Today's ambush of an Israeli bus in the West Bank that killed 7 Jewish
settlers officially ended a 3 week period of what the American news media
have called a "relative calm" in Middle East violence. In other words, the
average American citizen who doesn't keep up with the Middle East as I do
would naturally assume that there have been no killings during this 3 week
period. This assumption would be correct if the terms "relative calm" was
to define any other conflict. The distiction in the Middle East is that this
is not just any other conflict. This is not just a conflict between Israelis
and Palestinians but a conflict between Israel and the news media.
Whatever the case may be, there's no doubt that journalists generally
understand critical words about Israel to be hazardous to careers. And not
only do the journalists feel the threat, but the News Outlets themselves have
gotten the message.
There was a time when we could at least depend on CNN to give us a balanced
account of the happenings in the Middle East but, if you've noticed lately,
CNN seems to report only the news that is favorable to the public image of
the Israelis. This all began about 3 weeks ago when the Israelis threatened
to pull the plug on CNN unless they immediately tiltled all the news in favor
of Israeli victims of terrorist attacks and stop all interviews with
Palestinan victims. CNN immediately sent over their senior vice president to
Israel to resolve the problem while correspondent Wolf Blitzer spent one week
in Jerusalem airing nothing but Israeli victims. Since then, CNN bends over
backwards to insure only news of Israeli victims makes the airwaves.
Up until today, and during these last 3 weeks of "relative calm" there hasn't
been one single Israeli killed or wounded and not one suicide bombing had
been committed. Instead, there have been 43 Palestinians killed, most of
them unarmed civilians, including 9 children and two young Palestinian
mothers. Just 3 days ago the Israelis machine gunned and killed an innocent
mother and her 2-year-old son, a 13-year-old boy and a Palestinian free-lance
photographer. In addition to these unprovoked killings, there have been
dozens of men, women and children maimed and injured by the Israeli
occupation forces, and dozens of homes have been demolished including the
complete destruction of the Palestinian Authority offices in Hebron. In
addition there are over 3 million Palestinians confined to their homes and
placed under long curfews for more than three weeks.
Have we heard any criticism or condemnation from President Bush, or Secretary
of State Colin Powell? Have we seen National Security Advisor Condoleezza
Rice step up to the podium on the White House lawn to speak to reporters
about Israeli violence? Have we seen Congressman Tom Lantos introduce any
written document to withhold any more economic aid to Israel unless the
violence stops? Of course we haven't. It only happens when the violence is
Palestinian violence. And don't be surprised if you don't see the above
actions taken today, not at Israel but at Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians
after today's bus ambush that killed 7 Israelis.
I should also warn you to be prepared for the blitz of news coverage of
today's Middle East violence. The 3 week period of "relative calm" will be
over and our local and national news media will present headline coverage
of today's bus attack where 7 innocent Jewish settlers were ambushed and
killed. No mention will be made of Israeli troops killing the Palestinian
mother and her 2-year-old son nor will there be any mention of the
13-year-old Palestinan boy who was killed by Israeli machine guns. Neither
will there be any mention of the 35-year-old Palestinian journalist Emad Abu
Zahra, who was shot and killed by Israeli troops--if only he could get a
fraction of the coverage that Wall Street journalist Danny Pearl received.
Since this report was written in December 1999, the number of innocent
Palestinian homes demolished has almost doubled to 4700, causing more than
30,000 men, women, and especially children to become homeless with very
little clothing and food.
The fact that today's news media consistently and deliberately ignores these
dozens of Palestinians brutally killed by Israel demonstrates in the clearest
possible terms that only Israeli lives are valued and only the concerns and
security of Israel are taken seriously. Rarely since the Second World War
has a people been so vilified as the Palestinians and rarely has a people
been so frequently excused and placated as the Israelis.
James J. David is a retired Brigadier General and a graduate of the U.S.
Army's Command and General Staff College, and the National Security Course,
National Defense University, Washington DC. He served as a Company Commander
with the 101st Airborne Division in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and 1970
and also served nearly 3 years of Army active duty in and around the Middle
East from 1967-1969.
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