ATLAS EXCLUSIVE: "Baked on the Premises...pita"

Nidra is in Tel Aviv covering the Gaza Beach blood libel. Here is her seminal report, unedited. Only here in the Atlas sphere.

LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD
Nidra Poller
Tel Aviv June 15 2006
In these times wracked with violent conflict between Fatah and Hamas, French media distinctly underplayed reports from Gaza, hushing up the details and uncritically accepting what may well be grossly underestimated death tolls from Palestinian sources. Then suddenly Gaza came front and center on June 9th with a familiar theme: Palestinian civilians killed by the Israeli army. One of those dramatic news reports hit the screens. Eleven year-old Huda Galia was shown running hysterically across the beach, discovering her dead father, throwing herself to the ground, crying crystal tears, calling on the world to bear witness. Emotional shock waves seared the image into the public mind. The grief of the brutally orphaned child—seven of the eight fatal casualties were members of her family—stood as proof of Israel’s guilt. Outrage was intense and nearly unanimous. Israel was rebuked by the media, chastised in harsh official statements, condemned by public opinion.

Reliable sources began almost immediately to report on serious inconsistencies in the Gaza beach story. This information did not reach the masses, held under the spell of a simple image: peaceful Palestinians are picnicking on the beach, a cruel Israeli gunboat fixes them in its sights, aims, fires…bloody mangled bodies, wounded children screaming in pain, the boundless grief of Huda Galia.

The incident was exploited by each according to his needs, Israel was accused of war crimes, Hamas justified an all-out offensive, Arab-Muslim media exploited the film to the utmost, the French deplored, and the jihadis sharpened their swords. Substantial leaks on the findings of the Israeli investigating commission were readily available to journalists but none of this reached the mainstream press. Why? Were the leaks less reliable than the original news report? There is good reason to think the opposite. Read it all at Atlas Shrugs here