Israel Bombs Syria Becomes Israel Is Only Defending Itself

By Danny Schechter 

An Israeli plane bombs a target in Syria. The news is passed along first to Fox News, (huh?) by someone in the Administration. 

It happened on a Thursday, but we only find out about it late on Friday. The New York Times assigns three reporters to cover the story that goes up on their website in the middle of the morning on Saturday. 

Earlier that day, President Obama, speaking in Costa Rica, said there will be no US ground troops on the ground in Syria. Now, the Administration says it is considering “military options.” 

Saturday’s New York Times chooses this story for its first page: “ISRAEL TIGHTENS BORDER DEFENSE AS SYRIA ERUPTS.” 

And so, the story is reframed with Israel pictured as the defender, not the aggressor. The bombing makes it into the third paragraph of that story on page 1 but refers only to the bombing of “a target.” 

Their earlier story has now been moved by the Times deeper into the paper, to the bottom of page 10. That headline reads:  “ISRAEL BOMBS SYRIA as the US Considers Its Own Military Options.” 

The report: “American officials did not provide details on the target but, instead, referenced an earlier attack attacking a Syrian military supply effort to Hezbollah.” Unmentioned is that the original report understated the extent of the damage in Syria caused by Israeli bombing. 

Reuters was better informed, “Israel has carried out an air strike targeting a shipment of missiles in Syria bound for Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.
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