Part 2 of HuffPost's pathological anti-Semitism: Children's Edition

.

Continued from Part 1

The following are four examples from this detailed archive that document how HuffPost treats Muslim children in a profoundly different way than it treats Jewish children --- primarily by:

• Giving stories concerning them front-page treatment
• Publishing their faces and names, thereby giving them "personalized" attention
• Accepting, without question or analysis, whatever Hamas says about these children, which invariably involves libels against Israel.

Given the fact that HuffPost is the #1 most-read blog on Earth, one of America's top ten "news" sites, and was recently named "the most powerful blog in the world" by The Guardian (UK), these acts and omissions can only serve to:

• Advance the global cyber-jihad against Israel and Jews
  
• Tell the world that stories involving Jewish children don't matter, and aren't worth covering
• Encourage Hamas to use more Muslim children as props and human shields, and stage more "PallyWood" propaganda

Note: As you review these materials, here are some helpful resource materials that document the truth:

Answering The Libels

"PallyWood" - An introduction

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

Example 1: Front-page splash headline: HuffPost alleged Israel murdered four-year-old Muslim girl Dena Balosha because she was "a symbol of Hamas power."

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

Background: In December 2008, Israel entered Gaza to put a stop to Hamas's terror attacks against Israeli civilians and military personnel. Every day during this campaign, called "Operation Cast Lead," HuffPost ran screaming front-page headlines, centering around one picture of the fighting --- almost invariably from Hamas's perspective.

On December 28, 2008, HuffPost published as its screaming headline, "Israeli Assault Targets Symbols Of Hamas Power" alongside the picture to right. The caption read, "The father of Palestinian Dena Balosha, 4, left, one of five members of the same family including three children and two teenagers who were killed in an Israeli missile strike [...]."

Analysis: Assuming Dena Balosha was killed as a result of Israeli action, and not through one of Hamas's infamous "work accidents," she died not because Israel targeted her, as implied by the incendiary copy in HuffPost's inflammatory headline. The facts, as documented here, are that:

• As in all past incidents, Israel went to extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties among Gazans in its efforts to strike Hamas targets.
• Hamas is notorious for forcing Gaza civilians to act as human shields, while it fires its weapons at Israel and its soldiers, from within residential areas, schools, hospitals, etc.

Yet HuffPost ignored all these facts, and ran as its screaming headline the allegation that Dena Balosha was "a symbol of Hamas Power," and that Israel mercilessly and maliciously struck her with deadly force.

HuffPost did not address any of the above in this story, or in any of the other stories it published during or after Cast Lead. Predictably, HuffPost's dishonest treatment of the death of Dena Balosha incited a torrent of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hate comments, which it reviewed, approved and decided to publish.

Interestingly, at some point after February 1, 2009, HuffPost changed the headline image of this thread. It could not, however, change the URL, which contains the original headline wording; see top and bottom here.


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

Example 2: HuffPost devoted top-line, personalized splash to 19-year-old Turkish jihadist (but ignored his admissions that he wanted to die "as a martyr," and indications he was killed by the IDF in self-defense during "Flotilla of Terror").

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

(Ed.: According to American customs, anyone under 21 still qualifies as a "child," and often a dependent, which is why we're running this item here, in the context of an analysis of how HuffPost treats "children," depending on their religious identity.)

On June 3, 2010, HuffPost published the following screaming headline, which led to an original story it wrote, entitled: "Furkan Dogan, U.S. Citizen, Killed In Israeli Flotilla Raid"


Analysis: Here are the facts about the individual, Furkan Doğan:

• Hours before the flotilla approached the Gaza coast, he claimed in his diary, to his brother, and to others on board, that his objective was to die as "a martyr" --- a claim also madeby the militant Islamists on the ship who attempted to murder the IDF soldiers. The fact that he was shot at close range several times indicates that he fulfilled his mission, was part of the gang that attacked and attempted to murder Israeli soldiers, and was killed while they defended themselves.
  .
  
• He was indeed born in the U.S., making him a "citizen." Yet when he was two, his Muslim family took him to Turkey, where he was a citizen, and where he's lived ever since. We contend that normal, fair-minded people would consider him a Turk. HuffPost, however, referred to him as an "American citizen."

HuffPost did not include any of this information in its loving tribute to Doğan.

Further, as documented in HuffPost's total blackout of "the rest of the story" regarding the "Peace Flotilla," HuffPost ignored the facts that began to emerge about the organizers of the "peace" flotilla, that showed their mission was anything but peaceful, and that the militant Islamists on board openly claimed their plan was to murder IDF soldiers.

This was another example how HuffPost chose to fashion a story in such a way that could only conceal the truth and smear Israel, while advancing a Hamas-supporting narrative.

Predictably, HuffPost's dishonest treatment of the death of Furkan Doğan incited a torrent of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hate comments, which it reviewed, approved and decided to publish.


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

Example 3: Front-page splash headline: HuffPost depicts Muslim girls lighting candles in a Gaza church --- supposedly due to Israeli attacks on them (ignoring recent Hamas "candlelight fauxtography"), and its refusal to grant cease fire!!!

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

On December 31, 2008, also during Operation Cast Lead, HuffPost ran another screaming headline, entitled: "Israel Rejects Truce Call, Attacks Gaza," alongside the picture to the right. The caption reads: "Palestinian Christian girls light candles during a mass service in support of Gaza at the Latin Holy Family Church in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008."

Analysis: Israel was not "attacking" these children. To the contrary, as documented here, Israel was attempting to protect Palestinian civilians, including children, from the war crimes that Hamas was perpetrating against them, and the violence to which it was deliberately exposing them.

Further, it is likely that this photo was staged "PallyWood" propaganda. Twice in 2008 alone, Hamas had been exposed after staging "candlelight" fauxtography — the most recent of which occurred less than 90 days earlier.

Also, a key strategy employed by Hamas and other Islamist terror groups is to call for "truces" when their murderous acts result in a forceful response. These calls are often echoed by "humanitarian" groups. The actual purpose of these calls, however, is to give their terrorists time to rest, re-arm and re-strategize, then apply what they’ve learned when they provoke another conflict with Israel. There is a specific Islamic term for this "pause" strategy: a "hudna."

HuffPost did not address any of the above in this story, or in any of the other stories it published during or after Cast Lead.

Predictably, its acts and omissions incited a torrent of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hate comments, which it reviewed, approved and decided to publish.


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

Example 4: Front-page splash headline: HuffPost claims Israel warned Gaza children to "brace for escalation" of its military attacks on them, and efforts to starve them, too!!! (ignoring the fact that Israel was delivering massive food to Gaza, which Hamas was promptly stealing).

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

On January 10, 2009, HuffPost ran the screaming front page headline at left, entitled "Israel Tells Gazans: Prepare For Escalation" (note: At some later point, for some unknown reason, HuffPost changed the pictures.) It linked to the page at right, which depicts Gaza children pleading with U.N. workers to give them food. The caption next to the photo reads, "Palestinians crowd to receive food aid at a United Nations food distribution center in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City."

Analysis: In addition to trying to protect Gaza civilians from the harm from its defensive actions against Hamas, Israel had even been providing them with food, and humanitarian and medical aid — just as it has been doing for years. Yet as had been reported only four days earlier, Hamas had been caught stealing the U.N. supplies destined for Gaza civilians. In an effort to stop the incendiary libels against it, the IDF even set up a live video-feed of its Gaza border crossing, to show the hundreds of aid trucks it was permitting to enter the region.

HuffPost did not address any of the above in this story, or in any of the other stories it published during or after Cast Lead.

Predictably, its acts and omissions incited a torrent of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hate comments, which it reviewed, approved and decided to publish.


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

ACTION ITEMS

If you share our view that HuffPost's actions in regard to this story --- and its pattern of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic bias --- are reprehensible, we urge you to do two things:

(1) Forward the link to this story along to others who support Israel

(2) Make your voice known to HuffPost's senior management (politely, please), here. You may even ask them:

• If HuffPost's advertisers are aware of its pathological bias against Israel
  .
  
• How HuffPost would like it if pro-Israel activists organized a "Move Your Advertising" campaign against it, similar to the "Move Your Money" campaign that Ms. Huffington concocted against big banks, which she's hawked throughout 2010 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

.