Source Note #16: Qassams in Sderot

March 8, 2009 in Source Notes
Tags: Journalistic: Mainstream, multimedia

I [Heart] Sderot (AP Images; July 23, 2009) 

Then-Democratic presidential candidate Obama is presented with an “I Love Sderot” t-shirt by Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak looks on during a visit to Sderot, Israel.

Topic:  Should the Obama administration continue to support Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Category: Journalistic – Mainstream

What is it? A photo from AP Images.
Publication Information: AP Images; July 23, 2008
Author: David Silverman
Location: http://tinyurl.com/cb3qfv
Accessed: March 31, 2009

Support:
Barack Obama
Ehud Barak
Eli Moyal

The sources represented are significant political figures in the United States and Israel. Although they are framed in front of a large display of qassam rocket shells, the photo does not show how large the display is. 

Audience and Agenda:
The Associated Press, a cooperative owned by its contributing members, has been around for over 150 years. In addition to written news stories, AP publishes radio and television broadcasts and owns a a photograph library consisting of over 10 million images. Its main website, ap.org, has an estimated 2.7 million visitors per month from the United States. Its photo library at apimages.ap.org has an estimated 4.3 thousand visitors per month.

Usefulness:
Sderot, Israel, a city on the Gaza Strip/Israeli border, has been the target of frequent qassam rocket attacks since 2000, causing an estimated 3,000 people to flee the city. In 2007, rockets hit the town at the rate of three to four per day. Although thousands have been wounded, only 13 have been killed. In this photo, Sderot mayor Eli Moyal presents then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama with a t-shirt reading “I [heart] Sderot.” The heart is shot through with a qassam rocket. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak looks on. The group is intentionally posed in front of a collection of qassam shells fired on Sderot by Hamas.

Works cited:
The New Associated Press
Quantcast.com
Sderot: Those who can afford it have already left
Hamas Rockets

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