Unsurprisingly, Longtime Israel Critic, Avi Shlaim, Distorts History on Anniversary of Gaza Operation - by Simon Plosker

...One wonders just how far his definition of “lawful resistance” extends given his refusal to define Hamas actions as terror. It appears that ten years after Operation Cast Lead, commentators such as Avi Shlaim are attempting to alter both history and reality in order to attack Israel.

Simon Plosker..
Honest Reporting..
08 January '19..

At the ten-year anniversary of Israel’s 2008/09 Operation Cast Lead, it’s expected that we will see articles in the media critical of Israel’s military operation against Hamas in Gaza.

This was the first of a number of Israeli military operations in response to indiscriminate rocket and mortar fired from Gaza towards Israeli civilian targets.

So it is the case, unsurprisingly, in The Guardian, where UK-based Israeli academic and longtime Israel critic Avi Shlaim launches his own assault on Israel. According to him, Operation Cast Lead:

was not a war or even “asymmetric warfare” but a one-sided massacre. Israel had 13 dead; the Gazans had 1,417 dead, including 313 children, and more than 5,500 wounded. According to one estimate 83% of the casualties were civilians. Israel claimed to be acting in self-defence, protecting its civilians against Hamas rocket attacks. The evidence, however, points to a deliberate and punitive war of aggression. Israel had a diplomatic alternative, but it chose to ignore it and to resort to brute military force.

Casualties as a Moral Barometer

Shlaim begins with a typical case of using casualty figures as a moral barometer. By quoting the mismatch in the deaths and injuries between the two sides stripped of context, Shlaim signals that Israel is the aggressor despite the fact that readers:

- Will not know that Hamas embedded itself in the civilian population leading to higher numbers of civilian deaths.

- Will also be unaware of Israel’s enormous efforts to prevent loss of innocent lives.

- And the reason for the lower Israeli casualty figures? Simply that Israel goes to great lengths to protect its people.

(Continue to Full Article)

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