An incident involving a Palestinian caught on video playing his violin at an Israeli checkpoint near Nablus prompted an eruption of distorted media coverage. News stories and commentary condemned Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint, deplored the morals of the Israeli army in general, and even in some articles compared the incident to Jews forced by the Nazis to play music in German concentration camps.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague in the Netherlands has issued an "Advisory Opinion" that Israel's security fence is illegal and violates international law. The court advised the United Nations Security Council to take action to stop Israel's construction of the fence and to dismantle parts already built. CAMERA provides background information on the legality and effectiveness of the fence.
In its extensive coverage of Israel's targeted killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and supreme leader of Hamas, the San Francisco Chronicle included an op-ed by Arab propagandist Mazin Qumsiyeh. The column distorted Israeli history in several ways. (The same day, the paper ran its own similarly themed editorial, yet no opinion piece appeared carrying exclusively Israeli views of the Yassin killing.)
A correction by James Carroll in the Boston Globe fails to clarify his mischaracterization of Israel's security barrier as "a high cement barrier that will run hundreds of miles..." His incomplete correction does not indicate that concrete sections will constitute only a tiny proportion of the projected 480-mile route. More than 97 percent will consist of a chain-link fence, with walled parts confined to areas that present an immediate risk of sniper gunfire.
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