So here is the thing about this story: The NYT obviously has different vetting standards for an op-ed (which this was) and reporting pieces, but it’s rather clear that there were quite a few issues here that should have prevented them from publishing this piece. First, if there were people shot, they don’t know who shot them (as there is ongoing fighting) so the implication that it was Israel should require more support. The original claim was that Israelis snipers were shooting kids, but this is not the same caliber bullet used by IDF snipers. Second, it’s rather clear that the X-rays which were published as evidence to support the claims, are not legitimate. As countless experts have pointed out, they simply aren’t consistent with what an X-ray after such an event would look like. Including the bullet itself. But the thing is there is indisputably lots of death and destruction in Gaza. You can show that and it would undoubtedly lead to lots of concern from anyone who values human life. So why would someone go through the trouble of creating fake X-rays to publicize and emphasize stories of kids with bullets? It’s the same reason that the Gaza health ministry has indisputably been caught wildly exaggerating the percent of deaths that are women and children. Because the dispute isn’t over whether there are many deaths in Gaza, but whether Israel is intentionally targeting innocent people as part of their war strategy. This is all aimed at people not in either camp. Israel defenders argue that Israel is targeting Hamas and their infrastructure, and the civilians deaths are collateral that Hamas is causing. That Israel is making efforts to avoid them. The anti/Israel crowds insist that Israel is targeting civilians or at least indiscriminately attacking people. If 50+% of those killed are Hamas militants, it strongly supports the case of Israel defenders. If most of those killed are women and children, then it supports the case of the anti-Israel crowd. Intention matters in determining whether conduct in a war is justified and who is responsible for the collateral casualties (Hamas for hiding behind civilians and using them as shields or Israel for targeting civilians) So the point of stories about snipers shooting kids is to support the idea that Israel is targeting civilians. Earlier in the war pro-Hamas media and front groups like EuroMed also tried to push claims of Israeli soldiers just going into homes and executing families but again could not provide any evidence. They kept being caught in obvious lies but kept throwing out news ones. Now the latest claim is the snipers shooting kids, but again the evidence isn’t backing it up. Again, that does not mean there is not significant death innocents in Gaza. It also does not absolve Israel of responsibility for allowing Hamas 2 decades to build up a war infrastructure that engulfed the entire Gaza Strip (just imagine how many lives on both sides could have been saved if they had acted back in 2007). But the attempts to push falsehoods to spin intent are clearly aimed at misleading audiences (you wouldn’t need to constantly lie if Israel’s conduct was so clearly deliberate) and the western press assisting in that attempted spin are doing a serious disservice to their audiences. https://bird.makeup/@angertab/1845170296468172857
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