From: Ali Abunimah
To: morning@npr.org, nprnews@npr.org
Subject: Morning Edition reports that Israeli attacks that killed seven resulted in "no casualties"
February 21, 2002
Dear NPR News,
Outrageous!
NPR is continuing to broadcast shockingly wrong information this morning. In the first segment of Hour Two of Morning Edition which I listened to at 8.10 Eastern Time, Bob Edwards interviewed Hirsch Goodman, an Israeli analyst about Sharon and his options. In his introdcution, Edwards said that Israeli helicopters last night struck Palestinian "targets" including a "Police headquarters," a "security office" and an "apartment building," "among other targets." Edwards stated clearly that "No casualties were reported."
How can NPR broadcast such outrageous nonsense? In the dawn hours of Thursday, Israeli occupation forces raided Brazil refugee camp in Gaza killing five people and injuring dozens of others, the vast majority of them civilians.
The Haaretz website reported that:
"IDF troops killed five Palestinians and wounded 33 others during raids before dawn Thursday into Palestinian-ruled territory in the southern and eastern Gaza Strip, Palestinian doctors said. IDF infantry, tanks and bulldozers carried out operations in the Gaza Strip early Thursday morning, Israel Radio reported. Operations were carried out in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Jenin, Qalqilyah and Nablus, the radio said. IAF warplanes struck PA security installations in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis and Arafat's compound in Ramallah, destroying the hall in which he hosted foreign dignitaries, some 150 meters from Arafat's office."
The French news agency named the dead as:
Mohammed al-Nams, 21, Raed al-Luly, 25, Ehab Abdelwahab, 16, Bassem Asana, 25, and Samir Abu Saud, 39, and quoted Palestinian sources saying that all were civilians.
At least two other Palestinians have since been reported killed and the BBC website reports that "Seven people were killed on Thursday in the latest round of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, one day after 15 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes."
Earlier today NPR's reporting was just as bad, wrong and confused:
After ignoring Israel's brutal and deadly assault on Palestinian civilians in Gaza last night in the 7 AM news bulletin, and focussing only on the Israeli-demanded arrest of Palestinian guerillas, the 7.30 AM bulletin carried a spot by Peter Kenyon which led with the news of the arrests, but reported that 7 Palestinians had been killed (without noting that at least five of them were civilians.)
The 8 AM bulletin, however, reported that at least two dozen people have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent days, but then said that in "in the latest fighting two Palestinians have been killed." The five Palestinians killed in Brazil refugee camp had thus once again disappeared. This bulletin listed the targets of Israeli attacks, starting with a police headquarters, and a security compound and mentioning last "a refugee camp" without providing any details.
This was then followed by Bod Edwards shocking statement in the introduction to the Hirsch Goodman segment that "No casualties were reported."
The confused and utterly misleading picture that NPR presents this morning is a testament to the total disarray of your Middle East reporting.
Isn't it time to do something about this?
Yours,
Ali Abunimah
http://www.abunimah.org