THUMBS UP to Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin for reporting outside the box by avoiding the vague, euphemistic language favored by many in her field. For example, on Aug. 16, instead of blandly blaming the “cycle of violence” for ongoing shooting between Palestinian Beit Jalla and nearby Israeli Gilo, Griffin identified the root of the exchanges.
Interviewing Wael Nazzal, a Palestinian Christian resident of Beit Jalla whose home was destroyed by the Israeli army, she asks him: “Do these Israelis ever shoot first?”
Nazzal responds: “I don’t think so.”
To which she follows up: “So if there were not Palestinian gunmen shooting from here, you probably would have quiet from here?”
“Sure,” said Nazzal, who also agreed that Yasser Arafat could stop the gunmen if he wanted.
This brief report clarified a vital point many journalists often overlook. There is tension between the Christian residents of Beit Jalla and the unwelcome Muslim gunmen backed by Arafat who come to Beit Jalla to attack Gilo, seeking civilian homes for cover.
While many reporters often focus on the hardships the Christians of Beit Jalla suffer during Israeli retaliations, rarely do they investigate who actually caused their troubles.