‘A Prime Example of Omission’

Normally, so little do Eoghan Harris’s columns coincide with reality that it would seem churlish to take issue with something he has to say. On this occasion, however, the tension between the vehemence of his utterances and their foundation in fact was simply unbearable, and the snap had me jump to attention.

The bias against Israel — which is also a form of reflex anti-Americanism common among left liberals — is a prime example of omission. RTE gave plenty of coverage to the Goldstone report on the flotillas, but it did not regale you with Goldstone changing his mind.

You were probably already aware by now of the tenacity of Harris’s support for the state of Israel. In past columns with his lavish praise he has really spoiled Israeli ambassadors. But the tenacity of his support is clearly unmatched by any tenacity in taking an interest in what the Israelis like to call the ‘facts on the ground’.

There was no Goldstone report on the flotillas. The Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, to give it its proper title, was published on 15th September 2009. The Gaza flotilla raid took place eight months after the publication of the Goldstone report, and nearly a year and a half after Israel’s invasion of Gaza, in which 1,389 Palestinians were killed, including 318 children.

No surprise, then, that Harris does not regale you with any details -a prime example of omission- as to how exactly Goldstone changed his mind. If, that is, Goldstone even changed his mind at all. Rather than pay any heed to what he is writing about, or anything that might involve giving the deaths of Arabs any importance, Harris is content to regurgitate Israeli propaganda, in a fashion that recalls the crude methods of holocaust denying cranks. But he can’t even do that properly.