Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey replies to Gil Eyal

Mr. Eyal bases his piece on the notion that my article “Bullseye! Israeli Terrorist Attacks Slaughter 200” was founded on the false notion that Israeli warships had bombarded Palestinians enjoying a picnic on a Gaza beach at the beginning of June. Mr. Gil explains that this never happened and that the footage of the Israeli warship seen lurking off the coast at the time of the attack was edited into a Palestinian video by extremists.

How interesting. As someone who is not a lawyer, I find the research that has gone into these two examples of lies, basically substantiating his case against my article, as risible as is it absurd. For a start, how can he deny that such an event took place if the IDF itself issued a statement in which it ackowledged and regretted the incident and secondly, I did not see the footage on a Palestinian video but from a live report on BBC TV, with a BBC TV television crew on the scene.

In reply to the acidic remark “ Of course, the most fascinating thing about this article is that a person calling himself a reporter bases his whole agenda on fiction”. The reply would be “Of course, the most fascinating thing is that this person calling himself a lawyer bases his entire case on nonsense and lies”.

The author of this classic attempt at disinformation from a desperate Israeli who sees the war crimes perpetrated by his forces unfold before his very eyes, then goes on to say that the seven Palestinian casualties caused in the multiple explosions on different parts of the beach were caused by a landmine left behind by HAMAS. Anybody who has undergone military training knows that a single landmine cannot kill seven people, let alone standing and sitting on opposite sides of several sand dunes.

Therefore the whole foundation of Mr. Eyal’s case crumbles into dust before our eyes, just like any credibility that the State of Israel had before the latest round of shocking terrorist attacks against innocent civilians has vanished into space. From now on, Israel, in the hearts and minds of the people who form the international community, is as guilty of terrorism as HAMAS or Hezbollah operatives.

The point is that Mr. Gil Eyal’s article, just like the actions of Israel over the past week and the actions of the United States, their protege, in the last three years, form part of a sickening New World Order based upon lies, denial of the truth, arrogance and a total disregard for international law. Justifying the unjustifiable through the manipulation of fear.

After the act of butchery in Iraq based on WMD which never existed (not seeing something which exists is one thing, but seeing that which does not exist enters the realms of psychiatry) we have the USA stating that Israel has the right to defend itself.

It does. Yes the reaction from the IDF and the reaction from Mr. Eyal are both as sickeningly predictable as they are symptomatic of the malaise which has set in, the first signs of the disease which will eat away at Israel’s cause. Israel has lost it, and this week was the beginning of the end.

Why is it that when someone complains about Israel breaking the Geneva Conventions and practically every norm in the book of international law, people like Mr. Eyal insinuate that the people who make these claims are on the side of the terrorists? The world is not a tunnel-vision, black and white cowboy story for people of the likes of Bush and his regime to swallow and digest easily.

The truth of the matter is, for Mr. Eyal’s information, that nobody in their right mind condones acts of terrorism, whether committed by Chechen terrorists funded and armed from abroad, by Mujaheddin terrorists in Afghanistan armed by the CIA and funded by bin Laden, by Albanian terrorists running drugs into Europe, by HAMAS or Hezbollah terrorists targeting Israeli civilians, by Islamist fundamentalists killing Americans, by US pilots murdering Iraqis or by IDF members slaughtering Lebanese or Palestinian civilians. All are acts of terrorism and all are as despicable as each other.

Targeting civilians with rockets is illegal and is an act of terrorism. Targeting civilians with military equipment is illegal and is an act of terrorism. Get your facts and your argument straight, Mr. Eyal and admit the truth, don’t lie and deny it.

The point is that while your country and your people continue to occupy lands which never belonged to it, in flagrant violation of international law, the terrorists will have a cause and as you should know, the cause is the difference between a terrorist organization and a bunch of criminals.

In the hearts and minds of the international community, your country has just descended to the same level as the terrorists and so long as your country continues to sit on the West Bank and the Golan Heights, it will be seen as asking for trouble.

One last point. You and practically everyone else with the privilege to write in the international press, fail to take the opportunity to point out that most Israelis want peace and most Palestinians want peace. You fail to mention the many Israelis working in voluntary organizations to guarantee the rights of Palestinians and you fail to mention the many cases of mixed marriages and close friendships between the two peoples. The difference between me and you is that I report the truth and you say you do.

Now, do I say Shalom! Or Allaaaaahu Akhbar?

I say neither. I say respect the international law and you will find that suddenly you have many friends, instead of being regarded as arguably the most hated nation on earth after the Bush regime’s US of A.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru