Before going to Cairo last month, I made it a point to seek out Ashraf Khalil, whose journalism on the conflict in the LA Times earned him a wide reputation for fairness. A man of large spirit, Khalil (left) introduced me to other journalists, brought me to a place I could actually get a beer, and made me feel completely at home. Last week we picked up a piece by Mohammed Omer, the Palestinian journalist who was tortured by Israeli border security on returning to Gaza from England last year after winning the Martha Gellhorn prize. Omer referred to Khalil's coverage of the episode– in fact the best piece to appear in American mainstream media– though he criticized Khalil for including an Israeli explanation of certain injuries. I asked Ashraf if he had anything to say. He writes:
The case of Mohammed Omer was my first sobering glimpse of what it’s really like to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for a major western news outfit. In the end, it proved to be a window into why stories like this simply don’t get told very often.
When the first reports emerged, it seemed like a hot-button story that much of the massive Jerusalem press core would jump on: A prominent Gazan journalist returns fresh from a European tour where he received a prestigious award and met with several European parliamentarians.
He enters the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Jordan and the occupied West Bank with a Dutch diplomat waiting on the West Bank side to escort him back to Gaza. He emerges from the terminal in a wheelchair, semi-coherent, and is never quite the same again.
Hot stuff, right? Well, no.
The media coverage of the incident was genuinely puzzling to me. A couple of angry articles from European leftists who took Omer’s entire account as gospel truth and a few matter-of-fact mainstream accounts that were basically glorified briefs. But nobody seemed inclined to actually investigate the issue.
I was just a few months into what would turn out to be a one-year run as Jerusalem correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. Perhaps my more seasoned colleagues recognized quickly what I was still too new and naïve to grasp. Put simply, the story was a swamp—something that would require months of investigation to properly unravel, then prompt a horrendous clash with their editors and probably never see daylight in any kind of satisfying form.
And that’s exactly what it turned out to be.
I couldn’t prove what happened to Omer inside the Allenby terminal, so I didn’t even try. What I COULD prove, after months of digging, was that the resulting Israeli investigation of the incident was a threadbare joke.
The official Israeli report on the incident essentially called Omer an attention-seeking liar. Omer’s claims were “found to be without foundation” and the report expresses “doubts about the sincerity of the situation.” Translation: he made it all up.
But the Israeli authorities never even attempted to interview Omer, and never interviewed the paramedic who brought Omer from the Allenby terminal to a nearby hospital. As far as I could tell, the Israeli government basically interviewed its own officers. One Israeli official told me with a straight face that they didn’t really need to interview the victim of the alleged assault since they could just read his account in the various news reports.
So after fussing over the story for more than a month, knowing that something like this had to be airtight to protect against a CAMERA campaign, I filed a story calling the Israeli investigation of the incident “insincere” and “deeply flawed at best.” My editors hated it, prompting a several-week staring contest while the story sat in limbo. One editor (my single favorite editor on the foreign desk and someone I would love to work with again) found it to be hopelessly biased. I argued, to no avail, that if the exact same set of circumstances and evidence surrounded a Los Angeles Police Department investigation of a high-profile abuse allegation, we would have crucified them on the front page.
In the end, the truth of what happened to Mohammed Omer was sacrificed on the altar of the false deity known as “balance”. He’s hardly alone, and the basic steps of the process are grindingly familiar to all observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
*Alleged Palestinian Victim X makes such and such claims of abuse, discrimination or torture.
*The Israeli government “investigates” and releases an official report on nice shiny letterhead concluding that the alleged victim’s claims are unfounded.
*It all just fades away into the murky mists of “conflicting accounts.”
But here’s the thing: Can it really be “conflicting accounts” if one of the sides is lying and you can prove it?
The same process applies in the diplomatic sphere. The Dutch government (under whose protection Omer was permitted to travel from Gaza) was livid about what happened and demanded an inquiry. But once the Israelis countered with their investigation results, the Dutch were trapped. The government could either fold or prompt a full-scale diplomatic dispute by publicly calling the Israelis liars. Naturally they folded.
Eventually I came to an agreement with my editors, and a heavily truncated version of my article ran more than three months after the incident. The resulting article, while it went much further than any other report, still leaves me feeling dissatisfied. It feels like it was written by a diligent and conscientious robot. Bear in mind, the LAT has the most balanced coverage of Israel/Palestine of any of the big American papers. The flaws and constraints I'm pointing to are systemic.
Reading it again more than a year after the incident, it’s still frustrating and dispiriting. What’s worse is the suspicion that if I had stayed on in Jerusalem and was presented with similar abuse allegation, I might not have taken up the case with such tenacity.
Knowing how these things turn out, it simply wouldn’t have been worth the effort.
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{ 55 comments }
"Perhaps my more seasoned colleagues recognized quickly what I was still too new and naïve to grasp"
Of course to these hard core crack pots every issue has a Israel bad guy, Arab good guy slant to it that is merely being suppressed by the editor who has his hands tied (because of the Jewish lobby of course). Admitting that you are naive is the understatement of the century.
"Conflicting accounts"? You mean like the "conflicting accounts" of the alleged Nazi genocide of the Jews coming from Ahmadinejad? Now I get it!
Now Mondoweiss is doing the job of Editor & Publisher. This is the key story: how our journalism is broken in covering issues of keen interest to the Israelis, and, especially, examples of Israeli chutzpah – who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes? Pretty soon, Israel won't have any credibility left with anyone, and you can bet the Neocons and Likudniks will blame everyone else but themselves.
The First Amendment gets weaker by the day. Toss in the hate crime bill waiting for Senate confirmation to be followed by Obama's signature, and Uncle Sam is barely recognizable. Further, let's see today if the US Supreme Court continues to rubber stamp reverse discrimination as necessary for another quarter of a century. To be followed by a bi-partisan amnesty law for illegals right around the corner–
Surely you don't suggest that those images of rock-throwing Pals will be put into context in our MSM? Somebody might dare to slip in the word "occupation?"
August — are you really that Israeli woman who shouted at Izzeldin Abu-Laish that, in effect, his daughters probably deserved to be killed by IDF? I mean, you've got that same delicate sensibility about you….
Great post! Phil & Ashraf, what you're doing here highlight these cases is invaluable – as Doppler above argues, this should be the job of Editor & Publisher.
The story of faceless, biased, behind-the-scenes “powers that be” in the media industry stacking the deck in favor of Zionism goes to the larger problem of Judeophile indoctrination. Judeophile Western media for decades have inundated the West with so much “Jewish-victim” propaganda–from movies to television to newspapers to magazines to books–that the general populace has been conditioned to reflexively clench whenever the prospect of “Jewish villain” is raised. This Jewish-victim narrative revolves around the I-P conflict, the general Jewish historical plight, and the Holocaust, but has utilized the last to promote, leverage and exploit Jewish-victim identity status to the maximum. The entire pro-Zionist “Stepford Wives” dynamic across American media flows from this intellectual basis.
Doppler: "Pretty soon, Israel won't have any credibility left with anyone, and you can bet the Neocons and Likudniks will blame everyone else but themselves." What about the 20% of the US Senate Democrats who are Jewish Zionists? What about all the pro-Zionist Noeoliberal "progressives"? What about all the left-liberals scattered across the pseudo-liberal Statist Left in the US that have backed Israel for decades? Will they blame themselves? I doubt it, given that they subscribe to and propagate their own version of the Jewish-victim identity and narrative pioneered by the Jewish Left. The Neocons and Likudinks aren't the only one's in intellectual denial, that's for sure.
Khalil's and Omer's stories were shredded by CAMERA. Unfortunately for Khalil and Omer, It's always better to go with one story and get it straight. http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x...
Are " pro-ZIonist Neoliberal "progressives" " different than the "pseudo-liberal Statist Left"? And are they significantly different from the Jewish zionists? And if so – how? You also give a figure of 20% for Jewish Zionist Dem's in the U.S senate – do you have similar figures for the others – and if so what's your methodology? You certainly sound like you know what your talking about….
CAMERA doesn't do 'shredding' – CAMERA does spinning, lying, straw men, red-herrings and anything but the truth. But thanks for your input….
No, I'm the guy who thinks that Israel claiming there are "conflicting accounts" about whether the IDF beat the living daylights out of Omer is as legit as Ahmadinejad claiming there are "conflicting accounts" about the alleged tragedy of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis. Both have the same legitimacy. If Ahmadinejad ever needs a new job, he is totally qualified to be press spokesman for the IDF. My delicate sensibilities are quite offended by disinformation that insults one's intelligence.
You mean you believe those lying Arabs? Sucker….
And then you call others racist? I suppose he beat himself up just so that he could falsely accuse the Jews? – what an anti-Semite.
As to your first question, there is crossover between the two, but both groups are fraudulent “liberals,” which historically is suggestive of decentralization of authority, broadmindedness, free-thinking, and anti-authoritarianism. Statist Leftists and Neoliberals are none of those things. As to your second question, Jewish Zionism in Israel is at issue, so Jewish Zionists in US elected office are the most germane group to the Zionist question (although others are free to examine any Zionist record of other US politicians of other ethnic and religious background). Roughly 20% of Democrats in the US Senate are Jews ( http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1039304.html ) who either have voted US taxpayer funds to sustain Zionism or are on record as intending to do so (ie Al Franken). This makes them Jewish Zionists. Under 2% of the US population is comprised of Jews. Why does the Statist-Left Democratic Party so disproportionately promote and elect Jewish Zionists?
Funny, just substitute Jew for Arab and what do you get from Jake in Jerusalem? A standard Nazi textbook or children's story.
No, I believe Bernie Madoff. BTW he just sentenced for effectively the rest of his life–but he stonewalled on who knowingly helped him. If you believe him, it was only his one accountant. On other news, the US Supreme Court just decided the reverse discrimination case. I'm sure you can guess which side won if I tell you Ginsberg wrote the dissenting opinion. http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-1...
Jake is just another Barrel-roll sockpuppet. ZioTrash are easy to spot.
We all know Jake is a raging anti-Semite.
CAMERA is blatantly pro-Israel/right-wing/neocancerous. They also make shallow and fraudulent arguments against Norman Finkelstein and tout that myth that MLK JR. supported Zionism ( LOL ) – although I think they corrected themselves partially on that last one.
Joe in KC, you forgot to mention Jewish left-liberal Ginsberg's reasoning: that the white and hispanic firefighters "had no vested right in promotion" so they didn’t lose anything when New Haven discriminated against them and threw out their higher test results because they weren't black. http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=34... This is a common tactic of pseudo-liberal members of Diaspora political Judaism: pit gentile races against one another via State-centered Left-Wing initiatives of extremist affirmative and “civil rights” laws that inevitably result in racial conflict, then demagogue that conflict to Left-liberal elective advantage, then use political Judaism's disproportionate influence and representation on the Statist-Left to divert US resources to advancing right-wing Zionism (Jewish supremacism) in Israel. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the pseudo-liberal, Richard Witty-like Ruth Bader Ginsberg and her ilk are tools of political Judaism. Most left-liberal Diaspora Jews are. Some of them don’t even know it, but most do.
RE: "What’s worse is the suspicion that if I had stayed on in Jerusalem and was presented with similar abuse allegation, I might not have taken up the case with such tenacity. Knowing how these things turn out, it simply wouldn’t have been worth the effort." \\MY COMMENT: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
"Balance", right… "Balance" means that when Israel claims that garden gnomes are part of an anti-semitic conspiracy and Palestinians respond that, no they aren't, both of these views have to be taken as equally valid. Never underestimate the ability and willingness of people to throw away their own brains and replace them with buzzwords.
Thanks for this interesting account Phil. To call the Los Angeles Times the most balanced in I/P coverage sets a very low standard. Their main correspondent, Richard Boudreaux rarely leaves Jerusalem, his one story out of Gaza after the conflict was about a motorcycle market! He wrote the execrable "analysis" warning Obama of the huge risks of pressuring the Israelis… portraying the Israelis as the ones with all the cards.
If “Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown” is a metaphor for impenetrable layers of corruption, double, triple and quadruple dealings, cut throat ethics, pseudo morals, and unconscionable greed and cynicism, then the entirety of Washington is now ‘Chinatown,’ as well. Yet most American idiots still insist on cheering one banner or the other within the framework of the corrupt, Zionist-owned two-party regime, which makes them party to the ‘Chinatown’ mentality themselves. So perhaps an updated politically incorrect fictional line of dialogue would be: “Forget it Jake, it used to be America, but now it’s Hymietown.”
Yeah, Ed, you're right Ginsberg dissent does say exactly that–my mind got numb just reading the whole thing. She herself read out her dissent part in court–she only does that when she's really angry. That judge who is leaving voted along with her–the one Obama wants to replace with a Latina-feminist racist known for uttering anti-white male stuff not in court but in private paid speeches. BTW, I'm sure you know, but others here may not the replacement wannabe voted against the firefighter plaintiffs in appeals court–so she got overturned once again, a habit of hers. The C-SPAN coverage of Congressional vetting of her should be amusing–unfortunately I think she will get rubber-stamped, followed quickly by a bi-partisan amnesty of 12 million illegals–lotta hispanic votes the repubs need to try to take away from the demos….
That always comes with being from chosen territory. It's a privilege.
Ashraf Khalil has a "reputation of fairness", where? At the Electronic Intafada? CAMERA has punched such gaping holes in his report, I'm surprised he's still pushing the Omer canard.
No, people will onyl ooh and aah about rock-throwing Persian beauties.
CAMERA? So many bias holes in that tool it can't even click it's shutter.
Ha! I remember your MondoReporter FALLING FOR the ARAB LIAR who said he was arrested in Tel Aviv for speaking Arabic, a violation of Israeli law. THERE IS NO SUCH LAW. You guys are so gullible… Arabs just LOVE MondoLies…
I have no idea about this case, but in many prior cases Arabs in Israeli custody DO injure themselves when released to claim torture. You see, if Arabs are NOT tortured by Israel, then their Palestinean neighbors assume that they have been co-operating with the Israelis – and execute them on the spot. Pals have seen their friends lynched on the tree down the block by other Pals and so deliberately injure themselves to claim torture and thus protect themselves from other Pals. The Middle East – not what you were expecting….
Say what you will, Strahl… you can only convince gullible MondoFools…
Many "foreign correspondents" permanently hang out at bar at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem and know NOTHING about what actually happens anywhere outside the bar. They rely on other reports for their own filings. A lazy, overpaid, immoral lot they are. I can tell you lots about these "foreign correspondents". They get paid "danger money" for living party-lives that would make Manhattan people envious. And some of YOU think that this is journalism…
When it comes to Israel, there are no journalists reporting for American MSM. That would be a career killer.
Jake's got the best collection of Stalag porn comix though.
Jake ,You mfing bastard.Thats all I will say to scum-shit bag like you.I had childhood friends,playmates"israeli Arabs",who disappeared into the zionists dungeons,and came out basically lobotomised .Fuck you.
And why a criminal like madoff was'nt cuffed or shackled ?
Fair enough, Ed – thanks for the answer….
CAMERA is the Zionist equivalent of Der Stuermer in the twenties and thirties.
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2009/06/we-will-...
The very best, Ashraf Khalil. I'll never forget when I first encountered this line of thought. In a nutshell: Arabs lie, not always but it's probably close to 99%. They only invent all these stories to make Israel look bad. In the end it felt he expected me to find out what for him was obvious from the very start. Me an informer tricking someone? I found out he was wrong, but I played with an open hand. Before I had respected the person, an American-Israeli academic. I can't anymore. But I somehow wonder why I couldn't see in his comments what I see now.
Thanks for posting this. It's interesting, plausible and unfortunately predictable.
Oh SNAP! You sure showed us, Jake! I especially like how you came up with the word, 'MondoLIES'! I mean, HOW did you think of that? God you're awesome!
hahah!
Strahl fails – EVERY TIME – to address the issues. I DARE you to find a law such as the one cited in MondoLies. Strahl is a foolish bigot (the only kind). MondoLies is his home.
Lobotomized in Israeli dungeons? Have you forgotten your medicines today? Hey, if Arabs are brain-damaged, it just MIGHT not be the fault of Israel. (You can't blame Israel for brain-damaged Arabs in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Algeria, etc. all far from Israel…) I noticed in the Alyn hospital for chronically ill in Israel that there were 2 prominent groups of patients there – Arabs and very religious Jews. They were both there for the same reason: they tend to in-marry and so suffer from birth defects and debilitating physical and mental health problems. If your Arab friends are brain-damaged, it just might actually NOT be Israel's fault. This is a stunning concept for Arabs and Arab-lovers to accept, but it is real. Get used to it.
Check out the JCS building on Jaffa Rd in Jerusalem. CNN, Reuters, AP, Australian, European, American, Japanese, South American media. The NY Times, NPR, Time, Newsweek, etc are all well-represented here. CBS, ABC, NBC. Have I missed anyone? And this hardly covers a FEW of them here. I already told you: I can tell you lots about them. A lazy lot they are…
Why not be lazy and pick up a paycheck since you know you cannot report the truth of what you learn on the ground, or ever fairly near the ground? Otherwise, you won't have a job.
The answer: You're post 1945 German guilt. When they instilled it in you, the image of a Palestinian was not in the picture or process.
Have you checked out the MSM presence in Jerusalem, as I challenged you to? Have you considered any of the facts of the issue? Have you managed to convince anyone of anything – besides the obvious fact that you are a loony tune? Joe, you are babbling. No reply necessary. You have already lost all credibility.
Let the truth be known!
"In a nutshell" it is the Israelis who a lie – I agree with you!
I APPLAUD your article! Yes, not much comes out of Israel, US, & UK – the holy trinity of the western media moguls. Many stories are untold….continuously UNTOLD. We need NEW journalism – and you're a great start. Take a breath every once-in-a-while. Maybe the NEW media made up of all of us, sporadically, individually, conscienciously, will eventually surface as is BEGINNING with the Iranians, Hondurans and others intently following injustices. The "Palestinian Question" will be answered in the POSITIVE but only when truth can't be held back any longer! You've captured the essence: "the basic steps of the process are GRINDINGLY familiar to all observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." TRUTH MARCHES ON. . . .
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