Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Reuters ambush: Only one funeral worth mentioning
The sisters of Targ Yassen, a Palestinian militant from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who was killed by Israeli troops, cry during his funeral in Gaza City July 26,2005. Yassen was one of two Palestinian gunmen killed in an ambush at the Gaza border on Sunday shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended her mission to shore up a fragile truce before Israel's Gaza pullout. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
Ok, look, I see pictures of crying children, and I feel their pain just like the next guy. Really. I've got little girls, and I can imagine the great sadness these two little kids feel at the loss of their poor, young brother. If you believe the Reuters report, the brother, Targ Yassen, was killed by Israeli troops in an ambush, just as Condaleeza Rice's efforts to shore up that fragile truce were ending.
But the truth, as anyone reading this blog is likely to know, is far, far from what Reuters has reported. Because the ambush in which poor young Targ was killed was not set by the IDF, but by Targ himself and his 'co-activist', Yahya Taha. Nor was this ambush set to attack the armed troops they despise. No. Targ's ambush, successful as it was, was aimed at causing a different, Israeli funeral, one not mentioned by Reuters:
Moshe Mizrahi, the father of Rachel Kol, 53, prays during the funeral of his daughter and her husband Dov Kol, 58, in the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, July 24, 2005. Gunmen of the Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades of Fatah killed the two Israelis while they were driving on a road that links the Kissufim crossing to the settlement bloc in the southern Gaza Strip early Sunday. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
These kids are crying, but don't worry, they will be consoled by their relatives. They'll be told that brave young Targ is in heaven, receiving his reward of 72 nubile virgins for the daring and noble slaughter of two grandparents in their automobile. And lest anyone should worry Targ's memory will fade away down here, by fortunate coincidence, a photographer just happened to snap a picture of the two brave young lads shortly before they were gunned down (what are the odds of that?):
A picture released by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, shows Yahya Taha (R), a militant of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Jihad, and Tareq Yassin from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, posing with their rifles prior to an attack against Israelis. The two militants were shot dead by Israelis after raking with gunfire a convoy of cars near the Kissufim main border crossing between Gaza and Israel, killing an Israeli couple and wounding a settler and two Israeli soldiers. AFP
Please don't think I'm angry at these two sad little kids, who've lost their grandparent-murdering brother. No, I'm angry at Reuters, who've lost their mind.
