Mike Tobin Visits Where Deadly Rockets Are Made
People often ask me if I get scared when reporting with gunmen from the different radical, armed Palestinian groups. Usually, I say “No,” but not this time.
You see, when I talk to guys from Hamas or the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades, it’s not in their interest to do me any harm. The risk, as it is on any controversial story, is getting spun or exploited.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO!
This was different. Today I went to one of the clandestine rocket labs, where Palestinians make the deadly rockets they shoot at Israel. Dozens of times now, I’ve reported that one of these labs blew up. Sometimes they blow up because explosives were mishandled. Sometimes they blow up due to Israeli air strikes. The cause, however, is irrelevant to my concern: sometimes they blow up.
Rhetorical Question: Why take the risk?
Ever since the end of the second Lebanon war, the predominant story out of the Gaza strip has been the firing of homemade Palestinian rockets at Israeli civilians and soldiers and Israel’s response to the rocket fire. A part of this story that hadn’t made it to the American viewers was an up close look at the guys who won’t stop making the rockets and shooting them. One of the principals, which guides me through my career, is that the freedom of the press carries with it the burden of the press. The system works when reporters are willing to do what it takes to get every angle to the audience.
Good Guys? Bad Guys? That’s not for the messenger to decide. My job is just to get it to the viewers and let them decide.
Another Question: Did they stage a rocket launch just for our cameras?
Of course not. Those rockets kill people. I would never even consider being part of such a thing. The reality is that they are being fired at Israel every day. I just got the who, the how and the why of this deadly practice back to the audience.
The meeting in the Gaza strip was understandably, very cloak and dagger. The group we were meeting is the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committee. They are loyal to Hamas and quite potent. They worked with Hamas in the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. On tis day, they were nervous that I could be followed, their lab discovered and destroyed. When cameraman Chris Jackson and I got into the Gaza strip, our Gaza producer had been told a location where we were to drive, park on the street and wait until we were contacted.
We complied and parked in a busy Gaza neighborhood for about 20 minutes until, whoever was watching us, determined that we hadn’t been followed. A street vendor selling fruit got a cell phone call. He was an operative for the PRC. He turned around came to our truck and told us where to drive next. As we drove to the next spot, a man I recognized from a past encounter with the PRC, walked up to the car. He beckoned me to roll down my window. Then he reached his hand inside the truck took hold of the handle on the roof, stepped on the running board and told the driver another location.
That led us back into a grove of big trees near the heart of Gaza City. That’s where I met Abu Yousef, the man appointed to speak for the PRC rocket teams. The interview was pretty straightforward. Following that, I was taken to the location I’d been after for so long, the rocket lab.
It is indistinguishable from any other storefront location and surrounded by dense civilian population. That’s part of the cover and part of the defense. Still, I was on edge. I jumped at every noise. The rumble of a truck outside can sound a lot like an approaching helicopter, if you’re paranoid enough.
The lab was chaotic. The rocket makers were proudly showing off the different chemicals, which went into the rockets. Some propelled the rocket. TNT went into the warhead and was supplemented by steel pellets intended to act like a shotgun blast and tear into the flesh of anyone near the rocket’s impact. Some PRC members pulled out their stockpiles of mortar shells and roadside bombs. They were very proud to display the live ammo they had smuggled into the Gaza strip. But in the confusion of different guys, seeing poorly through the eyeholes of their black balaclavas, live rounds and mortar tubes were getting knocked over, adding to my apprehension. Ultimately, the warhead was screwed on to the body of the rocket and the PRC rocket team was ready for another launch.
Chris and I were loaded into a car again, along with one of the rocket makers. En route to the launch site he showed me how he had converted a disposable camera into the ignition for the rocket. A simple AA battery powered the Camera, the mechanism, which converted the electricity to power the flash, was used to generate the spark and that’s what ignites the propellant in the rockets.
The rocket team beckoned us to join the “Shaheeds” launching the rocket from an orchard near the border with Israel. “Shaheed” means martyr. I have no desire to join the martyrs or send my cameraman to join them. It’s in the interest of the Israeli Air Force to hit the rocket teams right before they launch, but the aircraft are more likely to get them immediately after the launch because the rocket gives up their location. One of them suggested that we set up a camera on a tri-pod and leave it. That would mean we’d have to come back and get the camera, forget it. It would have been good to tell the story from the launch up close, but there are some risks I just won’t take.
By the way, no one was injured when they fired the rocket, but that’s not for a lack of effort on the part of the PRC rocket team.
Mideast Correspondent Mike Tobin has provided on-site coverage from the Israeli-Lebanese border during the conflict in the Middle East. He also covered Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharons hospitalization in Jerusalem, the evacuation of Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip, the Iraqi elections in Baghdad and Operation Iraqi Freedom from Centcom in Doha, Qatar. 
*crossposting of a comment from Housley’s ‘blog where comment on this story came up*
*reposted so that M. Tobin can see it directly*
Comment by LDG
May 6th, 2008 at 10:41 am
OFF TOPIC but important.
@Adam Housley
It is likely impossible for you to comment on this in any detail, but if you’d be so kind as to accept input from here to pass along…
*OPINION*
I watched Tobin’s report. I am sure it is considered a scoop in many quarters. I, however, was not aware that: (1) The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunications at ASU teaches “sleeping with the enemy” as part of their curriculum, although given who the school is named for, it shouldn’t surprise me. ; (2) Israel continues to accredit the presence of reporters who stand by as witness to a criminal act.
I’ll concede the possibility that Mr. Tobin may have been “used” by both sides, Hamas-front for propaganda and Israeli intelligence to follow him around / analyse his video, but from the outside that is obviously not apparent.
I can no more justify M. Tobin’s going out to get that report like that than I could encourage you to have joined up with a Narcotrafficker Semi-sub crew to document their effort.
Further, in that hypothetical example, I would no more blame a naval patrol for sending your sub, and you, to the briney deep than I would feel the slightest compunction about your M. Tobin catching a JDAM while standing in a Hamas-affiliated weapons factory.
***
My regrets for feeling it neccessary to even post such an opinion. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I have to tell you that I am sickened by this video piece. I read fox news regularly and am usually satisfied with your news service. Having a ‘behind the scenes’ look at terrorist activities is already on tenuous moral ground in my opinion. Watching idly bye as they launch rockets intended to kill or maim innocent people is a tacit approval of their actions. How would people working for your own program respond if this were done showing anti-american terrorist activities in Iraq or Afghanistan? Would people watch video of rockets being launched at American soldiers, much less civilians?
This is truly the lowest of the low and I am appalled.
Of course you next assignment is meeting with Al-Queda in Iraq or Afganistan to show us how they make the IEDs that kill Americans, right?
Or maybe with some other Jihadi that will be blowing up some civilians in the US?
This is disgusting and reprehensible. Producing this piece, let alone posting it, is tacit approval of terrorism. Would this be tolerated had it been ETA preparing missiles to launch into Spain, or the IRA preparing bombs to deploy in North Ireland? Or al-Quaida preparing to attack the US?
This is shameful. That Fox thought it worthwhile to invest its resources into producing what amounts to pro-terrorist propaganda should give everyone pause about whether it is worthwhile to continue to endorse Fox with your viewership, which directly or indirectly supports this garbage.
shame on you for showing this…. would you EVER go to an Iraqi terrorist and watch him make bombs against our troops???? SHAME ON FOX!!!!!!!!
Mike,
I commend you on your hard work and your desire to report a story that no one else will because of the risk invloved. How would the end of your story changed if, hypothetically, some innocent person was killed by that rocket.
This video is one of the worst new articles i have ever seen. I am an avid reader of Fox news and hae been satisfied with the news thus far. It is absolutly shocking as we watch terrorists fire rockets into Israel, which had the ability to kill innocent people and children. How would people react to watching Iraqi’s kill American soldiers, and seeing how they build their weapons. This is once again, shocking.
-Jessica Hoffman
Student at Yeshiva Unniversity
Please stop showing the enemy as these videos are used to recruit new martyrs. The only legitimate reason for ANY American to go to one of these facilities is to blow it up. Showing us the “story” of what we already know is going on is just irresponsible journalism at best and I consider it to be aiding the enemy. You show that the bad deeds conducted by these lawless fanatics can succeed and there are no consequences.
JC
You are no better then CNN
Mike Tobin’s report is disgusting and shows how low you fall for ratings. How can he stand and film rockets being launched on innocent civilians without alerting the authorities to stop it. By standing by idly he and by extension the fox news network are participants in this hideous crime that these terrorists have successfully desensitized us to.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that was offended and found it despicable that you, Mike Tobin, are doing a story on Palestinian terrorists, building and launching rockets into Israel. What the hell were/are you thinking?
“Did they stage a rocket launch just for our cameras?
Of course not. Those rockets kill people. I would never even consider being part of such a thing. ”
Really, you would never consider doing such a thing? Well, here you are, doing such a thing.
I love Fox news and most of the anchors, correspondents. You sir are a tool and I hope the IDF has a little “chat”with you on the way out.
Idiot.
I am repulsed that you would show this clip on your news station. On the web site, in the article that accompanies this clip, Mr Tobin goes to some length rationalizing that this rocket launch would have happened whether or not it was filmed, trying, no doubt to assuage his own guilt at filming this piece. He talks of the job of the journalist – to report and not to editorialize, not to provide opinions, but to allow the viewers to decide.
However there is one painfully obvious point that Mr Tobin neglects to consider. The motivation of the terrorists who launch these rockets is certainly increased when a piece like this plays and sensationalizes their actions. Their evil work is legitimized by it being displayed on American television. Certainly other potential terrorists are influenced by the glorification that Mr Tobin provided by giving these rocket launchers their 15 minutes of fame and are more easily recruited to join the fun (sic).
If a mass murderer would call Mr. Tobin and ask him to come and film his next execution, would Mr. Tobin evaluate that as newsworthy. Would he not at least consider that he is providing motivation to the mass murderer or to others that might then follow in his footsteps? The fact that this is a rocket launch and seems to be a more antiseptic attack and that apparently no one was injured does not change the propriety of showing this clip.
Shame on you Mr. Tobin. Amorality is not a virtue.
Hershel Wolf
I am utterly appalled and disturbed by this video and extremely disappointed in FOX news. What kind of prestigious American news station would allow this to occur?
-Adina Tepper
Student at Yeshiva University
Fox News, which is usually my personal favorite, has sunk to a new low.
Sitting idly by as you watch innocents targeted cannot and should not be tolerated – no tin the name of news or any other form.
I assume you would never have filmed rockets being made and fired at American embassies, ships, troops, etc. To create a better world, we need to advocate caring for one another as human beings. It is exactly this — the detachment from morality as long as it does not directly affect you personally — that we all should be battling. In airing this, you have taken mankind morally and civily backwards.
I am utterly appalled and disgusted by this article and very disappointed by the actions of Fox news.
This is inexcusable. Observing, recording, and publishing terrorist activities designed to kill innocent people represents at the very least, complicity in the act itself. I have always respected FOX for its maverick nature and its excellent fact checking, but this piece sinks FOX to a new low, much lower than even the irresponsible New York Times could even hope to sink to. As of this date, I am removing foxnews.com from my brower list!
It’s ashame the IDF didn’t follow you. One of the worst pieces to come out in a while.
It is utterly betond me how the Palestinian nation puts its money into this kind of terrorism instead of buying food and fuel for their people. It is a statement of where their priorities lie.
The news is the news. The facts are the facts. It is a journalists duty to find both. We need a lot more of this.
I don’t understand why some of you call the rocket makers terrorists. Their country has been occupied for 60 years and their people treated like third class citizens. They have every right to fight back with all means at their disposal. The US manufactures rockets and uses them against innocent cvilians in their own countries who have done us no harm whatsoever. Who are the real terrorists? Look not in the mirror.
I certainly hope that Mike Tobin crossed back into Israel and gave the IDF the whereabouts of this missile factory.
Hamas are nothing but a bunch of ruthless killers and deserve to be dealt with like any other killer, in this world and the next.
Mike Tobin has given us several years of fantastic reporting in some very dangerous places. Although I may not agree with this particular piece, I will continue to watch Mr. Tobin and look forward to his very accurate and well put together pieces. In my opinion he’s one of the best Fox has if not all of this avenue of the media.
I have to agree, it was hard to watch this type of report. I could not sit by and watch a bomb made and then launched in an attempt to terrorize / kill civilians.
I was taken aback by Mike’s comment, regarding the retaliation of the Israeli’s being excessive. In my opinion, the Israeli’s have been very reserved in their response.