Mainstream Media Ignores Report Praising IDF Conduct

Earlier this week there was a veritable media feeding frenzy over anonymous and completely unsubstantiated allegations by the Soros- NIF- and EU-funded group Breaking the Silence. The Washington Post, CNN, the Guardian, and the BBC all jumped at the chance to run full length features alleging depravity of Israeli conduct during Operation Protective Edge.

IDF gathering near Gaza border, July 2014
IDF soldiers near the Gaza border, July 2014

This stands in quite stark contrast to the mainstream media blackout over a report titled “A Legal and Operational Assessment of Israel’s Targeting Practices.” Published two weeks ago, the summary of the report states:

Broadly speaking, we concluded that IDF positions on targeting law largely track those of the United States military. Moreover, even when they differ, the Israeli approach remains within the ambit of generally acceptable State practice. The IDF is served by a corps of highly competent and well-trained legal advisors who operate with a remarkable degree of autonomy, and its operations are subject to extensive judicial monitoring. While there are certainly Israeli legal positions that may be contentious, we found that their approach to targeting is consistent with the law and, in many cases, worthy of emulation.

Unlike the anonymous sources in the BTS report, the authors of “A Legal and Operational Assessment of Israel’s Targeting Practices,” Michael Schmitt and John Merriam, have excellent credentials as, respectively, a professor of International Law at the US Naval War College, and a US Army Judge Advocate at the US Naval War College. The short and easy-to-read summary is backed up by one 50-page report in Social Science Research Network and another 15-page report in the same publication.

Outside of the Israeli press, as far as I can tell, this has been covered only by Algemeiner, Commentary, and the Lawfare blog, which is affiliated with the Brookings Institute. Once again, we see that so-called evidence of Israeli misconduct, no matter how flimsy, is highlighted, while evidence that Israel conducts its defense at least to the same standards as the US, is ignored. When it comes to Israel, the mainstream media has a profound and deep-seated sickness, and it does not appear as though any cure is on the horizon.

Update: I’m sure the American and UK media will similarly ignore this report, translated here by Elder of Ziyon, that debunks the BTS report. Here’s an excerpt from the EoZ translation:

A paratroop officer told me that Hamas often used women and children to alert their men of where to fired at IDF forces. He says he personally witnessed such a case: “A woman with a child came very close to our position and really you see how she points to our positions. You see how she talks on the phone and after a moment passed, we started taking sniper fire and mortars.” He noted you are allowed to shoot such observers but not freely, there are procedures that must be adhered to, and in this case by the time they finished the procedures she was gone.

According to him and other respondents, there were dozens of cases in which women and children were sent with phones to locate the positions of the army, which of course caused terrorist organizations to open fire. It cost the lives of soldiers. “So there were cases where we fired in such circumstances, and it is absolutely legal because this is a real threat to life. But there were many cases of doubt where nobody opened fire,” said the lieutentant colonel we spoke with.

3 thoughts on “Mainstream Media Ignores Report Praising IDF Conduct”

  1. Norman_In_New_York

    The only way the media can maintain access to Gaza is to get along with Hamas by going along.

  2. It seems that every report or analysis of the IDF operation in Gaza written or conducted by military people has praised them. It’s always the “armchair Generals” like Ken Rot of HRW who condemn them.

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