Friday, January 02, 2009

The difference between US and UK coverage of Gaza

These two headlines about sum it up.

Britain's The Guardian, yesterday: "Israel defies peacemakers and prepares for invasion."

From today's New York Times: "In a Broadening Offensive, Israel Steps Up Diplomacy."

The Guardian goes on to tell us, "Israel has defied a formidable international consensus in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza by opting to continue its unprecedentedly fierce air attacks on Hamas targets and stepping up preparations for a possible ground offensive." Read the rest of the article here.

Meanwhile, the New York Times tells us, "With Israeli troops and tanks massing along the border with Gaza in preparation for a possible ground invasion, Israel also pursued diplomatic avenues to explain its positions." The article does go on to tell us that the EU is calling for an immediate ceasefire, and that Sarkozy is pushing for the same thing, but the piece is spun entirely from the point of view of Israel and the efforts of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to argue that Israel needs more time to carry out its military operations in Gaza. That is, what matters most for the New York Times is Israel's position, and the "formidable international consensus" apparently matters not one bit.

"Diplomacy," for the New York Times, means arguing for more time for war. War is peace.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Also, nothing said in England is of any importance.
But really--Hamas is not a cool. subversive, queer-friendly liberation movement. They are nihilistic fundamentalists.
All Hamas wants is to kill people. They will bring down all of Gaza if necessary.
There is no diplomacy to be had with them--they simply have to be destroyed.
Egypt, France, Jordan, Holland, the US--everyone realizes this. Sarkozy doesn't want riots by Muslims in Aulnay so he pretends to be shocked, but look at what he actually said to Livni!
Old women and scarf-wearers aside--everyone knows the rules.
That, ultimately, is why no one who matters will do a thing to stop this.
But keep whining--it's distracting.