re: #1 Obdicut

We had an exchange about this the other day. I have stated before, but will reiterate, I do not take any innocent casualties, on either side lightly. I weep for the innocent who are killed and injured on both sides.

However, it remains the fact that the Israelis do not create fake footage of people supposedly injured or killed in order to create propaganda films and tug on the heartstrings of the gullible. That is a practice that has been regularly practiced by the Palestinians and has been documented on numerous occasions.

With respect to the specific video, I am not sure if you are suggesting that the first video was edited to make it more favorable to Israel. However, given that the video was clearly shot by someone in the Gaza Strip, it was almost certainly taken by a local Arab who either works directly for or as a freelancer providing materials to foreign media. It is therefore almost certainly not the case that the cameraman edited the “tape” to make the resulting shot more favorable to the pro-Israel position. Similarly, the footage was aired by the BBC, a news organization that was found by its own internal ombudsman to exhibit anti-Israel, not pro-Israel bias, in its reporting.

As for what it actually shows, you are correct that the footage was edited. However, the two parts of it were clearly taken within a very short time of each other and, from what I observe of the way he walks, moves and carries himself, if the guy in the tan jacket is actually injured, I’m Santa Claus.