Once again the “New York Times” launders the dark forces gaining power in Israeli politics. Tensions in the occupied Palestinian West Bank are already at their highest level in years, and yet Israel’s security policy is now in the hands of a fascist who was considered so extreme that he wasn’t even allowed to serve as a foot soldier in the Israeli army when he was younger.
Itamar Ben-Gvir will probably be the kingmaker in Israel’s next government. So why do the New York Times and National Public Radio downplay his racism?
The racist Israeli politician Itamar Ben Gvir could be the lynchpin for Netanyahu’s comeback. But the “New York Times” is keeping that news from its readers. Even as Israel supporters in the Congress, Robert Menendez and Brad Sherman, express concern about what Ben Gvir would do for Israel’s image in the west.
Once again, the U.S. mainstream media is missing — or covering up — a central reason that Israel carried out a preemptive attack on Gaza, killing 46 people, including 16 children. Yair Lapid used the attack to go ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu in polling in the election campaign.
Expect Biden to parrot conservative pro-Israel writers in the New York Times who hail the lately-fallen Israeli government as a model for the United States in its inclusion of an Arab party. Shmuel Rosner calls it “thrilling.” Too bad that NPR also salutes the “hell of an experiment.” All these positive reviews leave out Israeli apartheid.
Even as Israel says it won’t investigate killing of Palestinian-American journalists, US media ignore the story. But journalists are supposed to be like firefighters — if one of you is killed in action the rest of you show up in solidarity and you don’t shut up. Apparently, though, there’s an exception — when the Israeli army (almost certainly) kills your colleague.
Today’s New York Times includes a collector’s item: an actual headline that reads “Israeli Police Attack Mourners”
Israel continues its time-honored strategy of manipulating the mainstream U.S. media — this time muddying the coverage of the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
“You were washing the floors just like any other prisoner,” NPR reporter Daniel Estrin says to former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert in a long and respectful interview. But more than 4,000 Palestinian political prisoners are held on different terms by Israel, conditions cited by human rights reports charging apartheid– a charge that was unmentioned by the radio reporter.
The New York Times sets the media agenda inside the United States. If the paper had published at least one single story, or run just one opinion piece, the Amnesty report on Israeli apartheid would not be fading from view.