Sunday April 13, 2025: Russia''s bombardment of the Ukrainian town of Soumy kills 34 people, including two children. RTBF, which makes it the top story on its evening news, announces "terrible images [that] come to us from Ukraine". Emotions ran high. The United States refers to an attack that exceeds the limits of decency, Olaf Scholz speaks of a barbaric attack, Georgia Meloni denounces a horrible and cowardly Russian attack, Emmanuel Macron considers that Putin is pursuing a war with contempt for human life. Ursula von der Leyen tweeted about "Russian cruelty" and the barbaric and despicable nature of the attack, while the German Foreign Minister called it a deliberate attack on civilians, demonstrating Putin''s desire to destroy, and her French counterpart called on the EU to asphyxiate Russia.
RTBF''s correspondent is categorical: "I can tell you with certainty that the streets that were hit have absolutely nothing to do with military positions, they are streets that are commercial and sometimes even pedestrian, and this is perhaps the reason why hundreds of civilians were hit this morning".
Two days later, Ukraine itself confirmed the "Russian version": the strike was aimed at Ukrainian troops preparing to attend an awards ceremony. "The governor of the region was dismissed on Tuesday, April 15, for having authorized the organization of a medal ceremony for servicemen so close to the border with Russia"1.
The previous night, Israel had bombed Gaza''s Baptist hospital, targeting the emergency center, the oxygen production unit for intensive care patients and the surgical unit. The ''subject'' was not mentioned at all on the evening news.
Day after day, night after night, Israel hurls its bombs into Gaza, burning alive and tearing apart thousands of men, women and children, without our media finding it necessary to make the slightest mention of it. Only in exceptional cases is the silence broken - as when the Red Crescent rescue workers were deliberately killed and buried with their ambulances, a video found in the mobile phone of one of the victims having exposed the Zionist army''s shameless lies.
Apart from these rare exceptions, the genocide in Gaza, like Israel''s almost daily bombardment of Lebanon, the settler pogroms in the West Bank, or the US bombardment of Yemen, in direct support of Israel, - all are generally covered by a great silence.
The mainstream media''s exclusive, one-sided focus on Russia''s real or supposed ''crimes'' has the aim and effect of stirring up hatred against the enemy. And to make the population accept the extreme measures of militarization and sanctions against Russia. On the other hand, their silence is a weapon of mass invisibilization, designed to make as many people as possible passively accept the horror in progress. If the media showed the images of the current massacre in Palestine day after day, our governments would no longer be able to pursue their policy of active or passive complicity with Israel.
The European Union is Israel''s main trading partner. Its ports and airports are essential routes for the transport of weapons. As the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, reminded us during her visit to Israel in March, a week after the genocide resumed: Europe and Israel are "very good partners"...
1. rfi.fr, 15/04/25