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It seems there was a miracle this Easter: Muhammad Farmawi, a 15-year-old Gazan boy, returned from the dead. But there were no miracles of media ethics, sorry to say.
The New York Times' version of the 'miracle':
A 14-year-old boy thought to have been killed either by Israeli gunfire or from internal Palestinian violence last week turned up unharmed at his family's house [...] 'It was a very big shock for us,' Mr. Farmawi [the boy's father] said. 'We were told that he had been killed by Israeli fire and that his body had been left near the fence at Rafah,' in southern Gaza."
Told by whom?
For the answer, we need to go back a few days to March 30, when The Jerusalem Post informed us that:
A 15-year-old Palestinian boy was reportedly shot dead on Tuesday during an anti-Israel demonstration along the Gaza Strip border fence. The IDF [...] said that no one was injured in the shooting. The Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported that the boy, Muhammad al-Farmawi, was shot after approaching the barrier near the Dahaniya airport [...] The [IDF] statement noted that the matter was being investigated."
By the way, if you check that Ma'an report, you'll learn that "local sources who wished to remain anonymous said the death may have been an internal matter."
But where did Ma'an get its information?
Al-Jazeera reported:
Gaza emergency chief Moaweya Hassanein told reporters that medical teams and [the] International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) co-ordinated with the Israeli army to collect the boy's body."
Now, back to the Post:
The Palestinian Ma'an news agency said Farmawi's mother was surprised to find her son
alive four days after he was allegedly killed. His death had been confirmed by medical
professionals in the Gaza Strip [...] According to the Ma'an report, Farmawi arrived in Gazan
Rafah on Friday alive and well. He was discovered to be part of a group of 17 Palestinian
youths who were arrested after trying to infiltrate Egypt via smuggling tunnels. Gaza police
facilitated the boys' return to their homes. Farmawi's mother had 'wept for days at the
loss of her son,' whom she considered a martyr, Ma'an reported." (emphasis added)
As media consumers, we must ask ourselves several questions:
1. Who is Moaweya Hassanein, really?
2. Who are those "medical professionals", and why would they say what they did?
3. Why would The New York Yimes, or any other news agency, ever again rely on Ma'an reports? Or any local Arab news agency, or even Al-Jazeera?
Even if we Israelis know very well the unreliable nature of Arab media and the possible consequences of other agencies depending on such reporting, we needn't get too pessimistic.
After all, it seems miracles do happen.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136832 (IsraelNN.com) A Gaza Arab teenager who was reported by Arab media as killed by the IDF has returned home alive and well, his family said Friday. He had been in Egyptian custody.
The Health Ministry in Gaza reported Tuesday that Muhammad Zen Ismail Al-Farmawi, aged 15, was killed when the IDF opened fire on a 'Land Day' in Rafiah (Rafah), Gaza. The IDF denied involvement at the time, but the "death" was reported worldwide as true.
The Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency, which on Tuesday carried the story of Al-Farmawi's supposed demise, reported Saturday that “
t turns out Al-Farmawi was among 17 Palestinians detained by Egyptian forces shortly after [they] infiltrated the Egyptian side of Rafah via one of Gaza's numerous underground smuggling tunnels. The detainees, among them 12 minors, were returned to security forces at the border on Friday. They had been questioned about tunnel locations, leading to at least three closures, Egyptian security sources said.”
Farmawi's relatives expressed "overwhelming happiness" that their son was back home and unharmed.
'Assumed' dead
Muawiya Hassanein, Health Ministry director of ambulance and emergency services in Gaza, told Ma'an that Farmawi was “assumed” to have died in clashes Tuesday after an Arab ambulance crew was refused permission to access to the area.
Ma'an had reported Tuesday that “witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire directly at protesters east of Khan Younis and the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in southern Gaza.” However, the event now seems never to have happened.
Meanwhile, Arab medics found the body of Ei'tah Ad-Dughmah, 23, who was killed eight days ago in a firefight in Gaza that left two IDF soldiers and three Arabs dead. He belonged to the Islamic Jihad terror militia.
Topic: New York Nazi times 'an Easter miracle' more like a quranpig lie (Read 547 times)