WaPo Propagandizes For Israeli Takeover Of More Syrian Land

June 21, 2015

Israel plans to steal more Syrian land by claiming a "buffer zone" in the Syrian Golan heights under the pretext of protecting Syrian Druze from Jihadists it supports there in the first place.

The Washington Post is promoting the Israeli propaganda version of "protection" by obfuscating and lying about the events in the area. Here is the relevant headline on the Washington Post home page. "Israel's Druze minority" is threatened? Hmm … that indeed would be news.

The section page then has a bit more correct headline talking about "Druze in the Golan". But it still does not inform who of the Druze, those on the Israeli side or those on the Syrian side of the demarcation line, are really threatened. Only the sub-headline informs that the threat is to Druze in Syria, not – as the homepage claims – to Druze in Israel.

The piece itself is a mess, quotes only Israeli viewpoints and contains several lies. Here are some of the most obvious ones:

After four years on the sidelines, the complex and violent dynamic in the Golan highlands threatens to draw Israel into the Syrian war

How was Israel "on the side line" when in fact Israeli jets have several times bombed Syrian army positions, when the Israeli army is using tanks to help Jabhat al-Nusra jihadists take over Syrian army positions at the border and when Israel publicly serves as general hospital for wounded jihadists? UN observers on the Golan have reported exchanges and cooperation between Israel and the jihadis. That is not a sideline position but an explicitly one-sided one.

Both the presence of Jabhat al-Nusra and especially the Islamic State, worry the Druze, because the two Sunni militias consider the Druze, a heterodox offshoot of Shiite Islam, as infidels and defilers of Islam.

Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State are now just Sunni "militia"? Harmless vigilance committees protecting their home turf?

In the past, the Druze have supported Assad, living under his protection, but now they fear they will be overrun. Their leaders are refusing to send more sons to enlist for Assad, saying they need fighters at home to protect their clans but also signaling their calculus that Assad is losing ground.

The claim that "the Druze have supported" Assad is false. How do we know? We can just follow the link in the Washington Post piece which goes to an April 2014 tweet another Washington Post reporter made. That tweet says:

The Druze still on the sidelines

So how does that back up the claim that the Druze supported Assad? It doesn't. It contradicts that claim. The Syrian government claims that no Druze conscripts have joined the Syrian army since the conflict started. How did that "support Assad"?

Aside from false headlines and unsupported claims the piece reeks of pure propaganda bullshit because it does not include any Syrian voice. There is no mentioning of the Syrian government position or any first hand voice from the Syrian Druze. The only sources are Israeli officials and Israeli Druze who are identified as former members of the Israeli army.

How are such false headlines and one sided "reporting" supposed to be journalism?

Posted by b on June 21, 2015 at 09:49 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Excellent reporting, b. You do need to correct “does include” to “doesn’t include” in the second to last paragraph.

Posted by: fairleft | Jun 21 2015 10:58 utc | 1

‘ How are such false headlines and one sided “reporting” supposed to be journalism? ‘
No one paying any attention at all considers what appears in the CIA/Amazon Post to be journalism. They suppose it to be part of the government’s bullshit. And they are not disappointed.
Same with the NYTimes. Probably others too, that I never see.
Good you keep ’em honest though, b. I’ll bet they read you, too. The ‘reporters’ anyway. I guess one can deal with schizophrenia if one’s paid well enough. They’re laughing all the way to the bank. Schizophrenic sociopaths.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2015 11:37 utc | 2

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33213799
Ahmed Mansour, who works for the channel’s Arabic-language service, was detained as he tried to board a flight from Berlin to Qatar.

Posted by: Mina | Jun 21 2015 12:46 utc | 3

Forgive me if I don’t hold my breath…
Israel, US/UK, and the ex-Colonial busybodies have, in the past, invented a multitude of foreign causes worth lying and killing for.
Have “Israel’s” Thugs, Cowards and Liars finally cast their fate to the wind, broken ranks with their fellow travellers, and found a cause worth dying for?
Probably not.
“Israelis” are unlikely to be in a hurry to find out whether Jewish Occupied Palestine is a One, Two or Three Bomb Country. I reckon One would do the trick.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 21 2015 13:21 utc | 4

The fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the land which stretches east of the Tigris all the way to the sea, and Northeast Africa; and the land that extends beyond the Euphrates westward to anywhere they say – it all belongs to Israel in accordance with the Yinon Plan.
911 has locked in perpetual war in the ME. And like Israel, the US and UK are Security Surveillance Police States. Fantastic Arab boogeymen lay in wait in “Sleeper Cells” just as they do in Israel and everywhere they say. Now the three nations are brothers in arms – fighting the menace and expanding Greater Israel.
“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” – Karl Rove

Posted by: fast freddy | Jun 21 2015 13:47 utc | 5

A more balanced look at the Druze situation. It’s hard to imagine them doing well under the jihadis…
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-south-20150621-story.html#page=1

Posted by: dh | Jun 21 2015 14:06 utc | 6

DH@6
Surprisingly good report from the LAT but even if the Israelis start bombing the IS and Nusra to defend the Druze b will find a way to spin fact into fiction or at least make a clumsy attempt.
The Israeli/Druze connection is long and close especially in Israel but their plan to take more of the Golan may be as much about cutting off Hezbollah’s eventual retreat from Syria as being about protecting the Druze.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Jun 21 2015 15:34 utc | 7

@ 8. Is that an oblique reference to the Sabra and Shatila massacre which the IOF “Failed to stop?”

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 21 2015 15:59 utc | 8

@8 ‘The Israeli/Druze connection is long and close especially in Israel.’
Yes indeed. I remember hearing the Israeli Druze described as Good Arabs.

Posted by: dh | Jun 21 2015 16:13 utc | 9

@9
The Druze of Israel seem to view themselves as more Israeli than Arab with more than 80% of them in the IDF. They hold many leadership positions in the IDF and a Druze politician was President of Israel for a short time. Recently young Syrian Druze in the Golan have been applying for Israeli citizenship in growing numbers.
Another repressed minority in the ME the Yazidis have been petitioning the Israelis for immigration rights and declaring their support for the Jewish State.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Jun 21 2015 16:39 utc | 10

@10 I knew some Yazidis had asked Israel for military aid. Didn’t know about immigration rights. Do you think they’ll get them?

Posted by: dh | Jun 21 2015 16:52 utc | 11

dh says:
Do you think they’ll get them
i’d wager a yes, afterall, homegrown israelis are leaving in unprecedented numbers. maybe they all see the writing on the wall.

Posted by: john | Jun 21 2015 17:28 utc | 12

@12 I’m not so sure. As a repressed minority friendly to Israel they should be a shoo-in. But I imagine they’ll need to do some background checks.

Posted by: dh | Jun 21 2015 17:40 utc | 13

@12
You used a google link. You didn’t link directly to the website:
http://americanfreepress.net/?p=20298
From a website that includes articles like this:
http://americanfreepress.net/?p=4313
or this:
http://americanfreepress.net/?p=25048

Posted by: Inkan1969 | Jun 21 2015 17:43 utc | 14

@ 14
gosh, i didn’t mean to scare you

Posted by: john | Jun 21 2015 18:32 utc | 15

Israel has 300+ NUKES — REFUSES inspections —- REFUSES to sign Non-ProliferationTreaty.
Israel HATES Christianity & GENTILES and denies the Spiritual and Human EQUALITY of NONJews to Jews.
Israel thinks GREATER ISRAEL should rule the World. “Greater Israel” is all land between the Nile and the Euphrates rivers, Syria, Jordan, most of Saudi Arabia. Greater Israel” requires the breaking up of the existing Arab states into small states. You can find maps they have drawn online. http://www.globalresearch.ca/greater-israel-the-zionist-plan-for-the-middle-east/5324815 Did you know what the two blue bands on their flag stand for? The Nile and the Euphrates. Yes, it’s true.
Israel (using the USA) is spreading chaos and fracturing all Civilization in the Peoples immediately around it.
Israel has “DUAL-citizens”(sayanim) whose true loyalty is to Israel, embedded throughout American government/society. According to the Zionist creed, Israel is the state of the Jews, all the Jews. Every Jew in the world belongs to Israel, even if temporarily residing somewhere else
If Israel could provoke nuclear apocalypse between America&Russia …..and China ….. BY WAY OF DECEPTION…. Israel would be the ONLY NUCLEAR ARMED SUPERPOWER left………
Especially if it SNEAK nuked many of It’s HATED/HISTORICAL “enemies” While they are bombing each other.(Germany, Poland, England, Egypt, Iraq, basically ALL gentiles should “bear the YOKE of Israel”)Noted Israeli military historian Martin Karfeld stated that Israel could find itself one day forced to exterminate the European continent using all kinds of weapons including its nuclear arsenal if it felt its demise neared, stressing that Israel also considers Europe a hostile target.
Does Israel have nuclear missiles aimed at the main world capitals?? — You bet.
Israel BRAGS about doing similar in Persia/Iran (75,000dead) Egypt(all the FIRST BORN CHILDREN)
David Ben-Gurion, one of the father founders of Israel, described Zionist aims in 1948: “A Christian state should be established [in Lebanon], with its southern border on the Litani river. We will make an alliance with it. When we smash the Arab Legion’s strength and bomb Amman, we will eliminate Transjordan too, and then Syria will fall. If Egypt still dares to fight on, we shall bomb Port Said, Alexandria and Cairo… And in this fashion, we will end the war and settle our forefathers’ account with Egypt, Assyria, and Aram………….. read that again
“and settle our forefathers’ account with Egypt, Assyria, and Aram”
They are STILL HATING and planning deadly attacks after 3,500+ YEARS .
How do you think they feel about JESUS CHRIST whom they HATE most of ALL.
Israel’s MOTTOES:
(1) NEVER forgive & NEVER forget.
(2) By Way of Deception you will Do War.
(3) Their “god” is a WAR god…….

Posted by: william | Jun 21 2015 20:57 utc | 16

Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Chapter 5 The Blueprint for Ethnic Cleansing: Plan Dalat

SUCCUMBING TO A SUPERIOR POWER
One of the major indications that the Jewish forces had the upper hand in 1948, and that the Jewish community in Palestine as a whole was far from facing the fate of extinction and destruction the official Zionist myth paints for us, was the decision of several ethnic minorities in the country to leave the Palestinian camp and join the Jewish forces.
The first and most important of these were the Druze, a religious sect that regards itself as Muslim although Islamic orthodoxy does not accept their claim. The Druze emerged as an offshoot of the Ismailis, themselves a splinter group of Shia Islam. Particularly important in this context are the Druze who had joined the ALA when it entered the country. In the beginning of April 1948, 500 of them deserted the ALA to join the Jewish forces.
[ The Blueprint for Ethnic Cleansing: Plan Dalet 115 ]
How this took place forms one of the more curious chapters in the 1948 war. The deserters first pleaded with the Jewish commanders in the Galilee that before they changed sides, they would participate in a phony battle and be taken captive, and only then would they declare their loyalty to Zionism. Such a battle was duly staged near the town of Shafa‘Amr, between the villages of Khirbat al-Kasayir and Hawsha – both later destroyed – and the Druze then signed a pompous-sounding ‘treaty of blood’. [69]
Khirbat al-Kasayir and Hawsha were the first two villages Jewish troops attacked and occupied within the area the UN partition resolution had allocated to a Palestinian state. These attacks highlight the determination of the Zionist movement to occupy as much of Palestine as possible, even before the end of the Mandate.
One of the more tragic consequences of their defection was that the Druze troops became the main vehicle for the Jews to carry out the ethnic cleansing of the Galilee. Their alliance with the Zionist movement has inexorably alienated the Druzes from the rest of the Palestinians. Only recently do we find a younger generation seemingly beginning to rebel against this isolation, but also discovering how difficult this proves in a patriarchal society ruled firmly by its elders and spiritual leaders.
Another sect, the Circassians, who had several villages in the north of the country, also decided to show allegiance to the powerful Jewish military presence, and 350 of them joined the Jewish forces in April. This mixture of Druze and Circassians would form the nucleus for the future Border Police of Israel, the main military unit policing, first, the Arab areas in pre-1967 Israel, and then enforcing Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after 1967.
[69] Laila Parsons, ‘The Druze and the Birth of Israel’ in Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim (eds), The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2015 21:39 utc | 17

b points out that the Druze that Israel here purports to ‘protect’ are in Syria rather than Israel. A mere technicality to the Israelis, as the Druze are in ‘Greater Israel’ … see Jewish State Proposed by the World Zionist Organisation, 1919. Pappe documents the unboundedness of Israel’s Manifest Destiny.

On 24 May, after Ben-Gurion had met with his advisers, in his diary entry he sounds triumphant and more power-hungry than ever before:

We will establish a Christian state in Lebanon, the southern border of which will be the Litani River. We will break Transjordan, bomb Amman and destroy its army, and then Syria falls, and if Egypt will still continue to fight – we will bombard Port Said, Alexandria and Cairo. This will be in revenge for what they (the Egyptians, the Aramis and Assyrians) did to our forefathers during Biblical times. [25]

[25] Ben-Gurion’s Diary, 24 May 1948.

Israelis:Judaism::wahabists:Islam

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2015 22:10 utc | 18

With regard to the Western press, Nicholas Bonnal writing in Boulevard Voltaire offers the neat description

[T]he little western press, no so much read anymore as well funded…

in Tom Winter’s translation..

Posted by: jfl | Jun 22 2015 21:52 utc | 19

@dh#6:
The LA Times report is mostly informative about the situation in Syria. The Lebanese Druze situation is without context (which understably would take up too much space in the article to clarify), because it presents Walid Jumblatt as some neutral observer (rather than as a longtime opponent of Assad, who suggested in Hersh’s ’07 “Redirection” that the MB be tapped to help overthrow Assad). But the information about Druze across the DMZ with Israel is obfuscated because it does not distinguish between the perspectives of Israeli Druze in ’48 and Syrian Druze in the occupied Golan Heights:

Some of the most strident calls to defend the Druze of Syria have come from Israel, home to a substantial Druze minority, including many in the occupied Golan Heights.
“The Druze sect is facing existential danger,” Hamad Amar, a Druze member of the Israeli Knesset, warned publicly last week, adding that his sect “will not stand with its arms folded before any current or future danger facing our brothers in Syria or elsewhere.”
In recent weeks, thousands of Druze living in Israel have taken part in rallies in support of coreligionists in Suwayda and elsewhere in Syria. Many also harshly criticized Israel’s ongoing medical treatment of wounded Syrian rebels, who, the Druze said, include Nusra militants.
Israeli officials say the medical aid is a humanitarian gesture offered to combatants and civilians alike, without regard to sect or political affiliation.
…
Bulos is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Jun 23 2015 0:09 utc | 20

@20 I read something about that this morning….perhaps b might consider starting a sub forum ….it could be called Druze News…
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-druze-block-ambulance-syrian-casualties-102036055.html

Posted by: dh | Jun 23 2015 0:25 utc | 21

b:
A further bit of obfuscation in WaPo is the intermingling of Occupied Syrian Druze and Israeli Druze perspectives (“Israeli” Druze look across at Syria from “their” cherry orchards in the Golan Heights? Golan Druze are appealing to Israel and the “international” coalition to intervene to help their cousins across the line? Which young Druze men are racing up and down streets on horseback, and how much freedom do occupied Golan Druze have to own and practice with small arms?):

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights — From their hilltop cherry orchards, members of Israel’s minority Druze population come to watch and worry about their cousins in Syria, whose towns just a few miles away are now surrounded by jihadist rebels.
The Israeli Druze fear they are about to see a slaughter of their people unfold in Syria and are appealing to Israel and the international coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to intervene. Israeli officials made an appeal to the United States to protect the Druze, an ancient people whose esoteric faith combines elements of Islam, Christianity and Judaism, as well teachings from the Hindus and Buddha.
Israeli officials say they are monitoring the situation closely, but so far the tense skirmishes on the Syrian side involving the Druze have been limited.
Tell this to the young Druze men racing up and down the streets, on horseback and in all-terrain vehicles, waving Druze flags. Several hundred have begun to organize self-defense cadres of their own, mustering for weekend training sessions in small-arms tactics, taught by off-duty Israeli soldiers, ready to rush across the border to defend their religious cohorts in Syria.

Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Jun 23 2015 0:51 utc | 22

@22 ‘Israeli officials say they are monitoring the situation closely’
That is probably an understatement.

Posted by: dh | Jun 23 2015 1:01 utc | 23

from the angry arab via nyt –
As long as Syrian war lingers, there’s no threat to Israel
” “This is a playoff situation in which you need both teams to lose, but at least you don’t want one to win — we’ll settle for a tie,” said Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York. “Let them both bleed, hemorrhage to death: that’s the strategic thinking here. As long as this lingers, there’s no real threat from Syria.
Linknyt

Posted by: james | Jun 23 2015 2:05 utc | 24

Oh! what a tangled web the Washington Com.post weaves (according to their Garbled Neuz sources) somebody forgot to tell Al Jazeera about what was going on in the world:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/druze-israel-syria-ambulance-attacked-150623010047887.html
[Posted at Al Jazeera, 03:37 GMT 23 June 2015] Apparently Al Jazeera hasn’t a clue about what is happening in that part of the world where the big brother of Washington Times does.
Pathetic.
When being fed lies 24/7, why is it so hard to think the latest news isn’t different. The only time you get actual news is when it makes no difference and stokes up the supposed credibility score somewhat.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Jun 23 2015 6:12 utc | 25

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