In the intense media coverage accompanying Yasser Arafat's death, the man known to many as the "father of modern terrorism" is benefiting from an "extreme make-over," as some news reports and columns airbrush history to exclude his actual deeds.
The media is focusing much attention on Yasir Arafat's legacy. Many of the historical briefs and timelines being published whitewash his decades-long involvement in terrorism. Below is a timeline of some of the key events and terrorist acts associated with Arafat.
Please continue your efforts to promote responsible reporting about Arafat and his legacy. Protest whitewashed reports and commentaries that ignore or minimize his decades-long involvement in terror, his goal of destroying Israel, and his siphoning of hundreds of millions of dollars from donations to the Palestinian people that went instead into his own private accounts. Commend fair and objective reporting that provides adequate context.
In a column published by the New London Day ("Arafat's Legacy", Nov 7) and the Philadelphia Inquirer ("Arafat's reign", Nov. 3), syndicated columnist Gwynne Dyer included serious factual errors, as well as an implied endorsement of Arafat's terror.
September 27 update follows. Ever since Reuter's notorious editorial decision not to call terrorists "terrorists" was affirmed following the 9/11 attacks, the news agency has zealously adhered to a policy of softening the face of terrorism. In reporting on the September 22 suicide bombing in Jerusalem's French Hill, it has gone a step further.
The intense controversy surrounding the reluctance of Reuters and other media outlets to use the word “terrorist” says a lot about how abhorrent are the deeds of those branded with the term. Terrorists themselves typically shun the label, preferring euphemisms that disguise their actions.
In numerous articles about the seizure of more than 1,000 children and adults – of whom more than 300 died in Beslan, Russia last week – the Washington Post repeatedly used the words terror and terrorist. This contrasted with its front-page news story September 1 on the bus bombings in Be'ersheva, Israel.
After carrying out double suicide bombings which killed 16 and wounded over 100, Hamas distributed leaflets calling the attacks a message to Israel that her military efforts against the organization have failed. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Reuters provided a platform for the terrorist group's propaganda, blindly disseminating Hamas' bravado as fact.