PrintMarch 9, 2008
Deconstructing Anti-Israel Bias: The Jerusalem Yeshiva Massacre
The bias of the mainstream media against Israel never ceases to amaze me. It must rank as one of the most curious sociopolitical phenomena of our era. The further the Palestinian Arabs move toward a barbaric Islamic theocracy, the deeper the support for them among the cadre of "progressive" journalists.
An example of the entrenched bias is last Thursday's (March 6) article from the Associated Press, "7 die in shooting at Jerusalem seminary."
Let us first examine the headline: "7 die." Seven what-people? Jews? Martians? And they are not killed, they simply "die," in the passive sense, as if from a stroke. The main reason why this is so insidious is that such language is never used when the enemies of Israel are the ones who die. One of the calling cards of Leftist journalism is that when Arabs die, you know how they died, who killed them, and whether they had any special characteristics worthy of pity. If the sides were reversed, the headline would read, "Israeli extremist massacres 7 youths learning Koran at Gaza holy place."
Let us now move to the body of the article:
A gunman infiltrated a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem and opened fire in a library Thursday night, killing at least seven people and wounding dozens, police and rescue workers said.
A gunman? Don't use the T-word, Mr. AP reporter, it hurts too much. Sure, a gunman, a man who happened to have a gun. It was probably just a liquor-store holdup that went bad.
"Killing at least seven people." Okay, we now know that the gunman killed someone. The victims remain just vague people, however. Not students, rabbis, youths, boys, teenagers, whatever.
In Gaza, the Islamic militant Hamas praised the attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility. Thousands poured into the streets to celebrate in Hamas-ruled Gaza, firing rifles in the air. "We bless the (Jerusalem) operation. It will not be the last," Hamas said in a text message sent to reporters.
The militant Hamas? Nothing like a little air freshener to sanitize one of the world's premiere Islamofascist terror groups. Militant, that sounds like hippies holding a sit-in demonstration. We should be grateful they weren't called activists.
Hezbollah's Al-Manar television in Lebanon said a previously unknown group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza claimed responsibility for the attack. Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah commander, was killed Feb. 12 by a car bomb in Syria. Hezbollah blamed his assassination on Israel, which denied any role.
Here we begin the obligatory recitation of Israel's recent bad behavior, to give us the context for the terror attack. First we learn that the old martyr's club pulled off the caper because Israel killed their hero, Mughniyeh. Israel of course "denied any role," which is to be expected from those tricky devils.
But wait, there's more Israeli mischief behind all this:
The attack in Jerusalem came a day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice persuaded moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to peace talks with Israel and on the same day Egyptian officials were trying to mediate a truce between Gaza militants and Israel. Abbas suspended the talks after Israel launched a military offensive against Gaza militants barraging southern Israel with rockets. Palestinian officials say more than 120 were killed in Gaza during the weeklong operation. Four Israelis were also killed.
Well why didn't you say so? It was only after Israel decided to kill 120 people that the great moderate leader, His Excellency the President Mr. Abbas, was obliged to suspend the talks. Bad, bad Israel. At least the rocket attacks against Israel were mentioned, but note the odd sentence structure, with the sequence of events reversed. Ah, those cute little militants, "barraging southern Israel with rockets." Not bombing, not raining death, but barraging.
By the way, what does all this have to do with the event the article purports to be covering?
"He came out of the library spraying automatic fire. ... The terrorist came to the entrance and I shot him twice in the head," claimed [Yitzhak Dadon].
The T-word is finally used, but put in the mouth of an Israeli. We have been told that the gunman is a militant, so the use of the word terrorist seems misplaced and extreme. Another classic calling card of Leftist journalism.
"They were still shooting when we got here," he told Channel 10 TV. "We took cover and the ambulance was hit. It's horrible inside - dead bodies and wounded - it's horrific."
Similarly, descriptions of the carnage in the mouth of an Israeli, rather than being stated as fact. And even for this crumb, we had to wait until the 13th paragraph.
The seminar is the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe quarter at the entrance of Jerusalem, a well-known center of Jewish studies identified with the leadership of the Jewish settlement movement in the West Bank.
Implying that the institution is all about that nasty West Bank stuff. Our intrepid correspondant might have let us know that Mercaz Harav is one of the most important Jewish theological seminaries in the world. Harav ("the Rabbi" in Hebrew) refers to Rabbi Kook, the first chief rabbi of Israel, a great preacher of love and reconciliation. The students who were murdered and maimed by the militant were engaged, among other things, in study of the Bible. Where are the photos and heart-rending accounts of Bibles riddled with bullet holes?
The "entrance of Jerusalem"? What does that mean, and what does it have to do with anything?
There were no attacks by Palestinian militants in Jerusalem during 2007, though police and the military claimed to have foiled many attempts. Between 2001 and 2004, at the height of Palestinian-Israeli fighting, Jerusalem was a frequent target of Palestinian attacks, including suicide bombings on buses.
Note that Israeli spokesmen are always labeled as the military or police, not the "government" or "Israeli authorities." And these military/police types "claimed to have foiled many attempts." They only claim; surely they must be lying. After all, we're talking about those peace-loving Palestinians.
We are told that the heyday of militancy, 2001-2004, occurred "at the height of Palestinian-Israeli fighting." An interesting way to describe the wave of terrorism that swept across Israel during those years. "Fighting," as if the Palestinian Arabs came out to meet the Israeli army head-on, rather then sending Jihad-crazed human bombs into crowded urban areas.
I wonder whether the article would have looked any different if the militant had shot up AP headquarters in New York, killing seven people and wounding ten.
Postscript
Let us imagine what on-the-scene coverage of 9/11 might have looked like if the media's anti-Israel bias were brought to bear:
2000 Die in New York Plane CrashNEW YORK - Someone got behind the joystick of an airliner and leaned into it at the wrong angle, causing the plane to collide with a very tall structure in its path.Rescue workers said that thousands of people, who happened to be physically present in the buildings, were dead. American police, FBI, and army officers allege that the person purposely flew the plane into the office building.The militant Iranian government praised the crash but stopped short of taking responsibility. Thousands poured into the streets to celebrate. "We bless the [N.Y.] operation. It will not be the last," said Teheran militants in a press release.In Afghanistan, a militant rebel television station said that a previously ignored militant group called the Martyrs of American Imperialism (also known as Al-Qaeda) claimed responsibility. Muhammed al-Shill, a leading militant, was tortured to death last week by the CIA, which denies any role in the killing of the militant.The New York plane crash came a day after North Korean President Kim Jong persuaded moderate Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to consider peace talks with the United States. The Iranian president nixed the idea after it was disclosed that the U.S. is the number one oppressor of Muslims worldwide.John Q. Public, a passenger on the plane, could be heard over the cockpit radio in the seconds before the crash. "Stop the terrorists, stop the terrorists," he shouted. Psychologists say that Mr. Public was suffering from temporary insanity caused by his imminent death.Paramedic Whitey Johnson was on the scene shortly after impact. "It was horrible-dead bodies and debris all over the place," said Johnson, in a thick redneck accent.Hundreds of cops surrounded the area as scores of office workers poured onto the sidewalk. "At least 2,000 were killed," said a N.Y. Fire Department operative.The office building is the World Trade Center in the Wall Street quarter at the entrance of New York, a well-known workplace identified with capitalism, inequality, and exploitation of the Third World, particularly Muslims.There were no plane crashes with Muslim pilots in 2001, though American police and military claim they had prevented several similar incidents.
Gary Wolf is the author of futuristic novels that portray worlds in which multiculturalism and political correctness have run amok. His website is http://www.awolcivilization.com/.
