If you want to understand the sad state of American media on Israel, then go no further than Emily Harris’s report for National Public Radio yesterday on teaching little Israeli children about the Holocaust on Holocaust Remembrance day. It was, to use a scientific term, pap. Titled, “In Israeli Kindergartens, An Early Lesson In The Holocaust,” it contained an advertisement for the Israeli army:
Then [teacher Nava Ron] asks the children what they know about [the Holocaust]. One child says Israeli soldiers protect them now. Another pipes up and says at that time, the whole world was at war.
Ron agrees. She directs the conversation toward democracy, tolerance and other ways to solve conflicts.
What’s so shocking about this piece is that Israeli media, and even the president of the United States, are doing a much better job of problematizing this narrative than NPR is capable of doing.
The same day NPR told its listeners that the Israeli army is protecting little Jews from Jew-haters, the BBC aired a piece by Jeremy Bowen quoting Yehuda Shaul on how 50 years of policing an occupation has corrupted Israel and corrupted its army.
And Haaretz published a story on some elite Israeli high schools ending the program of sending students off to Auschwitz, in which it addressed the “fascization” of Israeli society.
Citing the dangerous rise of nationalism in Israel, principal Zeev Degani announced that as of next year, Gymnasia Herzliya would no longer be sending delegations to Poland. Instead, it would find ways to educate its students at home about the Holocaust…
“As I see it, this is our antidote – and pardon the expression – to the process of fascisization that is taking over politics in this country,” he told Haaretz.
And meantime, Israeli media have been all over a similar warning about Israeli political culture issued by Yair Golan, the deputy chief of staff for the Israeli army:
“If there’s something that frightens me about Holocaust remembrance, it’s the recognition of the revolting processes that occurred in Europe in general, and particularly in Germany, back then — 70, 80 and 90 years ago — and finding signs of them here among us today in 2016.”
This is the Israel that NPR can’t bring itself to see.
And why do I mention President Obama. Here is President Obama’s statement two days ago on Holocaust Remembrance Day. In yet another signal that he has had it up to here with the one and only Jewish state, the statement doesn’t reference Israel.
2013: Obama mentions Israel twice.
2014: Obama mentions Israel once.
2015: He doesn’t mention Israel.
And look back at 2009. Israel was all over it, from start to finish:
in the final analysis, I believe history gives us cause for hope rather than despair — the hope of a chosen people who have overcome oppression since the days of Exodus; of the nation of Israel rising from the destruction of the Holocaust; of the strong and enduring bonds between our nations.
Wondering why no one is picking up the State Department’s assurance to Senator Leahy about investigating Israeli human right violations
“The Obama administration, locked in tough negotiations with Israel over a new U.S. defense aid package, has assured concerned lawmakers that it is closely tracking allegations of Israeli human rights violations and will restrict security assistance if the claims prove true.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/state-department-israel-human-rights-scrutiny-222734
Public Broadcasting is fundamental to why the Question of Palestine remains unresolved.
At NPR Linda Gradstein had tenure year after year as a propagandist for the Israeli narrative….. ending the majority of stories with a quote from the IDF’s spokesperson. No one stays on the payroll if they do not carry water.
The Newshour is a problem too. There is a longstanding pattern of not covering news that would enable viewers to understand dynamics in foreign policy in general and the holy land in particular. The practice is to wait and put “inconvenient” news into “context” some time later and to restate questionable facts. I have yet to see a Washington Week in Review do a respectable overview when it comes to I/P.
So many Americans, voters, depend on PBS to be informed. The editing out of relevant information and reinforcing the accepted narrative leaves the public essentially misinformed and politicians in line.
This is a serious oversight by activists. PBS depends on public contributions and therefore subject to publicity. Public Broadcasting was created 25 years ago to bring forth voices and ideas being marginalized by commercial media. Demanding a return to that mandate would make a big difference.
Simply bringing Democracy Now! to more stations would amount to a big step forward.
Why is there no Nakba Remembrance Day in any American media? Perhaps because the Nakba is still ongoing? Why, in the thousands of TV and radio discussions about Israel’s wars, is there NEVER even a MENTION of the Nakba? How could such a blanket, 100% omission occur, in thousands of discussions? This cannot be due to chance. This can only be due to iron control. The state of America’s media is way beyond “sad”. Such control is rightfully called “tyranny”.
I wonder whether Phil Weiss knows Modern Israeli Hebrew?
The correct translation of יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה is Holocaust and Heroism Memorial Day.
Militarism has always been part of this day.
To JWalters, I don’t think most Americans know about the Nakba. I certainly didn’t. I read about it here and looked up more stuff about it on my own. I am neither Jewish nor of Middle Eastern descent, and most of this history was unknown to me. I have a non-Jewish Zionist friend whom I told about the Nabka and current conditions in the occupied territories, and he refuses to believe it. But I keep working on it. (I’ll tell you what’s getting his attention. It’s the “most moral army in the world” claim. He’s a veteran of the US Army, and he knows full well that no army can stand there and honestly make that statement.)
Anyway, the Nakba really has to be talked about in America. Maybe a PBS documentary–? Probably couldn’t get made or aired. Or just a documentary movie?
It would be very tough to do. I can already hear the cries of anti-semitism. Probably difficult to get a distributor. Just put it online, I guess. And publicize the hell out of it. Get a celebrity spokesman.
But yeah, your point is well taken. I really think the reality is that average Americans just don’t know about the past or current conditions in this part of the world. And years of news reports that focus on suicide bombings for instance or just violence in general and not what leads to the violence is the problem. But that takes time to explain. This coupled with failed peace talks time and again–well, it all just feels like a broken record.
I think most people I know either support Israel for religious reasons or because of the holocaust and the news reports. Or they don’t care all that much because, “Those people have been fighting for years and years. It’s never going to stop.”
I believe most people just don’t know. A straight up series of “here’s why they are fighting” stories would help. Here’s what the laws are. Here’s what the conditions are like. Explain only certain people can marry, only certain people can use this road, only certain people can live here or go to this school–show them the segregation, and that alone will get people’s attention. It’s our great democratic ally–and it’s Un-American.