The New York Times provided, on Thursday afternoon, internet ‘coverage’ of the deadly Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla and its nonviolent peace activists heading to Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies. This coverage buried the name of an American citizen who was one of the activists shot and killed by the Israeli forces during the illegal assault on the Freedom Flotilla.
Writing for New York Times, Isabel Kershner, initially mentioned the name of Furkan Dogan, 19, who was born in Troy, New York in the United States and lived there as a child before moving to Turkey.
But by Friday morning, Dogan’s name could not be found in the story of the New York Times, both in the online edition and the print, James M. Wall said. (http://wallwritings.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/nyt-flotil…dogan)
The story only states that there is one American person who was killed in the attack, and that he is a “19 year-old American citizen”.
The article on the NY Times went on to say that Israel “is exploring new ways” to supply Gaza with essential needs, and that the Israeli government “is interested in the entry of civilian goods”.
It said that “Israel Signals New Flexibility on Gaza Shipments”.
Nothing in the article mentioned the International Law, the fact that Israel’s attack was illegal and carried out in International Water.
There was no mention that after opening live fire at the activists, killing nine and wounded dozens, and after towing the solidarity ships to Ashdod, Israel’s own search of the ships failed to locate any of the claimed weapons as the ships were indeed filled with humanitarian supplies.
It failed to mention that the siege is causing malnutrition to thousands of children, and already led to the death of some 435 Palestinians, including infants and children.
The latest casualties of this illegal siege is seven months old, Muhammad Akram, who suffered from swelling of the brain and needed advanced treatment. He died June 3, 2010.
Jim Buie, an American blogger who resides in Kayseri, Turkey, the same town in which Dogan is from, writes this of his background;
“Furkan Dogan, the 19-year-old Turkish-American citizen killed by Israeli soldier(s) aboard the flotilla is from Kayseri. It’s so difficult to imagine a “terrorist,” the label Israelis put on the activists who joined the flotilla and allegedly attacked the solders — someone sympathetic to Al Qaeda — emerging from this environment.
Moderation, prudence and conformity are bywords in the culture here. Kayseri, the hometown of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, has been enormously friendly and welcoming to me, my wife, and son in the eight months we’ve been here…”
…This young man obviously was a respected member of the community. He was studying at a private high school in Kayseri, similar to the one I teach at, and hoped to become a doctor. He was a neighbor of a student of mine. (Global Voices Online) http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/06/04/usa-mourning-t…illa/
Yet, Kershner of the New York Times tried to justify Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla and Israel’s illegal siege on the Gaza Strip.
She went on to day that Israel’s longstanding position is that if Hamas wants change, it must release the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by the resistance in Gaza since 2006.
Nothing was mentioned about the more than 8,000 Palestinian political prisoners, held by Israel. Nothing about the children imprisoned by Israel and nothing about more than 200 detainees who died in Israeli prisons due to torture and medical negligence.
Also, the article went on to justify Israel’s siege on Gaza as an attempt prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip, yet failed to mention that Hamas won democratic legislative elections in 2006, and was punished for that as its government was shunned and its elected ministers and officials were kidnapped by the army.
What the corporate media in American, and senior US leaders, are talking about is the relation with Israel and how this attack might have temporarily “strained” this relation.
This is besides focusing on “Israel’s right to defend itself” and its ‘right’ to monitor and search anything that is sent to the impoverished Gaza Strip.
This relation is one-sided, it just pours in Israel’s interest with more than 3.5 billion USD of annual aid, while Israel in return speaks of its unshaken relation with the US, and at the same time nobody is talking about Israel’s spies in the United States.
There is no mention of the fact that Israel is spying on their strongest ally and the source of billions of dollars.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not of any interest for corporate America, bombarded schools, homes, infrastructure, mosques, educational facilities, hospitals and even UNRWA facilities, does not mean much to them, as long as Israel is given what it wants, as long as the billions are going there, while in America millions do not have health insurance, while homelessness is gradually increasing, and more people are dying in the cold.
