Author James Bamford once again charges that Israel intentionally and knowingly attacked a US spy ship, the USS Liberty, during the 1967 Six Day War. Though he claims to have uncovered new evidence, the charges in Body of Secrets (Doubleday) directly parallel demonstrably false charges Bamford leveled in his earlier book, The Puzzle Palace. For this reason, neither Bamford's charges nor his "new evidence" deserve much credibility.
Reuters, a British news wire service, claims to be the world's largest international news and television agency with over 2,000 journalists, photographers and videographers in 151 countries, reporting daily in 24 languages to print media and reaching almost 20% of Internet users on over 900 websites - but unfortunately, their commitment to impartial coverage does not seem to extend to the Middle East.
Even when innocents are blown apart by bombs, a journalist is loath to tell the story straight and place blame squarely on the perpetrator, there is little doubt that severe partisanship is at work.
"Peace Under Fire: Palestinians and Israelis on the Brink of War," the cover story of an October 2000 edition of Teen Newsweek is filled with errors and distortions about the current Israeli-Palestinian clashes. This one-sided article allows students to read only Palestinian views, seriously miscaptions a gory photograph depicting the bloody hands of a Palestinian who took part in the murder of Israeli soldiers, and leaves out key information regarding the violence of the last few weeks.
Following violent clashes pitting the Israeli Army against a combination of Palestinian civilians, uniformed Palestinian security forces, and Yasir Arafat's plainclothed Tanzim militias - Amnesty International denounced Israel's actions and the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1322, condemning Israel for "excessive use of force" in attempting to protect the lives of its soldiers and civilians. Does Israel really use "excessive force?"
In yet another case of its promoting extreme anti-Israel views, America's most influential public radio network gave a platform to Allegra Pacheco on Weekend Edition Sunday (October 29) - where in an uninterrupted monologue, Pacheco denounced Israel as an apartheid, Jim Crow nation and excoriated Israel for policies that are routine in virtually every country in the world.
Orlando Sentinel columnist Charley Reese, whose voluminous anti-Israel portfolio includes frequent severe distortions of fact, is at it again. In his column entitled "Racism, Bigotry Bad for All" he grossly misrepresents the current dangerous situation facing Christian Arabs in the Palestinian areas...
