{"id":246557,"date":"2023-10-23T12:01:03","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T11:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=246557"},"modified":"2023-10-20T10:18:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T09:18:48","slug":"western-medias-parroting-of-official-lies-is-paving-way-to-genocide-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/10\/western-medias-parroting-of-official-lies-is-paving-way-to-genocide-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Media\u2019s Parroting of Official Lies Is Paving Way to Genocide in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Catastrophe looms because journalists have failed to hold both Israel and their own governments to account.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

16 Oct 2023<\/em> – How did we get to the point where Israel can order<\/a> half of Gaza\u2019s population \u2013 more than one million people \u2013 to move from the north of their tiny prison to the south of their tiny prison, in one of the most overcrowded places<\/a> on Earth?\u00a0Palestinians in Gaza were given 24 hours<\/a> to do so or face dire consequences.<\/p>\n

The depopulation order is being treated as \u201cadvance warning\u201d\u00a0\u2013 a concept Israel has played around with for many years to mangle international law and legitimise its targeting of civilians.<\/p>\n

Anyone left in northern Gaza \u2013\u00a0children, the sick, the elderly, the disabled \u2013 will face a terrifying fate<\/a>: either a rain of bombs or a ground invasion comprising hundreds of thousands of Israeli troops seeking vengeance for the death of more than 1,300 Israelis during Palestinian fighters\u2019 attack last weekend.<\/p>\n

Western leaders talk a lot about the trauma of Jews \u2013 trauma their states were often responsible for \u2013 and the resulting need not to offend Jews by being critical of Israel. France and Germany have banned demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza, and the UK is close to following suit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

None of those leaders seem concerned that the families in Gaza currently being expelled live with the trauma<\/a> of having been forced from their homes at gunpoint by Israel several times before, not least during the Nakba<\/a> in 1948 and during the 1967 war.<\/p>\n

This latest expulsion order forces them to relive that trauma<\/a> \u2013 as well as the terror of living under Israel\u2019s bombs \u2013 not just in their imaginations but in the real world. They are being ethnically cleansed once more by their serial tormentor.<\/p>\n

That is not hyperbole.<\/p>\n

They have every reason to fear that this is not some temporary \u201crelocation\u201d, even assuming they can reach the \u201cevacuation\u201d zone and that the zone actually turns out to be safe.<\/p>\n

This risks turning into another Nakba<\/a>, except the footage this time is in high definition and colour.<\/p>\n

For years, Israeli leaders have secretly worked with western allies to pressure Egypt to refashion the Sinai desert, next to Gaza, as a sham Palestinian state. Those machinations<\/a>\u00a0are one of the reasons Cairo has kept its short land border with Gaza so tightly closed.<\/p>\n

Now 2.3 million Palestinians will be pressed up against that border, clamouring for an exit from the killing fields.<\/p>\n

Greenlighting genocide<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The path to how we got here was paved by western politicians and the establishment media. They have been giving the green light to Israel to do as it pleases.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer, the Labour opposition leader and Britain\u2019s likely next prime minister, forged the bipartisan political consensus in the UK last week by telling<\/a> interviewers he supported Israel\u2019s \u201cright to defend itself\u201d by implementing a \u201ccomplete siege\u201d.<\/p>\n

The people of Gaza are being deprived of food, water and power, premised on the idea \u2013 articulated by Israel\u2019s defence minister Yoav Gallant \u2013 that they are \u201chuman animals<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n

In other words, Starmer gave Labour\u2019s backing to genocidal-style war crimes by Israel.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Grant Shapps, secretary of state for defence, went even further, if that is possible, by giving every appearance that he supports<\/a> Israel\u2019s right to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from northern Gaza.<\/p>\n

The legal adviser for Human Rights Watch, Clive Baldwin, observed<\/a> that the depopulation order was being made when \u201cthe roads are rubble, fuel is scarce, and the main hospital is in the evacuation zone\u201d.\u00a0He added: \u201cWorld leaders should speak up now before it is too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

But part of the reason world leaders have been under no pressure to \u201cspeak up\u201d\u00a0is because the establishment media have made no effort to hold their feet to the fire, even as Israel tramples all over international law, making a mockery of it.<\/p>\n

In fact, when a Channel 4 TV crew chased<\/a> Jeremy Corbyn<\/a> in the street to ask him to \u201ccondemn\u201d\u00a0Hamas, the firm insinuation was that the former Labour leader was once again being outed as antisemitic \u2013 for reminding viewers that the rights of all civilians, including Palestinians in Gaza, should be protected.<\/p>\n