Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Response to Lefty #2 - Hamas Radio Closings

He tries to compare Chavez's shutdown of RCTV with Israel's closeure of pro-Hamas stations that have been aiding terrorism. This is not so.

His responses in Blue
My Responses in Red.

How do you know the Palestinian station in question was as you describe it?Read: http://www.newswatch.in/lead-story/7612.html. Israeli military and foreign ministry officials told RSF during a fact finding visit to Israel in December that the Israel Defence Forces targeted media on the basis of their use for military purposes and not because of their programming. Seems reasonable because if Israel wanted to target stations based on programming only there would be many more stations (with larger listnership) that they could close down – lots more.


Have you ever seen the vile hatred projected by several Arab station towards Jews in general or does that not really concern you? I posted some video clips. This is common information. Many of these stations still continue to broadcast despite the fact that Israel has the means to shut them down. Aside from an educated guess, it seems quite presumptuous of you. More like logical…Sorry the Vulcan in me

And if indeed the station was practicing #3 and #4, surely there were other means at the disposal of the Israeli government (5th most powerful military on the planet) to prevent that particular hate from being broadcast. Such as what? Give an example? Blowing up the stations – methinks not.

The west bank is certainly not as lawless as Rwanda was before the genocide there. Understatement of the Year The perpetrators were known and they could be found (perhaps they were even imprisoned) but then you would have complained about that as well – Damned if you do! Damned if you don’t !! Israel's court system is used all the time to prevent westerners from even entering the west bank, Yes on a case by case basis but the fact that there is so much on site reporting on the Israeli/Palestinian segment of the Israeli/Arab conflict indicates that this is much less than in other conflict areas. . Lets not forget as well that the Israeli Court System often contradicts the IDF on various issues -

m not convinced by your explanation. **, I am not sure anything would convince you. It seems as though you made up your mind some time ago on this issue and are sticking to it.Also, the catch-all "associated to one degree or another with the Islamist Militancy" is a recipe for abuse and especially human rights violations. "Oh well, they must have been militants. Shut it down!"

Except that many other sources of Hamas propaganda are allowed to continue their programming unabated from within the West Bank, Gaza and Israel proper in some cases. You are resorting to the good ole flood gates argument.

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My earlier post



Gavin writes:

The Stations in the article you referenced are all associated to one degree or another with the Islamist Militancy. . (Hamas and co. etc – Hamas is an organization who in its very charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews). The stations in question are associated with:
#1 Promoting biased coverage
#2 Doctoring footage to misrepresent the actions of the Israeli military and government
#3 Calling for the Death of Jews – (using programming that is often targeted to children see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S995NCeaUg).
#4Encouraging violent action and suicide bombing against civilians#
#5 Using their broadcasts to compromise Israeli military position in the war against proven Islamist Terror threats.

I am willing to excuse #1 and #2 in the interests of freedom of speech (as much at the Hamas portrayal sickens me – Leftist Israeli stations are constantly guilty of this as well). Cases #1 and #2 appear to be similar to the RCTV incident…

#3,#4 and #5 are not. In fact #5 alone is justification for Israel to shutdown the stations.

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