel would in fact produce such utter nonsense as Caitlin Johnson notes in her piece.
Oddly enough, no one has asked if Hamas even has munitions capable of such a strike, which I highly doubt. Though Hamas’ munitions have definitely gotten far superior over the years along with a development of superior tactics, this doesn’t indicate that they have been able to obtain the types of munitions that could take out an entire building along with killing over 500 people in one strike.
Well, they are Israelis, or Zionists: that means they lie. It is simple as that.
I have seen a few screen shots of Nitenyahoo and quite frankly, his expressions about leveling Gaza, killing all Hamas is almost an inhuman eagerness, almost ghoulish.
Turn them off.
What if they tried to lie to you, and you were not listening? Then, like they hit a magic shield from a comic book, the lies just bounce off harmlessly, and you are protected. The liars rely on you turning on your tv, tuning to their channel, visiting their website, etc, before they can lie to you. Turn them off. That OFF button has magic powers. Use it, and no longer are you listening to stupid people and their justifications for evil, but you’ll find their ‘magic powers’ to control your thoughts disappear.
Fascinating how the propaganda experts at the CIA now only have one answer … to everything …. “Those evil [fill-in-the-blank] bombed themselves!!!
Nordstream to nuclear plants to hydroplants to hospitals, over and over and over and over, the CIA and the corporate media tells us that the people who the CIA and the corporate media hate with a passion …..keep blowing themselves up.
Yes Virginia, they do think we are stupid.
I like your comment, Wanda, and what I always keep in mind is that STUPID people think everyone else is as stupid as they are. This works on both the interpersonal and social levels. They literally cannot imagine that anyone else is smart, thoughtful, decent, empathetic, because those qualities are total unknowns to them.
Having worked in Israel I know what big LIARS they’re & how they ripp off foreign companies! Working for a large Swiss chemical company we finally decided to stop supplying them at all. Jewish companies always tried to cheat us & pushed us to make all supplies go through Cyprus!! Having travelled & done business all over the planet Jewish companies are the most untrustworthy companies on this planet!!
Encouraging that there’d be even one peep from the mainstream to question any official propaganda from Israel. But some are still more than happy to look foolish in service to Israel. CNN today ran a story pretending to be objective. One section was titled “What the Israelis and Palestinians have Said” which started with this sentence “Palestinian officials blamed Israel for the attack on Tuesday evening” and was followed by seven paragraphs giving the Israeli version, 97% one side 3% the other. A lot of people get 100% of their news from CNN.
They talked about the recording but failed to say one word about how other U.S. mainstream media are shedding doubt. They included things like “The US government currently assesses that Israel ‘was not responsible’ for the blast, according to the US National Security Council (NSC).”
And I’ve not seen any mainstream (yet) raise the issue that Hamas is not known to have rockets that can kill 500 people and destroy a large building in one shot like that. They’ve killed 500 people but not in one shot.
As i said yesterday in the other article by Caitlin Johnstone on this same topic:
“If anyone has the inclination/time/interest, i suggest watching and listening to Sky News’ two items on this:
First, being a supposed audio recording of a conversation between two Hamas operatives (which Sky News said they could not authenticate) and second, IDF spokesperson giving a news conference and his rendition of the conversation in english. (Together with “TED Talks” like charts.)
We are not told when or where or how this conversation took place (but sounds like shortly after the attack).
One “operative” in the audio is blaming the PIJ and the other, seemingly non-plussed about this revelation, then proceeds to inform him from where this missile was launched. They also comment on the type of shrapnel which was found; apparently “local” shrapnel and not “Israeli” shrapnel.
All this is discussed with the barest emotions/questions/surprise; in comparison to the IDF’s spokesperson’s rendition of the conversation, who gives a stellar performance in amateur dramatics.
I am not a weapons or military expert but i wonder in all this chaos at the hospital and in a short time, how this analysis of the shrapnel and by whom (in the audio it is only “they”) it came about.
Compelling evidence it does not make.”
(I’m glad Channel4 Alex Thomson took the time to see the absurdity of the evidence/dialogue in that audio.)
And glad that Ms. Johnstone once again brought it to our attention.
They cannot spin this anymore, regardless. There is no way to justify or sugarcoat slow genocide, even among a highly propagandized populace. They will certainly keep trying, but it will be for naught. Too many people are aware of the true roots of this conflict and some are speaking up and acting out. being arrested or manhandled or demonized in the process. The US vetoes a UN resolution for a cease-fire. Even the willfully blind will soon no longer be able to deny what is happening, or why.
“Israel has form when it comes to war propaganda”
Zionism long ago mastered ALL forms of propaganda.
It’s now all just one enormous crock. The crock is cracked and leaking.
Oh, dear, the crock needs some epoxy and more propaganda.