All The News That's Fit To Print
So print the news, people have a right to be informed. News should be neutral, simple reportage, set in context, giving details of the situation and allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions. Unless it's editorial content, or an opinion piece, and then it should be clearly stated that's what it is. But then newspapers have their clear ideological bent all too often, and those who write for them and edit the news items and caption them buy into the specific ideological agenda.It's unfortunate that so many of the news outlets in so many countries of the world display a definite slant when they interpret news. News items are deliberately manipulated, photographs selected and stories reported in a manner that nudges the reader, sometimes subtly, occasionally overtly, to draw inescapable conclusions. When nations are at war with one another, it's called propaganda; an effort to harden people against the humanity of those they battle.
And then there's the case of the universal scapegoat, the one country of the world that seems to have detractors everywhere - certainly now among the left-leaning, where traditionally it seemed to emanate from the right. In critical distaste of just about everything Israel does, the left and the right appear now to have joined in a common purpose. The result of which the bias becomes slanderous and can appear just about anywhere - and it does.
Often respected news sources will allow themselves to be taken in by elements that stand to gain when Israel is shown to have been engaged in questionable moral conduct. They will fail to observe due diligence in checking facts, happy to print them because it's affirmation of how they ascertain the situation to have evolved, in any event. They will use doctored photographs, then express chagrin when the truth is revealed - or more often simply ignore the truth, relying on peoples' forgetfulness.
In any event, the original claims of injustice, or moral lapses, or anti-humane events and situations attributed to an individual, or a country or a government will be recalled by the reading public, and not a discreet retraction. In the most recent example of bias against Israel, we see a video being viewed in television and the Internet which purports to record a blindfolded and cuffed Palestinian being shot by an Israeli soldier.
Over the damning photograph printed in newspapers, the headline reads: "Video shows Israeli soldier shooting captive". Atrocious and unforgivable, that a soldier will deliberately shoot a helpless prisoner. Military juntas, vicious dictators do that kind of thing, not democratic, peace-defensive countries. Yet there is the prisoner - a Palestinian demonstrator - standing beside an officer, and on the other side of the prisoner is a soldier, aiming a rifle. The incendiary headline leads the reader to believe a prisoner has been shot, perhaps fatally.
The classic example of bias is demonstrated. News media with headlines written in the active style when describing Israeli aggression, but passively reporting events with respect to Arab terrorists - and the readers or the viewers can then draw their conclusions, persuasively led on by the manner of the reportage. The New York Times is one highly respected newspaper that leads off with a headline such as "Israeli Force Kills 9 in Gaza" - or, alternately "Rocket Fired from Gaza Kills Woman in Southern Israel".
Neutral language is utilized to soft-pedal terrorist operations, while more specific, quietly condemnatory language is used to describe Israel's counter-terrorist operations. An objective study demonstrated that 75% of published photographs were selected to draw sympathy for the Palestinian side, emphasizing casualties of Israeli military operations and acute civilian shortages in Gaza, without drawing attention to, or mentioning the ongoing attacks against Israel that have caused the defensive operations and road blocks.
It's common enough to describe the targeted killing of a Palestinian without, however, mentioning the inconvenient fact that the unfortunate man was also a "fighter" with Islamic Jihad, who had just successfully launched a rocket into Israel. And so too it was with the latest demonstration of 'unbiased reportage', with the video in question and related photographs and news text seen all over the world.
Condemnation of Israel finds a ready market. The video shows a rubber bullet being shot by an IDF soldier at the feet of Ashraf Abu-Rahman who was detained for violence during a riot in the Arab town of Naalin where riots have become a common occurrence of late, although the town is well known for the violence of its demonstrations against the occupying forces. It's the continuation of the security fence that has raised the ire of Naalin Arabs.
A separating defence that would not be required were it not for the continual infiltration into Israel of martyrdom-obsessed terrorists. The rioting protesters from the town along with supporters from nearby towns were arrested and the individual identified as Abu-Rahman claimed to have been shot on his large left toe. He was given medical treatment at the scene of the event, and then released. The soldier fired rubber bullets at a distance of one and a half meters.
Some questions have been raised within Israel, which has launched an enquiry into the incident. An expert on Arab affairs who is also an IDF reserves Lieutenant-Colonel expresses his reservations: "For one thing, the film shows the soldier firing to the left of the detained man and certainly not at his feet. Why don't they show the boot that would certainly have been damaged had he been shot in the foot?
"In addition, the military doctor said he had a small injury on the bottom of his right foot - while the injured man said he was hurt in the toe of his left foot. Finally, even though he was surprised by the shooting as can be expected from one who is blindfolded, the Arab did not fall down right away from the supposed injuries to his foot, but rather remained standing on two feet, and actually leaning on his supposedly-injured left foot. The film is then cut, apparently on purpose, and we don't see how he ended up lying down on the ground."
The IDF soldier was arrested and questioned after the incident, and a criminal investigation launched. The IDF is looking into the authenticity of the tape and the veracity of the injured man's allegations. It's interesting to note that originally, when the event took place, on July 7, the man did not lodge an official complaint. No doubt the entire truth will be revealed. Israel has a habit of taking accusations that it or its representatives may have acted in an immoral or questionably unethical manner seriously.
People often act and react perversely when violence is present, when lives are endangered, when the outcome of situations cannot be guaranteed. When people act of their own volition in concert with others who are similarly enraged at their understanding that their human rights are being violated, they are answerable to themselves for their actions - and to the system of justice that prevails when they're in a situation such as the Palestinians.
In the case of members of the IDF, it's the national defence forces who must respond as being responsible for anything untoward, for exercising options not recognized as reasonable or permissible in reflecting the values of the society they represent. For Israel there is much at stake, and there always has been, there always will be. The country, although beset at every turn by hostile neighbours, will do what it must to protect itself and its citizens.
But the censure and lack of concern and empathy by the world at large toward its existential dilemma causes pain and self-searching. That much is evident by the presence within the country of groups of citizens who form their own human-rights watch groups and who bear witness and exert pressure on their country and their countrymen to carefully observe human rights across the board, inclusive of their enemies.
We don't see their counterparts elsewhere in the geographic region.
Labels: Anti-Semitism, Israel, Troublespots
posted by Pieface @ Monday, July 21, 2008
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