As Israel went to the polls in January, a surge of news stories appeared about the lives, attitudes and voting patterns of its Arab citizens. All too many were boiler-plate recitations of charges that Israeli Arabs are understandably aggrieved and deeply alienated from their country because of its alleged discriminatory policies.
Robert Novak's long tenure as a syndicated columnist and CNN television commentator is sorry proof that extreme anti-Israel animus and sloppy attention to the facts are no deterrent to journalistic prominence.
National Public Radio's Linda Gradstein recently reported Israel's attempt to bar Israeli-Arab politician Ahmed Tibi from running in upcoming elections because of his alleged support for attacks against Israelis and his denial of the state's legitimacy (Israel's Supreme Court reinstated Tibi a few days later). Among those Gradstein interviewed was Shmuel Sandler, an Israeli professor whom she described as seeing "growing extremism" among his countrymen:
The following CAMERA letter to the editor correcting a story about Arab/Islamic art appeared in the Boston Globe on January 19, 2002.
Contrary to Elaine W. Shiber’s account of Israeli history, Israel has continuously pursued peace and has encountered Arab rejection and war. Like Americans, Israelis seek peace. Israelis, however, face a terrorist regime at their very doorstep. Tiny Israel, no larger than the state of New Jersey, is surrounded by 22 Arab nations that have launched four wars against it, in ‘48, ‘67, ‘73 and 2000.
A respectful dissent, please, from Gary Rosenblatt’s column, “Don’t Just Blame the Media,” (Nov. 8). Rosenblatt asserts that “for the most part, mainstream American coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been fair.”
Terrorist savagery against Israeli civilians, often in the form of suicidal, bomb-strapped Palestinians, has yet to elicit from most journalists and major media anything close to honest coverage of the true causes of the onslaught. Instead, vacuous explanations, ones that essentially repeat Arab arguments, prevail.
A commonly heard refrain among pro-Palestinian propagandists is that Israel repeatedly violates international declarations with U.S. financial and moral support and that the attacks of 9/11 and indeed, Muslim terrorism worldwide are a direct result of U.S. support for Israel.
Bill Maxwell writes of his concern for the young victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Based on a recent U.N. report on the Rights of the Child, he faults Israel for children suffering under the Palestinian Authority. Both the report and Maxwell misplace blame and ignore the unlawful child abuse perpetrated by the Palestinian Authority's relentless campaign of incitement that is a root cause of the continuing strife in the Middle East.
Syndicated columnist Georgie Anne Geyer is a sorry reminder that when shoddy journalists are given a pass by lax editors, they go on and on producing error-filled commentary. Geyer writes often, even obsessively, about Israel and its supporters, and her columns are frequently marred by factual gaffes, distortion and at times reckless reliance on bogus sources.