Posted on 08/27/2006 11:24:39 AM PDT by jdm
Two Fox News journalists were freed on Sunday in Gaza after a complex deal was hammered out between the kidnappers and the Hamas-led government of Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh. The negotiations brought an end to the two week long hostage ordeal, but it may complicate efforts to free another captive — Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit — held by Palestinian militants.
In its broadcasts, Fox News often portayed the Hamas militants as terrorists, but the kidnapping of the two journalists, sources tell TIME, had nothing to do with Fox's perceived pro-Israel stance or a serious attempt, as the captors first demanded, of swapping the pair for Muslim prisoners in the U.S. Instead, the two newsmen were more likely the victims of a vicious feud between various Palestinian militias.
Palestinian security sources close to the negotiators told TIME that the two Fox Newsmen — reporter Steve Centanni, 60, from Washington D.C. and New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36 — were kidnapped from Gaza to embarrass Haniyeh's government. The militants, who earlier identified themselves as members of the previously unknown Holy Jihad Brigades, were enraged with fellow Hamas militants because they too had joined in the daring capture on June 25th of Corp. Shalit, in which Palestinian gunmen tunneled under a wall and attacked an Israeli army post. But according to these security sources, the militant groups fell out after Hamas' military wing took control of Shalit and elbowed the other co-conspirators aside.
In revenge, these militants, who belong to a splinter group of the late Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, struck back by seizing the two journalists, these sources said.
Haniyeh was able to secure the journalists' freedom, but at a high price: he has agreed to give these armed extremists a role in deciding the fate of the Israeli soldier, these sources said. The kidnappers are more extreme in their approach to Israel (Prime Minister Haniyeh is a moderate within Hamas), and they will undoubtedly raise the ante for the release of the 18-year-old corporal, who is said to be in good shape even though his captors have so far refused to offer any proof he is still alive. So far, various mediators, including the Egyptians and the French, have tried to strike a bargain for Shalit's freedom, suggesting that the soldier be swapped for dozens or perhaps hundreds of Palestinians inside Israeli jails. Harder demands are now expected from the militant kidnappers.
The two journalists, freed early on Sunday, claimed their captors had treated them well but forced them to convert to Islam at gunpoint.
Elsewhere in Gaza, two Reuters television journalists were wounded on Sunday when an Israeli missile struck their armored car. The reporters' car was clearly marked with 'TV' and the crew were filming the destruction of an Israeli air raid when the missile struck. The Israeli military said the journalists' vehicle was acting suspiciously, a claim that the Foreign Press Association in Tel Aviv dismissed as "outrageous."
I wonder how TIME portrays them?
As opposed to TIME and other Lamestream Media sources who portray Hamas as heroes and "freedom fighters"?
Good Lord, Time's gone completely through The Looking Glass.
I feel like I'm living in a parallel universe.
Suddenly they are "journalists" again.
45. TIME
46. CNN
47. ABC
48. CBS
49. NBC
50. LA Times
51. NY Times
"The kidnappers are more extreme in their approach to Israel (Prime Minister Haniyeh is a moderate within Hamas)"
This is like saying Leonid Brezhnev was a moderate Communist leader of USSR.
Whoa, Nelly! What a sentence! Sure, Fox "portrays" a terrorist organization as a terrorist organization. But it's the Leftwing Blogosphere that's been saying the kidnapping was because Fox is "pro-Israel". Many on the Left have justified the kidnapping as revenge against a pro-Bush and pro-Israeli organization. It should be no surprise to anyone that this was just wishful thinking on the part of Fox-bashers and had nothing to do with reality. Fox has never claimed there was a connection.
Dear God, please protect the Isreali soldier and let him be released or rescued, unharmed. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
1. Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
etc
I don't mean by you, PTM, but listing individual names these murderous thugs call themselves is an exercise in futility. Trample one into the dust, and it just comes back under a different name. The true terrorist designation is simply ISLAM.
Robin
Amen, alnick.
52, Reuters
53. BBC
54. Associated Press
55. USA Today
56. Boston Globe
57. Atlanta Constitution
i am soooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired of the negative spin the press puts on ANYTHING and everything......
I am happy to report that a friend who works for the Oregonian told me that they just replaced their unsuccessful head of advertising - presumably because revenues are down.
Gosh, could it be their slanted reporting? Nah -
gunpoint doesn't seeem like the best treatment to me.
nope didn't even enter their minds... what a load of crap. that's why the "brave" journalist" of CNN and the rest are providing propaganda to the Islamic murdering subhuman slime.
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