The worst aspect of Ms Lei'ataua's journalism in this interview was her failure to ask basic questions that might provide the public with a more adequate understanding of the situation. The main question left out was "Why was there fighting involving this hospital or others?" Related questions would have been "Is it possible that Hamas fighters were in, underneath or nearby the hospital?" and "Was the fighting between armed fighters or was it simply directed at the hospital?". The reason such questions were not asked is that they would dilute the anti-Israel propaganda that Ms Lei'ataua and/or RNZ wanted to provide a platform for. There is simply no other rational explanation.
In the context of increasingly violent protests around the world against Israel accompanied with a rapid rise in antisemitism, it was highly irresponsible of RNZ to broadcast this interview devoid of questions that would increase the public's knowledge for understanding the reported events. Even if Mr Eccleshall had replied that he didn't know whether Hamas fighters were using the hospitals as shields, that would have been useful in evaluating his statements.
RNZ followed this interview with a piece recalling the October 7 atrocities and no doubt planned to use this to claim there was balance in its broadcasts. However, that is no defence for RNZ supporting anti-Israel propaganda.
As it turned out, the next day Israeli forces released footage showing that Hamas was operating underneath one of those hospitals. Video showed strong evidence that a hospital basement or a tunnel underneath a hospital was being used as an operational base for Hamas and also for holding hostages. Numerous Russian weapons (not used by Israeli troops), grenades and other military equipment had been found there. The implication that Israeli troops were targeting hospitals for the sake of it was false. RNZ reported the footage released by Israel but couched that broadcast in skeptical language.
RNZ has long jumped on what are known as 'left wing' bandwagons, the most recent one involving criticism of Israel for strategically fighting this current war. It's high time RNZ stopped pushing causes and returned to balanced, factual reporting.
A.E. Thompson is a working, tax-paying New Zealander who speaks up about threats to our hard-fought rights, liberties, egalitarian values, rational thinking and fair treatment by the state.
6 comments:
I was not aware Ms Lei'ataua was a journalist with international political credentials, as when I last listened to RNZ some years ago, I think her role was that of news reader. I guess it's not impossible for this country to have a reputable National Broadcaster again - perhaps I was only naive and gullible in thinking it used to be authentic - sigh.
Israel's genocidal attacks, which are killing hundreds of Palestinians a day, including some 160 children, have expanded to shelling the remaining hospitals in Gaza.
Israel and the United States are sending a chilling message to the rest of the world. International and humanitarian law, including the Geneva Convention, are meaningless pieces of paper. They did not apply in Iraq. They do not apply in Gaza. We will pulverize your neighborhoods and cities with bombs and missiles. We will wantonly murder your women, children, elderly and sick. We will set up blockades to engineer starvation and the spread of infectious diseases. You, the “lesser breeds” of the earth, do not matter. To us you are vermin to be extinguished. We have everything. If you try and take any of it away from us, we will kill you. And we will never be held accountable.
in a nutshell Anonymous .Thanks you saved me the bother of explaining the lurid Israeli propaganda so eagerly swallowed by the Pavlov's dogs of the mainstream media.As for Biden low IQ Christian fascist lap dog to Israel's Armageddon. Disgusting !
The rant from Anonymous at 19 ,November 2023 at 3.46PM is unfortunate because if Chloe Swarbrick can rant as an Member of Parliament about an issue which clearly has two sides , it seems Anonymous thinks it is ok to join in .
I suggest Anonymous reflects on whether it was America or Israel that decimated an outdoor concert first and secondly Anonymous should realise that there were males ( men and youths ) who also lost their lives. For some reason the writers name was not important enough to mention, or include that males died.
The barbarism of Hamas whose agenda openly is to annihilate Jews is not part of the problem ? Burning children and torturing and raping captives isn't a war crime as well?
Israel reacted with indignation and moral outrage when it was accused of bombing the al-Ahli Arab Christian hospital in Gaza, which left hundreds of dead. The bombing, Israel claimed, came from an errant rocket fired by Palestine Islamic Jihad. There is nothing in the arsenal of Hamas or Islamic Jihad that could have replicated the massive explosive power of the missile that struck the hospital. Those of us who have covered Gaza have heard this Israel trope so many times it is risible. They always blame Hamas and the Palestinians for their war crimes, now attempting to argue that hospitals are Hamas command centers and therefore legitimate targets. They never provide evidence. The Israeli military and government lie like they breathe.
The second-in-command of the Lebanese resistance says Israel would have 'collapsed within days' of 7 October were it not for the support of the US...
“It is the [western] axis that supports the occupation, legitimizes the murder of children and women, the destruction of hospitals, and grants immunity to Israel to continue its massacres. The US is supporting these massacres.“US military intervention is part of the violent Israeli reaction and serves to protect this monstrosity,” the Hezbollah deputy chief stressed.
He also took aim at the posture taken by western media outlets, saying they act “as if Israel has a right to [the occupied territories] and is the victim.”
“The reality is that Palestinians are the occupied ones, and Israel is the occupier. We have to confront the problem of the occupation and not that of resistance to the occupation. For Hezbollah, Israel has no right to exist, and Palestinians are the real owners of that land. But it is up to the Palestinians, including Palestinian Jews, to decide their future. Those who have come from all over the world have no right to steal that land.”
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