Yesterday more than 300 protesters gathered in downtown El Paso to support the Palestinian “resistance” against Israeli “apartheid, colonization, and genocide.”
None of their signs or slogans cited the massacre by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad of more than 1,400 Israelis. There was no mention of murdering entire families, burning people alive while they screamed for mercy, gunning down Holocaust survivors, raping and killing women, or beheading dozens of babies. Nor was there any discussion of the 200 hostages held by the terrorists.
What about the 22 Americans who were murdered alongside the Israelis, with 17 missing? Not a word.
And what about that hospital that was accidently targeted by Palestinian Islamic Jihad? Oh, that was the fault of the bloodthirsty Zionists!
Did the protesters call for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, beyond demanding a ceasefire to stop the Israeli onslaught? Of course not.
No, they chanted “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea” again and again, meaning that Israel should be completely destroyed, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean.
During the rally in San Jacinto Plaza, speakers took turns bashing the Zionist “colonizers,” with some comparing Israelis to Nazis, and Gaza to a Nazi concentration camp.
Some of the participants wore green armbands or scarves in solidarity with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, and some concealed their faces with keffiyehs in imitation of Palestinian militants.
MEDIA FAILS TO REPORT THE PROTEST ACCURATELY
Of all our local media, only KVIA published a balanced report, titled “Pro-Palestine rally in Downtown El Paso sparks questions.” Kerry Mannix interviewed two of the protesters, one of whom complained about massacres and “genocide,” as if the Israelis intend to exterminate the Palestinians. We guess the protester forgot about the 2 million Palestinians who live inside Israel and face no threat to their safety.
But Mannix also interviewed Israel-supporter Rod Linkous, who observed the protest and saw there was no mention of any Israeli victims, but that there were numerous calls to destroy Israel.
Jonathan Mejia of KFOX aired a report titled “Pro-Palestinian rally in El Paso aims to educate community and call for peace.” He interviewed two protesters, one of whom stated “We’re just here to raise our voice and share peace.” He failed to mention that a substantial number of them, perhaps the majority, want Israel wiped out, or to interview any supporters of Israel for an alternative perspective.
The report by Dave Burge of KTSM is equally dishonest, as he also interviewed two protesters without taking time to seek an alternative perspective. This has long been standard at KTSM, which seems to specialize in car accidents, crime, and the weather.
The staff at El Diario de El Paso actually descended one step lower, as they published a mere 214 words on the demonstration and interviewed a single protester and no one else.
The El Paso Times sent Gaby Velasquez to take photos but could not spare a reporter over the weekend. To her credit, she published 19 telling photographs that actually do a much better job of describing the protest than the lazy, one-sided television reports of KFOX and KTSM.
The bottom line is that because of the systemic omissions of our media, only those El Pasoans who witnessed the protest first-hand or happened to catch the 10pm opening segment on KVIA could comprehend its venomous message.
Everyone else was left without a clue.