Wow! This is one for the books. According to Daily News, Turkey’s English-language daily newspaper:
Turkey’s prime minister takes a critical tone toward Israel after its troops fire on thousands of people along the Syrian and Lebanese borders, slamming its ‘insistence on violent politics’ and depicting Israel as the main obstacle to regional peace. The head of the OIC also condemns the operation
Problems caused by Israel continue to be the greatest obstacle before regional peace, the Turkish prime minister suggested Monday, criticizing the Jewish state for killings in the border region over the weekend.
This is quite remarkable, considering Turkey found itself in a similar situation this very weekend. How did it respond? Well, no need to hazard a guess – Reuters has the answer:
Turkish security forces killed at least 12 Kurdish militants after they were spotted crossing the border from Iraq, the military said on Saturday, while a soldier was killed by a mine blast.
Of course, the Turks don’t need to really draw more attention to this incident because hardly anyone is interested. Search Google News for “Israel Border” and you’ll get over 4000 results. Search for “Turkey Border” and you get only 200, and very few are from mainstream European or North American outlets. None of these reports are from the UK press. But search the BBC, The Guardian or the Independent, and other UK media and you’ll find feature coverage of the Israeli border clashes.
Another thing you won’t find coverage of in the UK papers or TV news are the mass marches, demonstrations, conferences and vigils – supported by Labour politicians, trade unionists and human rights organisations – demanding freedom for the Kurds or an end to the occupation of Kurdish land. Only this time the media have an excuse: there’s nothing to cover. No one is marching to end the occupation of Kurdistan. No one is trashing supermarkets carrying Turkish produce or picketing Iranian-owned businesses.
Most people will – quite reasonably, I think – argue that Turkey is right to defend its borders, including with lethal force. But many of those same people will deny that Israel has a right to stop thousands of people of unknown intentions from streaming over its borders. This is because they’re either naive fools who don’t believe that Hamas and Hezbollah, and similar groups, are intent on the destruction of the Jewish people, or they simply don’t care.
Or they do care. And they’re all are for it.
