“The American print and TV media has never been very good. These days it is horrible. If a person intends to be informed, he must turn to foreign news broadcasts, to Internet sites, to foreign newspapers available on the Internet, or to alternative newspapers that are springing up in various cities. A person who sits in front of Murdoch’s Fox “News” or CNN or who reads the New York Times is simply being brainwashed with propaganda.”

- Paul Craig Roberts, Information Clearing House

On May 31st Israeli warships and helicopters surrounded a Turkish ship, called the Mavi Marmara, in international waters. Moments later Israeli commandos stormed the humanitarian aid vessel and brutally shot at least 16 people dead (a figure that has been revised in subsequent reports, without explanation or comment, to only nine dead). At least 30 more crew members aboard the aid ship were wounded. International law defines this act as “piracy.” Israel claims that the crew members on board reacted violently, but nearly all video footage taken on board the Mavi Marmara was confiscated by the Israeli military. Israel then released its own footage of the raid, purportedly showing crew members violently resisting the Israeli soldiers. This footage has since been debunked as fraudulent with citations of key differences between the ship shown on the video and the actual Mavi Marmara.

So what really happened? Well, if you choose to rely on the mainstream media for your McFacts, you may well have received an entirely different happy meal.

Perhaps you are more familiar with those “humanitarian workers” as “armed activists possibly linked to al Qaeda” or “vicious anti-Semites professing pacifism, seeing with hate.” The Calgary Herald even goes as far as to ask, “Was it a peace convoy or a propaganda stunt gone horribly wrong?” We fail to see how an attempt to deliver food and medical supplies to millions of starving people in Gaza amounts to “propaganda.” (And it’s not often Freudian slips are immortalized in print!)

Noam Chomsky wrote on June 8th, “Israel’s pretext for the attack was that the Freedom Flotilla was bringing materials that Hamas could use for bunkers to fire rockets into Israel. The pretext isn’t credible. Israel can easily end the threat of rockets by peaceful means. The background is important. Hamas was designated a major terrorist threat when it won a free election in January 2006. The U.S. and Israel sharply escalated their punishment of Palestinians, now for the crime of voting the wrong way.”

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla consists of several multinational, civilian ships supplying humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which has been under tight siege since 2007. These people are not “terrorists.” Neither are they linked to mythical terrorist organizations. All the aid ships were inspected before departing and were found to contain humanitarian aid only; mostly medical and reconstruction supplies.

Robert Fisk, in his recent column for The Independent, lays out the effectiveness of US/Israeli propaganda:

“On that aid ship,” a Sri Lankan texted me this week, “I had my niece, nephew and his wife on board. Unfortunately Ahmed (20-year-old nephew) got shot in the leg and now treated (sic) under military custody. I will keep you posted.” He did indeed. Within hours, the press was at his family’s home in Australia, demanding to know if Ahmed was a jihadi – or even a potential suicide bomber. Propaganda works, you see.”

These crimes are nothing new for the Israeli military – even though the media will soon choose to forget that they ever took place. For decades, Israel has been hijacking boats in international waters, killing and kidnapping civilians, taking passengers to secret prison/torture chambers, sometimes holding them hostage for years. The UN Human Rights Council has repeatedly condemned Israel for its criminal actions. So you might well ask how Israel assumes it can continue to carry out these crimes with such impunity. Why do the US and Europe continue to provide them with such unrelenting support?

Grassroots movements are emerging across the world to fight for truly fair and balanced news media. These movements are united in their rejection of the mainstream media’s portrayal of global events.

Get your news from more than one source! (Not just Urban Garden Magazine!) Try:

www.culturesofresistance.org
www.informationclearinghouse.info
www.commondreams.org
www.democracynow.org
www.truthdig.com