Saturday, August 12, 2006

The Forgotten Refugees

In 1945 there were up to one million Jews living in the Middle East and North Africa outside the Palestine Mandate - many living in communities dating back more than three millennia. Today, there are several thousand.

A film about the mass exodus of up to one million jews from Arab countries and Iran in the 20th century. Calendar of International Premier of the film.

Algeria
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Lebanon
Libya
Morocco
Syria
Tunisia
Yemen


Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Staged photos and smelly captions

August 08 2006
"Fauxtography" alert: NYTimes and USNews; plus Time and Reuters' Issam Kobeisi from Michelle Malkin (Lebanese pieta and garbage dump flames).


Hamas and Hezbollah: friends and colleagues (video)

"Palestinian" fighters speak on their collaboration with Hezbollah in their war against Israel.


Tuesday, August 08, 2006

from Extreme Makeover - Beirut Edition

Following two notes were descriptions for the photos of apparently the same woman. Some bloggers suggest she also resembles the famous Green Helmet. Photos were featured on BBC news site.

A Lebanese woman wails after looking at the wreckage of her apartment, in a building, that was demolished by the Israeli attacks in southern Beirut July 22, 2006. REUTERS/Issam Kobeisi (from Yahoo News)

A Lebanese woman reacts at the destruction after she came to inspect her house in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006, after Israeli warplanes repeatedly bombed the area overnight.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (from Yahoo News)


False report on casualties coming from Lebanese prime minister are recalled

CNN:
"The massacre in Houla, it turned out that there was one person killed," Siniora said. "They thought that the whole building smashed on the heads of about 40 people. ... Thank God they have been saved."

Siniora had earlier told Arab foreign ministers in Beirut that the attack "was a horrific massacre ... in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing."

Siniora said he had based the initial tally on unspecified information that he had received. He offered no other explanation for the error.

Washington Post:

Earlier, emotions ran high at a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Beirut, where Siniora tearfully relayed a report -- which later proved inaccurate -- of 40 people killed in airstrikes on Houla. Hours later, Siniora corrected himself, saying only one person was killed in the bombing.



Sunday, August 06, 2006

Lebanon, war, Reuters and fake photo (via dolboeb@lj)

On Saturday Aug 5 2006, 6:36 AM ET Reuters had published a photo featuring smoke billows from burning buildings destroyed during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs.

Photo, credited to Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj has been found fake by to numerous bloggers, that explained in great deal of details what and how was altered in the photo.

On Sunday Aug 6, 6:36 AM ET Reuters has admitted to publishing false photo (HAS ISSUED A KILL OF THE PREVIOUS VERSION) and replaced it with what it said to be an original version.

The photographer Adnan Hajj unanimously labeled a liar. "Favorite Hezbollah photographer", also happen to be the one behind infamous Qana pictures.

The story:
Photographers on sportsshooter.com discussed the item first.
Jeff Harrell reflects on the story and explains what was done to the photo in plain words.
From REUTERSGATE! The Tipping Point @pajamasmedia.com

ynet.com sums the story: Reuters admits altering Beirut photo


Lebanon, Hezbollah, war and media (via deargen@lj)

The other day our neighbor’s relative came from Lebanon. He is a Christian. Here is what he has been saying:

- The best thing in Lebanon right now is to die from natural cause or from a disease. Hizballah will pay for the funeral and provide a death allowance to family members. That is, so long as the name of the deceased is put on the list of the “victims of Israeli military atrocities.” The body may also be taken to wreckage sites and photographed, in which case the payout will be larger. The authorities know this, and so do the foreign journalists, but they prefer not to talk about it for various reasons.

- Hizballah does not allow photographing or videotaping to be done freely inside towns. Only the sites that they designate can be shown, and only in the ways that Hizballah wants them to be presented. For example, buildings that were destroyed a long time ago could be described as the aftermath of recent bombings.
Everyone knows about this but reporters either have reasons not to talk about it or they are simply scared to do so.

- All Hizballah military centers are located within civilian neighborhoods. Civilians are discouraged from leaving them. Sometimes they get threatened, but more often they are simply told that if they leave, they would lose their properties and all their belongings. People believe it, and they often decide to test their luck [and stay].


_translated by muchnik.livejournal.com, via sid75@lj

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Friday, August 04, 2006

UN and Hezbollah flags fly together right off Israeli border.


Hizbalon 2
Originally uploaded by liormania.
via liormania@flickr.com

As stated, this picture was taken about 3 years ago from Israeli outpost on the northern border.



Religion of Peace?

The Quran, virtually on every page, is a manifesto for religious intolerance. -- Sam Harris

Not seen on CNN.
Actual photos of Muslims who marched in the streets of London.... "Religion of Peace" Demonstration.

Read their protest signs and posters. Judge for yourself.


Thursday, August 03, 2006

The media war against Israel (from Mideast Dispatch Archive)

Mideast Dispatch Archive: The media war against Israel

Large sections of the international media are not only misreporting the current conflict in Lebanon. They are also actively fanning the flames.



The BBC World Service has a strong claim to be the number-one villain. It has come to sound like a virtual propaganda tool for Hizbullah. <..>

International television channels have used the same footage of Beirut over and over, showing the destruction of a few individual buildings in a manner which suggests half the city has been razed.

A careful look at aerial satellite photos of the areas targeted by Israel in Beirut shows that certain specific buildings housing Hizbullah command centers in the city’s southern suburbs have been singled out. Most of the rest of Beirut, apart from strategic sites like airport runways used to ferry Hizbullah men and weapons in and out of Lebanon, has been left pretty much untouched. <...>


“CNN senior international correspondent” Nic Robertson admitted that his anti-Israel report from Beirut on July 18 about civilian casualties in Lebanon, was stage-managed from start to finish by Hizbullah. He revealed that his story was heavily influenced by Hizbullah’s “press officer” and that Hizbullah have “very, very sophisticated and slick media operations.” <...>

Writing on his blog while reporting from southern Lebanon, Time magazine contributor Christopher Allbritton, casually mentioned in the middle of a posting: “To the south, along the curve of the coast, Hezbollah is launching Katyushas, but I’m loathe to say too much about them. The Party of God has a copy of every journalist’s passport, and they’ve already hassled a number of us and threatened one.”<...>






What CNN and Al Jazeera will never publish (by mckaby@.lj)

mckaby: CNN and Al Jazeera will never publish this.




Hamas profile (from MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base)

Founding Philosophy: Hamas is a violent outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni, Islamist, religious movement that originated in Egypt and seeks broad social, moral, and political reforms based upon Islam.<...>Hamas is dedicated to creating an Islamic state in the territory of "Palestine" (all of Israel and Palestinian Territories). According to Hamas' charter, the land of Palestine has been endowed to Islam, and it is therefore the duty of all Muslims to liberate Palestine through violent jihad.
Current Goals: Hamas remains zealously dedicated to its violent, Islamist goals and seeks to destroy Israel and replace the Palestinian Authority with an Islamic state.


Hezbollah profile (from MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base)

Founding Philosophy: Hezbollah is an umbrella organization of various radical Islamic Shi'ite groups and organizations which receives substantial financial and philosophical support from Iran.<...>
The group is led by religious clerics who promote the establishment of an Islamic state in Lebanon. <...>
Current Goals: Hezbollah's stated objectives include the establishment of a Shiite theocracy in Lebanon, the destruction of Israel and the elimination of Western influences from the region.



Hezbollah uses civilians as sheild

Hezbollah Rockets Fired From House
Hezbollah use civilians as sheild

via _lenin_@LJ


Selected pictures from Israel under attack

Zion Brown is a fashion and addvertisement photographer.
Last week he went out to document the other subject.

"I'm a photo journalist. Here some of views thru my eyes. In every day im photographing beautifull models & addvertisement but thanks to Hasan Nasralla & his terroristic organization this horrors replacing everyday view in Israel. Not like arabian journalist because of pride & honor to the dead ones & in jured we are not taking pictures of people with blood. But here some of tragedy of the last week."


Rockets fallen in Haifa (slideshows by len2004@gmail)

Every day Hezbollah fires more than 100 rockets into Israel territory.
One dot on a map is Haifa.
These slides offer an account of the impact caused by some of them.

No photos of human casualties.

1 July 17
2 July 20
3 July 20
4 July 24
5 July 24
6 July 25

Slides are by Lenny M.
Courtesy of Professor Daniel Hershkovitch, Haifa Technion (Technical University).