Even the callous brutes of the IDF and Likud are starting to grasp just how bad the optics are on the slaughter in Gaza. Israeli human rights group B'Tselem put out a radio advertisement which listed the names of some of the scores of children killed in Gaza since the conflict began 17 days ago.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority promptly banned it because, they said, it was "politically controversial". Yes..unlike the slaughter of Palestinian civilians which is just, apparently, business as usual and nothing to get your panties in a bunch about. Why would anyone be bothered by a death toll that has now passed 700 Palestinians, mostly civilians? It's baffling. According to The Guardian:
B'Tselem's appeal against the decision was rejected on Wednesday. It intends to petition Israel's supreme court on Sunday in an effort to get the ban overturned.
In its appeal, B'Tselem demanded to know what was controversial about the item. "Is it controversial that the children [aren't] alive? That they're children? That those are their names? These are facts that we wish to bring to the public's knowledge."
In a statement, the human rights group said: "So far more than 600 people have been killed in bombings in Gaza, more than 150 of them children. But apart from a brief report on the number of fatalities, the Israeli media refrains from covering them." By Thursday morning, the death toll in Gaza had exceeded 700.
B'Tselem went on: "IBA says broadcasting the children's names is politically controversial. But refusing to do so is in itself a far-reaching statement – it says the huge price being paid by civilians in Gaza, many of them children, must be censored."
Aid agencies said on Wednesday that a child had been killed in Gaza on average every hour for the preceding two days, and more than 70,000 children had been forced to flee their homes. There has also been a spike in the number of premature births.
"The shocking number of children being killed, injured, or displaced in Gaza demands an unequivocal international response to stop the bloodshed," Save the Children said. "Entire families are being wiped out in seconds as a result of the targeting of homes."
The world's most 'moral' army? Don't make me fucking laugh.