Fairfax journalists recount ‘frightening’ Israeli raid
Sydney Morning Herald photographer Kate Geraghty managed to smuggle out photographs of the Israeli assault on the Gaza flotilla despite being strip searched after she and chief correspondent Paul McGeough were captured.
The pair have since been released from the Israeli prison where they were being held.
Speaking from Istanbul, Geraghty said she rotated her photography across six SD memory cards, then used gaffer tape to hide them on her body and clothes as the Israelis stormed her boat.
She told the Herald: “I was knocked to the ground, perhaps by a stun gun. I got up and a soldier lunged towards me and snatched the camera.
“Despite numerous searches, including a strip search, I saved three cards… Two on my body and one in some personal gear.”
McGeough reported that initially media travelling with the flotilla were “crestfallen”, believing the Israelis had successfully stopped anyone from getting the story out as it happened.
He wrote: “But then someone flicked the switch on a big flat-screen TV on the wall. It burst into life with a Turkish channel, running the live-feed video which the ship had been transmitting to websites… A resounding cheer went up.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Paul McGeough’s “account” in today’s SMH is dripping with such loaded language, “They hunted like hyenas…” that I don’t know how it can be called journalism. These “journalists” appear to have set their agenda well before their boats even set sail.
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What’s your angle, Tim. Why have this featured?
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Ha – anon – what rock are you under – Paul McGeogh is regarded one the world’s most respected middle east expert journos, walkley winning, etc, widely respected by the entire Australian journalism community (including news ltd – shock horror!) . Let me guess, you are from the israeli embassy or mossad?
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Good on Fairfax! and what incredible presence of mind for Kate Geraghty to hide the memory cards – finally some real information other than the israeli whitewash
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Anon, it wasn’t Paul McGeough’s account that was loaded. It was the Israeli soldiers guns that were loaded!
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I’m not from under a rock and I agree with Anon.
I’m not from the israeli embassy or from the Mossad. I’m also guessing Anon is not. It seems she/he just wants to share an opinion that differs from yours Julie.
The sensationalised language and bias of events is not dissimilar to the level of journalism exercised by ACA or Today Tonight. Finger pointing (edited by Mumbrella for legal reasons) Never fails to make me cringe…
Might be a good idea to read this article:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com......5874166305
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Fairfax should be ashamed for sending “Journalists” to become human shields for an act that puts the lives of so many at stake.
There is a blockade for a reason. Just ask Egypt who also shares a border with Gazza and enforces the same blockade. If the blockade is broken, Israel will be attacked with smuggled weapons. There are official channels to use to send humanitarian aid. This was a witch hunt from the start that unfortunately ended badly.
I wonder what Australia would do if Border Police entering an Asylum ship got attacked. Would they just sit back and watch without using deadly force?
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Yes, thanks Wisey and Jonathan I couldn’t agree more. Why is it that the five ships that did not act with violence toward the soldiers, were peacefully brought to port.? Only the ship that had planned in advance to brutally attack the soldiers (with all the “humanitarian” axes, knives etc) and endanger their lives were, in turn met with deadly force?
It’s not so easy to take sides in wars, because we should all know there are 3 sides to everything, and I have no doubt that Israel played a part in this tragic outcome . However, I do judge journalists (any awards they may have won is irrelevant, and doesn’t give them a license to write without accountability) who write like this. They are in a position of influence here and the reports coming out of this story are biased and one-sided. I think the industry needs to hold these guys accountable, and I would like to think the Australian media industry (among other members of the public) would do that to some extent.
I’m certainly not from the Israeli embassy or Mossad (I somehow doubt they read Mumbrella – sorry Tim).
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I was amazed to read the obvious bias in the SMH piece, I had previously considered McGeogh’s work to be that of a serious jounalist, but he is no better than tembedded Fox News journalists giving the PR spin for the war in Iraq – and justifiably reviled at the time.
And before you ask – I’m Irish and non aligned to either side. This conflict probably has the highest level of media manipulation on both sides of any cureent war. The best thing to do is avoid all news of this event for at least a month and then some balance of truth may be possible.
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Found it interesting to learn Paul McGeogh’s girlfriend is Nadia Itraish, a muslim Palestinian/American with strong opinions on the situation in Gaza. I would not call Paul McGeogh a journalist without bias.
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This is a must see video clip for anyone seriously interested in the whole saga of the Flotilla Raid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg
It seems to put some real prospective to this whole tragic situation
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Israel cannot continue to operate without regard for international law or common decency. As an impartial witness, I fear where the continuing improportional response of the Israeli military will lead. I do not know the exact statistics but it appears to be somewhere near 100 Palestinian deaths to every 1 Israeli death. For anyone who believes in karma or a higher power, this is just not right, plain and simple.
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While I completely disapprove of Israeli soldiers killing and wounding people, I think everyone needs to take one step back and rememeber why the blockade is actually in place in the first place.
Hamas, a terrorist organisation (as classified by not just Israel, but the US, the EU and Australia) has lobbed over 10,000 rockets in to Israel (a country smaller than Tasmania, making it relatively easy to hit targets not particularly far away) and killed many, many innocent people (Jewish and non-Jewish). Imagine you are sitting in your home and every day, day after day, year after year rockets are literally falling in your backyard, sent from your neighbouring suburb because they do not think your suburb has the right to exist. That’s right – Hamas, like many Arab nations – still do not believe Israel has the right to exist as a country.
All I’m saying is, I don’t agree with what appears to be a disproportionate response – but when you put it in context, it does start to make some semblance of sense.
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It’s interesting that many of the comments are relating to the “sensationalist” language used in the reporting than to the actual events themselves.
As Hiram Johnson said “the first casualty of war is truth” and clearly the diversity of the comments here reflect this. One would have thought that allowing the coverage to be played out to the world’s media would have allowed “the truth” of the events that happened to be established. Clearly that was never going to happen.
When I was in Cairo in July last year, my hotel was packed to the rafters with a US group of humanitarian aid workers (many were doctors) who were planning to take truck loads of medicine, tents, shelter, blankets, water etc to Gaza using an overland route. I have often wondered whether they were successful in their objective or whether they were turned back at the blockade. I had admiration for these everyday Joes who simply wanted to help in a humanitarian way.
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Chris, the debate as I understand it is is centred around biased reporting in the media, a very serious matter. I think we should keep to the facts and keep our emotions or “feelings” out of this discussion.
Even in Israel there is criticism over the handling of the flotilla operation and the policy that let to it. Israel is a country that cherishes the freedom to speak one’s mind and criticise. It is important that we all learn from mistakes and debate issues for a common goal of peace. This can only happen when the full story is reported by the media. We should be holding our journalists to high standards and ethics.
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John, we agree on the fact that freedom of speech is vital. With freedom of speech comes responsibility to uphold journalistic standards. For example if the full story was told, you would know that Israel sends 15,000 tons of goods and supplies into Gaza each week, a figure that makes the flotilla’s cargo a mere drop in the ocean.
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Jonathan, who are the “we” you refer to as being in agreement? Does freedom of speech extend to allowing a journalist to retain their cameras and memory cards?
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Anon, I addressed John in my posting. We agree on the point of the importance of free speech and yes it would include allowing free movement of media and information. My point is that it comes with the responsibility to report the entire story and not one sided commentary.
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“They hunted like hyenas…” thats because they didnt turn up with flowers and lollies you drongo, now back under your rock with the rest of your mates.
http://www.redress.cc/
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Jonathon, killing the people who are attempting to protest is an affront against free speech. It aims to silence the other side of the argument. If people cannot protest without fear of being killed, what do you think that does to people’s freedom of speech?
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Chris, That is a simple narrative that is factually incorrect. Few media outlets discuss Israel’s position and the events that led to the lethal force. Don’t fool yourself the ship in question was no “Love Boat”. Civilians on the flotilla were cynically exploited by extremist organisations. (Google the IHH) Five ships did not act with violence towards the soldiers, and were peacefully brought to port. Only the ship that had planned in advance to attack the soldiers and endanger their lives were in turn met with deadly force.
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There could be something to say about Kate Geraghty’s affection for metaphors, but nobody has mentioned any factual inaccuracies in her story. @ Jonathon, your comment to Chris that this is a discussion about freedom of speech, and that his comments are not welcome here, sounds to me like, you can say whatever you want, as long as I agree with it.
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Methinks Jonathan protesteth too much – there’s something very rum there.
I was just watching the PBS news this afternoon on SBS, and the issue of food getting to the Gaza strip during the blockade was raised. They mentioned the amount of 10,000 tonnes per week – pretty close to the 15,000 tonnes previously quoted (among 1.4m people mind you). The big difference was that the “defender of the blockade” being interviewed said that the Israelis “allowed” 10,000 tonnes a week past the blockade – quite a difference to the 10:09am comment that the Israelis are “sending” the food in. Sounds a lot like what good ol’ Hiram Johnson was talking about … it’s just one word difference … but a very different story.
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Currie, I never said his comments were not welcome. I simple pointed out that this is a media website and we are discussing the angle of the bias in the current reporting. Chris’s comments were not pointing to any facts relating to this story but rather “feelings” he had about karma.
@John Grono, please let me know if there has been any aid that has been prevented by Israel to enter Gaza by land. I will be the first to apologise if I am wrong.
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Jonathon, you mention ‘civilians’ on the flotilla, that is the language of someone from the military, not an Aussie working in marketing. All of your comments have been about stifling anyone who has an opinion against the official Israeli line… it isn’t too difficult to work out why that is.
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hes a copy paste poster chris…aka troll.
you can tell them at a glance, thoughtless parroting of the official line, carry on regardless denial of facts and obviousness.. i will continue to be stupid till the cows come home attitude…
pay them no heed…
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Thanks mate… btw here are Jonathon’s thoughts in full from the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy’s propoganda sheet http://www.wzo.org.il/English/flotilla/pub/MFA.pdf
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Thanks Chris for tracking down J’s source that is more impartial than the Fairfax “journalists” – State of Israel, Ministry of Public Diplomacy & Diaspora, hosted on the World Zioniost Organisation website.
I suggest interested readers go and have a proper gander at it.
I believe that the Israeli Government still continues it’s own state’s press censorship laws – can anyone confirm that this practice has been stopped and that they now have a free press?
And finally to answer Jonathan’s question about aid by land – I simply don’t know and was merely commenting that I happened to bump into these people in Cairo last year. I would have thought you would have already known the answer as you seem to have a direct link to “all things official”.
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My argument that the media seems to only focus on one side is undeniable. If aid is not allowed into Gazza, I will be horrified. I have no reason to believe that official stats and statements from Israel are inaccurate. Please do provide facts that disprove them.
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