Why is the Chabad Center Torture Not Being Reported?

On Monday, Dec. 1, the UK Telegraph reported statements by doctors who examined the bodies of those killed in the Mumbai massacre. "Many of the bodies showed signs of torture," they said, one going on to explain that "of all the bodies, the Israeli victims [clarified elsewhere in the article to mean the victims at Nariman Chabad Center] bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again."

Horrifying. And mystifying -- because this news item, carried around the world, has been utterly absent from the mainstream U.S. media. Other than The Huffington Post and The Drudge Report (unusual bedfellows indeed), you cannot find this report anywhere on CNN, CBS, ABC, FOX, The New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post -- nowhere.

Why? I have no idea. Is this not news? If not well-enough substantiated to be reported as news, is it not worth investigating? We have been privy to every other detail of the Mumbai atrocity, to all sorts of unsubstantiated eyewitness accounts. Why would a report by government doctors be ignored?

But the story gets curiouser. Since that time, the Telegraph's online article has been edited and cut down, and though it still mentions the "Israeli" bodies showing the most signs of torture, it no longer contains the doctor's frightening quote about not wanting to go over the details in his head.

Now Wednesday's Los Angeles Times has a long article describing in great detail the sequence of events at the Nariman Center. Nowhere is torture mentioned, nor any description of the bodies. In fact the articles states:

Israel's Foreign Ministry persuaded Indian authorities to refrain from examining the corpses, which would have violated Jewish religious law. "No autopsies were performed," said Yigal Palmor, the ministry's spokesman. 'So we'll never know for sure how and when the hostages died."

We certainly will never know for sure. Who were those doctors quoted in the original Telegraph story, and why did they know so much about the bodies if they had been persuaded not to examine them? Why isn't CNN (particularly apt as Christiane Amanpour promotes her new series on those who've tried to stop genocide) trying to find out? Terrorists targeting Jews is nothing new, but torturing them in front of their children certainly would be. Game-changingly new.

I cannot escape the feeling that -- for whatever reasons, and I am truly at a loss as to what they would be -- this lack of coverage (or even curiosity about the story) is absolutely intentional. I challenge the Huffington Post -- who at least had the courage to post the original report -- to get to bottom of why this essential story is not being reported.

Comments

[Quattro]

Pakistanis are going to pay for their crime

[Jamesdean]

Mr Marshall, how about saving a thought for all victims and not just Jews? By the way, how much coverage would be enough for you? Please be specific, so that the media can satisfy your need.

[Huffyfan]

Why is this story STILL on huffington post for days , when some important stories dont make it more than a day . this story has been debunked Already by Jerusalem Post . give it a rest

[Jamesdean]

Huffyfan, you know the answer just as well we all do.

[duh]

It has been over reported vis a vis the fact that many other non jews were also tortured and not much commented upon.

[DC]

Because there was no evidence anywhere that the victims were singled out for torture. Reports from reliable sources do not indicate that they were tortured.

But that is all absolutely beside the point. All were equal victims of this horrific crime.

Why is there exclusivity among groups and peoples to the point of measuring who suffers the most? It is deeply distressing and even immoral to keep score on human suffering -- as if rate suffering and victims? Why are scores kept? To get something for the score?

I wish I were more articulate, but measuring the worth of a people and their contributions or their suffering is measuring the worth of one human over another.

It is wrong and the root of so much conflict,war, suffering, etc. The root, even of the mentality of the massacre in Mumbai and others like it.

[bubbuh]

Maybe, because this is not about Israel? Maybe, because 172 people were murdered, four of which were Jews? Maybe, because this isn't Israel where I am certain most people couldn't tell how many died but almost everyone will be able to tell the names of all the Jewish victims and provide short bio's of same? Mayybe, because they weren't the only people tortured.

[Steamboater]

Maybe because you don''t care bubbuh. These Jews wewre singled out for not just murder but torture. That makes it significant and the press needs to report that.

[parkerfly38]

Um, yeah, there are certainly less obscure targets in Mumbai than a humble little Chabad House. These folks were targeted, Richard.

[miranda2060]

The Jerusalem Post quotes a doctor who saw the bodies as saying he did not think the victims had been tortured:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702405844&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Steamboater]

Even the Israeli government is tryiong to to otmne this down so the only conclusion you can come to is that the Israeli, the Brotish and American media want to either soothe the feelings of rage among citizens. It's foolish because anything like this needs to be reported so we know what we're dealing with. It's not a matter of upping any antagonism toward Muslims but justifying any action taken against these murdering thugs who commited these crimes.

[Bladernr1001]

The story was reported by FOX.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460133,00.html

I know there are a lot of FOX haters on this site but if you want to get the real story FOX is where you go. No other mainstream news outlet even referred to the attackers as terrorist or muslim (they were both). You want politically correct and sanitized news....then watch the network news, read the NYT, LAT or any of these other MSM socialist outlets. But don't lump FOX into that group.

It is interesting that this post even made it to Huff. The MSM regualrly suppresses or at least downplays many subjects it finds not fitting their liberal agenda. The only reporter I respect in the MSM is John Stossel on ABC. He raises issues that make most liberals very uncomfortable. This thing is just business as ususal for the MSM. Thats is in part why so many MSM outlets are in finacial trouble. People are getting smart and not reading or listening to their biased coverage anymore.

[shivadas]

Where is your proof that they were Muslim terrorists? I've seen photos of Hindu shooters and reports of Indian Secret Police. Neither of which are Muslim terrorists.

[Steamboater]

Another apologist troll out of the closet huh? These terriorists were Pakistani and Muslim. Hindus didn't torture these Jews and kill them. The gu they caught was street thug, a theif and bum who fell in with that terrorist group because he needed to feel like a man and had no 'meaning' in his life. Now he has no life and that's for the better.

[Bladernr1001]

How about all over the internet!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2008_Mumbai_attacks

You cannot be serious....right? The Lashkar-e-Taiba is responsible....a Pakistani muslim extremist, terrorist group. Have you heard any different or are you going to play the conspiracy card in an attempt to discredit my sources?

[Swerinjer2]

lawl

[antiprop1]

I have some shore line property I would like to sell you on the bank of the beautiful Great Salt Lake

[QueenOfViolets]

Oh no, please don't start playing this card where some deaths become more significant and important than all the others.

Being ripped apart by an AK-47 isn't fun either.

[Steamboater]

This ain't a game of cards Queen of Hearts. Sure, murdering someone is terrible; torturing them before you murder them is worse. A bullet is a quick death. You should understand that. Doing whatever was done to these Jews wasn't quick at all. Ask yourself which method you would prefer and I think everyone knows the answer.

[steamboat]

Marshall, because these PC-thought police lefties that control the media and blogs won't report anything bad about muslims. Only whites and jews can be the bad guys in their eyes.

[shivadas]

That is the single stupidest thing I have ever read.

[antiprop1]

Lets see, four tortured Jews are so much more important then 195 non-jews that the evil lib press is engaged in an anti-semetic conspiracy by not giving it more coverage. Oh, I forgot, they are god's chosen people, I beg forgiveness for bringing this travesty to light.

[barbwiregrrl]

Shessh---seriously sometimes I think what my grandmother said is true as much as I don't want to beleive it...."scratch a gentile and their antisemitism spews out".

Yes four tourted Jews is a bad thing when they are singled out simply because they are Jews. The same as when any specific group of people are singled out specifically for what they are.

I would feel the same way if it was Muslims or Arabs or even Xtains.

Were the 195 non Jews tourtured?

[TheHandyman]

Thje willfully ignorant are always immediately identifiable because somewhere in their rant they use the term lefties. The martching morons are indoctrinated to believe that there are some great mass of humans that always act in concert for the benefit of humans and show signs of critical thought and care about the truth. Would that it were true. Neither Conservatives or Liberals are without their willfully ignorant people but there seems to be more of them on the right tham the left. And they never seem to stray beyond what they want to believe as opposed to trying to find the truth. And the Jews seem to be the perrenial victims tho they, like the US, continue to bully, torture, assassinate, occupy, other countries for the sake of corporations which only fuels the increasing hatred. But placing blame is a lot more fun than accepting responsibility.

What people like you and the author of this piece don't get is that no one expects the terrorist to behave in a civilized manner because they are frankly, barbarians. But the US and Israel claim to be civilized. That means that they shouldn't be torturing, bulldozing, dropping cluster bombs, kiddnapping, imprisoning people without charge or providing due process. To do so not only makes them barbarians but hypcritical too!

[Veeckster]

Yeah right, the NY Times is soooooo anti-Israel. (Said w/ sarcasm.)

[Quattro]

The media is more keen on showing the poor Muslim terrorists as victims rather than the murderers that they are.

[Jamesdean]

and you just revealed that you are stupid.

[Quattro]

Pakistanis and truth don't mix well

[ndem]

It also has not appeared in the French press...I came back from the UK having read those headlines and was amazed no mention in the French press...also with the fianncial crisis, often what appears on page 1 fear provoking headlines in the US is on page 10 in French press...so our anxiety over here in paris is much lower.

[veracity]

umm... How come NO ONE is reporting that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is doing and saying NOTHING, as Treasury Secretary Paulson continues to WRECK the US economy, by GIVING billions of taxpayer dollars MEANT TO RESTORE the US credit-financial system, away to his banker buds at Goldamn-Sachs?

[chrisr64]

What does your comment have to do with the article?

[Heri]

Strange article, it seems the author wants this story to be true, game changingly new? what an odd thing to say...

This story was not under reported anyway I read it in at least two papers, the Daily Telegraph published it first and the Daily mail subsequently, print and online editions. It is interesting that the Telegraph since edited their article. Could be that they have no corraboration from reliable sources abut the story. Could be that they don't want to be embarrassed by publishing a dubious story, as they have done before and gt taken t curt fr libel, which they lost...

And wasn't everyone tortured by terrorists in Mumbai? were the Christian and Hindu victims treated with kid gloves?

[camper65]

He's referring to the AMERICAN MSM, perhaps the most derelict on the planet. Worse than TASS!

[Jamesdean]

Muslims too died in the attacks, at the railway station and even in Taj Hotel.

[AfzaalKhan]

how abt u dun lie? why not wait and dun spread lies every day media change its story read Israel's antiterror squad report abt it.