FRESH AIR

UPDATES

Media Week – A capital conspiracy; Vehicular man (and woman) slaughter

Jul 22, 2016 | Allon Lee

Media Week - A capital conspiracy; Vehicular man (and woman) slaughter
news_item/spin640_______________________________________________________________.jpg

A capital conspiracy

The Chilcot Inquiry into the former Blair Government’s decision to sign up to the Second Iraq War never mentioned Israel as one of the reasons for going to war. Yet the Canberra Times (July 8) apparently knows better, claiming in an editorial the real reason Iraq was invaded had “more to do with protecting Israel’s interests than in shutting down Saddam’s so-called terrorist links or preventing him from manufacturing crude weapons of mass destruction.”

This is a dangerously deluded conspiracy theory. In early 2002, then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon actually warned the White House not to remove Saddam Hussein.

This was independently verified in 2007 by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, the chief of staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2002, who said, “the Israelis were telling us Iraq is not the enemy – Iran is the enemy” and that “if you are going to destabilize the balance of power, do it against the main enemy.”

Even Fairfax chief correspondent Paul McGeough (July 8), who has a history of inserting Israel gratuitously into his articles, noted in his piece only that Chilcot stated that British intelligence saw Iran, North Korea and Libya as “greater threats than Iraq, in terms of the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons”.

Vehicular man (and woman) slaughter

Many in the media noted the similarities between the horrific Islamist terror attack in Nice involving the use of a truck to kill more than 80 people and the use of vehicles in recent Palestinian terror tactics.

In the Australian (July 16), a Wall Street Journal report quoted former CIA agent Bruce Riedel saying, “we’ve seen similar vehicle attacks by individual Palestinians against Israelis, which have gotten enormous attention in jihadi circles, and al-Qaida has called for people to imitate them.”

In the same edition of the Australian, Australian Strategic Policy Institute Executive Director Peter Jennings noted that, “Islamic State is not the only terror group to use vehicles as weapons. There have been a significant number of attacks in Israel. These have tended to involve vans or smaller passenger vehicles driven by Palestinians supporting Hamas. In 2008, a bulldozer was used in Jerusalem to kill three people and injure a dozen more.”

Also that day, the paper itself editorialised the same point noting that “vehicles have been used in other terrorist acts, normally to carry bombs, Palestinian militants have been using cars to run down Israeli civilians at bus stops on the West Bank.” (In fact, many of the attacks have been in Israel proper.)

Two days later in the Australian (July 18), Australian Strategic Policy Institute Deputy Director Anthony Bergin noted that “we’ve seen vehicles used in terror attacks before in China, US, Israel and Canada.”

Disappointingly, the Daily Telegraph cover (July 16) reporting the Nice attack listed a number of recent deadly terror attacks that did not include any against Israeli targets. However a report from Cindy Wockner noted that, “the use of trucks has long been a tactic employed as a weapon of terror by the Palestinians in Israel.”

Also in the Daily Telegraph (July 19), columnist Caroline Marcus wrote, “car-ramming has long been a favoured technique of Palestinian terrorists when slaughtering innocent Israeli citizens.”

– Allon Lee

RELATED ARTICLES


Crocus City Hall Sign After Attack

What recent ISKP attacks reveal about US, Russian and Iranian intelligence agencies

Mar 27, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing (Image: Shutterstock)

Contrary to news stories, aid is getting to north Gazans without UNRWA’s help

Mar 26, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Screenshot 2024 03 15 At 6.19.20 pm

Four Corners “Forever War” episode reflected the endless crusade of its creator, John Lyons

Mar 15, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
(image: Shutterstock/Syndi Pilar)

“Anti-Zionism” is illegitimate and immoral regardless of whether or not it is antisemitic

Mar 12, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Crowds gather for prayer at Jerusalem's Temple mount (Image Professionals GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo)

Ramadan and the Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations

Mar 8, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Houthi rebel fighters fighting in Sana'a against the coalition forces (Image: Maad Ali/ZUMA Wire/Alamy Live News)

As the Houthis threaten international shipping, spare a thought for the people of Yemen

Mar 4, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
455daec3 C2a8 8752 C215 B7bd062c6bbc

After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire for hostages deal

Nov 29, 2023 | Update
Screenshot of Hamas bodycam footage as terrorists approach an Israeli vehicle during the terror organisation's October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel, released by the IDF and GPO (Screenshot)

Horror on Video / International Law and the Hamas War

Oct 31, 2023 | Update
Sderot, Israel. 7th Oct, 2023. Bodies of dead Israelis lie on the ground following the attacks of Hamas (Image: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/Alamy Live News)

Israel’s Sept. 11, only worse

Oct 11, 2023 | Update
Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu (r) gets his long-awaited face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden in New York (Photo: Avi Ohayon, Israeli Government Press Office)

Netanyahu meets Biden, other world leaders, in New York

Sep 27, 2023 | Update
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who gave an address on Aug. 28 threatening the US and laying out the Iranian-led axis's new "unity of the arenas" doctrine. (Photo: Shutterstock, mohammad kassir)

US-Iran prisoner swap deal set to go through

Sep 12, 2023 | Update
A rally of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party last year: Yet outside these faithful, Abbas is not only largely unpopular, but his rule over the PA has seen the Palestinian parliament dissolved, judiciary sidelined, and his party hollowed out (Photo: Shutterstock, Anas-Mohammed)

The Crisis in the PA

Aug 28, 2023 | Update

SIGN UP FOR AIJAC EMAILS

RECENT POSTS

A barrage of words charged with venomous lies targets Australian Jews daily (Image: Shutterstock)

The Last Word: Words – Holy and hateful

The 2020 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Ministerial Declaration (Image: US Dept of State)

Europa Europa: Empty words

Mghead2

Biblio File: The Education of an Editor

Memorial composed of photos of young Israelis killed during the terrorist attack on the NOVA Festival which took place on October 7, 2023 a few kilometers from Gaza (Image: Jose Hernandez/ Camera 51/ Shutterstock)

The world’s ‘Triple Standard’ against Israel endangers global security

Image: Abed Rahim Khatib/ Shutterstock

A plan for Gaza

A barrage of words charged with venomous lies targets Australian Jews daily (Image: Shutterstock)

The Last Word: Words – Holy and hateful

The 2020 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Ministerial Declaration (Image: US Dept of State)

Europa Europa: Empty words

Mghead2

Biblio File: The Education of an Editor

Memorial composed of photos of young Israelis killed during the terrorist attack on the NOVA Festival which took place on October 7, 2023 a few kilometers from Gaza (Image: Jose Hernandez/ Camera 51/ Shutterstock)

The world’s ‘Triple Standard’ against Israel endangers global security

Image: Abed Rahim Khatib/ Shutterstock

A plan for Gaza

SORT BY TOPICS