Berl Falbaum
Military attacks on civilians make (name of country) the largest crime scene in the world.
You fill in the blank. No, you’re wrong. It is not Gaza and Israel is not the perpetrator.
Thus, reported CBS Correspondent Scott Pelley on “60 Minutes” in a recent but rare segment that focused on the inhumane attacks on Ukraine by Russia.
But that’s not all he found. Here are some other facts on Russian’s brutality that Pelley reported:
• Russia’s bombardment on civilians is relentless with the goal of plunging them into cold and darkness.
• Russia is hitting schools, homes, hospitals, buses and apartment buildings — all civilian infrastructures — using high-precision missiles that travel 2,000 miles an hour.
In his report, Pelley centered on a bus that was hit by two high-precision missiles, thus, proving intent. Sixteen Ukrainians died along with 19 others on the street and 145 were wounded.
In the segment, Pelley visited a playground where nine children were killed.
Here is, arguably, the most heart-wrenching statistic of all: Ukrainian officials charge that Russia has abducted and kidnapped some 20,000 children. However, some experts estimate that the number may well be in the hundreds of thousands.
So, overall, how many war crimes has Russia committed? Pelley said prosecutors are investigating 178,391 — again, that’s 178,391 — war crimes.
As one prosecutor, told him: This is not war; this is murder. Some 211 Russians have been tried and found guilty, in abstentia, of war crimes. They will probably never be found or face prison.
It is unimaginable, the prosecutor told Pelley, to use such big precision weapons in a city.
You feel a little guilty for not knowing about this butchery? Don’t, it’s not your fault. Why? Because the entire focus — I use “entire” advisedly — of alleged war crimes and so-called genocide has been on Israel.
The media never seem to get enough of Israel. Each battle with Hamas is duly reported, with the emphasis on the number of civilians killed by Israel. Of course, on TV, the reports never fail to include video of the most bone-chilling scenes. Hamas? Hardly mentioned.
It is also important to point out that unlike Israel which responded militarily only after suffering the worst assault on Jews since the Holocaust, Russia was not attacked by Ukraine.
Another crucial difference: The Ukrainian military is not fighting from civilian infrastructures — from tunnels under hospitals, from schools, apartment buildings, residential homes, mosques — as Hamas has done in two years of war. Russia is intentionally targeting civilians to pressure them to pressure their leaders to surrender.
Says RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. “Corpses sprawled on the streets of Bucha. Prisoners of war reportedly executed, bodies sent back to Ukrainian authorities. A blood bath of civilian train passengers, killed by a ballistic missile. Ukrainian children adopted by Russian families without the knowledge of their parents.”
Echoes a late-October report from the United Nation’s Human Rights Council: “They (the Russians) have targeted individuals, houses and buildings, humanitarian distributions points and critical energy infrastructures.
“They also targeted first responders —including ambulances and fire brigades which are afforded special protection under international humanitarian law.
“The attacks -- which have struck a wide range of civilian targets in an area spanning over 300 kilometers (186 miles)… are systematically coordinated actions designed to drive Ukrainians out of their homes.”
The mainstream media hasn’t just shrugged at the Russian inhumanity but has barely mentioned it. And political critics of Israel around the world have said nary a word about Russia’s savagery and cruelty for a variety of reasons: economic, political and, yes, antisemitism.
Of course, as I have written several times, the media and the political world also have ignored wars and humanitarian crises elsewhere: The Sudan which some have described as the worst human crisis in human history; Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Haiti, and in other countries.
To emphasize: Nothing in this column or others I have written suggests that Israel should be given a pass; that it should not be accountable. When appropriate, Israel must be required to obey military and international laws.
But to focus exclusively on alleged violations by Israel while neglecting and papering-over crises in other parts of the world — many much worse than in Gaza — is unfair, irresponsible, unprofessional and — did we mention? — journalistically and politically scandalous, condemnable and inexcusable.
Given the media’s one-sided reporting on Israel, the “60 Minutes” segment on the brutality of the war in Ukraine, while welcome, might itself be described as “strange.” What motivated the program to stray from the flock?
Given the media’s obsession with Israel, some reporter might investigate this fixation. Now, that would make one helluva story.
I will try to answer the question — why the preoccupation with Israel? — at least partially, in my next column.
You fill in the blank. No, you’re wrong. It is not Gaza and Israel is not the perpetrator.
Thus, reported CBS Correspondent Scott Pelley on “60 Minutes” in a recent but rare segment that focused on the inhumane attacks on Ukraine by Russia.
But that’s not all he found. Here are some other facts on Russian’s brutality that Pelley reported:
• Russia’s bombardment on civilians is relentless with the goal of plunging them into cold and darkness.
• Russia is hitting schools, homes, hospitals, buses and apartment buildings — all civilian infrastructures — using high-precision missiles that travel 2,000 miles an hour.
In his report, Pelley centered on a bus that was hit by two high-precision missiles, thus, proving intent. Sixteen Ukrainians died along with 19 others on the street and 145 were wounded.
In the segment, Pelley visited a playground where nine children were killed.
Here is, arguably, the most heart-wrenching statistic of all: Ukrainian officials charge that Russia has abducted and kidnapped some 20,000 children. However, some experts estimate that the number may well be in the hundreds of thousands.
So, overall, how many war crimes has Russia committed? Pelley said prosecutors are investigating 178,391 — again, that’s 178,391 — war crimes.
As one prosecutor, told him: This is not war; this is murder. Some 211 Russians have been tried and found guilty, in abstentia, of war crimes. They will probably never be found or face prison.
It is unimaginable, the prosecutor told Pelley, to use such big precision weapons in a city.
You feel a little guilty for not knowing about this butchery? Don’t, it’s not your fault. Why? Because the entire focus — I use “entire” advisedly — of alleged war crimes and so-called genocide has been on Israel.
The media never seem to get enough of Israel. Each battle with Hamas is duly reported, with the emphasis on the number of civilians killed by Israel. Of course, on TV, the reports never fail to include video of the most bone-chilling scenes. Hamas? Hardly mentioned.
It is also important to point out that unlike Israel which responded militarily only after suffering the worst assault on Jews since the Holocaust, Russia was not attacked by Ukraine.
Another crucial difference: The Ukrainian military is not fighting from civilian infrastructures — from tunnels under hospitals, from schools, apartment buildings, residential homes, mosques — as Hamas has done in two years of war. Russia is intentionally targeting civilians to pressure them to pressure their leaders to surrender.
Says RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. “Corpses sprawled on the streets of Bucha. Prisoners of war reportedly executed, bodies sent back to Ukrainian authorities. A blood bath of civilian train passengers, killed by a ballistic missile. Ukrainian children adopted by Russian families without the knowledge of their parents.”
Echoes a late-October report from the United Nation’s Human Rights Council: “They (the Russians) have targeted individuals, houses and buildings, humanitarian distributions points and critical energy infrastructures.
“They also targeted first responders —including ambulances and fire brigades which are afforded special protection under international humanitarian law.
“The attacks -- which have struck a wide range of civilian targets in an area spanning over 300 kilometers (186 miles)… are systematically coordinated actions designed to drive Ukrainians out of their homes.”
The mainstream media hasn’t just shrugged at the Russian inhumanity but has barely mentioned it. And political critics of Israel around the world have said nary a word about Russia’s savagery and cruelty for a variety of reasons: economic, political and, yes, antisemitism.
Of course, as I have written several times, the media and the political world also have ignored wars and humanitarian crises elsewhere: The Sudan which some have described as the worst human crisis in human history; Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Haiti, and in other countries.
To emphasize: Nothing in this column or others I have written suggests that Israel should be given a pass; that it should not be accountable. When appropriate, Israel must be required to obey military and international laws.
But to focus exclusively on alleged violations by Israel while neglecting and papering-over crises in other parts of the world — many much worse than in Gaza — is unfair, irresponsible, unprofessional and — did we mention? — journalistically and politically scandalous, condemnable and inexcusable.
Given the media’s one-sided reporting on Israel, the “60 Minutes” segment on the brutality of the war in Ukraine, while welcome, might itself be described as “strange.” What motivated the program to stray from the flock?
Given the media’s obsession with Israel, some reporter might investigate this fixation. Now, that would make one helluva story.
I will try to answer the question — why the preoccupation with Israel? — at least partially, in my next column.
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