Disturbing Haaretz Propaganda on Syria
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
At times producing journalism the way it should be is spoiled by Haaretz being on the wrong side of other key issues, notably Syria – unacceptably reinventing the war’s history instead of reporting on it accurately.
Its propaganda report headlined “Assad’s New Syria: A Police State With Rampant Poverty and a Playground for Superpowers,” reads like rubbish from CNN, Fox News, the NYT, or CIA-connected Washington Post.
Haaretz: “Eight years after the start of the Syrian uprising (sic), the civil war (sic) sparked by the regime’s (sic) violent crackdown on Syrian protesters (sic) appears to have been decidedly won by President Bashar Assad.”
Fact: No “uprising” occurred, no revolution, no “violent crackdown on Syrian protesters.”
Fact: Syria is Washington’s war, naked aggression on the sovereign state – launched by the Obama regime, escalated by Trump hardliners.
Fact: Throughout the war, government forces acted in defense of the Syrian people against US/NATO/Saudi/Turkish/Israeli et al supported ISIS and likeminded jihadists.
Fact: Endless war is in its ninth year because the US and its imperial partners reject resolution.
Fact: Assad is Syria’s legitimate leader, overwhelming reelected in June 2014, a process independent monitors called open, free and fair. Syrians want no one else leading them.
Fact: The US, other NATO countries, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, and their imperial partners are regimes – not Syria.
Haaretz: “…Syria’s economy is in tatters, half of its population displaced, hundreds of thousands of Syrians are dead, many of Syria’s cities and towns lie in ruins. Yet on top of this pile of ashes Assad sits comfortably (sic), quite secure in his grip on power.”
Fact: The US bears full responsibility for raping and destroying much of the country, illegally occupying northern and southern areas, holding tens of thousands of its refugees hostage, denying them vital humanitarian aid.
Fact: Israel, NATO, and other US imperial partners share blame for years of war with no end.
Haaretz: “(T)he Syrian police state (sic) is back, more aggressive than ever (sic)” – a bald-faced Big Lie.
Apartheid police state viciousness describes decades of Israeli high crimes against Palestinians, Gazans under illegal suffocating blockade harmed most of all – what Haaretz failed to explain.
There’s nothing “civil” about US-led naked aggression – against Syria and numerous other countries.
The so-called “opposition” is comprised of ISIS, al-Nusra, and likeminded terrorists, aided by US-led terror-bombing. By its own admission, Israel terror-bombed Syrian targets hundreds of times in the past few years – naked aggression like US war on the country.
Haaretz: Syrians in liberated areas “chose to surrender (sic) to the regime (sic) rather than be displaced from their homes to rebel-held areas in Idlib and Aleppo (sic), which are subjected to occasional Syrian regime (sic) and Russian airstrikes and shelling.”
Fact: No “surrender” of Syrian civilians to government forces occurred anywhere in the country. Haaretz lied claiming otherwise.
Fact: On occasions when Assad visited liberated areas, residents welcomed him joyfully, thanking him for freeing them from US-supported terrorists.
Fact: In November 2018, he greeted residents of liberated Suwayda province, bordering Daraa in the country’s southwest where Obama regime aggression began in March 2011.
Al-Watan video showed him cheered and lifted onto the shoulders of a Syrian man, people thanking him for their freedom from US-supported terrorists – the scene repeating what happened in earlier liberated areas.
In March last year, Assad drove a Honda through liberated East Ghouta, a videographer filming him, no aides or security forces in the vehicle, saying he went there “to see the situation” for himself, adding:
“We’ll see the armed forces that are fighting and the areas that have been liberated” – telling them “(y)ou are the sons of our country.”
“We will protect all the people of Ghouta. In these areas, every meter has a drop of blood from a Syrian fighter. A hero among heroes.”
Russian and Syrian bombing and shelling are all about combatting US-supported terrorists – backed by the Netanyahu regime, Haaretz failed to explain.
Haaretz: “In 2011, Syrians took pride in ‘breaking the barrier of fear (sic).” But fear now prevails (sic), as the various branches of the regime’s secret police (sic) launch raids and arrest suspected disloyal elements (sic).”
“Many of those arrested are former activists, rebels, health and rescue workers, and civil society leaders (sic). Syrians who wish to prove their loyalty to the regime (sic), obtain power through it or simply settle personal scores inform on others…(sic).”
Fact: Individuals hunted down and rounded up are traitors and terrorist foot soldiers, allied with Washington’s aim to transform Syria into a puppet state.
No so-called “activists, rebels, health and rescue workers” exist as portrayed, the latter referring to al-Qaeda-connected White Helmets, masquerading as civil defense workers.
The US and its imperial partners bear full responsibility for mass slaughter, destruction, the region’s largest refugee crisis, and dire conditions in much of the country.
Haaretz: “Despite these coercive policies and a generally unwelcome environment in countries where most Syrian refugees reside, few among them are volunteering to return to their homeland (sic).”
“Reports indicate that several refugees who have returned to Syria have been arrested and killed under torture.”
Fact: Hundreds of thousands of Syrians returned to liberated areas, greatly aided by Damascus and Russia – the UN and Western countries offering nothing, their aid going exclusively to anti-government terrorists.
So-called “reports” of returning refugees facing arrests and deaths from torture are bald-faced Big Lies.
Haaretz: “Damascus is also expropriating properties through a series of laws intended to dispossess opposition supporters and displace communities perceived as disloyal from central locations in major cities (sic)” – another bald-faced Big Lie.
Haaretz: “Through its brutal suppression of the armed rebellion (sic), the regime (sic) has been able to terrorize most Syrians into submission (sic). However, rebels (sic) continue to hold Idlib and its environs, and launch occasional attacks beyond the front lines (sic).”
Fact: No “armed rebellion” existed earlier or now, no Syrians “terrorize(d) into submission.” So-called “rebels” in Idlib and elsewhere are US-supported cutthroat killer jihadists – using Idlib as a platform to launch terrorist attacks against government forces and civilians.
Haaretz: “Throughout the war, the regime (sic) ceded much of its sovereignty to Russia, Iran and local militias in exchange for support for its armed forces (sic).”
Fact: The US and Turkey illegally occupy Syrian territory, not Russia or Iran, allied with Damascus in combatting US-supported terrorists.
Fact: Israel has illegally occupied sovereign Syrian Golan since June 1967. Trump’s unlawful proclamation recognizing its control changed nothing. Under international law and for the world community, it’s null and void.
Haaretz’s report represents utter trash at its worst. No responsible editors would touch it. To their shame, the broadsheet's editors featured it.
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