Israel’s Foreign Ministry released an animated short video Monday that mocks foreign journalists who covered last summer's war in the Gaza Strip. The hacks are portrayed -- horrors -- as clueless.
The short clip, produced in-house by the ministry, was prominently featured Monday on the home page of the diplomatic service.
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| Israel Foreign Press Assoc photographers (Photo:JNS.org) |
The Times of Israel reports that the clip drew a harsh condemnation from the Foreign Press Association in Israel.
The Foreign Press Association in Israel said that it was “surprised and alarmed” by the clip “mocking the foreign media’s coverage of last year’s war in Gaza.
“At a time when Israel has serious issues to deal with in Iran and Syria, it is disconcerting that the ministry would spend its time producing a 50-second video that attempts to ridicule journalists reporting on a conflict in which 2,100 Palestinians and 72 Israelis were killed,” the FPA said in a statement Monday.
“Israel’s diplomatic corps wants to be taken seriously in the world. Posting misleading and poorly conceived videos on YouTube is inappropriate, unhelpful and undermines the ministry, which says it respects the foreign press and its freedom to work in Gaza,” the statement said.
But the Foreign Ministry said the cartoon should be taken as a lighthearted jab.
“The film mocks many journalists with a gentle wink, too many of whom are blind to what is happening around them,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon told reporter Noga Tarnopolsky.
Quite a few journalists who were in Gaza did not report the rocket fire in residential areas in proximity of public buildings. Only after the operation and after leaving Gaza were these materials released and was real information about what they saw revealed.
“Thus, these journalists admitted they did not report what they saw. What is the reason for this? Fear of Hamas? A lack of willingness to tell the truth?” he added, according to Tarnopolsky, who quoted the statement in a series of tweets Monday evening.
