Washington Post Should Win a Gold Medal for this Media Bias

In yet another example of the mainstream media playing into the legs hands of the palestinian propagandists, the Washington Post laments the shooting of palestinian “protesters” by IDF troops, in some cases resulting in leg amputations.

And in a clearly amazing coincidence, most of those affected and interviewed by the Post were elite athletes with lofty ambitions and bright futures!

Mohammad al-Ajouri is a lanky teenager who loves to run, a medal-winning track star with ambitions to compete abroad.

But last month, while participating in a protest along Gaza’s border, he was struck by a bullet fired by an Israeli soldier. It penetrated his calf, shattering his leg before exiting the shin. Doctors tried to save the limb, but an infection soon spread. The leg had to be amputated.

During the past month of demonstrations along the border between Gaza and Israel, at least 17 Palestinians have suffered gunshot wounds that ultimately cost them their legs, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.

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Since the protests began, Israeli troops have killed 43 Palestinians and wounded more than 3,500 with live ammunition, rubber bullets or shrapnel, the Health Ministry said. Of those, about 2,200 have suffered injuries to the legs.

Israeli officials say the protests along the border fence are violent and provide cover for militant attacks. Israeli media report that troops have been ordered to initially fire warning shots at demonstrators, after which they should target protesters’ legs.

Note the language here – the idea that the protests are violent is merely a claim of Israeli officials. As if the plethora of photos from these riots does not already prove their violent nature.

Doctors in Gaza are often unable to deal with such traumatic injuries, medical groups say, because hospitals there are overwhelmed and understaffed.

“Even at the most advanced hospital in Gaza, it felt like the 1970s,” said Salah Haj Yahia, mobile clinic director for Physicians for Human Rights in Israel. He recently visited Gaza as part of a medical delegation. “If things remain this way, most gunshot casualties will have to undergo amputation,” he said in an email.

Again, the reporter is parroting palestinian propaganda. How about the fact that Hamas has diverted money and resources that could have upgraded hospital infrastructure in Gaza towards terror tunnels, rockets and other terrorist endeavors?

For some youths like Ajouri, the weekly protests were a welcome distraction, an escape from daily life in the Gaza Strip, where jobs and hope are both rare.

The soft-spoken 17-year-old said he was injured at a March 30 protest after he had turned to leave. The bullet tore through his right leg, which was subsequently amputated above the knee.

He still smiles, his eyes crinkling, when he recalls the medals he’d won for the 400-meter dash. “I’m fast, and I love running,” he said from his bed in a sparse room in Jabalya’s refugee camp, as friends and family held vigil. “My hope was to travel to the West Bank and to compete in international games. ”

Alaa al-Daly, 21, was also an aspiring athlete who had hoped to break free from life in Gaza. As a cyclist, he was training for this year’s Asian Games.

On March 30, he participated in a protest near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Daly said he had cycled to the border with friends, who had assured him that the demonstration would be peaceful. At one point, after gunfire had erupted, he rushed to help another wounded demonstrator. That, he said, was when the bullet ripped through his knee.

“I saw my leg, and my dreams vanished,” Daly said, as he stared at the ceiling of a hospital room in Gaza City. A single bullet had caused devastating damage. “I said to myself: This wasn’t a bullet. This was like a mini-grenade.”

Doctors performed multiple surgeries to repair his blood vessels and restore blood flow to the limb. After five operations, they amputated his right leg.

“I rode my bike to the eastern border fence along with three of my friends that day,” he recalled. “I was unarmed. I did not even have rocks. I just stood about 200 metres away from the border fence and got shot with a live bullet right under my knee.”

“I did not even have rocks” sounds like an acknowledgement that others there did – hardly the peaceful demonstration he claimed in the Washington Post version. Plus note the different accounts of what he was doing when shot. In the Washington Post version, he rushed to help another wounded demonstrator. In this version, he was just standing around.

By the way, the Middle East Eye report mentions yet another athlete being injured, along with an incredible claim.

According to Abu Harb, since the beginning of the protests about five other Palestinian athletes in Gaza have lost their legs due to injuries sustained by explosive ammunition, including Muhammed Khalil, a 23-year-old football player, whose leg was also amputated.

Abdul Salam Haniyya, a member of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports in Palestine, says Israel’s targeting of Palestinian athletes is nothing new.

“The Israeli forces have been systematically targeting Palestinian athletes for years. By using live ammunition and explosive bullets, they are clearly intentionally causing them disabilities,” he said.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Youth and Sports, 32 athletes were killed and 27 others were injured in the 2014 warlaunched on the Gaza Strip, including Ahed Zaqout, a Palestinian football player, who was killed after Israeli forces shelled his apartment.

Once again, we see how the mainstream media readily accepts palestinian lies, without doing basic fact-checking. The fact that I, a mere blogger, can quickly point out the lies and inconsistencies, is more a reflection of just how bad and dishonest their conduct is, than how great and amazing I am.

Let’s face it – against my accusations of media bias, they don’t have a leg to stand on.