Noam Chomsky Says Media is Blacking Out Effort to Aid Gaza

Money from Israel is closely tied to all of the major networks and newspapers that ignore the plight of Gaza.

(SALEM/CAIRO) - U.S. and British media sources have been laying low in their coverage of a humanitarian aid mission to help the people of Gaza. They were under an Israeli siege one year ago at this time called "Operation Cast Lead" that left more than 1,400 residents of Gaza dead, among them several hundred children.

The details of the Israeli attack are grisly and heartbreaking; we are in a new age and hundreds of images of the dead Palestinian children alone can be viewed by those who care. The attack on Gaza lasted for weeks and before it was over Israel specifically targeted schools and more than half of Gaza's hospitals.

Noam Chomsky, noted author, lecturer and MIT Professor, told the group of well over a thousand, who have been stuck in Egypt while trying to deliver hundreds of vehicles packed with food and medicine to the people of Gaza:

"Despite the media blackout, which is a disgrace, this is turning out to be a really spectacular triumph, I think, and it's hard to express properly my admiration and respect for those who are directly engaged."

Chomsky is painfully aware of the way media has always worked in this country. Money from Israel is closely tied to all of the major networks, particularly in New York.

These supporters of what many see as racist Zionist politics, keep the pressure on Iran and clearly away from the suffering in Palestine.

Channel 4 News and Al Jazeera are some of the honest news agencies in the world.

To its credit, the NY Times did at least write about it, but I still most often have to go to Press TV in Iran just to get the real scoop on developments.

The bottom line is that a massive and expensive effort to strictly aid people, has been thwarted by the Egyptian and Israeli governments for the last several days. Egypt changed its mind about allowing passage, after initially having agreed to it. Israel said the Gaza border would be open between 3 Jan. and 5 Jan., and then the departure was delayed, all like a cruel grand master plan.

The activists have at times been abused and their ranks include people like Hedy Epstein, an 85-year old Holocaust survivor & peace activist who uses her voice to help the people of Palestine, and also MP George Galloway of Great Britain.

The people of Gaza are keenly aware of the tremendous effort this international group has taken upon itself.

A recent development was Egypt's decision that the vehicles would have to be loaded on a cargo ship, without the drivers, and they would have to fly to rendezvous with the vehicles at the next port.

The group stated today, "With your help we will once more deliver aid to the people of Gaza - and once more demand the end to this inhuman siege."

They confirmed that on Sunday 3 Jan. 10.00 p.m. GMT, the Convoy ship had arrived in Egypt. The volunteers will fly on Monday 4 Jan. to Al-Arish to join them. There has been fear that the Egyptian government could seize and impound the 200+ vehicles bound for Gaza; only time will tell.

As anyone could imagine, the expense behind the effort has been very high. In order to press on, they could use support, and they ask anyone who can help, to visit the New Year Emergency Appeal page.

They stated, "Thank you to the many supporters from more than twenty countries who have already donated online. Your generosity and support is wonderful."

To those in the world who care about all human beings, not strictly those the U.S. considers strong political allies, this is a huge story. To the U.S. media, as Chomsky says, it is something to specifically ignore.

However the professor, who is revered by hundreds of thousands, probably millions, says that to the people of Gaza, the message is clear. People are simply not going to let Israel's siege and killing of innocents by the thousands with weapons illegal under international law, and Egypt's back-turning act on its Muslim brothers and sisters, continue.

Chomsky said, "It has to be a shot in the arm for the people in Gaza, and might stir up some opposition to the dictatorship in Egypt, which is exposing its brutality daily -- to everyone except the US media (hope it's better elsewhere). And I think a lot of people are going to come back home really invigorated."

Israel dominates American media and politics the way gangsters used to keep people in line back in the 1930's; If you step out of line, they attack. Any reporter who criticizes either Zionism or Israeli policy, is instantly called an anti-Semite and it is getting really old, as our reporters, people who are of all faiths including Christian, Jewish and Muslim, continue to report the truth about the inhumanity that Palestinian people are constantly subjected to.

Every country that plays into it, and every leader like Barack Obama, is merely a puppet of the Israelis' Zionist pursuits to eventually possess every square inch of the tiny remaining portion that is still Palestine. It never needed to be that way, and it is true that increasing numbers of Israeli citizens are calling for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories.

It is important to note that Zionism does not represent the belief system of every Jew or Christian, though it is the established policy of Israel. This political philosophy is what grinds away constantly at any hope of peace. Every day the Israelis mow down more Palestinian homes, they have built fences through farmland and greatly reduced the meager harvest of people in Gaza. Then when the farmers try to work what remains of their land, Israeli soldiers shoot them off their tractors.

Israeli forces also specifically targeting ambulance drivers in Gaza, Israel seriously has to be stopped. Its government is willing to do things that no nation should ever consider.

These are not unfounded allegations, there is a link at the bottom of this story that will take you to hundreds of stories about what is taking place in Israel and Palestine. This link will take you to a story that includes video footage of the ambulance drivers and farmers under attack: Examining Hard Facts: Last Winter's Seige of Gaza (VIDEO).

Again, Al Jazeera English and a few other sources are among the only non-Zionist controlled media in the world that actually report from the center, sometimes as they do, Israeli soldiers shoot at them as well. (see: Israeli Military Fires on Media Crew in West Bank)

To drive the point home about Israeli control, the same sources that are ignoring Gaza are quick to point their fingers at Iran and claim that their Presidential election was rigged, which it probably was, but then it happened here in the US also at least once, possibly twice, under George W. Bush.

The standard channels also frequently claim that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapons program when the world's regulatory agencies say Iran is not developing weapons, and lacks the resources to do so even if it was a plan.

Writers and reporters and producers and editors at national and local publications need to take a stand with their agencies and insist that coverage of Israeli politics be viewed by reporters with criticism and sometimes with brutal truth, without the threat of reprisal.

The results of this pro-Israeli national media bias is akin to the Red Cross tours of the Warsaw Ghetto. Israel is careful to ensure that the networks and print agencies only present the picture they want the world to see.

As the Nazis were dehumanizing Jewish people in past years, western nations ignored it. Israel now treats the Palestinians with the same inhumanity, and western nations are turning their heads once again, and pretending things are OK. Things are not OK - far from it.

We (US) even went to the Munich Olympics in 1936, after Hitler's clearly deadly racist politics were well identified. Our saving grace was Jesse Owens, and the way he showed up the Nazis and proved to them (and the world) that their "supreme race" ideology was garbage.

Still, we ignored the plight of the Jews, and Hitler's building military forces, until every option was removed. We are always too damned late. This is no different.

And it all leads to here, now... today. World news is taking place and American news agencies are not there.

It doesn't fit their pharmaceutical industry paid agenda; they are only interested in making money.

But there are those who care. Chomsky wished the humanitarians good luck in what lies ahead, and their messages tonight seem somewhat upbeat, which is encouraging for all of us who are monitoring the situation.

This link will take you to our stories that regard or are specifically about developments in Gaza: Salem-News.com Gaza articles

Articles that are specifically related to the current effort to reach Gaza with the Viva Palestina Convoy and the Free Gaza Movement:

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

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r January 18, 2010 9:37 pm (Pacific time)

Obama said ONE true thing at his Nobel acceptance speech. "Non-violence would not have stopped Hitler's armies." The statement holds equally true of the Nazi-inspired filth of Israel. The Israelis have to be attacked. Their busses, homes, hotels, discotheques, shopping malls have to be attacked. Israeli goods must be ripped from the shelves of every store on earth and Israelis terrorized without mercy until they are defeated.

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Noam Chomsky Says Media is Blacking Out Effort to Aid Gaza

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