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For CNN and NYT, Jewish lives matter more than Palestinian ones

US Politics
on 33 Comments
New York Times headquarters. (Photo: Wikimedia)

Jerusalem is seething. There’s been violence on both sides in the last two days. But here’s the lineup on CNN today:

Alan Dershowitz

Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Ron Prosor

Israeli spokesperson Mark Regev
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to follow.
No Palestinian voices. Scott Roth writes:

Hey @cnn, how about having a Palestinian on to answer Dershowitz? Oh right, this is how it works.

Yousef Munayyer asks:
Has @cnn had any Palestinian guests on today?
Munayyer notes that networks do reach out to Palestinians, but it’s loaded:

On a daily basis Palestinians face the violence of Israeli occupation & my phone is silent. When Israelis face violence, media calls all day.

Original post, headlined, “You have to go 13 paragraphs in ‘NYT’ to find out it wasn’t only Jews who died in Jerusalem lately” 

The New York Times has a thorough piece of reporting up this morning on the Palestinian attack on a West Jerusalem synagogue that killed four Jews. But you have to get well into paragraph 13 to learn this:

But there were celebrations after the attack in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, and other Palestinian leaders praised the attack as a response to what they see as a threat to the holy site [the Al Aqsa mosque], and to the recent death of a Palestinian bus driver in Jerusalem. Relatives and friends of the driver, Yousef al-Ramouni, who was found hanged in his bus Sunday night, insisted he had been lynched by Jews, though the Israeli police said an autopsy on Monday ruled that his death was a suicide.

Palestinians are saying that al-Ramouni was lynched. Even Haaretz questions the suicide finding. And al-Ramouni’s death resulted in unrest in East Jerusalem neighborhoods, which have already been clamped down on by Israeli border police. You’d think that a more balanced account would appear in the American newspaper of record. But for the Times, Jewish lives count more than Palestinian ones. This extends to the Times’ lackluster coverage of the persecution of Palestinians in Jerusalem neighborhoods like Silwan and Issawiya.

Update: Chemi Shalev of Haaretz says that a Hebrew report at NRG makes another connection:

NRG links synagogue attack to July murder of Palestinian teen Abu Khdeir: father of perpetrator prays there

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33 Responses

  1. Kay24
    November 18, 2014, 10:08 am

    As usual the NYT the mouthpiece for Israel propaganda, has failed to report this in a realistic and objective way. Even CNN’s report was horribly slanted, and no emphasis on the bigger picture, the attacks on Palestinians, deaths, and the desecration of Mosques, which is part of the on going violence, and where BOTH sides are guilty of various crimes. It all seems one sided according to CNN too. Chris Cuomo like his brother Andy seems to want to please the zionists.
    I wish they would not drag out Lying Regev and Israeli first Dershowitz at times like this.

    Ayman Mohyedin, on MSNBC just gave a more balanced report, making sure to mention that this is on ongoing problem, and that tensions have been worse lately.

    • just
      November 18, 2014, 10:13 am

      As did Ben Wedeman on CNN…

      (Beinart was awful.)

      • asherpat
        November 19, 2014, 1:41 am

        Since CNN must be unbiased, I can imagine a CNN headline after Baruch Goldman massacre: “Jewish man lynched by Arab mob after alleged ‘shooting’ in a mosque”!

  2. Horizontal
    November 18, 2014, 10:28 am

    Just saw a video on CNN regarding the attack in the synagogue. At the very end of the 1:30 report there is maybe 10 seconds of “the attack is the latest in a string or raising violence . . .” that really doesn’t do justice to the true situation.

    It’s doubly sad. Sad for the killings of innocent people, and sad for the way this story is being played out in our media, absolving Israel of any responsibility in bringing such violence to their doorstep.

    Netanyahu? The settlers? The occupation? No. The story begins with these killings and whatever Israel does in reaction to them is OK.

    Sad & infuriating.

    • seafoid
      November 18, 2014, 10:33 am

      It’s really sad. As J-live once sang, that shit is real tragic but it sure ain’t magic.
      And it’s all Israel’s fault.

  3. Kay24
    November 18, 2014, 10:41 am

    Just for once I would like to hear someone in the media say that perhaps if Israel ended the occupation, and stopped the damn illegal settlements, there would be an end to this violence.
    The Palestinians have to be given their rights, as they are losing not only lives every day, but their lands and resources too. The occupier cannot expect these people to stand still for years and take this disgusting occupation with a smile. Not going to happen.

    • eljay
      November 18, 2014, 10:59 am

      >> Kay24: Just for once I would like to hear someone in the media say that perhaps if Israel ended the occupation, and stopped the damn illegal settlements, there would be an end to this violence.

      +1. I’d also like to hear someone in the media clearly explain that Israel:
      – is not a secular and democratic Israeli state – a state of and for all of its Israeli citizens, immigrants, ex-pats and refugees, equally;
      – is a religion-supremacist “Jewish State” – a state primarily of and for Jewish Israelis and non-Israeli Jews;
      – refuses to honour its obligations under international law (including RoR);
      – refuses to accept responsibility and accountability for its past and ON-GOING (war) crimes; and
      – refuses to enter into sincere negotiations for a just and mutually-beneficial peace.

      The public already knows that Joe Smith is a productive member of the community. What the public needs to know is that he’s also a sadistic rapist who has women chained I his bunker.

  4. seafoid
    November 18, 2014, 10:44 am

    I don’t see the point in asking Palestinians to condemn the killings.

    Israel doesn’t give a fuck about non Jewish life in Erez Israel and if some Palestinians feel the same way about Jews, I’m very sorry but what do Israelis expect ?

    Is condemning the deaths of innocent Jews going to change the dynamic?
    Is it going to stop the hatred taught to Jewish kids or is it going to wake Sabras up ?
    Of course not.

    • Kay24
      November 18, 2014, 11:26 am

      You have made a great point. After seeing your children, babies, family members, and people, being blown up, and massacred like recently in Gaza, and many other times, how much sympathy can you really feel when someone hits out at the other side?
      If I was one of those unfortunate mothers who saw their precious child being blown up and die, or horribly injured, I would have a deep hatred for those responsible.
      Time the world ended this bloody occupation.

      • seafoid
        November 18, 2014, 11:42 am

        Maybe the synagogue was a place of hatred. That is the sort of line Jon S would use to justify the killings while crying crocodile tears about the civilians involved if the IDF had done it to the other side.

      • Mooser
        November 18, 2014, 12:56 pm

        “That is the sort of line Jon S would use…”

        Seafoid, they died with their tallits on.

      • seafoid
        November 18, 2014, 1:34 pm

        Mooser

        Tallits have more than once been associated with war crimes in Gaza

        they make lovely photos

        http://blogs.tv5.org/.a/6a00d83452081969e2011278fc247728a4-pi

        Why wearing them would grant anyone immunity from the madness of Zionism is a mystery

      • just
        November 18, 2014, 2:43 pm

        oy vey, seafoid!

      • Maximus Decimus Meridius
        November 18, 2014, 2:47 pm

        ”Maybe the synagogue was a place of hatred. That is the sort of line Jon S would use to justify the killings while crying crocodile tears about the civilians involved if the IDF had done it to the other side. ”

        I suppose if the Palestinians had done it from ten thousand metres, using high tech American weaponry, it would all have been terribly civilised.

      • just
        November 18, 2014, 3:29 pm

        “Update: Chemi Shalev of Haaretz says that a Hebrew report at NRG makes another connection:

        NRG links synagogue attack to July murder of Palestinian teen Abu Khdeir: father of perpetrator prays there”

        certainly not out the realm of, well you know. he’s a Rabbi, iirc…

    • amigo
      November 18, 2014, 1:09 pm

      I should feel sorry for the settler thugs who spat at the parents whose child was burned to death by their fellow Yisha products.

      Sorry, I am all out of sympathy at this time and is it going to take an awful lot of reversing by the zionists to regain my humanity towards them.

      One can only tolerate a certain level of brutality.

    • ckg
      November 18, 2014, 3:03 pm

      I don’t see the point in asking Palestinians to condemn the killings.

      Me neither. The attack was in West Jerusalem. The attackers held Jerusalem residency status and Israeli [non-citizen] identification. They did not have P.A. passports.

      • just
        November 18, 2014, 3:10 pm

        good point.

        so because of their status and so on, can we once again dispel the myth that is so often spread that these folks have the same rights to property, eligibility to serve on the supreme court and knesset, blah blah blah???

      • ckg
        November 18, 2014, 3:50 pm

        With regard to rights, all you need to know is that the attackers were born in Jerusalem but have no citizenship anywhere, while the victims were born in the U.S. and U.K. and have been given dual Israel citizenships because it’s their birthright.

    • Maximus Decimus Meridius
      November 18, 2014, 3:08 pm

      Yeah, I hate how, whenever the media drops everything to report on an Israeli death, every Palestinian has to unequivocally and unconditionally ‘condemn’ the attack. That is NEVER asked of Israeli spokespeople when Israel goes on the rampage.

      Mustapha Barghouti was on C4 News with Jon Snow just now. He was asked to ‘condemn the attack’ and responded by saying it was ‘inappropriate’ but not explicitly condemning it, something Snow brought up later. I sometimes think that in this situation they’re better off just issuing I ”Yes I condemn this attack” answer, so it can’t be used against them. But why initiate this inane line of dialogue in the first place? What does it matter? And what does it even mean to ‘condemn’ an attack in any case?

  5. pabelmont
    November 18, 2014, 12:31 pm

    I heard a paraphrase of Abbas’s statement this AM on NPR. He didn’t even mention the apparently routine and frequent (and unjustified) use of SKUNK water against Palestinians as a method of out-and-out oppression (not connected with “security”).

    Bet it would be reported in USA if skunk spray were used against Jews in Greater Israel (by whomever)!

    Abbas should enumerate the long litany so that, just perhaps, American and European audiences would understand the grievances here.

  6. ckg
    November 18, 2014, 2:22 pm

    Leave it to the NYT. The BBC quotes Mustafa Barghouti as saying about the attack that “violence is useless”. But NYT only quotes Dr. Barghouti saying that attack was “a normal reaction to the Israeli oppression.”

  7. just
    November 18, 2014, 2:32 pm

    thanks for the updated post, gentlemen. it’s really important to highlight this unbearable lack of care of any Palestinian life/lives.

    Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, etc are all seething.

    “JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian man was stabbed by a group of Israelis in north Jerusalem on Tuesday, relatives told Ma’an.

    Fadi Jalal Radwan, 22, was attacked and stabbed by four Israelis while walking in the town of Kafr Aqab, his father said. He was stabbed three times in the legs, and once in the back.

    The victim was found bleeding in the street and taken to Hadassah hospital for treatment. Doctors said he was in a serious condition.
    …
    Israeli police are looking into the background of the incident, Rosenfeld added.”

    http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=740907

    Rosenfeld is a laugh a minute…

  8. Maximus Decimus Meridius
    November 18, 2014, 2:46 pm

    It’s not just the NYT though is it? It’s basically the whole mainstream media. The Guardian – which ignores Palestinian deaths – has a live blog prominently placed on the front page all day. The BBC and other news channels, which similarly ignore the deaths of Palestinians, are all leading with the story. So did C4 News, but at least Jon Snow interviewed Mustafa Barghouti and gave some context. To watch the other ‘coverage’ you would swear this attack just came out of the blue, just ‘coz Arabs hate Jews and what have you.

    At times like this, I avoid watching the news. The hypocrisy is just too much. I know I should be immune by now, but this habit of, to quote George Galloway, only starting the clock ticking whenever an Israeli gets killed never fails to infuriate me. I can only imagine how it must feel to be a Palestinian. When your people, including children, get killed, there is silence from the media and politicians rush to offer excuses for Israel and even give them more weapons to kill more Palestinians. When the same happens to an Israeli, including a soldier, it’s as though it was another holocaust. Is it any wonder Palestinians are driven to extreme measures? Not to excuse it, but there’s no point in ignoring the context, as most of the media want us to do.

  9. Bumblebye
    November 18, 2014, 2:57 pm

    Also on the bbc, the 2pm (gmt) newshour on world service, was a discussion of the related issues with Jihad abu Sneid from Shuafat and Daniel Seiderman (sp?), where she tried to explain the situation under oppressive Israeli occupation and he, at one point described himself thus: “I am Jihad’s occupier”.

  10. seafoid
    November 18, 2014, 3:12 pm

    Netanyahu is now looking for the world’s shock and condemnation for his own “telegenic dead”.

    MJR is in good form

    CJ Werleman @cjwerleman
    · 3h 3 hours ago
    Alan Dershowitz tells @CNN “Israel never attacks mosques.” In 2014, Israel destroyed one-third of Gaza’s mosques: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/13813-one-third-of-gazas-mosques-destroyed-by-israeli-strikes …

    MJ (Mike) Rosenberg @MJayRosenberg
    · 3h 3 hours ago
    BenAmi and Beinart know better. But they also know who is buttering their bread.

    · 3h 3 hours ago

    The little man inside Beinart, Ben Ami and the others saying “be careful,” “don’t go there” has a name: It’s ALAN DERSHOWITZ.

    • Kay24
      November 18, 2014, 5:00 pm

      Also from the Middle East monitor:

      Israel has so far destroyed 161 mosques in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Awqaf Minister Yousef Dois said yesterday.

      He said 41 mosques were completely destroyed and 120 were partially destroyed during the war adding that a number of religious institutions have also been attacked.

      Dois continued by saying Israel is taking advantage of the fact that the world’s attention is on Gaza and using this to stop Muslim worshippers from gaining access to Al-Aqsa Mosque. He said rabbis are delivering provocative speeches.

      “These acts are clear proofs on the continued religious persecution practiced against Muslims and their places of worship,” he said.

      He called upon the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take serious steps to deter Israel for its “crimes and violations”, which are increasing daily in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem.”

      One synagogue and it is the end of the world. I am sure there were many Palestinians inside those Mosques taking refuge there, out of the over 2000 Palestinians that were killed.

      Wolf Blitzer is crying wolf again.

  11. seafoid
    November 18, 2014, 3:14 pm

    This is a must read from 972

    http://972mag.com/welcome-to-netanyahus-resolution-to-the-conflict/98940/

    “Netanyahu promised Israelis prosperity and quiet without having to solve the Palestinian conflict. That has been his promise since the 1990s. To Netanyahu, terrorism is just card we’ve been dealt, and only military force can resolve it. There is no problem with continuing to build in the settlements, including inside the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, because there is no connection between the settlements and the actions of the Palestinians. That’s what Netanyahu has been saying for decades already — both to the world and to Israelis. There’s no reason to give Palestinians their rights because that endangers Israel: they can make due with “economic peace.” It’s okay to discriminate and legislate against Israel’s Arab citizens. Hell, they should be saying thank you that we even let them live here; things are much worse in every other country in the Middle East. The government is here to serve the Jews, and the Jews only. And if we continue to act this way, aggressively and determinedly, we’ll enjoy stability, security and economic prosperity. That’s Netanyahu’s theory, and the Israeli public bought it because the price was so low and the payoff sky high. We’re not responsible for anything that happens and we don’t have to make any compromises on anything.
    ……………
    Netanyahu, Bennett and Liberman’s vision — the same vision that is being put into action with the help of Livni and Lapid’s acquiescence — is one of civil war between Jews and Arabs; a war that sometimes crawls under the carpet and sometimes explodes with violence. Nothing beyond that. Not two states and not one state, not warm peace and not cold peace — simply nothing. Just stricter laws against stone throwers, laws against the “release of terrorists,” laws against the Arabic language, new prisons to hold all of the new arrestees, gradual annexation, and ensuring the Palestinian population remains relegated to a status as second-, third- or fourth-class citizens.
    That’s the plan. That’s how they think they’ll quiet can be attained. That’s how they think “the Arabs will learn to accept us,” even though history and all logic prove exactly the opposite. Oppression begets violence, which begets more and harsher oppression, which begets even more terrible violence. “Holding onto the occupied territories will make us a nation of murderers and murder-victims,” read an advertisement by the lefty political movement Matzpen, three months after the Six Day War in which Israel conquered East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
    There is a simple truth here that needs to be reiterated: it’s entirely possible that a just political resolution with the Palestinians won’t guarantee peace and quiet, certainly not in its first stages. But only in such a deal, and in such a deal alone, lies the potential for a better future.
    Instead, we are caught in the implementation phase of the Israeli Right’s political plan — both in Gaza and in Jerusalem. This is what Netanyahu and Bennett’s “solution” looks like. They might blame the PA and the Israeli Left and the High Court and the world for their inability to deliver, but this is their doing. Or more accurately, this is what the beginning of their doing looks like. The rest will be much worse — for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

  12. RoHa
    November 18, 2014, 5:44 pm

    No news here. The core of the whole thing is “we matter and you don’t”.

  13. Kay24
    November 18, 2014, 6:33 pm

    We knew it anyway.

    Report: Anti-Semitic incidents in Italy tripled during Israel’s Gaza op
    The vast majority of this summer’s anti-Semitic incidents in Italy – 17 total – were triggered by Israel’s fighting in Gaza, according to the report.

    Anti-Semitic incidents in Italy nearly tripled this summer during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, as compared to the summer of 2013, according to Italy’s Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation.” Haaretz

    The culprits are in Telaviv.

  14. JimMichie
    November 19, 2014, 9:45 pm

    Arthur O. Sulzberger’s New York Times has long been a propaganda rag for Zionist Israel!

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