Very sad to see the decline in the quality of both writing and research in online opinion.

Dress it up, tart it up, call it what you will, but, still, shooting fish in a barrel is shooting fish in a barrel.

As a consumer of news it's frustrating only getting one side of the story, but as a journo it is worse. Additionally the Pro-Palestine movement is particularly vocal here in Australia. This further affects the options for presenting both sides of any M/E issue. It isn't strictly the media's role to take a side, though some specializations allow for that (& I'm not including MSM news' increasingly pervasive commentary & op-eds, because that isn't news, it's simply opinion). Almost all news cover has taken a side and it isn't productive - general news needs to be impartial, though specialist journos can investigate one side (this must occur only while addressing both sides - and that's the law, as disregarded as it might be).

The reports that you mentioned are important, David, & it'd be great to have access to that data & those information sources - if you'd like to add them here, or on your blog? I read a letter to The Australian by Peter W that pointed out similar details, regarding the use of neutral bodies, such as the UN, that perhaps inadvertently had sheltered Hamas participants. But no media has effectively tested the credibility of those claims though. Because of the feverish condemnation about Israel, politically speaking, few editors are interested in finding out more about those details.

*Nonetheless, most M/E countries, Israel included, do not support a free and robust press - this was evident in the death of an Australian in custody in recent years. So, while in my view this op-ed is extremely important, you're going to cop a lot of flak - just as any journo or editor or producer would if they explored these issues. It's a brave writer that swims against the current of public opinion.

Yes it does David!
Rhrosty.

you forget David that the leftist 'progresives'want to believe their own lies. You have obviously never watched Q & A. They even have 'conservatives'saying that Isalm is a religion of peace. THe more truth you publish, the more they will bag you. for the progressives like Islam its all about ideology not truth.

In Singer's world the FPA protesting 'in the strongest terms' is slamming Hamas but when it 'strongly condemns' Israel it is a mild criticism?

Each article from this man climbs heights that are more and more divorced from reality.

Here is a piece from Haaretz
“I wasn’t intimidated at any point,” says one seasoned war reporter. “I didn’t feel Hamas were a threat to my welfare any more than Israeli bombings. I’m aware some people had problems, but nothing beyond what you would expect covering a conflict. Hamas’s levels of intimidation weren’t any worse than what you occasionally experience at the hands of the IDF, which didn’t allow access to fighting for most of the conflict either. As a rule no armed forces permit you to broadcast militarily sensitive information.”

As to having the IDF targeting the 11th floor offices of a news agency most critical of Israeli's conduct during this war brushed off as an OOPS moment, it is just too much.