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.
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.
Yet another two-month study reveals National Public Radio coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict continues to be marred by factual distortions and disproportionate presentation of Arab and pro-Arab speakers. Skewed and serious allegations against Israel are, at times, aired in completely one-sided programs without giving Israel the right of response. Partisan language shades reporting, blurring the terrorist role of Palestinian groups and leaders and casting Israeli leaders alone as “hard-line.”
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.
Tom Toles, successor to the legendary Herblock as Washington Post editorial page cartoonist, is known for his simple if not simplistic style; small, "cute" doll-like characters; and droll, topical punch lines often echoed by a miniature secondary drawing in the bottom right corner of his panel. But Toles's formula failed utterly in his Sunday, Dec. 15 effort, undermined by a false moral equivalence apparently based on either ignorance or tendentious disregard of fact.
A recent “The World” news broadcast produced jointly by WGBH, BBC and PRI has demonstrated that fair and accurate coverage of Israel on public radio is not an impossible standard. On the Nov. 20 broadcast, which was aired by public radio stations around the United States, Aaron Schachter reported on the American Christian right's support for Israel and for the Israelis living in settlement communities.