The United Nations has issued a report with unusual courage and accuracy that plainly tells the tale of Israel's Pillar of Defense counter terror operation -- and exposes the lies of Hamas, told to a grieving father and his BBC bureau chief.In what has become typical of international media, The Washington Post and a BBC bureau chief last November accused and convicted the Israel Defense Forces in a heartrending, angry piece without verifying their information after a fellow editor in Gaza lost his baby son in rocket fire that struck his home.
The front page photo of an Arab stringer for a world-class news network, clutching his dead baby son in his arms, tears running down his cheeks, became a powerful icon of the tragedy of the conflict.
It was used by Hamas as propaganda to blacken Israel's name in the media and politically in the international arena as it fought to defend its southern population against Gaza's missile fire.
But apparently very few questioned the source of the rocket fire -- certainly not the grieving father, Jihad Misharawi, who at his son's funeral blamed "the Jews" -- nor did BBC Middle East bureau chief Paul Danahar, who came to Gaza to support his colleague, or The Washington Post, which printed the story, written by Max Fisher and "foreign staff", with photos, published on the front page.
Photos of the damaged home were duly posted, along with a photo of the little child, who is indeed beautiful, and the heartbreaking photo of a grieving father carrying what appears to be his dead son wrapped in shrouds.