honestreporting.com
Mere hours after Israel completed its historic withdrawal from Gaza on
Sunday (Sept. 11), Palestinian mobs descended on former Jewish settlements,
desecrating their synagogues by burning them to the ground and looting anything
left.
While observers the world over were saddened and outraged, some media
outlets tried to justify the sacrilege, or even blame it on Israel:
● The _BBC TV report_
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/nb_rm_fs.stm?nbram=1&news=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nol_storyid=4238374) by Orla
Guerin justified the arson mobs in this manner:
Palestinians came streaming to the settlements that caused them so much
pain, to sightsee and to loot. Israel stole thirty-eight years from them; today,
many were ready to take back anything they could.
This is a clear example of BBC bias ― Guerin states as ‘fact’ that
Palestinians in Gaza had their lives somehow ‘stolen’ by Israeli since 1967, a claim
the BBC uses to rationalize the Palestinian mob violence.
Comments to BBC News: _click here_ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/)
● A _Knight Ridder story_
(http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0912mideast12.html) , euphemistically entitled ‘Palestinians besiege buildings hours
after Israelis leave Gaza’, included this ‘explanatory’ quote at the top of the
article:
“I want to destroy everything here as they did the Al Aqsa mosque,” said
Mahmoud Malahi… “It’s a symbol of occupation. Destroying it is a symbol of
Islam.”
Israel is well-known to protect Muslim places of worship under its control.
The very site mentioned ― the Al Aqsa mosque ― is an outstanding example of
this policy, for it has never been touched by Israel, and remains in perfect
shape and in active use atop the Temple Mount [_view picture_
(http://www.honestreporting.com/images/alaqsa.jpg) ]. In contradistinction to the status of
Jerusalem _under Muslim rule_ (http://www.onejerusalem.org/understand.asp) ,
Israel guarantees _freedom of religion_
(http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/freedom.html) and makes holy places accessible to
peoples of all faiths.
Why did the Knight Ridder reporter and editor allow this libelous statement
to appear unchallenged?
The _Philadelphia Inquirer_
(http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/12620948.htm) printed the story, but deleted the reference to the Al Aqsa
mosque.
If your local paper is _a Knight Ridder affiliate_
(http://www.knightridder.com/papers/) , check to ensure the erroneous statement did not appear; if it
did, write a letter to the editor, noting the error and the larger issue of
Israeli vs. Palestinian treatment of other faiths’ holy places.
** UPDATE 9/15: Knight Ridder has issued a ‘clarification’ and asked its
papers to run a formal correction. The KR clarification:
A Sept. 12 story on the Gaza Strip included a quote from a Palestinian
demonstrator that wrongly equated the destruction of a former synagogue at
Netzarim in the Gaza Strip to Israeli actions regarding the Al Aqsa Mosque in
Jerusalem. The story should have clarified that the Israelis have not destroyed or
vandalized the mosque.
● The _Philadelphia Inquirer_
(http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/12628944.htm) described the synagogue desecrations as ‘protest fires’.
Comments to Philadelphia Inquirer: _inquirer.letters@phillynews.com_
(mailto:inquirer.letters@phillynews.com)
● _The Scotsman_ (http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1923732005)
effectively blamed Israel for the desecrations before they even occurred:
Any hopes of a better and more peaceful era for the region were dampened by
sharp disputes between Israel and the Palestinians over control of border
crossings, and the Israeli cabinet’s decision to leave intact 19 buildings that
housed synagogues in the vacated settlements.
A decision to leave synagogues in place ‘dampened any hopes for a more
peaceful era’? One would think the desecrations did that, not the (hopeful) act of
leaving the synagogues intact.
Comments to The Scotsman: _click here_
(http://members.scotsman.com/contact.cfm)
GAZA STILL ‘OCCUPIED’?!
Now that Israel has completely left Gaza, and the onus of living in peace
falls on the Palestinian leadership, PA leaders are claiming to journalists
that Gaza is ‘still occupied’ ― from Monday’s _New York Times_
(http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/international/middleeast/11gaza.html) :
“Any suggestion coming from Israel that the status of Gaza will change is
ludicrous,” said Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian foreign minister. “They are
controlling the borders, the air, the water, and we need approval for the
crossing points and everything else. So Gaza still remains part of the occupied
Palestinian territory.”
In a JCPA Brief, _Dore Gold_ (http://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief005-3.htm)
thoroughly debunks this claim, with reference to the key international legal
precedents. See also scholar _Ruth Lapidoth’s opinion_
(http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1126405205586) on the
matter.
Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
This entry was posted
on Friday, September 16th, 2005 and is filed under arabpress.