Matthew Bell

Matthew Bell

Matthew Bell is a Jerusalem-based Middle East reporter. He has been with The World since 2001 and has filed stories from cities across the US and abroad.

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People in Southern Israel Cautiously Optimistic About Gaza Ceasefire

November 22, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Beersheba resident Yuval Kochavi and daughter. (Photo: Daniel Estrin)

Yuval Kochavi moved his family away from their home in a kibbutz next to the Gaza Strip. He says Israel did not "finish the job" in Gaza. (Photo: Daniel Estrin)

The World’s Matthew Bell visited the southern Israeli city of Beersheba to see how people feel a day after the declaration of a ceasefire with Hamas.

He says most believe it was the right thing to do, but they don’t think it will hold for very long.

Discussion

2 comments for “People in Southern Israel Cautiously Optimistic About Gaza Ceasefire”

  • http://www.facebook.com/jack.dresser Jack Dresser

    I was very disappointed in your report today, which inteviewed Israelis only and showed concern for Israelis only.  We were invited to empathize with a tearful Israeli woman with a baby near a Hamas rocket strike, and a frightened couple who plan to return to Mexico. 

    However, in Gaza some 160 people were not merely frightened but were killed by attacks with weapons far more lethal and destructive than Hamas rockets, including phosphorous bombs, hellfire missiles, air strikes from F-16s and attack helicopters, and naval bombardment inflicted by high-tech weaponry provided by US taxpayers. Their entire population was terrorized, and this fear, intimidation and violent bullying has been a staple condition of their daily life for years.  That’s why they shoot rockets back

    Why were no Palestinian victims interviewed?  How about interviewing the parents of the three boys killed while playing soccer? Or the family of the 7-year-old killed in the targeted assassination of al-Jabari?  Why were all human feelings of Palestinians ignored that would evoke empathy, understanding and outrage toward the Israeli bully in your listeners? And why do your stories provide no historical context that would expose the self-centered obliviousness of the Israelis you interviewed?

    Palestinians are the victims in Israel’s sick, vicious collective abuse disorder, and the US is the enabler.  Please don’t select your story lines to conceal the truth. Unless you don’t know the facts yourself. If this is the case, your journalistic responsibility requires you to learn them. And the last place to start is with any Israeli spokesman, since as you should know, Israel is conducting a desperate campaign to rehabilitate itself in world opinion after its decades of human rights and international law violations.

  • http://twitter.com/matthewjbell Matthew Bell