Jawaher Abu Rahma, why the mainstream media interest in the story of her death faded so quickly?

In the heated debate between Israel’s defenders and bashers over the tragic death of Jawaher Abu Rahma, on December 31^st 2010, one aspect seems to slip from the discussion. And that is the fact that the mainstream media lost interest in this story very fast.
It was pushed aside by the stories of the referendum in South Sudan, the riots in Tunis and the evolving crisis in Lebanon and now in Egypt. Since each of them affects the lives of millions and can deteriorate the entire region it is of no surprise. But even before that it was over taken by the ludicrous Saudi Mossad’s vulture spy story. From the point of view of the past success of Palestinian propaganda, the Jenin massacre that never happened, the cruel Al Dura hoax, and the Mavi Marmara ambush, this is humiliating. And the family of the deceased should find it deeply insulting and infuriating.

What happened this time?

Did the good guys finally score a point, and all that effort put into Israeli advocacy at last achieved something?

Tempting.
It is very tempting to believe this.
Beware of temptation.
I mean it!!!
Still it is possible. If this is the case, it is nothing more than a dent in the MSM willingness to accept everything the Palestinians say.

But even as mere dent, the precedent is there, MSM shunning away a Palestinian story. And if that is the case then most of the credit goes to Philippe Karsenty who exposed the Al Dura hoax, and made us al realize what we are dealing with.

WELL DONE PHILIPPE - For casting the first stone, and well done to all those who followed.

But there is another difference between this libel and the previous ones. This time the media was there. Either at the actual event or countless like it, therefore they can tell if the Israeli teargas is nasty enough to kill. Not to mention the holes in the Palestinian version. Which is actually two, one where she died inside her house and one where she died outside. Along with the hasty burial, with no autopsy, this is a story a seasoned journalist will stay away from.

And as January is passing it turns out there was another reason this story faded quickly. Al Jazeera, the megaphone of anti Israel rhetoric, a news channel that will spit every libel there is, no matter how ridiculous, even 9/11 conspiracy theories, had other plans. They could not have this tragedy, no matter how useful to Palestinian propaganda; interfere with the ambush they had prepared to the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, what is known today as the 'Palestine papers leak'. Which is kind of lucky for us. And that is very humbling. Because if it took this long to get this success with the help of luck then there is a lot of hard work ahead.

But at least now our belief in our ability to make a difference can draw some strength.

“Power to the people”

“Speaking truth to power”

“Keeping hope alive”

Zionism is the cause where all these slogans are real.

Gabrielle Giffords recovery and the grizzly mama metaphor

Gabrielle Giffords' recovery continues, slowly, with its share of setbacks. I hope she will overcome all of them, (and there won’t be many of them). It is a frightening injury, a bullet to the head. Her struggle is surprising, a good surprise, though it has just began and the rest is just as hard if not more. I wish her a complete recovery, as easy as possible.

Her strength is amazing, and this makes me wonder who deserves more the grizzly mama metaphor.

The Tucson massacre, why Sara Palin and the Tea Party are not off the hook

Following Jared Loughner’s mass murder attack in Tucson Arizona on Saturday January the 8^th, a lot of criticism and blame were leveled at Sara Palin and the Tea Party movements. The criticism was aimed at her use fiery gung-ho rhetoric against president Obama and other political rivals from the Democratic Party, specifically the crosshairs map. Palin’s first reaction was to take out that map from her website, and then remained low until Wednesday. On Wednesday she posted here reaction on vimeo. She looked very presidential there when she said these were just metaphors. By expressing her shock from that horrific crime, addressing president Obama with the language of mutual respect and appealing to the Americans sense of unity; with no guns in the backgrounds, just the interior of an American family home, Sara Palin gave her best performance. She had to, no need to explain why. But that does not get her off the hook, not the presentation, not the arguments in it, and not the fact that no direct link was found between Jared Loughner’s demented worldview and Tea Party’s ideology. Loughner may have been born a loaded gun, and his nazi ideology was the bullets in that gun, but someone or something directed him at Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. And that was the political discords in his country and in the state of Arizona in particular, he was not living in a vacuum.
No one is saying that metaphors of guns and war should not be used in political discussion, that kind of an idea is undemocratic and unacceptable. But in this case the metaphors became images, drawn, and caricatured in massive demonstrations, and later animated and reenacted in campaign ads. And when that happened, they stopped being metaphors and became suggestions. And when those suggestions expressed their authors’ hatred of Obama, Pelosi, and other Democratic Party candidates, those suggestions became recommendations to some, reinforced by the fictitious claim that personal liberties are at stake.

The most famous example is John Dennis’ wicked witch ad. This was a campaign commercial based on the ‘Wizard of Oz,’ where a Nancy Pelosi look a like was the wicked witch. In it John Dennis, who ran against her, enjoyed melting her with a bucket of water. In Israel he would have been investigated on suspicion of incitement to murder, (afterwards no charges will be filed.) But there were other example, more disturbing, with a lot more hatred in them. They targeted Nancy Pelosi, but in Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is the closest thing to Nancy Pelosi.

Does this means that if all these Tea Party festivities not existed Jared Loughner would have harmed no one?

Given the testimonies about his demented nature the answer is clearly no, he would have vent hatred some how. And it would have been monstrous.

But had Jared Loughner not existed, will someone else; slightly more balance may be, do that kind of slaughter, that kind of terrorism?

According to sheriff Dupnik, this is highly likely.

Jawaher Abu Rahma death, a recommended link from CifWatch

At CifWatch there is a very good analysis of the shortcomings of the Palestinian version regarding the death of Jawaher Abu Rahma, by IsraeliNurse.