Verbalizing Truth Against Israel Abuses Makes One an Anti-Semite

Every time I read an article where someone is accused of anti-semitism, my ears perk up.

Why? Because in the majority of the cases I have read, the articles are factual and not complimentary to Israeli politics.

Say anything which condemns Israel and you are a racist, an anti-semite, a holocaust denier. Take your pick.

Do this often enough and people should begin to pick up on the tactic. But, why is it that we don't hear about this in the media? Think deeply about that questsion and it becomes self-evident.

Here's an article from the Jerusalem Post, BBC Reporter's Award Stuns Israel, where it becomes quite evident how it all works.

Israeli officials have expressed dismay that BBC reporter Orla Guerin, who has come under sharp attack for what some perceive as an anti-Israeli bias in her coverage, will receive an MBE [Member of the British Empire] honor from the British government for "outstanding service to broadcasting."

Diaspora Affairs Minister Natan Sharansky, who last year wrote a formal letter of complaint to the BBC over Guerin's coverage, said it is a pity that the absence of anti-Semitism was not a criterion for the award.

If it were, he said, Guerin would not be receiving the honor.

I wonder what tye of reporting led to such a comment from Mr. Sharansky?

Last year, in response to one of Guerin's dispatches about Israel's capture of a mentally challenged 16-year-old would-be suicide bomber, Sharansky wrote the BBC that it employs a "gross double standard to the Jewish state" that smacks of anti-Semitism.

Sharansky protested that Guerin, in her report, portrayed the event as "Israel's cynical manipulation of a Palestinian youngster for propaganda purposes." He said this "reveals a deep-seated bias against Israel. Only a total identification with the goals and methods of the Palestinian terror groups would drive a reporter to paint Israel in such an unflattering light instead of placing the focus on the bomber and the organization that recruited him."

The report, he said, "has not only set a new standard for biased journalism, it has also raised concerns that it was tainted by anti-Semitism."

In his letter, Sharansky quoted Guerin as describing to viewers how the IDF "paraded the child in front of the international media," then "produced" the child for reporters, "posed" him a second time for the cameras, and then "rushed him back into a jeep."

Is this true?

I found an interesting analysis of the use of the "anti-semitic" label and the events surrounding the example provide by Mr. Sharansky at this site. Here is an example:

Unsurprisingly, the main thrust of the Israeli government's objection to the award being given to Guerin is that her reporting from Israel has been biased because she is clearly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. Most right-wing Israeli politicians never miss an opportunity to link anti-Semitism to a bias against Israel, yet to do so is clearly a manipulation and a distortion of the truth.

Anti-Semitism is defined as a hatred of Jews simply because they are Jews. Over the past number of years Israeli politicians have been at pains to associate anti-Israel bias with anti-Semitism and/or a bias against the existence of the state of Israel. The truth however, is that most people that are labeled, "anti-Semitic" and "anti-Israel" by Israeli politicans and lobby groups bear no grudge against the existence of Israel as a nation and certainly do not hate Jews simply because they are Jews! Rather, they deplore the policies of the current Israeli government and its army and oppose the victimisation and brutalisation of innocent civilians, regardless of ethnic or religious background or geographic location. In fact, members of the Israeli government would be well advised to avoid insisting on associating anti-Semitism and "anti-Israelism" with each other and with the actions of the Israeli government and army. The entire world can see that the Israeli government and army sanction the murder of innocent Palestinian children. Does Sharon really want the Jewish people and the Jewish state to become synonymous with such wanton acts of murder? On second thoughts...

Objective journalism is allegedly achieved through simply reporting the facts of any given event without undue input or opinion of the reporter. It is not reasonable, however, to expect a reporter in all circumstances to remain completely detached from the events they are witnessing and reporting. In order to really bring home the reality of any given event, the reporter may find it necessary to employ particular language that best conveys the reality on the ground. For example, a reporter might use strong and somewhat emotional language when reporting on a murder scene. A "biased" word like "brutal" might be used instead of the more objective "violent", or the murder might be described as a "slaying" instead of a "killing", yet these words may be much more appropriate and accurate in conveying a real taste of the actual events to the viewer/reader. Equally, when referring to people, it is not unreasonable that a reporter would use strong "biased" language to describe a murderer for example, particularly if his or her crime were marked by a particular callousness.

It follows then that, due to the brutality and viciousness with which the Israeli government and military treat the Palestinian people, emotionally charged reports are not only to be expected but often required if the true horror of the the atrocities that are regularly visited upon the Palestinian people are to be conveyed to viewers and readers. Orla Guerin's reports from Israel and Palestine won her a prestigious honor from the British government for "outstanding service to broadcasting" because she was dedicated to bringing the truth of Palestinian people's plight to public attention.

As we have seen time and time again, the Israeli government is desperate to ensure that the crimes it permits in Palestine remain largely hidden from view. On a number of occasions the IDF has resorted to murdering specific journalists who were attempting to report the truth about Israeli state-sponsored murder of innocent Palestinian civilians. Naturally, the guilty soldiers are never punished. In the case of Orla Guerin and those other journalists that they are unable to silence in this way, the Israeli government is forced to resort to defamation and ridiculous accusations of anti-Semitism.

Every time there is a report that is in any way critical of Israel, Israeli politicians decry the "one-sided" nature of media reporting on Israeli actions in Palestine. The simple fact however is that, given the extreme bias in the US mainstream press TOWARDS Israel (which is a direct product of Israeli influence within the US government), the public is exposed to only a tiny portion of Israeli crimes in Palestine. The Israeli government desires 100% control on the reporting of events in the occupied territories, when they can only manage 90% they accuse the 10% of bias and anti-Semitism.
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I strongly urge the reader to visit the link to read the entire commentary.

Technorati Categories: Anti-Semitism, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine, Zionist