By Schmoel Yitzhak
When it comes to coverage of Israel, the Lost Continent of Journalism was called Integrity
In the 21st Century, it has been replaced by the New World of coverage named Duplicity.
The journalistic island of Integrity featured newspapers, magazines and television stations which accented objective reporting without agendas.
But, now in the world of Duplicity, once-respected journals, such as The New York Times, have published stories so biased against Israel it’s a wonder the editors have the gall to inspire such stories.
Most recently, the alleged “newspaper of record” ran an exhaustive article – purported to be an expose – about American-based tax-free contributions to Israeli “settlements.
Two egregious journalistic sins were committed by its trio of authors.
For starters, The Times ran the piece as its lead article precisely on the day that Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with Barack Obama at The White House.
It was no coincidence that out of 365 days of the year, its editors chose the one day that Bibi was visiting Obama to embarrass Netanyahu with an anti-Israel headliner.
Only the thoroughly naïve would believe otherwise.
If that wasn’t a deliberate bit of newspaper chicanery, it was only topped by the overwhelming – misleading – slant of the article.
Nowhere did the reportorial corps mention that an equal amount of tax-free contributions have been funneled by American-based, left wing organizations to anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian organizations.
Once again, the Times violated the tenets of Journalism 101 – get the other side of the story.
If that were a mere aberration in today’s Middle East coverage, it might be overlooked but, alas, it has become the norm.
This has been proven over and over by Turkey’s leaders but creates special attention in America when a headliner nut case blows her cover.
Most recently, it was Helen Thomas, the so-called “doyen” of the White House press corps, who suggested that Israelis should leave their country and “go home” to countries such as Poland and Germany which merely attempted to wipe out every living Jew during World War II.
What Thomas failed to understand – among many things – is that Israel is not a white, European country. More than half of its population is comprised of those uprooted from Arab lands.
“Anti-semitism as displayed by both Thomas and Turkey’s leaders,” writes Victor Davis Hanson in The National Review, “hinges upon focusing singularly on Israeli behavior and applying a standard to it that is never extended to any other nation.”
It would be gratifying if The Times, CNN, et. Al.. focused on the abusivd issues in Kashmir or how the Chinese have abused Tibet.
But neither those issues nor abuse of the Turkish Kurds – even Indians in Kashmir – seems to attract equal attention.
When will The Times run a Page One lead story on the more than half-million Jews – as Hanson points out – who were “ethnically cleansed from the major Arab capitals between 1947 and 1973.
“Each wave of expulsion cresting after a particular Mideast war. Again, few care to demonstrate for the plight of any of these people.”
The Turks rank among the most hypocritical when it comes to leveling accusations.
When will Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan explain how Turkey continues to keep Nicosia, Cyprus a split-city? Or question why his country refuses to allow Greeks to purchase land in the Turkish part of Nicosia?
Or should I ask why The New York Times doesn’t devote a three-reporter expose to these legitimately pressing issues?
But the answer is obvious.
Duplicity has scored a TKO over Integrity in Middle East reporting.
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