Are all Westerners Christian?

If you only read the Post, its no wonder you won't understand the racist war waged by our enemies in the Arab world? Compare Reuters account of yesterday's al Qaeda's terrorism in Saudi Arabia with the Post's.

Reuters leads with,

"Are you Muslim or Christian? We don't want to kill Muslims. Show us where the Americans and Westerners live." Later in the article, the terrorists are reported to have told an American Muslim...., "Don't be afraid. We won't kill Muslims even if you are an American."

The Post buries their racism in the middle of a lengthy article that only hints at it,

"Witnesses said the gunmen went room to room inside the walled compound searching for Westerners to kill or kidnap but tried to leave Muslims unharmed."

But the Post says they were killing Westerners, not Christians. Is the Post also racist or aren't American Muslims Westerners?

And if you think the Post's reporting about al Qaeda is bad, think how they mangle the goals of the racist Palestinian terror groups..especially Hamas and Arafat's Fatah group.

While on the Subject of Arafat

.....and Arafat is deceptive too...

Follow the links through our sister group, Honest Reporting, to the Independent to read that

"while on the subject of the PLO chairman what about his periodic condemnations of murders carried out by Palestinian militants? "It's a tactic," says Zubeidi. About this at least, he and the Israelis, who hold Arafat's Fatah directly responsible for financing the Brigades, appear to agree."

If only we could get the Post to agree....

Arafat at heart of rights abuse report

Gee, do you think the subjournalists at the Post will mention the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group's report... naaaw.... or human rights violations against Palestinians - only when they can blame Israel first.

......and who knew General Arafat was a thug also....and not just a terrorist.

But what does the EU do...reduce the funding for the only honest Palestinian voice today.

The Importance of Words

From Eye on the Media: Just like Stalingrad, Bret Stephens, Jerusalem Post, 5-28-04

"CARE FOR language is more than a concern for purity. When one describes President Bush as a fascist, what words remain for real fascists? When one describes Fallujah as Stalingrad-like, how can we express, in the words that remain to the language, what Stalingrad was like? And while I'm at it, when we call Shimon Peres or Yossi Beilin or now Ariel Sharon a "traitor," how much more invisible do actual traitors become?

George Orwell wrote that the English language "becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts." In taking care with language, we take care of ourselves."

While Bret Stephens uses examples of hyperbole, the same thing can be said about understatement. The best known and most recent example of the media, including The Washington Post, dumbing down the English language is its refusal to call a terrorist a terrorist. Calling a terrorist merely an "activist" or a "militant" is not only dishonest, but it carries more far reaching dangers. None of those substitute words adequately describe what distinguishes a terrorist from all the other activists and militants who do not and would not sink so low as to deliberately attack and kill innocent civilians for political ends. Eliminating the word that captures the moral distinction threatens to eliminate the moral distinction itself from the minds of those speaking the language. If we had to rely on the media for the preservation of our language, we'd be in trouble. Words are important.

Editorializing With Photos

The photo of a Palestinian child walking amidst rubble accompanying Glenn Frankel's article today on Sharon's plan to present his revised Gaza withdrawal plan to the cabinet doesn't match the subject of the article itself. (Sharon Tests New Plan for Gaza, Proposed Four-Stage Withdrawal Meets Cabinet Opposition, 5-28-04 A14)

One has to wonder whether this is simply knee jerk ignorance ... the word "Gaza" is mentioned and it triggers the firing of a brain synapse instructing "Gaza ... Palestinian children and rubble ... put sympathetic photo" ... or whether it's a more malicious effort to inject the editor's opinion and sway reader's views by editorializing with photos. There really is no relationship between the photo and the subject of the article, because Israeli military action in Gaza to destroy terrorist weapons smuggling tunnels is designed to reduce terrorism throughout Israel, and is not related to the settlements that Sharon is planning to withdraw from Gaza.
Here's the photo:

Op Ed Piece on the Palestinian Violation of International Law Called Perfidy

The media needs to learn about this war crime called "Perfidy." Here's the opening paragraph of a great op-ed piece published in today's Washington Times. The author is a widely published professor of International Law at Perdue:

"Israel has just completed an essential defensive operation against terrorists in Rafah. Although televised images of this Gaza operation suggested cruelty and indiscriminate action by Israeli forces, exactly the opposite is true. By deliberately placing young Arab children in the front of large mobs that advanced menacingly upon Israeli soldiers, Palestinian leaders openly committed major violations of the Law of War. There is, in fact, a precise legal term for these violations, a term that applies equally to the Palestinian tactic of routinely inserting scores of gunmen among the lines of children. This codified crime under humanitarian international law is called 'perfidy.'"

http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php
StoryID=20040526-085520-6475r

The Post's Exaggerations - First Jenin, and now Rafah

On Saturday, May 22, 2004 Robin Shulman of The Post's foreign service reported that according to UN officials 450 people were rendered homeless in the Rafah operation. On Tuesday the 25th in her article "Emerging From Fear To Bury A Son, Family in Rafah Details Killing of 13-Year-Old (5-25-04 A10), Ms. Shulman, relying upon Palestinian sources to inflate the figure to 1,000 people rendered homeless, stated: "Palestinian officials said more than a thousand people have been rendered homeless by Israeli demolitions." Yet as recently as yesterday UNWRA reported only 575 people left homeless. Ms. Shulman must have known the figure she was repeating yesterday from Palestinian sources was an exaggeration. One is left to wonder why her editor wouldn't have caught the inflated figure.

Will This Go In the "News Not Reported by The Post" Category?

Reports out of Israel show that the PA is supplying Hamas and Islamic Jihad with weapons to fight the IDF in Gaza. By any measure, this is extremely newsworthy. It will be interesting to see if The Post reports it. Here are the URLS for the articles:
Ha'Aretz - "PA distributing arms in Gaza"
Jerusalem Post - Report: PA Police Arming Gaza Terror Groups

Doing Laundry in the Heat of Battle?

One of our members notes that the news services, including The Post, keep spreading the unlikely story of two young Palestinians in Gaza getting shot while doing the laundry on the roof. He notes how on the one hand all of the news articles report Palestinians fleeing Rafah in terror of the advancing Israelis, while on the other hand this pair of teenagers were alleged to have been permitted by their parents to calmly collect their laundry from where it had been left to dry on the roof. They were said to be 13 and 16 years old. Another member notes that past experience shows this to be well within the age range of Palestinian militants shooting weapons. Now the Israeli side is saying it is believed they were hit by shrapnel or fire from the Palestinian side.

Glenn Frankel in Middle East

Glenn Frankel's reporting is usually fairer than Molly Moore's or John Anderson's.

Does anyone think a Moore or Anderson report on yesterday's violence in Gaza would have noted that one of the Israeli soldiers who was killed was shot by a sniper while he was trying to help an elderly Palestinian come inside with heavy baggage? Not a chance.

The article stated: "According to an army statement, the incident on Friday occurred when soldiers were attempting to secure the area while other troops worked to recover the remains of the five soldiers, who had been killed Wednesday. A sniper shot and killed a soldier who had taken up a position in a house and was trying to assist an elderly Palestinian seeking to enter with heavy baggage."