The math is simple

I made this image to reflect the ratio of civilian casualties between the Israeli and Palestinian sides. By the time I finished working on it, the ratio had already changed, by the idea remains clear. The fact of the matter is, the casualties have been mostly Palestinian with the majority of them being children and women. This is clearly discussed by one of the few heroes of this war.

For the best coverage on the Gaza disaster I urge you to watch Aljazeera English for free! I guarantee you will be surprised at how much is (purposely) missed by the conventional news networks.

British journalist questions whether legal action could be taken against pro-Palestinian commentators

It seems that some Western journalist have gotten so used to biased media reporting, that they view any true reporting to be worthy of legal persecution. This is the case with Daily Mail columnist, and Spectator correspondent Melanie Philips.

In a recent blog post, Philips goes on and on about the necessity for Israel to attack Gaza in self defense, meanwhile calling the UN a “Club of Terror”, and blaming Palestinian deaths on Hamas. She even condones the disproportionate civilian death toll suffered by Palestinians saying :

“Those who scream ‘disproportionate’ think – grotesquely -- that not enough Israelis have been killed. But that’s in part because Israel cares enough about human life to construct air raid shelters where its beleaguered civilians take cover.”

Philips assumes that starving Palestinians without electricity or food, should have been preparing shelters in anticipation of Israeli bombs. Perhaps Palestinians should blame the Club of Terror UN for not building bomb proof schools. Last week, a UN school where Palestinians have been taking shelter was shelled by an Israeli tank leaving over 40 civilians including women and children dead. Philips would probably condone Israel’s actions by saying something along of the lines of:

“Certainly, some civilian casualties are regrettably inevitable in any such situation – but particularly so in Gaza, since Hamas has deliberately sited its terrorist infrastructure amongst the civilian population”

But even this doesn’t hold ground since reports by Earth Times, Reuters and now Haaretz, have shown that there was no fire coming from the UN school where the refugees were taken shelter. But these kinds of reports wouldn’t please Philips. At the end of her misleading, poor journalistic post she asks:

“Isn’t there a case for legal action against these media outlets on account of their blood libels, for indirectly aiding the perpetrators of attempted genocide?”

And just to be clear here, the genocide Philips absurdly speaks of is that of the Israeli population inflicted by Hamas. A genocide perpetrated by a militia with home-made rockets, against the 4^th strongest army in the world, and the best technically equipped army, only second to the US.

Coverage of Toronto's Demonstration for Gaza

As the civilian death toll in the attack against Gaza mounts, and as governments worldwide remain silent to the numerous breaches of human rights on behalf of Israel, citizens worldwide are expressing their anger through demonstrations. Aljazeera is reporting millions of people worldwide going out to the streets and telling their governments enough is enough. Canada is no different. Multiple demonstrations have been held in Ontario and Quebec the past couple of days, including demonstrations in Kitchener, Toronto, Montreal, and Hamilton.

On Saturday multiple organizations organized a very successful demonstration in downtown Toronto drawing over 5000 people from a wide range of backgrounds. The mood was emotional and charged, while the police presence was plentiful and varied, with some on foot, others on horseback and bicycles. People carried signs, flags and mock-up coffins to symbolize the innocent victims, while chanting slogans calling for the end of the occupation, shame to Israel, and freedom for Gaza and Palestine. A small group of pro-Israel demonstrators mobilized across from the Palestinian demo holding up signs ironically saying “Israel = Love” which could be true if “Love” equated to blood and missiles.

The demonstrators marched on Toronto’s busy Yonge Street towards the Israeli Consulate, where several people gave speeches and demonstrators chanted slogans reflecting their anger. The demonstrators continued on to the American Consulate to be greeted by tens of cops and metal barriers, putting the demonstrators at least 150 meters away from the consulate. “Shame on Bush” “Shame, Shame USA” and “From Iraq to Palestine, Occupation is a Crime” were only a few of the handful of slogans repeated by thousands. Through the whole demonstration hundreds of peoples stopped to learn about the occupation, some held out peace signs, others chanted with along with the crowd.

I think it would be optimistic to expect demonstrations like Toronto’s would stop the Israeli aggression against Gaza. At a minimum these demonstrations get the word out. The media’s bias has been shameful. The few missiles Hamas has launched is getting more coverage than the thousands launched by Israel responsible for killing over 500, and injuring 2500 Palestinians thus far. The governments’ silence is deafening. How many more innocent lives have to be ended before the US, and the morally corrupt, useless organization that is the United Nations draw the line? Mr. Bush along with his puppy Ban Ki-moon raced to condemn Russia’s invasion of Georgia a few months ago but continue to the turn the other way through the Gazan struggle. It’s becoming really clear that in the currency of lives, The Palestinian isn’t worth much. I'll leave you with some images of the demonstrations, more on my flickr page.

Children protesting in front of City Hall in Kitchener

Along Yonge Street

Police presence at Dundas Square

Not in her name!