A short lesson in defamation: UK newspaper links Gaza operation to Sabra and Shatila massacre

In the latest non-story about Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last year, Britain’s Independent newspaper splashes an “exclusive” revelation across its front page today from an unnamed “high-ranking” Israeli commander saying that Israel “rewrote the rules of war for Gaza” by putting Palestinian civilians at risk to minimise the risk to Israeli soldiers.

The article is a garbled, evidence-free piece of anti-Israeli opportunism which appears designed to keep the UN’s Goldstone Report on Gaza high in the public consciousness. But the purpose behind the apparent absurdity of making a front page article out of such a flimsy pseudo-exclusive is revealed in an editorial accompanying the report which rehashes one of the most enduring calumnies in the arsenal of Israel’s detractors.

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