In Israel, the military is by far the most trusted institution. And though it terrorizes Palestinians daily, the fealty it gets from Jewish Israeli society serves as a shield against taking it to account.

A terrorist bombing campaign in Lebanon in the early 1980s that killed 100s of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians has now been confirmed as an Israeli operation led by prominent figures and suppressed by a military censor. But western media have ignored the bombshell revelation, thereby underlining the prejudicial discourse of terrorism.

A long NYT Magazine article on Netanyahu’s influence on the White House buys the Israeli premiere’s line that his power comes from “the ability to sway public opinion in the United States against the regime in Iran,” and leaves out the millions that Sheldon Adelson, Netanyahu’s friend, has given to Trump and Republican causes. Leaves out AIPAC too, though author Ronen Bergman has spoken to the Israel lobby group and lavished praise on it.

A New York Times article on on Israel’s recent attacks across the Middle East rattled on for 43 paragraphs without a single mention of Netanyahu’s incentive to sabotage the possible Trump-Iran detente. Is this deliberate bias — or just incompetence? 

Happy new year from Mondoweiss! Here are our ten most read articles in 2018. This year we published more than 2,250,000 words across 1,254 articles which sparked more than 28,000 comments. If you appreciate what we do please considering becoming a supporter today to help us continue to grow our coverage of these critical issues. If you donate before the end of 2018 your donation will be MATCHED, doubling your impact.

Ronen Bergman’s pageturner on the history of Israeli assassinations, Rise and Kill First, revels in the jokes the killers make about their targets. “That man died of natural causes by swallowing a pillow.” “No dog, no rabies.” “Someone who deserves his ticket on the train to elimination.” The language is morally degrading and serves to justify killing Arabs, who are voiceless in the book.

A NYT article by Ronen Bergman says Israel’s top military leaders regard Benjamin Netanyahu as a religious, ideological ambitious man who seeks “belligerent” solutions to problems. Then why is Hillary Clinton saying she wants to invite this “dangerous” man to the White House in her first month as president?