Friday, June 18, 2010

DEAD BABIES IN GAZA

Infant mortality is significantly lower in Gaza (17.71 per 1,000 live births) than in Iran (34.7), Turkey (24.8), Libya (20.87), Iraq (43.16), and Egypt (26.2), and only slightly higher than that of Jordan (17.03), Syria (16.14), and Lebanon (16.4).

Gaza's infant mortality rate is actually ranked 109 out of 224 countries and regions worldwide.

Accurate information on mortality in Gaza and elsewhere is easily available from the CIA World Factbook.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

[According to Wikipedia, The World Factbook (ISSN 1553-8133; also known as the CIA World Factbook) is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official paper copy version is available from the National Technical Information Service and the Government Printing Office. Other companies—such as Skyhorse Publishing—also print a paper edition. The Factbook is available in the form of a website, which is partially updated every two weeks. It is also available for download for use off-line. It provides a two- to three-page summary of the demographics, geography, communications, government, economy, and military of 266 entities including U.S.-recognized countries, dependencies, and other areas in the world.
The World Factbook is prepared by the CIA for the use of U.S. government officials, and its style, format, coverage, and content are primarily designed to meet their requirements. However, it is frequently used as a resource for academic research papers. As a work of the U.S. government, it is in the public domain. Source: Wikipedia.]



CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORP. NEWSCASTER BLOOPER


However, these facts are UNKNOWN or UNAVAILABLE to CBC correspondent Peter Mansbridge, who on June 1 asserted that Gaza currently has "an infant mortality rate among the highest in the world."

It is unclear what led Peter Mansbridge to this odd conclusion - perhaps he was talking to an activist at a cocktail party, or reading one of the handouts from an anti-Israel rally. Conceivably his informant was a student or professor at York University in Toronto....... where anti-Israel agitation and misinformation is rife.


"An infant mortality rate among the highest in the world!"


My dear mister Mansbridge, you do know that you need to do your research before you state something as fact, don't you? Especially when an egregious falsehood might be construed as slander?
Perhaps even riling up the rabble for riot-mode?

Do the words 'due diligence' and 'substantiation' mean something to you?

I hope they do...... please ask your handlers at CBC to either paste them all over your basement or tattoo them on your forehead.

Or you could request that the biased assistant or editor who inserted that blatant bit of propaganda in your script be assigned elsewhere - I suggest Pakistan or Afghanistan; places with shockingly high infant mortality rates.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's rather funny. It's always been my impression that the standard issue Israel Haters generally make up their facts out of thin air. Like Illan Papp, noted anti Israel Israel Leftist said,Its not about the truth, it's about advancing an ideology!

Devorah said...

Yep. Gaza is about number 117 on the list of worst offenders in terms of infant mortality.

However, they do have one of the higher rates of anemia. That's what most people point to when they discuss the "serious problem", they usually ignore the infant mortality rate, as it's not as big of an offender.

Still, by reading some articles, it's interesting to note that this anemia is not a direct result of the blockade, and is likely more about economics.

Anonymous said...

A lot of the infant health issues in Gaza are from insufficient nursing of infants, which is a cultural issue in Islamic countries. When a woman has a girl baby, she seeks to get pregnant again right away. Because nursing supresses ovulation, often female babies are simply not nursed for an appropriate length of time. Many of the infant health issues in Gaza would be eliminated if women nursed ALL infants for at least 6 months.