“They killed the elders, the children, the women, the animals, the chickens”

[amari_z]

I've been keeping my mouth shut about it here, but as pessimistic as I always am about getting balanced Middle East coverage from the U.S. media, I've still been completely appalled by the one-sided reporting on Israel's attack on Gaza. But now, even the mainstream press has had to give more than the back of the hand acknowledgment of the death and destruction that Israel has wreaked against civilians.

Quoted in the NYTimes:

“It’s a war against us as people,” a man shouted. “What happened to Hamas? Nothing!”

***

The house had a special meaning. The family had lived for generations in a refugee camp, and six years ago had saved enough money to build it. This morning they came to find it in shambles, a crushing discovery.

“It was my dream and now it is erased,” said Hadija Saker, 55, who ticked off the evidence, as she saw it, of Israel’s unjust actions. She said Hamas lacked influence in the area. A teacher at a United Nations school lived on one side. A journalist on the other. Most painful, she said, were her lemon trees, which she had nurtured for years and now lay crushed under the sandy soil crisscrossed with the marks of tank treads.

***

"The Israeli actions made the situation more intractable, he said. “How can I convince my neighbors now for the option of peace? I can’t.”

He added: “Israel is breeding extremists. The feeling you get is that they just want you to leave Gaza."

For better coverage, I have a lot of respect for Democracy Now!. And although I'm not always thrilled by it, the BBC does a far better job than any major American media outlet.