Those Darn "Militants" Again

How to start from the end, courtesy of Worldcue® Alert

Severity: Critical Alert

Security: Israel launches airstrikes against militant targets in Gaza, Palestinian Authority, after attacks near Eilat. Shelter in a secure location.

The locations affected by this alert are:

• Israel

• Palestinian Authority

This alert began 18 Aug 2011 16:25 GMT and is scheduled to expire 25 Aug 2011 23:59 GMT.

• Incident: Airstrikes

• Date: Aug. 18

• Location: Gaza, Palestinian Authority

• Impact: Cross-border attacks possible; high risk of collateral damage and injury

Summary

Israeli forces have launched a massive barrage of airstrikes against targets in Gaza, Palestinian Authority, midday Aug. 18. The airstrikes are concentrated around the Rafah border area. At least six people have been killed.

More airstrikes are likely as Israel contemplates a more forceful retaliation for militant attacks conducted earlier Aug. 18 near Eilat; a large-scale Israeli ground offensive into Gaza is possible. Likely targets include militant training camps, arms warehouses, smuggling tunnels along the Egypt-Israel border, and militant safehouses. Militants may attempt to escalate rocket and mortar attacks into southern Israel, potentially targeting the cities of Ashkelon, Beer Sheva, and other areas in the Negev region.

Officials have closed the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings with Gaza until further notice.

Background

Earlier Aug. 18, militants conducted a series of attacks against Israeli targets, including an assault on a bus with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades and an attack on an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) patrol near the resort town of Eilat. At least seven people were killed and another 25 were wounded in the attacks. Israeli authorities blamed militants operating in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for the attack; Egyptian and Hamas officials have denied that the attacks came from their respective territories...

Advice

If in Gaza, shelter in a secure location until the situation stabilizes. Consider stocking up on essential supplies, including food, water, and batteries for portable devices. If forced to move, limit exposure to government buildings, police stations, religious sites, and other areas which may be used as rallying points for militants. If in Israel, heed the instructions of authorities.

Related Advice: Avoid rallying points during times of civil unrest.

It could have been written "after terror attack, Israel responds.


(k/t=RA)

^

"Palestinians" as Terrorists - Not Militants

As reported:-

Egypt's interior minister charged Sunday that a Palestinian extremist group with links to Al Qaeda was behind the Dec. 31 bombing outside a church in Alexandria that killed 21 people and set off days of sectarian rioting around the nation.

In a nationally televised speech, the minister, Habib el-Adly, said the authorities had “conclusive evidence” linking the attack on Egyptian Christians to the Army of Islam, a militant group based in the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Adly said that investigators had arrested several Egyptian men connected to the attack and that they had provided details about how they were recruited by the Gaza group.

“These despicable terrorist acts will not get the better of the will of the nation and the nobility of Egypt, where the principles of moderation and the values of tolerance and acceptance of others and renouncing violence and terrorism has taken root in the consciousness of its people through the centuries,” Mr. Adly said in a speech that marked Police Day, which will be observed Tuesday.

Could that be "Palestinian terrorists" as in "terrorists"?

Not "militants"?

Of course, those Egyptians could just be deflecting.
^

UK Media Still With "Militants"

Reporting the murder near Moshav Mata is The Independent:-

Suspicion for the attack appeared to fall on Arab militants. Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said it was probably a "terrorist attack" given the way in which the two women were tied up and stabbed. "The main line that we're looking at is that it's a nationalistically-motivated attack, but we haven't ruled out possible criminal motives," Mr Rosenfeld said.

And there's this clean-up:

Civil rights groups cautioned police against reaching hasty conclusions that the attacks were carried out by militants, warning it could prompt renewed antagonism towards Israel's Arab Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. "The police have a civic responsibility not to jump to conclusions, especially now when we are witnessing a very strong wave of racism towards Arabs in Israel," said Hasan Jabareen, executive director of the Arab Israeli organisation Adalah.

The Guardian goes one better, writing as if the Police spokesperson used the temr 'militants':

It was unclear whether the assault was a politically-motivated attack by Palestinian militants or whether it was a random criminal offence, said Micky Rosenfeld, police spokesman. "We are looking into the incident. There are different possibilities, including the possibility of a terror attack," Rosenfeld said. "There are no clear conclusions at the moment." The assault has not been claimed by any armed group.

This, though, is a militant position:-

Hamas, the Islamist movement ruling the Gaza strip, has asked the United Nations to stop exposing Palestinian children to the Holocaust during trips organised for outstanding students from Gaza, and instead concentrate on Palestinian victims.

"The UNRWA [the agency for Palestinian refugees] has to stop the visits they do, where they teach the Holocaust and where they promote solidarity with Jewish suffering created by the Nazis," said a statement from the department for refugee issues. Hamas also said that "the minds of the children are not big enough to understand the suffering of all the victims around the world", adding that "the Palestinian suffering caused by the Jewish occupiers is enough of an example".

The Telegraph avoided the issue:-

Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said the brutal nature of the attack suggested that the perpetrators could have been terrorists but added that investigators had not ruled out criminal motives. According to Miss Wilson, the two Arab men stopped them in the woods and asked for water, which neither woman had

.

But did not shy away from identifying the ethnic origin of the suspected perpetrators.

^

Remember: 'Militants' Are Not Terrorists

Militants Kill 16 Afghan Police Officers

KABUL, Afghanistan — Sixteen Afghan police officers were killed Monday in separate attacks on two checkpoints in different parts of the country. Eight Afghan police officers were killed before dawn when militants opened fire on a checkpoint in the northeastern province of Baghlan...

Starkey's Last Dig

I'm pretty sure I have had occasion to mention JL Starkey before here.



He was a

British archaeologist James Leslie Starkey...best known for his work at Lachish, where he excavated under the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund between 1932 and 1938, when he was robbed and killed on his way to Jerusalem. Starkey was a student of Petrie's and Albright's; and an associate of Olga Tufnell. One of the important discoveries at Lachish made by Starkey and Tufnell were the Lachish ostraca, describing the impending fall of the city.

That Lachish find was the ‘Lachish Letters’ - a series of ostraca with Hebrew script written shortly before the Babylonian conquest of 586/7 BC

His end?

Here:

In January 1938, at the age of 43, Starkey’s career was tragically cut short. His good relations with the workmen and people from the surrounding villages were well known, so it came as a great shock when he was murdered by a group of Arab militants en route to the opening of the new Palestine Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem. He was buried in the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion, Jerusalem

Ah, yes. "Militants". I think that term is a bit anachronistic. In the 1930s, they were called "terrorist gangs".

Well, not by the Mandate officialdom:

Starkey was robbed and killed by Arab bandits near Bayt Jibrin on a track leading from Bayt Jibrin to Hebron.

"Language laundering", I guess. An Arab a "terrorist"? My gosh, no.

But so you shouldn't leave disappointed, here are some pictures of the Tel of Lachish just before the excavations (thanks to Ben R.) and you'll notice how densely populated the countryside is and how built up it is. Naw, just kidding. This was empty "Palestine".

Reading the AP Between The Lines

AP is reporting

An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinian militants as they were firing mortars at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian officials said, just hours after another group of militants struck Israel in a separate rocket attack.

The violence was the latest in a surge of spiraling clashes that have rocked a 5-month-old truce between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers. Both sides say they would like to preserve the truce, which is due to expire next month, but events over the past two weeks signal the opposite is happening.

The militants killed in the airstrike were from a small Hamas-allied group known as the Popular Resistance Committees. Abu Attaya, a spokesman for the group, said the four were firing mortars when they were killed.

The Israeli military said the airstrike targeted a rocket squad in northern Gaza.

So, we still have our terrorists disguised as "militants" but, for a change, we have the Pals. admitting those "militants" were firing off rockets.

And the finale:

After the strike, dozens of onlookers converged on the bodies of two of the dead men shouting "God is great." They then carried the bodies, one wrapped in a blanket, to a nearby civilian car.

Well, I'd just say that the Israel Air Force is great.

Militant New York Times Editorial

The NYTimes is on the warpath.

From its Nov. 5 editorial on Israel, entitled "The War Within":-

Militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank clash regularly with Israeli police who remove illegal homes. Israeli security officials have warned of possible assassination attempts on peace-seeking Israeli leaders.

In September, Jewish militants tried to assassinate Professor Zeev Sternhell, a supporter of Peace Now, which documents settlement construction. Settlers are damaging Palestinian property in retaliation for government actions against the outposts.

That was a neat trick. Apply the term "militant" to settlers, then call those who placed a small explosive device (you saw the damage here) - there was no real assassination attempt!) - "militants" as well, make sure the term "settlers" is repeated and, poof!, 1 + 1 = 2. Guilt by associative manipulation.

Moreover, the editorial writer continues:-

Israel must freeze all settlements and reduce the roadblocks in the West Bank that are strangling the Palestinian economy. To do so, the Israeli government needs the public support of American Jews and moderate Israelis against militants who seek political change through violence.

Is the Pal. economy really being strangled? As is the sole reason "settlements" and "roadblocks" or other reasons.

And, of course, finally, "militants" is the euphemism for "terrorists" in the pages of the New York Times.

So, according to the New York Times language mavens, all the "settlers" (that's me, too, I guess) are "militants" (who are "terrorists") who all what to assassinate their opponents and are all responsible, supposedly for strangling an economy (that only thrives to support, shhhh, terror) and the lack of peace.

Gee, too bad we weren't around in 1947-48 (War of Independence); 1951-56 (Fedayeen); 1962-64 (Water War with Syria); 1964-1967 (Founding of Fatah and Six Days War) to be blamed.

========================

UPDATE

Received this from inside the NYTimes:

Just so you understand the structure of an American newspaper – the editorial and [rporters] have nothing to do with each other. [They] don’t talk with the editorial writers, they don’t talk with [the reporters] and [neither] feel in any way affected by what they write. That is how the publisher wants it. There is no pressure whatsoever for...work to conform to the views of the opinion page. It is like a separate publication which is inserted into the newspaper. Complain away, of course...unlike Israeli and European papers, major American papers have different structures, a kind of separation of church and state, if you will.

Second UPDATE

Sent in this letter:

The editorial, "The War Within" (Nov. 4) applies the term "militants" to the Jewish civilians who reside in communities in the disputed territories. In that the NYTimes' policy is to use that very same word as a euphemism to describe Hamas, Jihad and Fatah terrorists (*), its use to describe Jews who do not engage in terrorism is most unfortunate.

-------------------

(*) See this:

Rice has been making the same twin challenges to Israel and the Palestinians on more than 20 largely fruitless journeys to the region during her tenure as secretary of state: Israel should loosen its grip on the West Bank and the Palestinians should tighten theirs on militants.

Australian "Militants" Defended by Militant Lawyers

And they're Muslim as well.

I have blogged many posts documenting the perverse use of the media of "militants" to describe terrorists.

Melbourne jury convicts militants

Militants?

And what did they do, or try to do these militants?

A Muslim cleric and five of his followers have been convicted of belonging to a terrorist group which allegedly planned attacks in Australia...The group was accused of planning to stage "violent jihad", targeting the prime minister and major sports events...prosecutors had argued that the group planned to attack an Australian rules football final that attracts nearly 100,000 people every year in Melbourne.

The men were also accused of plotting to assassinate former Prime Minister John Howard, who had authorised the deployment of Australian troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

No attacks took place...The cleric allegedly told his supporters that it was permissible to kill women, children and the elderly.

...the case against them relied heavily on telephone conversations that were intercepted by the authorities.

But thank God for defence lawyers for they said

it was the suspects' bravado that led them to discuss violent attacks in Melbourne but insisted they had no ability to carry them out.

One of the men's lawyers, Remy Ven de Wiel, told the court that Muslims in Australia had a sense of "powerlessness and political impotence" and resorted to empty talk. He reportedly said Benbrika "couldn't organise a booze-up in a brewery".

Maybe there are "militant" lawyers?

P.S. Actually, that lawyer is stupid. What would a Muslim prohibited from drinking alcohol be doing in a brewery?

CNN Saved From Relaxed Militants' Folly

...The following day, the militants offered 20 minutes' notice for a trip to the rocket factory. A CNN correspondent and photographer were blindfolded and transferred into the back of an unmarked van outside Gaza City. Their mobile phones were confiscated, and the blindfolds were removed only when the van arrived at the plant.

Inside the "factory" -- a tiny room with a dozen rockets lining the walls -- two masked men tried to light a fire from a gas canister to heat the explosives to liquefy them so that they could be poured into shells. Despite the apparent painstaking planning that went into the display, the rocket makers sometimes fell short.

First, the lighter didn't work. Then, a leak in a canister filled the room with suffocating gas. Explosions, euphemistically called "workplace accidents," occur in Gaza from time to time, but the men building the rockets handled deadly ingredients and warheads in a visibly relaxed manner.

(Kippah tip: GayandRight)

Haaretz Translation

Haaretz web site now has this posted at its news flashes:

22:33 Militants open fire at Israeli bus near Ramallah, no one hurt (Army Radio)

Here's the original Hebrew:

אש נפתחה לעבר אוטובוס ישראלי בסמוך לרמאללה

עדכון אחרון: 20:53 , 27/04/2008

אש נפתחה לפני זמן קצר לעבר אוטובוס ישראלי שנסע סמוך לכפר סילוואד שבאזור רמאללה.
לא היו נפגעים, אך נזק נגרם לאוטובוס.

The word "militants" is nowhere to be found. The story is in passive - "fire opened on Israeli bus near Silwad" (by the way, that's probably my bus line, #148).

BBC's "Militants"

The BBC reported Friday that (with my interspersed comments):-

On Friday two Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli air attack in the Gaza Strip. [and how militant were they? they] Both were members of the Islamic Jihad organisation, which said they had been observing [observing? like in planning a raid or ambush?] Israeli troop movements close to the border in central Gaza. Israel frequently attacks militants, who fire rockets [oh, so militants fire rockets like in militia/military/terrorist activity?] into Israeli territory on an almost daily basis. The Palestinian militant groups insist [oh, they insist, do they?] the rocket fire is a response to what they term [but nobody else would or should] Israeli aggression.

Now, Where Else Did They Burn Books?

Gunmen have attacked the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Gaza City and blown up its library, burning thousands of books, its director says.
Eissa Saba said 14 men overpowered the centre's two security guards before placing bombs in the library and main office. The latter did not explode.

Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, is home to 3,500 Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox. Some have spoken of intimidation, but correspondents say Hamas itself has not shown hostility towards Christians since it threw its Fatah party rivals out of the coastal territory in June.

But what was the headline?

Yep, "militants":-

Militants bomb Gaza YMCA library

Goold old BBC.

Not "Militants" But "Fighters"

But only if Hamas admits it.

Here's Steve Erlanger's report in the NYTimes:-

Six Hamas fighters were killed in an Israeli ground-to-ground missile strike on their jeep as they were traveling near the Bureij refugee camp, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli Army said that the men had fired mortars at Israeli targets on Sunday and Monday. A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, confirmed that the dead men were Hamas fighters and vowed revenge

.

Well, it is an improvement in semantics.

So, "Militants" Kill, Says Haaretz

Zufi was also involved, according to security sources, in a raid on the "Africa" post, next to the Kerem Shalom border crossing in southern Gaza.

During that attack, which took place in 2002, militants killed an IDF officer and three soldiers from a Bedouin patrol battalion.

Source.

More NYTimes Bias

This New York Times' report has really got me mixed up:-

Israeli Offensive in Central Gaza Kills 11 Militants
By ISABEL KERSHNER

JERUSALEM, July 5 — At least 11 Palestinian militants were killed in airstrikes and armed clashes during an Israeli Army incursion into central Gaza on Thursday, Palestinian medical officials said. It was one of the bloodiest days for Hamas since it took control of the Gaza Strip three weeks ago.

Hamas officials said that seven of the dead were members of its military wing, known as the Qassam Brigades, mostly men in their early 20s. The Islamic Jihad faction said one of its men was among the dead. The affiliation of the other three was not clear.

Israeli military officials described the raid as a routine operation to root out “terrorist infrastructures” and search for weapons and wanted men

Why am I nonplussed?

a) "Militant" is used in the headline, the main attention-grabbing element;

b) "Militant" is also used in the lead-off sentence, the most important one as any journalism student can tell you;

c) But then the story acknowledges that 7 of the "militants" were members of Hamas' "military wing" and another was an Islamic Jihadist;

d) When it comes to Israel's version, the term "terrorist" is in quotation marks which means - don't believe them, that's only what they claim.

Am I really mixed up or do I really know that the semantics of the NYT's reporting is biased?

Go on, guess.

Wait, Wait, Here It Comes

How long does it take for The Independent to mention the word Muslim or Islam in coneection with the recent UK terror incident?

Terror plot hatched in British hospitals

A suspected secret cell of foreign militants, believed to be linked to al-Qa'ida and using British hospitals as cover, are being questioned over the terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow.

Five of the eight people under arrest last night are said to be doctors. Another of those detained is the wife of one of the doctors, who is a medical assistant working for the NHS. The home of a sixth doctor is said to have been searched by police. Late last night an Australian television network reported that a suspect wanted in connection with the attacks had been arrested in Brisbane.

Attention has been focused on a group of nationals from the Middle East, who had not previously attracted the interest of security agencies.

Until now, cases of Islamist terrorism have involved mainly Muslims who were born and brought up in Britain. The alleged arrival of teams from abroad to carry out attacks, their identities unknown to the domestic law agencies, adds another dimension to the terrorist threat being faced in the United Kingdom.

Four paragraphs (mentioning the "Middle East" doesn't count. We Israelis are there, too.)

But in using "militants", that cancels out the use of "Islamic terrorism", no?

Lacking

Here's a one-paragraph sum-up from the NYTimes:-

The Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of Gaza in mid-June, routing Fatah and Palestinian Authority forces there. Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza and evacuated all the Jewish settlements there almost two years ago. But Israel still largely controls the traffic of people and goods in and out of the strip.

And, of course, the continued firing of Qassam rockets and other terror attacks through and under the security fence all go unmentioned.

At the end of the item I found this:-

On Saturday evening, the Israeli Air Force struck a car carrying members of the militant faction Islamic Jihad in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis, an army spokeswoman said. Three militants were killed, Palestinian media reports said. The spokeswoman said the militants had executed suicide attacks against Israelis. The Israeli military later confirmed two more airstrikes in Gaza, Reuters reported.

"Militants" execute suicide attacks, eh? Not terrorists?

But things are looking up:-

Hamas has rejected a proposal by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah, to send an international force to Gaza to enable early elections...Israel has opposed any international presence in the Palestinian territories, but lately has softened its stance.

They saved us again.

And the "Army"?

Which army released this statement?

A statement issued by the army on Saturday said that militants were trying to hide in mosques and at aid organizations, storing weapons there and using the remaining civilian population as “human shields” to stir up Muslim anger.

No, not the Israeli army, defending itself against the self-righteous claims of international solidarists and other humanitarian rights groups but...

Lebanon!

(And you noticed the use of "militants", right?)

If Israel Hits "Militants", Is it...What?

Reading this:-

Israel to Keep Hitting Gaza Militants

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel resolved Wednesday to keep striking Gaza Strip rocket squads firing at Israeli border towns and insisted it wasn't negotiating a truce with radical groups. The supreme leader of the Hamas militant group, which has been behind the latest surge in rocket attacks, vowed that attacks on Israel would continue, too.

I wondered, if Israel is hitting radical, militant, rocket squads firing off Kassams at civilian population centers(terrorists between you and me), what is Israel, then?

Media Bias Item: If There's a Military, Why Are They "Militants"?

The New York Times insistently terms those who engage in terror as "militants". I've noted numerous examples over these past three years of blogging and for a decade previously including.

Now, read this:-

A spokesman for the military wing of Hamas threatened to renew suicide bombings in Israel, but his comments were not confirmed by more senior leaders...Israeli aircraft continued to take aim at Hamas — its military wing and members of the Hamas-dominated Executive Force, a parallel paramilitary police unit...Using more professional tactics and clearly better motivated, Hamas fighters control northern Gaza and much of Gaza City.

In other words, unless someone can correct me, the NYT as all the other major news agencies, outlets, newspapers and networks know very well that Hamas is "military" and "paramilitary" and that even if for some strange reason cannot bring themselves to describe Hamas members as "terrorists", they have no reason to term them "militants" or "activists".

And a bit on in that report, we read:-

Huda, 60, a widow, lives near the presidential compound in Gaza City, where many clashes have occurred. “We feel imprisoned by the fighting,” she said. “In my apartment, many bullets have come through the windows” and the electricity and water have been cut off.

She did not want to give her surname, but said that she had moved to the apartment of a friend farther from the bullets. “When Palestinians fight each other, it’s very depressing,” she said. “But when the Israelis bomb our feelings are very different, we feel that this is the enemy that we must have the will to challenge.”

Well, so bullets mistakenly do go awry and kill bystanders but only Israel is calumnated for it.