Over 3000 journalists in Gaza: one Western journalist in Lhasa

The imbalance is mind bloggling.

According to Justin Kilcullen, over 3,000 journalists (mostly European), covered Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005. In 2008, one single Western journalist is in Lhasa covering the anti-Chinese uprising in Tibet. These figures tell us a lot about media priorities and NGOs’ political agendas. Above all, they als tell us about democracy, tolerance and freedom of speech in Israel.

Gaza August 2005
(From "Gaza strip: An open air prison?", by Justin Kilcullen, Director of Trócaire, the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, and head of CONCORD, the powerful European confederation of 1,600 NGOs across 21 countries for relief and development.)

"Last December I turned up at a border crossing leading from Israel to the infamous Gaza strip as part of a delegation of Catholic development agencies. I was looking forward to the visit, to seeing first-hand the situation in which thousands of Palestinians were living. But four hours later I walked away, together with half the group, refused entry by Israeli security because our papers for entry did not have the required approvals. While the Palestinians living within this small piece of land could not get out, I could not get in. (…)

Over 3,000 journalists are expected to descend on the Gaza strip in the coming days to watch the dismantling of the 17 settlements that have been occupied by roughly 8,000 Israeli settlers since the war in 1967."

Tibet March 2008
Lhasa: one Western journalist, James Miles of The Times.
"Midnight ultimatum for Tibet showdown", by James Miles, "The only Western journalist in Lhasa reports from a city gripped by fear".

NGO Monitor has been looking at Trócaire's anti-Israeli activities:

"Ignoring the campaign of Palestinian suicide bombings and terror attacks, Trocaire claims its "work in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) began in 2002 in response to the unprecedented levels of military confrontation and restrictions on the movement of Palestinians imposed by the Israeli army." In his introduction to the organization’s 2005/6 Annual Report, Trocaire’s Director, Justin Kilcullen, writes that he was "shocked at seeing people stripped of their dignity at checkpoints, or separated from their farms . . . . I saw cities and towns that had simply died through economic strangulation as the Wall enclosed them." He also alleges that "it is because of these injustices that Trocaire is involved in the region." Kilcullen makes no mention of the Israelis killed and maimed by the "injustices" of Palestinian terror, nor that the violation of Israeli human rights motivated the organization to get "involved in the region".

On Trocaire’s Webpage for International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Trocaire relies on sources lacking credibility, including B’tselem, and John Dugard. The text refers to Gaza as "the world’s largest prison"; ignores continued Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli civilians; and advocates for Palestinian claim to a “right of return”. (...)

In 2007, Trocaire joined an NGO coalition spearheaded by Badil to implement the organization’s "Call to Action", a strategy which includes anti-Israel boycott and sanction campaigns; efforts to "[e]nlist journalists to organize a targeted campaign to expose the lies of AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League and to expose the Jewish and Zionist community's double standards regarding Nakba & Occupation"; and enlisting the help of anti-Israel "Jewish" NGOs to "rais[e] awareness of the . . . right of return among the Jewish public in Israel."
"Protests near Labrang Monastery. (Photo: TCHRD)