Thomas Wictor

By now you’ve probably heard that Russian separatists in the Ukraine shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with a surface-to-air missile (SAM). You may also have heard that Israel launched a ground invasion into Gaza. This is a tale of two wars and how people react so differently to them.

The Ukrainian civil war has been going on for five months; the current Israeli-Hamas war is in its tenth day. About 1400 people have been killed in the Ukraine, including the 298 people on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. According to Palestinian sources, 240 have died in Gaza. Try and find this level of specificity about the deaths in the Ukraine.

Israeli tank fire in Gaza killed three people on Thursday night, raising the Palestinian death toll in 10 days of violence in the coastal enclave to 240, medics said.

The three were killed in east Gaza, said emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra, who added that they were a four-year-old child, a 15-year-old, and a man aged 26.

Their deaths came after a strike that killed three children in the Sabra neighbourhood of central Gaza — Jihad, Waseem and Fulla from the Shuheiber family.

Why don’t we know the names and ages of the Ukrainian civilians killed? What makes Ukrainians less newsworthy than Palestinians?

When you use Google to search “Ukrainian civil war,” you get 132 million results.

Put in “Israel war Gaza,” and you get 82 million results.

This reflects the fact that the Ukrainian civil war has been raging for much longer than Operation Protective Edge, the Israeli name for the current war against Hamas. Also, the Ukrainian civil war is actually a transnational war. The Russian-speaking insurgents are commanded by a Russian army intelligence officer named Igor Girkin. A colonel in the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU)—the foreign-military intelligence agency of the General Staff, Armed Forces of the Russian Federation—Girkin also goes by the name Igor Strelkov.

He’s overcompensating for a lot, as you can see by this photo.

Girkin is a military re-enactor. He likes to pretend he’s a World War One soldier or a Roman centurion. Regardless of his many personal issues, he’s under direct control of Vladimir Putin. No question. And today, Girkin took credit for shooting down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.

17.07.2023 17:50 (MSK) Message from the militia.

In the vicinity of Torez we just downed a plane An-26, lying somewhere in the “Progress” mine. Warned already - not to fly in “our sky.” And here is the video confirmation of the next “birdie fall.” Bird fell on waste heap, residential areas not hit. Civilians were not injured.

And also have information about the second downed aircraft, such as the Su.

The screen grab is from VKontakte, the Russian version of Facebook. Girkin thought the airliner was an Antonov AN-26 transport flown by the Ukrainian air force. The “Su” is the Ukainian Sukhoi Su-25 ground-attack aircraft Russia shot down the day before. However, the Russians soon learned that this new victory was a civilian airliner, and Girkin deleted his post.

Russia is clearly responsible, since it’s supplying military hardware that requires trained crews. In other words, Russians are operating the missiles. The Ukrainians have released taped conversations between Ukrainian insurgents and Russian army intelligence officers, discussing their screwup.

Now, let’s look at what happens when you use Google images and put in “war Gaza.”

And then search “Ukrainian civil war.”

Radically different subject matter, huh? I wonder why…

There are photos of a dead infant from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. She’s lying in a field. I won’t post it because it’s truly a ghastly image. And you can bet that no western media outfit will show you her final resting place either. You can also find photos of dead and injured Ukrainian children, but you have to look hard because they’re rare.

Now why does the western press lead with images and stories of dead and injured Palestinian children, but not dead and injured Ukrainian children? There has to be an answer here somewhere.

The Israelis launched a ground invasion of Gaza today in order to destroy the concrete tunnels that Hamas uses to smuggle in weapons and infiltrate Israel. This particular failed attack was the impetus for the ground incursion.

Thirteen Hamas terrorists armed with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns, assault rifles, and hand grenades planned to attack a kibbutz and kill as many civilians as they could. The Israelis let the terrorists get into the tunnel and then dropped a precision-guided munition on the opening. Concrete tunnels enclose and intensify explosions. The pressure wave from the bomb killed all thirteen terrorists. Their insides were turned to jelly.

Hamas is in a tough spot. The current Egyptian government is hostile to it and has closed the smuggling tunnels. Iran has cut off support because Hamas—being Wahabbist fanatics—took the side of the rebels in the Syrian civil war. Iran didn’t like its lackey Assad being dissed that way, so it cut off money and weapons to Hamas.

The Obama administration has checked out. It plans to spend the next two years on vacation. This is what the State Department tweeted on the day that Russia shot down an airliner and Israel invaded Gaza.

Israel is now free to do what’s necessary to ensure her security.

Yesterday an Irishman called me hateful because I support the Israeli Defense Forces’ operation against Hamas. He said that he condemns all violence. However, when I looked at his Facebook page, it turns out that he condemns only violence carried out by Israel. So far he’s had nothing to say about the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

What in the world could it be that makes people riot in Paris and attack synagogues over Israeli military action but ignore the much more violent and threatening Ukrainian civil war? Why is it that the war against a small terrorist group that openly pledges to commit complete and absolute genocide inflames passions more than a world power gobbling up its neighbors, destabilizing an entire region, and now shooting down civilian airliners?

I may have gotten a clue on Twitter.

The Russians are lucky that they don’t have big noses. Because of their small noses, the world gives them a pass. There’s no such thing as an antiwar movement. It’s an anti-war-waged-by-the-US-and-Israel movement. The Israelis and I are hated by the same people. I consider that an honor.

Thus endeth the tale of two wars.

Good hunting, men.