This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
Again, she highlighted Israel's side, calling the protest a "violent and illegal riot,'" when, in fact, demonstrations against occupation and Israel's (International Court of Justice July 4, 2004 ruled illegal) Separation Wall are always nonviolent and legal on Palestinian, not Israeli, land. Israeli-initiated violence always follows, victimizing, injuring, and at times killing peaceful protesters like Jawaher.
Kershner also ignored the type and origin of the dangerous tear gas used. Called CS, it's supplied by the Defense Technology Corporation of America, and may either be fired randomly into crowds, homes, or aimed directly at targets at close range, increasing the possibility of serious injury or death. In fact, a few days before she died, a CS canister blow to the chest killed Bassem Abu Rahmah, and Jawaher's brother, Basem, was killed the same way in April 2009.
US television news ignores these crimes, and rarely ever do even distorted accounts appear in print. When they do, however, they're never fully accurate or candid. Kershner, like other US reporters, highlights Israel's version of events, never hinting that regular outrageous crimes occur, that Israel's occupation and Separation Wall are illegal, and that since June 2007 over 1.5 million Gazans are suffocating under siege.
Moreover, most important is what's omitted in reports, especially background information on this decades-long conflict, why it continues, and that Washington supplies Israel with billions of dollars annually, the latest weapons and technology, interest-free loans, and virtually anything else Israel requests, even when doing so harms US interests.
One Palestinian CS survivor described the experience as feeling "like a million blue shards of glass tearing at your alveoli (air sacks in lungs) and shredding your eyes...Every breath tears at your insides; vicious animals live in your lungs. I'd rather not breathe than take one more anguished, searing, charred breath. Then, you don't have a choice; you can't breathe."
Kershner omitted those and other facts from her articles or that weapons this dangerous should be prohibited. All high-velocity projectiles also, what killed Bassem Abu Rahmen and others, fired directly at them at point blank range with intent to seriously injure or kill. Terror weapons, they're regularly used against nonviolent protesters to disperse, intimidate, and/or willfully cause harm.
On January 4, Kershner's article headlined, "Israeli Military Officials Challenge Account of Palestinian Woman's Death," saying:
"....Israeli military officials, who insisted on anonymity (always a red flag) while their investigation (read whitewash) was continuing, told various journalists and bloggers that they had never heard of tear gas killing anyone in the open, and raised the possibility that (Jawaher) had some pre-existing ailment, that alone or compounded by the tear gas, caused her death."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
4
3
3
