Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Haaretz - And the Concept of a Free Press

My Right Word

Free?

Well, free from Zionism, patriotism and even elementary ethics.

A mosque was daubed with slogans - settlers did it.

A mosque was torched - settlers did it.

A Muslim cemetery was vandalized - settlers did it.

But yesterday, other violent events happpened and?

Well, here's the headline:

Stones hurled at Jerusalem light rail, bus; police suspect nationalist motives
Bus driver lightly injured after rocks cause him to crash bus into wall; Jerusalem Police searching for perpetrators.


a) 'Arabs' is not mentioned. After all, it could have Jews, right? Alright, stop smirking. After all, those who know know that "nationalist motives" or a "nationalist crime" are euphemisms for Arabs. But it didn't prevent them earlier from pointing an accusatory finger at Jews, did it?

b) To be fair, the paper does note the dangerousness of such acts:

Rock throwing took the lives of two Israelis last month, Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan, who were killed in an incident in which rocks are believed to have been thrown from a passing car. Two Palestinians were arrested last week on suspicion of carrying out the act.


But "Palestinians" could be only Arabs? Jews can't be "Palestinians"? Has the paper adopted the racist apartheid policy of the PA to permit only Arabs in their new "Palestine"?

c) Again, to be fair - to Haaretz, that is - the Jerusalem Post headline was perhaps even more vague:-

J'lem: 2 stone throwing incidents damage bus, light rail


That was even more nebulous, almost as if the rocks were thrown anonymously.

God forbid we should mention the possibel (or probable) identity of the stonethrowers.

d) Ynet/Yedioth also were sparse on facts or credible assumptions:

Jerusalem: Stones hurled at Light Rail, bus


e) Of course, it seems the police also were reluctant to be accused of any "racist" approach and probably did not mention ethnic origin but, on the other hand, that did not stop the media in the previous 'price-tag' incidents when all were positive about the identity of the criminals.

Israel's so free a press.

Free from responsibility, free from fairness.

(I've dealt with this, too, at my JPost blog - Green-Lined)

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