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Voice of America’s Gaza War Recap Omits Vital Context
An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
To mark six months of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Voice of America (VOA) released a three-minute video chronicling the effect that the war has had in both Israel and Gaza.
However, rather than provide its audience with a comprehensive overview of the war in Gaza, VOA produced a report that omitted a fair amount of context, ultimately leaving it heavily one-sided and uninformative.
The video report begins with recent Israeli protests calling for new elections, a hostage deal, and the ouster of the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, there have been no protests in Gaza to Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 Israelis on October 7. In fact, Hamas still has the support of the vast majority of Gazans.
In its coverage of the anti-Netanyahu protests, VOA claims that the Israeli government has been unable “so far to secure the release of hostages captured on October 7.”
This statement omits the fact that, in November 2023, more than 100 hostages were released during a temporary ceasefire in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
This claim also makes it appear that the onus lies with Israel when, in fact, Israel has agreed to several deals that would see the release of more hostages from Hamas captivity, all of which have been rejected by the leadership of the Gaza-based terror group.
After profiling the Israeli protest movement, VOA then turns its attention to Gaza.
The report quotes the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, alleging that “more than 33,000 Palestinians” have been killed by Israel during the war.
However, the report fails to qualify this statistic with the vital context that the Gaza Ministry of Health does not differentiate between civilians and combatants — and that all the numbers are unverified. Hamas has even said it can’t provide full details for its claims.
Similarly, the report goes on to claim that “Israel’s widespread aerial attacks have leveled much of the civilian infrastructure in Gaza, creating a humanitarian crisis.”
This point is reiterated later on by World Central Kitchen head José Andrés, who is quoted as saying that Israel is “destroying every building, every hospital, every school, every university.”
Aside from these allegations being exaggerations of the reality on the ground, what is missing from this picture is the necessary understanding that Israel is combating Hamas’ terror infrastructure, which is purposefully embedded in civilian areas.
Further on in this video report, VOA claims that Netanyahu “remains steadfast in ignoring international calls for a humanitarian ceasefire until Hamas releases all hostages held,” later adding that “publicly, there remains no plan for an immediate ceasefire, hostage release or an end to hostilities.”
As mentioned earlier, these statements ignore the fact that Israel has okayed hostage agreements (including temporary ceasefires) that have been rejected by Hamas. Israel has also agreed to a ceasefire as part of an agreement in which the hostages are released in stages.
Aside from the fact that some of the main allegations made in this video report are missing a proper context, another issue with this overall report is the lack of focus on how the war has affected Israel.
Despite being titled “Israel marks 6 months since deadly Hamas attack,” the report is silent on the deadly cost of the war for Israeli society, the fact that Hamas and Hezbollah are still firing rockets at Israeli civilian centers in both the north and south, and the fact that there are still tens of thousands of internally displaced Israelis who are unable to return to their homes.
Israel has agreed in hostage negotiations in Egypt to concessions about the return of Palestinians to the north of Gaza, but believes Hamas does not want to strike a deal, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.https://t.co/J3vwyyOf25
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) April 10, 2024
If VOA truly wanted to provide its audience with a complete picture of the war between Israel and Hamas six months in, it would need to add more context to its allegations and provide a broader picture of the war, not just those aspects that can be used to besmirch Israel’s image.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Voice of America’s Gaza War Recap Omits Vital Context first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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