News That's Fit for ABC to Omit

As discussed before, the ABC's Middle East Conflict section of their news website claims to have 'complete coverage of the crisis in the Middle East'.

That sentence seems to be correct only if one adds the following words: 'that fits our narrative'.

Case in point from this Jerusalem Post article:

Troops from the Nahal Brigade's elite Reconnaissance Battalion uncovered a bomb-making laboratory in Nablus on Saturday.

According to the Central Command, troops have discovered eight "terror labs" in the city since the beginning of the year. The soldiers clashed with Palestinian gunmen during the early-morning raid.

Officers said five pipe bombs, two gas canisters, scrap metal used in bombs, and large quantities of explosives were found in the lab. The sources believe the lab belonged to Islamic Jihad, which has been responsible for most terrorist attacks originating in northern Samaria recently. On Wednesday, a would-be Islamic Jihad suicide bomber was caught in an apartment in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, after entering Israel from northern Samaria.

As an aside, Jimmy Carter's Apartheid Wall played a successful role in reducing the chances of the 'successful' terrorist act. Pre-separation fence, the terrorist could reach Tel Aviv in the order of minutes. Now, it is in the order of hours or days, as the terrorists have to take a huge detour. The window of opportunity for actionable intelligence increased exponentially. And with it, the success rate of preventing mass casualties of Israeli civilians. Israeli civilians that are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze, Circassian, Bahai or any other religion or creed for that matter that live freely in Israel.

Back to the ABC. Browse the articles on the ABC Middle East section over the last week:

Revenge attacks kills 3 in Gaza Strip
Three Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip in clashes between supporters of the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.

Israeli forces kill Islamic Jihad leader
Israeli undercover forces killed an Islamic Jihad commander today, a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber he had sent to Israel was captured by police near Tel Aviv.

Israeli civilian murdered in West Bank
Police say an Israeli truck driver has been killed inside a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

Rice holds Middle East talks
Israeli-Palestinian talks hosted by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have ended with little sign of progress on reviving long-stalled peace moves.

Unity Govt not good enough, Israel says
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says the unity government deal between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas movement does not satisfy the demands of the international community.

No mention of the bomb-making laboratory.

Certainly no mention there have been eight such laboratories already found in the first two months of this year.

Apparently, no mention of the arrests and prevention of terror attacks in Israel earlier this week. This story does however, appear briefly - buried in the article Israeli forces kill Islamic Jihad leader.

So why does the newsworthy item - the successful discovery and dismantling of weapons of medium-destruction* in the Palestinian Authority controlled city of Nablus - not appear on the ABC News website?

Suggested answer: The combination of

1. Palestinians with an organised semi-industrial setup producing weapons of medium-destruction
   
2. These laboratories - multiple not just one - being run within the PA-controlled areas
   
3. Israeli soldiers successfully reducing potential Israeli civilian casualties by dismantling these laboratories
   
4. Israeli soldiers not killing anyone in the process
   

make it un-newsworthy.

* killing scores of Israeli civilians with high-explosives would not be considered by most MSM to be mass destruction