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Townhall.Com
April 19, 2002
"Washington Post"
Bias Against Israel
Joel Mowbray
In the lead of a Page 1, above-the-fold story, the
Washington Post stunningly announced that Israeli forces were pulling
out of two “conquered” West Bank towns. Conquered?
Is the Post’s bias so thoroughly ingrained that it can nonchalantly
bandy about brazen words uttered only by fierce Palestinian partisans?
Going town-by-town in the disputed territories to dismantle Arafat’s
terrorist infrastructure in a defensive effort can hardly be considered
in the ilk of Spanish conquistadors plundering to acquire new land.
A city cannot have been “conquered” if there was no conquering in the
first place. To conquer an area implies both aggression and an intent
to hold or annex the “conquered” land, but neither applies to Israel’s
military actions. How could the nation’s premier daily flub so badly?
Given the prominent placement and double byline, this was no mere
oversight. There would have been no fewer than five people—-any of whom
should have known better—-who approved the use of “conquered” in the
lead.
Such an error, whether intentional or not, fans the flames of
misinformation spread by Palestinian apologists. The Post plays a vital
role in framing American perceptions about the unfolding developments
in the Mideast, not just for the public-at-large, but also for other
newspapers nationwide and TV and radio news outlets. Describing
Palestinian cities as “conquered” undeniably fits hand-in-glove with
Yasser Arafat’s yelps about Israeli “aggression,” which results in
Sharon being cast as a hostile bad guy and Arafat as a victimized
leader of an oppressed people.
Perhaps this biased blunder would be forgivable if the Post had been
otherwise fair in reporting the Mideast crisis, but it hasn’t been.
Since the start of Israel’s military actions, the Post has run more
than 50 supposedly objective news stories labeling the operation an
“offensive.” Pardon the pun, but to dub defensive actions designed to
protect innocent civilian lives as an “offensive” is utterly offensive.
It’s not as if the word “offensive” is necessary in order to properly
describe the situation in the Mideast. “Military sweep” or “military
actions” both perfectly explain the course of events in objective
terms, without resorting to characterizations embraced by partisans on
either side. Why is it, then, that the Post compulsively feels the need
to classify Israel’s actions as an “offensive”?
The Post, and many other American newspapers, likely view the side that
sends in tanks as the one engaging in an “offensive.” But the world has
changed. The new terrorist warfare doesn’t march soldiers or roll
tanks, it maliciously targets innocent civilians with lethal force to
further a political agenda. In responding to terror at its doorstep,
Israel ’s initiating the use of conventional warfare does not render
its actions an “offensive”.
After 9/11, no mainstream American media outlet attempted to portray
America’s retaliatory strikes against al Qaeda as aggressive, so why
the double standard for Israel? Watching planes smash into the World
Trade Center and forcing the destruction of the towers was tangible to
journalists here, and in our then-galvanized society, every sane mind
understood the need for a swift, decisive response. But civilians
getting blown up at cafes and religious gatherings halfway around the
world apparently doesn’t have quite the same salience to American
reporters.
Part of the problem may also lie in the fact that there is a residual
belief in the fourth estate that Arafat has no control over purportedly
independent groups like Hamas or Islamic Jihad. So American media types
don ’t necessarily see the correlation between suicide bombings, often
conducted by these “independent” groups, and Sharon’s direct response
to protect his people. Maybe American journalists will see Israel’s
military actions differently as more and more evidence from Arafat’s
Ramallah compound—-showing that Arafat is intimately involved with the
“independent” terrorists—-comes to light.
There’s a reason that even Israel’s peaceniks are now hawkish, and
Sharon’ s military efforts enjoy over 70% Israeli public support.
People in Israel know that to live there is to live in fear. No
sovereign can sustain merciless and repeated deadly attacks in every
area where people have a right to feel safe. Military reaction to
neutralize the persistent terrorist threat is not only justified, but
an absolute necessity.
If nothing else, out of respect to the scores of Israelis who have been
brutally killed in the latest spate of suicide bombings, the Post
should think long and hard about portraying Israel as launching an
“offensive” to “conquer” the West Bank. Their families’ suffering may
be less tangible to reporters here, but it is no less real than ours.
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