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Hamas Propaganda from Time Magazine?

hamasblackout.jpg
The mainstream media are at it again, misrepresenting photographs to paint Israel in the worst possible light. Time Magazine is the latest culprit. Their peddling of a photo depicting the staged Gaza blackout goes too far -- and PJM's Roger L. Simon and Michael Weiss want answers.

by
Roger L Simon

Bio

January 25, 2008 - 12:46 pm

Noah Pollak on the contentions blog called attention to the above extraordinary photograph at the TIME Magazine website which is captioned “Blackout: The Israeli embargo has left the Gaza Strip without electricity. The Palestinian Parliament was forced to meet by candlelight on Tuesday night.”

Tuesday night? It looks very much to us like there is daylight pouring into this photo in at least three areas – side windows and back door. (You can see it even better at the TIME link.) We call upon the blogosphere to examine this as another possible example of “fauxtography.” If you follow the “contentions” link above, you will find there was a considerable amount of disinformation promulgated by the mainstream media concerning the Gaza “blackout.” Pajamas Media is asking TIME for a statement concerning the validity of this photo and will report back on their response.

UPDATE (Sat., 7:21 PM EST): Stelios Varias of the Reuters Washington bureau told me that all the variable captions on the above photograph were filed by Reuters on Jan. 22. None of them contained the word “night.” The version that did therefore must have been created by TIME. –MW

UPDATE (Fri. 5:30 PM EST): Since this post went up, TIME has altered the caption on the photograph. Now it strikes a much more “symbolic” note: “Blackout: The Israeli embargo has left the Gaza Strip without electricity. To emphasize its plight the Palestinian Parliament met by candlelight on Tuesday.”

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10 Comments, 10 Threads

  1. 1. Peter Boston

    Maybe shareholder suits are the way to slap down these dishonest editors. A news magazine has no value other than pure fantasy entertainment when it fakes the story.

  2. 2. Morton Doodslag

    It is also clear that despite the attempt to look studiously busy at their terror affairs, these bozos have displayed photos (of so-called “martyrs” no doubt — another cancerous Islamic lie fostered by TIME… ) so ostentatiously on their desks that there’s virtually no room for them to work in reality. This is clearly completely staged, even down to the fact that the photographer probably prompted and directed the placement of those “martyr” photographs for best advantage.

    The history of fascist apologetics by the MSM in cahoots with the Muslim nazis of the world has risen to the level of treason against America in my opinion…

  3. 3. Chip

    My first thought was why don’t they open the blue blinds?

    They’re not even trying to be convincing any more. They know the western media will cover their tracks and never give the correction the same ink as the original fake. From Al Dura and fauxtography in Lebanon to predending day is night, most people will never know they’re being played by the Islamist
    Arabs. The media is knowingly complicit.

  4. 4. negentropy

    even more laughable is the notion of a “Palestinian parliament”. Now that’s a good one!

  5. 5. Annie Jacobsen

    Promoting Hamas Propaganda? I’m canceling my subscription to Time Magazine. Oh, wait, I canceled that three years ago.

  6. 6. tanstaafl

    For an organization devoted to the slaughter of Israelis and destruction of the Jewish state, Hamas seems pathetically weak when it tries to invoke the “sympathy card”.

    Which more than a few western editors assist them with.

    (as for “fauxtography”, the propaganda machine loves to make those “woe is us” videos where the corpse gets off the bier and walks away after the camera shoot)

    I have sympathy for Gazans who have to live under Hamas, which spends the territory’s limited resources on weaponry and brags as to how their newly import rockets and missiles can reach even farther into Israeli territory.

    I have a lot of sympathy for individuals reduced to breaking down a barrier with Egypt to buy household supplies.

  7. 7. george

    You’ve caught Time out here for sure, but to me the real people you have caught out are yourselves. Could anything be more mean-spirited than to gloat over the real misery caused to 1.5 million people by a siege that has now reached the point of causing mass starvation, death and misery almost entirely to civilians who have no power at all to influence the situation. Brings to mind the Warsaw Ghetto. You might support the Israeli government but this is like gloating over the misery of prisoners in jails, cancer victims, beaten wives …

  8. 8. Wally

    Who’s gloating, george? A staged photo is a staged photo. Would you not want that to be exposed? And the comparison to the Warsaw ghetto is disgusting. The situations have nothing in common.

  9. 9. Andrew

    Surely Hamas at least gets points for effort? I mean, conspiring with the media must be regarded as better than shooting at them as they were doing last week.

  10. 10. lola

    Those are expensive candles. Don’t let them fool ya. Bought with the money from international aid that never made it to the general population. I could be very wrong though and that daylight might be doctored by the Mossad to look as if the poor Hamas has to do their dirty job in the dark. By dirty I meant “Honourable Fight for Freedom”. At least they have their faces uncovered. The Brave Hamas Parliament works even over hours it seems. I’m not being silly. Not at all.

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