In light of the amount of sympathy and propaganda that the worldwide media organizations as a whole generates for the “underdog” Hamas and Palestinians against Israel, is it any wonder that Israel would want to place limitations/blockade on the number of journalists covering the current conflict (other than official reasons of safety concerns, cited)? Of course, they are damned if they do, and definitely damned if they don’t. The result is always an influx of staged, anachronistic/misapplied and fabricated photos, and biased news coverage, acting as a propaganda arm for terror groups like Hamas.

Little Green Footballs:

Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor in Gaza, is all over the mainstream media, claiming that Israel is indiscriminately and purposely murdering civilians. He’s given interviews to the BBC, CBS, NBC, CNN, ABC, the Independent, Sky News, and the New York Times, among others.

What’s the dirty little secret none of the news organizations are telling you about this go-to “expert” on coverage of the war?

in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, this supposedly impartial Norwegian doctor (actually a radical Marxist member of Norway’s Red party) expressed support for the hijackers.

In an interview with the Norwegian daily, Dagbladet, shortly after the attacks, Gilbert stated:

“The attack on New York was not surprising, after the policy that has led the West in recent decades. I am upset over the terrorist attack, but am equally upset over the suffering which the United States has created. It is in this context that the 5000 dead people must be seen. If the U.S. government has a legitimate right to bomb and kill civilians in Iraq, then there is also a moral right to attack the United States with the weapons they had to create. Dead civilians are the same whether they are Americans, Palestinians or Iraqis.”

When asked by Dagbladet if he supported the terrorist attack on the U.S., he replied:

“Terror is a bad weapon, but the answer is yes, within the context I have mentioned.”

No bias here. Just the facts.

*Update 11:07*

Bloviating Zeppelin provides a link to Yid with Lid who also uses LGF’s source, CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America). Another Norwegian doctor making the media rounds is Erik Fosse:

Fosse worked as a doctor for the Palestine Committee in Lebanon in the 1970′s. He now leads NORWAC, the Norwegian Aid Committee. According to Aftenposten, Fosse’s passion to work on behalf of Palestinians was sparked by his time in Lebanon.
According to Verdens Gang, the largest Norwegian daily, Gilbert and Fosse’s current trip to Gaza is funded by the Norwegian foreign ministry.

Given the partisan — and in Gilbert’s case, radical — perspective they represent, Fosse’s and Gilbert’s testimony must be weighed with extreme caution.

Other items of interest:
Confederate Yankee debunks the claim that Israel is using incendiary white phosphorus

A Soldier’s Mother: The Images They Show

Michael Totten: Journalistic Malpractice

Mataharley was suspicious of some possible fauxtography going on with the photo below. American Power confirms the suspicion, through one of his commenters, reliapundit:

No one is unaffected by the civilian casualities. But it’s precisely images like these which are used by Hamas for diabolical propaganda puposes.

~~~

French TV claims photos from 2005 showed damage from Israel’s Gaza operation
By Haaretz Service

Tags: France, Gaza, Israel News

French public television network France 2 on Tuesday revealed they had aired photographs that allegedly showed destruction caused by the Israel Air Force during Operation Cast Lead, which were in fact taken during a different incident in 2005, one in which Gaza civilians were killed by an explosion caused by militants in the Strip.

The footage aired on Channel 2 on Tuesday afternoon showed dozens of dead bodies, including Hamas gunmen and citizens, which the channel said were killed by an IAF bombing raid on January 1st. It later came to light that the channel had instead aired footage of the devastation caused after a truck full of explosives blew up in the Jabaliya Refugee Camp.

A news editor at France 2 told Le Figaro Tuesday that they had “made a mistake by airing those pictures, which he said depict events from 2005.

No, I’m not overjoyed by innocent civilian deaths. Especially that of children. I’ve seen some comments by callous political allies who excuse it in terms of “So what? They’re indoctrinated to be future terrorists and America and Israel haters, anyway.”

We should never stop caring, even as we support what needs doing: namely in this case, Israel defending itself. And yes, this is a defensive response. It’s so odd to argue “disproportionate force” by Israel, when it’s obvious that it’s not disproportionate enough so long as Hamas is still delivering rocket attacks.

From today’s WaPo:

JERUSALEM, Jan. 6 — Israeli shelling near a U.N.-run school in a Gaza refugee camp Tuesday killed at least 30 people, many of whom had gathered at the school building to flee the ongoing clashes between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters, Palestinian and United Nations officials said.

~~~

In response to the news of the shelling at the Al-Fakhora School, the Israeli military said in a statement that Israeli forces were responding to attacks.

“Initial inquiry by forces on the ground indicates that a number of mortar shells were fired from within the school at [Israel Defense Forces],” the military statement said. “And in response the forces fired several mortar shells back at the source.”

Military spokesmen said they did not yet have an explanation for air strike at the other school Monday.

Here’s an interesting blog belonging to the mother of an Israeli soldier (Hat tip for the find: American Power). Her current entry:

Today, in Gaza, a school was hit by an Israeli missile. The Palestinians claim dozens have died. It’s a horrible thing, a terrible tragedy, every parent’s nightmare.

Except…

Except that Israel’s initial inquiry into the incident, showed that the missile didn’t hit the “school” by mistake. The target was true; the aim was accurate. In August, last year, Israel filed a formal complaint with the United Nations, complaining about the school being used to fire against Israel. Israel has already identified Hamas gunmen who were killed at the scene of the attack – even publicized their names.

The proof that the building was a legitimate target was found, once again, in the secondary explosions that occurred. The missile hit the building, causing explosives inside the building to detonate. You can watch these and other videos on the web. You’ll see the initial explosion, and then, mere seconds later, multiple explosions and objects shooting high into the air.

If you hit a building that has no explosives, the building collapses and the only thing that rises into the air is dust and rubble. Nothing explodes – again, see all the videos of houses hit in Sderot, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheva. As horrible as it sounds, as tragic as the results are, the missile was accurate. It hit its target and did what it was supposed to do. Secondary explosions prove that the building was used to store rockets.

What it comes down to is a building from which mortars were shot, in which explosives were stored, and in which, Palestinians chose to teach their young. There is something incredibly sick about that.

There are rules in warfare and in life.

One rule: A civilized people should not target innocent civilians. This is what Hamas repeatedly has done for the last 8 years. This is NOT what Israel did today.

Second rule: An innocent civilian should not protect a terrorist location. If you are in a training camp – leave. If you are near a rocket launching site – run, and if you are sending your children to a school where rockets are stored and missiles and mortars are launched, be smart and stop sending your child because the government against whom those rockets and mortars are being shot, has the right to defend itself. School is important, but as Israel has shown in the last few days by canceling lessons, nothing is as important as life.

And there is an even more sinister issue here lurking under the surface of this story, one that I hope will come to light in the next few days. The United Nations and its involvement in Gaza is one that is as suspect as its involvement in Lebanon was years ago. Too often, they are “at the scene” and too often, they allow their “sanctuaries” to by used by terrorists who attack Israel. Their ambulances have been used by gunmen, and their school to be used as a launching ground for mortars.

Today Israel hit a target – a legitimate target used to launch mortars against our people. If, in addition to shooting mortars, that building was also used for classes, that doesn’t make it a school. A school should be a place of knowledge and growth. A school should be a place of safety and it seems rather obvious to me that a missile launching pad isn’t a safe environment, and therefore, no matter what the United Nations calls that building in Gaza, it was not a school.

A school cannot be a place for mortars…and a place with mortars cannot be a school. Golda Meir once said that there would be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us. Decades after she said that, generations have come and gone, and still that day has not arrived.

When Hamas launched hundreds of unanswered rockets into Israel, where was the public outcry? Where were the peace activists? Where was the UN Security Council, condemning Hamas for perpetuating a “cycle of violence”? How about when an al-Qaeda faction in Gaza claimed responsibility for rocket attacks in November?

When the sleeping giant is finally stirred to take action to defend itself, now the anti-war crowd is vocal? Now the world community is stirred? Condemning the side who has bent over backward for decades, aching for peace, while supporting the side that has sued for nothing less than the destruction of Israel?

Israel tried appeasement when they gave up the Gaza Strip, uprooting 9,000 Jewish settlers from their homes. Such acts of appeasement only encourages more violence from those who refuse to acknowledge that the other side has a right to exist; it perpetuates the cycle of violence:

The rocket attacks by Hamas weren’t a response to violence, but rather an answer to withdrawal–Israel’s controversial 2005 decision to put a unilateral end to Israeli occupation of Gaza. Concessions actually produce a more reliably violent response from Islamic terrorists than do decisive military actions.

Hamas and the Palestinians who support the terror organization only know how to destroy:

Isn’t the New Era of Peace that was ushered in by the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza just wonderful? You may recall that some American Jews raised millions of dollars to buy the greenhouses and give them to the Palestinians, so that the poor things wouldn’t suffer any economic difficulties. Moral blindness, dhimmitude, naivete, and more — as I said at the time.

From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

Several greenhouses belonging to the former settlement of Morag in the Gaza Strip were destroyed over the weekend during an attempt by dozens of gunmen to take control of the area.

The Palestinian Company for Economic Development, which is in charge of thousands of greenhouses that used to belong to Morag and other settlements in Gush Katif, said the attack, which took place on Friday, was the latest in a series that began almost immediately after the settlements were evacuated.

The company revealed that hundreds of greenhouses and other agricultural installations have been sabotaged over the past few months, expressing its outrage over the recurring phenomenon. The company issued an urgent appeal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Interior Minister Said Siam to intervene to halt the attacks on the lands belonging to the former settlements.

“These greenhouses and other installations and projects provide a source of income for over 4,500 families,” company officials said. “We are very disturbed by the recurring attacks and thefts. Such actions jeopardize the largest agricultural project carried by the Palestinian Authority after the Israeli withdrawal.”

Why destroy what was given over to them for the purposes of growing food and encouraging prosperity? As Michael Medved put it on his radio program yesterday, because these greenhouses had “Jewish cooties”.

President Bush:

“Instead of caring about the people of Gaza, Hamas decided to use Gaza to use rockets to kill innocent Israelis,” Bush told reporters at the White House. “Israel’s obviously decided to protect itself.”

Bush said he agreed with Israel’s position that a truce would be a waste of time unless Hamas is somehow prevented from resuming attacks. “I know people are saying, ‘Let’s have a cease-fire,’ ” Bush said. “And those are noble ambitions. But any cease-fire must have the conditions in it so that Hamas does not use Gaza as a place from which to launch rockets.”

Israel- while not perfect- has done much to extend the olive branch for decades now, aching to co-exist. The problem isn’t Israel. The problem is with Hamas and those Palestinians and Arabs who refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

The world community wants peace and “cease-fire”? A cessation of violence? Take it up with Hamas; not with Israel.

Is anyone surprised that the AP has come out in defense of Green Helmet guy and his propaganda?

TYRE, Lebanon – After hours of digging in the blistering heat, Salam Daher emerged from the wreckage with the body of a 9-month-old baby, a blue pacifier still pinned to its nightshirt.

He held the infant up and, click, an Associated Press photographer snapped another picture of Daher, in his trademark green helmet, displaying a civilian victim of Israeli bombs for the world to see.

Daher, a member of the civil defense for 20 years, has been photographed with bodies of the dead in two wars now — first in 1996 and most recently with the baby on July 30 __ both times after Israeli attacks in the village of Qana six miles southeast of the city.

For that reason, some Web sites have labeled him the “Green Helmet,” and accused him of being a member of the Hezbollah guerrilla group, and of showing off bodies as propaganda.

“But that isn’t true,” he told The Associated Press. He is not affiliated with any party, he said. “I am just a civil defense worker. I have done this job all my life.”

Oh come on, there is just way too much proof that these photo’s have been staged. For a video that will highlight just a few of them check this out.

After viewing that video take a look at this line from the article:

Bloggers have accused rescue workers and volunteers of showing off victims for the media. The Lebanese make no apologies for wanting the world to see the civilian suffering in the Israeli onslaught aimed at uprooting Hezbollah.

You mean to tell me that taking kids long dead from the morgue and placing them into a collapsed building then staging scenes of running and yelling is akin to showing the world that Israel kills civilians?

He puts his life on the line whenever he answers a call, with defense teams often unable to reach bombardment sites because of continued Israeli strikes.

Sure thing. It’s very dangerous resetting scenes, pulling out bodies from ambulances to display for camera’s and doing a very poor job of acting…..dangerous indeed.

This is a typical one-sided article that follows no journalistic standards.

In other words, typical MSM writing.

UPDATE

Richard at EU Referendum has decided to fight back:

What we have decided to do, therefore, is respond with a comprehensive post, pulling together all the evidence of the “staging” at Qana which is, at present, scattered throughout this blog. We will update it, reorganise it and present it as the definitive work (to date). We have, meantime, reserved the site Green Helmet.blogspot.com and, when the work has taken shape, we will migrate the post there, to let it stand as testimony to the title of this post, “The Corruption of the Media”.

Alongside this, though, we have spoken to sympathetic Members of Parliament on this side of the pond and are exploring the possibility, in the new Parliamentary session, of a Select Committee inquiry on the way the media have been corrupted, using the Qana incident as a case study, but bringing in the other well-documented evidence of media fraud. We ask our cousins across the Atlantic to do likewise, in the hope that we could perhaps mount a parallel Congressional Committe of Inquiry, examining in depth how the process of newsgathering has become corrupted.

Clearly, if the likes of Associated Press cannot even recognise how corrupt it has become, then there is little hope of internal procedures and inquiries making any improvements. It has come to the stage where external agencies must take a hand.

And is updating as the day progresses. He has done some very important work since Charles at LGF broke this story, well worth reading his post.

Other’s Blogging:

• Blue Crab Boulevard
• The Moderate Voice
• Say Anything
• Sister Toldjah
• LGF
• Hot Air
• Samurai Soapbox
• Old War Dogs

Little Green Footballs has done it again finding this German video which proves Green Helmet man is anything but a rescuer….nothing but a propaganda film maker:

[gv data="4vPAkc5CLgc"][/gv]

Every single shred of reporting coming from this part of the world needs to be looked at with a fine tooth comb. It’s a huge propaganda mill plain and simple. The MSM allows stringers to do their work for them and this is what they get. In all honestly this is the kind of stuff they want.

Charles at LGF points to this recent interview with the AP Senior Vice President:

“It’s hard to imagine how someone sitting in an air-conditioned office or broadcast studio many thousands of miles from the scene can decide what occurred on the ground with any degree of accuracy,” said Kathleen Carroll, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor.

Carroll said in addition to personally speaking with photo editors, “I also know from 30 years of experience in this business that you can’t get competitive journalists to participate in the kind of (staging) experience that is being described.”

Now they look like fools. The believed what they WANTED to believe. Simply put, they want desperately for Israel to be considered a menace to their neighbors.

The thing to consider is that this is much more prevalent then just in that area of the world. Recall the bathroom break note from Bush? Our media manipulates the general public like a puppet and many fall for it. Maybe because they want to believe it or maybe because they are just lazy and gullible. Either way, the MSM around the world cannot be trusted.

Other’s Blogging:

• The Volokh Conspiracy
• Riehl World View
• A Blog For All
• The Jawa Report
• Hot Air
• Blue Crab Boulevard
• Michelle Malkin
• Protein Wisdom

Now they look like fools. The believed what they WANTED to believe. Simply put, they want desperately for Israel to be considered a menace to their neighbors.

Little Green Footballs found this picture just released by Reuters:

If you casually glance at it quickly you may not notice, but check out the top of the smoke billows.  Same pattern on both, obviously photoshopped.  Once word of this got out others jumped on.  Left and Right found a obvious clone in the picture:

And it continued to pile on.  Guess who the photographer is?  One Adnan Hajj, the same guy who took this picture at Qana:

Which we all know has become quite the fiasco for the Lebanese since the whole bombing was a set-up:

Rumors circulating over what destroyed a residential building in Qana are increasingly pointing to Hizbollah rather than Israel's precision missile strikes.

According to well placed sources, with access to IAF recon photos, the residential building in Qana was destroyed by a Hizbollah IED at 0700 Sunday July 30, 6 hours after the Israeli strike.

Further reports indicate that Hizbollah guerilla fighters restricted residents from leaving the area possibly shooting anyone that attempted to leave the Qana residential building.

With the local mortician (green helmet) being the one in all the pictures with dead kids. 

All in all, just another day with the biased MSM trying to make news rather then cover the news.  Pathetic and sad. 

UPDATE 2200hrs PST

The Jawa Report has found some more examples from this guy that look quite suspicious.  It appears we have a joker making a name for himself with "explosive" photo's and the MSM is buying it hook, line and sinker.

UPDATE II 2210hrs PST

A more experienced photo guy made the obvious retouching more clearer:

I adjusted the brightness in photoshop by manipulating the light curves and added an arrow to more clearly show the retouching. 

UPDATE III 2215hrs PST

Take a look at this photo from the same photographer: (h/t Free Republic)

I blew up the photo by 1500% and then cropped the area around the guys head:

You see that area around his head, it appears to me that there has been some work done around there to blend it in with the smoke. 

Check out the rest of the body with this pic, click it to see it full size:

Do you see any of that pixalation below the shoulders?  Only the part where the background is supposed smoke…..

Things that make you go hmmm. 

UPDATE IV 2240hrs PST

LGF has posted an update:

UPDATE at 8/5/06 8:11:06 pm:

IMPORTANT!

The possible original for this faked photo has been discovered. And it was taken on July 26, 2006, credited to the Associated Press, by Ben Curtis: Yahoo! News Photo. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

Notice the lower right area of this photo, and compare to lower left of the doctored photo. Notice how all the buildings line up perfectly, including the oddly shaped building on the horizon. I’m putting together another overlay to make it painfully obvious.

UPDATE at 8/5/06 8:33:02 pm:

Here’s the overlay showing the common area of these two photos, clearly cropped from a larger panorama shot.

Sad isn't it?

This photographer sure likes to use smoke alot:

Please tell me this is a joke right?  Not by the same photographer but looks a bit suspicious.

This Hajj guy loves the smoke:

UPDATE V 08/06/06 0900hrs PST:

It appears at about 0430hrs PST Reuters realized the mess that they made and pulled the photo:

PICTURE KILL FOR LBN20 TRANSMITTED AT APPROXIMATELY 1408GMT ON AUGUST 5, 2006. PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE WAS IMPROPERLY USED ON THIS IMAGE. A CORRECTED VERSION WILL IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW THIS ADVISORY. PLEASE REMOVE THE IMAGE FROM YOUR SYSTEMS. WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE. REUTERS LBN20 Smoke billows from burning buildings destroyed during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006. Many buildings were flattened during the attack. REUTERS/Adnan Hajj (LEBANON) REUTERS NEWS PICTURES

Which was quickly picked up by YNET which mentions many bloggers:

Reuters withdraws photograph of Beirut after Air Force attack after US blogs, photographers point out 'blatant evidence of manipulation.' Reuters' head of PR says in response, 'Reuters has suspended photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to photograph.' Photographer who sent altered image is same Reuters photographer behind many of images from Qana, which have also been subject of suspicions for being staged

The photograph showed two very heavy plumes of black smoke billowing from buildings in Beirut after an Air Force attack on the Lebanese capital. Reuters has since withdrawn the photograph from its website, along a message admitting that the image was distorted, and an apology to editors.

In the message, Reuters said that "photo editing software was improperly used on this image. A corrected version will immediately follow this advisory. We are sorry for any inconvience."

Reuters' head of PR Moira Whittle said in response: "Reuters has suspended a photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to a photograph showing smoke billowing from buildings following an air strike on Beirut. Reuters takes such matters extremely seriously as it is strictly against company editorial policy to alter pictures."

"As soon as the allegation came to light, the photograph, filed on Saturday 5 August, was removed from the file and a replacement, showing the same scene, was sent. The explanation for the removal was the improper use of photo-editing software," she added.

Earlier, Charles Johnson, of the Little Green Footballs blog , which has exposed a previous attempt at fraud by a major American news corporation, wrote : "This Reuters photograph shows blatant evidence of manipulation. Notice the repeating patterns in the smoke; this is almost certainly caused by using the Photoshop "clone" tool to add more smoke to the image."

Johnson added: "Smoke simply does not contain repeating symmetrical patterns like this, and you can see the repetition in both plumes of smoke. There's really no question about it."

A series of close ups are then posted on the blog, showing that "it's not only the plumes of smoke that were 'enhanced.' There are also cloned buildings." The close ups do appear to show exact replicas of buildings appearing next to one another in the photograph.

The Sports Shooter web forum, used by professional photographers, also examined the photo, with many users concluding that the image has been doctored.

"I'll second the cloned smoke…but it looks so obvious that I don't know how the photographer could have gotten away with it," wrote one user.

After further research, Johnson posted a photograph he says is the original image taken before distortions were made, showing much lighter smoke rising.

Other blogs have also analyzed the photographs, and reached similar conclusions, such as Left & Right , which states: "The photo has been doctored, quite badly."

The author of the Ace of Spades blog wrote: "Even I can see the very suspicious "clonings" of picture elements here. And I'm an idiot."

The Hot Air blog also looked at the photo, describing the image as "the worst Photoshop I have ever seen."

Adnan Hajj, the photographer who sent the altered image, was also the Reuters photographer behind many of the images from Qana – which have also been the subject of suspicions for being staged.

And for Carol in the comment section, got a screenshot of the picture from FR:

UPDATE VI 080706 0920hrs PST

So I go to work yesterday and find out this morning the story blew up:

Reuters withdrew all 920 photographs by a freelance Lebanese photographer from its database on Monday after an urgent review of his work showed he had altered two images from the conflict between Israel and the armed group Hizbollah.

Global Picture Editor Tom Szlukovenyi called the measure precautionary but said the fact that two of the images by photographer Adnan Hajj had been manipulated undermined trust in his entire body of work.

"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image," Szlukovenyi said in a statement.

"Reuters has zero tolerance for any doctoring of pictures and constantly reminds its photographers, both staff and freelance, of this strict and unalterable policy."

The news and information agency announced the decision in an advisory note to its photo service subscribers. The note also said Reuters had tightened editing procedures for photographs from the conflict and apologised for the case.

Removing the images from the Reuters database excludes them from future sale.

Reuters ended its relationship with Hajj on Sunday after it found that a photograph he had taken of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on suburban Beirut had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more and darker smoke rising from buildings.

An immediate enquiry began into Hajj's other work.

It established on Monday that a photograph of an Israeli F-16 fighter over Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon and dated Aug 2, had also been doctored to increase the number of flares dropped by the plane from one to three.

Man, Charles from LGF sure does have some bona fides.  Great job to all that helped in trying to keep the MSM honest.   

Other's Blogging:

• Ed Driscoll
• Ace of Spades HQ
• Hot Air
• A Blog For All
• My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
• WILLisms
• Say Anything
• In The Bullpen
• Riehl World View
• Old War Dogs
• Michelle Malkin
• Michelle Malkin
• Dread Pundit Bluto
• Jihad Watch
• Wizbang
• Outside The Beltway
• A Blog For All
• Sister Toldjah
• Gateway Pundit
• Politechnical
• Rightwinged
• Ed Driscoll
• Captain's Quarters
• Suitably Flip
• Woman Honor Thyself
• Blue Crab Boulevard
• Protein Wisdom
• Squiggler
• Pajamas Media
• Brutally Honest
• Steve Janke
• Big & Sharp
• Captain's Quarters
• The Muqata
• StikNstein

All in all, just another day with the biased MSM trying to make news rather then cover the news. Pathetic and sad.