Israeli strike kills nine of Gaza doctor's children, hospital says

[Israeli]

56. Sigh

Some responses on this thread are just shameful
How some of you can call yourselves Democrats is beyond me , you sound more like
Likudnicks to me .......thus :

Frantically Dodging Piers Morgan's Questions, Israel's U.K. Envoy Exposed How Indefensible the Gaza War Has Become

Seemingly forgetting that Morgan once strongly supported Israel, U.K. ambassador Tzipi Hotovely deflected his simple questions with blatant whataboutism, failing to coherently address concerns about Israel's far-right genocidal intent in Gaza

Just when it seemed we had hit rock bottom and couldn't sink any lower, there was a knock from below – and Israel's ambassador to the U.K., Tzipi Hotovely, appeared overseas.

The envoy, a former right-wing Likud minister, inexplicably decided that this was a good time to be interviewed, with the world recoiling from the Israeli government's far-right, bloodthirsty policies and the IDF's actions in Gaza, by the sharp and relentless Piers Morgan.

What followed was nothing short of a live public diplomacy disaster. For nearly an hour, Morgan clung to a straightforward question that Hotovely kept dodging: "How is it that you know exactly how many Hamas terrorists were killed but have absolutely no idea how many children have been killed in the process?"

"I simply ask you why," Morgan pressed repeatedly for an answer.

It was clear he understood she would not give one. At one point, Hotovely claimed Israel maintains a low civilian-to-combatant kill ratio, but Morgan challenged her: if she doesn't know how many children have been killed, how could she possibly make that calculation? His point was clear: the refusal to answer reveals the political and military leadership's disregard for Palestinian civilians, whom they don't even count.

"Ask the people who can give you the answer, I don't have it," she finally concluded.

"You're the Israeli ambassador to my country – who else should I ask?!" he shot back.

Even those who skipped the full interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored and saw only short clips, like those aired on Israel's Channel 12 or on social media, could see just how severe another blow to Israel's global image was.

Instead of recognizing that much of the world now views Israel as sending the strongest army in the Middle East to carry out what could be considered a genocide, and preparing accordingly for an interview with Britain's top broadcaster, Hotovely sounded as if she had taken advice from backbencher far-right Israeli MKs.

At the start of the conversation, Morgan, armed with detailed knowledge, threw facts in her face. Every Israeli journalist should study their command of the profession as they grilled her on why, after more than a year and a half, Israel hasn't won the war or achieved its objectives, concluding that Israel's strategy has failed. "How many more children will you kill?" he asked, horrified.

"Piers, Israel doesn't kill children – Hamas uses them as human shields," she replied.

"You're killing children every day!" he snapped, as if she'd forgotten this wasn't an interview with soft Israeli anchors like Amalya Duek or Ofer Haddad on Channel 12 – whose show, just the night before, focused on former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's "defamation campaign abroad," after he alleged Israel is carrying out war crimes in Gaza.

"Answer my question," Morgan declared angrily, after she tried to deflect once again. "The truth is, yes – you're killing a lot of children. It's horrifying. These are war crimes – what else would you call them?" In her eyes, it was all Hamas propaganda – not, say, the painful truth visible to anyone not willfully blind.

"Piers, you don't care about Israeli children," she tried, playing the panic card and evoking fears of another October 7, while Europe still mourns the recent killing of nine children under the age of 18 from one grieving family in Gaza, the children of two doctors.

Throughout the interview, Morgan referenced statements from former Israeli prime ministers and generals – including Olmert, Ehud Barak, and Yair Golan – pointing out that they are not Islamist radicals but Israeli patriots. Not so for Hotovely, who served the government's narrative of destruction and insisted that their criticism was unpatriotic. In her view, everyone must justify Israel's actions as part of a "war for existence."

The ambassador – inexplicably not recalled under the previous unity government led by centrist Yair Lapid – seemed to forget that Morgan was once one of Israel's strongest vocal supporters. From the start of the war, he affirmed Israel's right to self-defense. Even now, he continues to distinguish between the country and its current government's policy. He explained that he's long asked what a proportionate Israeli response would look like – and concluded in recent weeks that what's happening, especially with the ongoing blockade of aid to Gaza, is grossly disproportionate.

Hotovely, facing a host who isn't taken in by spin or manipulation, claimed that far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has no influence on government policy. But Morgan saw straight through her. He's made it perfectly clear what "the real plan is – which is to get all the Palestinians out of Gaza, that's a form of genocide" – what else would you call it?

Instead of salvaging Israel's image even slightly, Hotovely continued down her disastrous path, even asserting that under international law, "it's allowed to attack hospitals." It was a tragic scene: Hotovely floundering under Morgan's determined questioning, in stark contrast to the deferential treatment she receives from Israeli media.

The climax came when Morgan burst out in disgust: "Are you playing whataboutary?" – after she bizarrely brought up historical examples. "Piers, how many Japanese children were killed under American attacks? How many German children were killed under U.K. attacks in World War II?"

If right-wing political pundit Amit Segal, the godfather of Israeli whataboutery, had been sitting across from Piers Morgan, it's likely he would've dismantled the pundit's arguments in seconds. Morgan would have given viewers a rare, masterclass-level media showdown – worth every shekel and pound.

But where is Piers Morgan, and where is someone like Israeli reporter Moran Azulay, who this week "interviewed" Likud Minister Shlomo Karhi on the Knesset Channel? Instead of challenging him or confronting his dangerous rhetoric, she handed him a wide-open platform to spew incitement. Rather than correcting his misleading claims about Golan, leader of the center-left Democrats party, or scrutinizing his destructive actions against the Israeli media, Azulay "challenged" the far-right minister by asking who he'd like to have coffee with – and who in the Knesset he no longer speaks to. Pulitzer-worthy stuff, no doubt.

Source : Haaretz

Link : https://archive.md/S1zpv