Comments on: CAMERA Director: ‘Many, Many Times We Have Urged’ Israeli Gov’t to Take Action Against American Publications

By: JW

JW — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Do you really want to defend Schocken so vigorously? CAMERA apparently pointed out that Ha'aretz referred to certain roads as roads for "Jews only," and that this is incorrect, because the roads are for Israeli citizens, and not for Arab residents of the West Bank. There are well over a million non-Jewish Israeli citizens. In other words, what Ha'aretz wrote is false. Instead of issuing a correction, Schocken argues, in effect, we'd rather call them Jews-only roads because it suits are broader political agenda. This sort of thing just feeds CAMERA's agenda, and you're foolish to be proud of it.

By: Richard Witty

Richard Witty — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

I also thank Shocken for his courage and personal integrity.

Haaretz is a balanced newspaper. Ironically, many that post on this blog regard Haaretz as subject to ridicule if not censorship for permitting "right-wing" journalists to have columns.

A column or an editorial or an op-ed is that, an opinion. Like in US newspapers, columns express a variety of opinions, a wide variety.

Haaretz is not the New York Times of Israel though. Its articles tend to be shorter, and contain less context.

The audience though similarly to American audience, responds to headlines, moreso than subtleties of content in the articles themselves.

By: zed

zed — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

"CAMERA apparently pointed out that Ha'aretz referred to certain roads as roads for "Jews only," and that this is incorrect, because the roads are for Israeli citizens, and not for Arab residents of the West Bank."

The "Jews only" roads connect Jewish settlements in the occupied territories (which do not allow Israeli Arab citizens to live there) with each other and with Israel within the Green Line. Israeli Arab citizens don't go to the Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, so to claim that these roads aren't de facto "Jewish only" is to engage in speciousness. But that's par for the course at CAMERA.

From former Knesset member Shulamit Aloni:
"If that were not enough, the generals commanding the region frequently issue further orders, regulations, instructions and rules (let us not forget: they are the lords of the land). By now they have requisitioned further lands for the purpose of constructing "Jewish only" roads. Wonderful roads, wide roads, well-paved roads, brightly lit at night--all that on stolen land. When a Palestinian drives on such a road, his vehicle is confiscated and he is sent on his way.

On one occasion I witnessed such an encounter between a driver and a soldier who was taking down the details before confiscating the vehicle and sending its owner away. "Why?" I asked the soldier. "It's an order--this is a Jews-only road", he replied. I inquired as to where was the sign indicating this fact and instructing [other] drivers not to use it. His answer was nothing short of amazing. "It is his responsibility to know it, and besides, what do you want us to do, put up a sign here and let some antisemitic reporter or journalist take a photo so he that can show the world that Apartheid exists here?"

From: "Indeed, there is apartheid in Israel" http://files.tikkun.org/current/article.php?story=20070105080344465

By: evanj

evanj — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

From RW - Haaretz as a tabloid with a tabloid short attention span audience. Brilliant! The pro-establishment Ze'ev Schiff, Haaretz's military correspondent, would be amused to be so categorized.
As for the hysteria that emanates from the pronouncement of the utterly accurate A-word, here is the self-debauchery of Jewish ethics in a nutshell.
We have this monster that we are honour-bound by tribal affinity to defend, so we have to magically make it disappear by linguistic deformation.
Except that those who still have their head on straight and are still benefiting from their education, continue to use words appropriate to the subjects that those words evolved to connote.
Uri Davis, with impeccable credentials, wrote a tightly argued and evidenced book on the subject. The lobby excoriates Carter for pointing out the obvious, yet Davis' book is ignored.
Can this joke go on for much longer?

By: Jerome Slater

Jerome Slater — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

I thank Philip Weiss for his mention of my article comparing the NYT with Haaretz. However, while certainly striking, I don't think that Levin's boast about an "unwritten contract" with the U.S. media is sufficient evidence of the power of the Israel Lobby over the media, at least as much as claimed by Mearsheimer and Walt. There is much that is right about M/W, but they overstate their case. I will be writing a long analysis of their book.

By: Jerome Slater

Jerome Slater — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

By: Jerome Slater

Jerome Slater — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

By: David

David — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Actually, M&W's claims for the powers of the lobby within the media are rather tepid. They don't go into statistics of ownership and management. I look forward to your article.

By: David Seaton

David Seaton — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Really the ironies accumulate, don't they?

In my lifetime any sign with "Jews only" on it would have been considered antisemitic, somehow connected with wearing yellow stars and such.

Here in Spain, Yad Vashem just won the Prince of Asturias Prize and we are all being told to "never forget", but as to the case of the occupied territories we are being told to "never remember".

By: Peter H

Peter H — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Professor Slater,

You should read "Intifada Hits the Headlines" and "The Suppression of Guilt" by Daniel Dor, a lecturer at Tel Aviv University. Basically, Dor argues that the Israeli media has adopted a nationalistic outlook since 2000 and that even with a liberal newspaper like Haaretz,critical reporting like Amira Hass & Gideon Levy tends to relegated to the back pages. A portion of Dor's book is available at:

http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=38