Brith Sholom Media Watch Alert #642, 4/21/13

To: Brith Sholom Media Watch Subscribers
From: Jerry Verlin, Editor (jverlin1234@comcast.net)
Subj: Brith Sholom Media Watch Alert #642, 4/21/13

This Week In the Inq: “Palestinian American Teen Gets Two Weeks” – Latest Euphemism for Violent Attackers of Israeli Civilians
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Euphemism – “the use of a less direct word or phrase for one considered offensive,” Webster.

Thursday of this week, on which the Philadelphia Inquirer’s (“Inq’s”) big headline at the top of A1 rightly focused on the search for the vicious murderers of Boston marathon watchers with bombs packed with small ball bearings, the Inq found space on A2 for a two-line, three-column headline : “Palestinian American Teen Gets Two-Week Prison Term” (Inq, Thu, 4/18/13, A2, emphasis added throughout).

First off, you might wonder why a teenager being given a two week jail sentence by a country halfway around the world merits a 2-line, 3-column headline on page A2 of an American paper. But the country is Israel and this is the Inq. And as this Inq AP article helpfully helps inform the world, the United Nations said last month that Israel “gravely and systematically violates” the rights of Palestinian Arab youths whose recreation is hurling rocks at cars being driven by Israeli civilians.

The AP led off Thursday’s article on this case “that has drawn attention to Israel’s system of military detention of Palestinian minors” by telling readers significantly less of what the Israeli military “said” than paragraphs much further down reported that the Israeli military actually said. Lead paragraph 1 stated the two-week sentence was “for throwing rocks at Israeli forces, the military said.” It wasn’t until paragraph 6 (of 9) that the AP reported that “the military said the youth threw rocks at vehicles on a highway and at Israeli forces on several occasions.” It wasn’t until paragraph 9 (of 9) that the AP told readers what the Israeli military said about this youth’s attacks’ context:

The Israeli military said there had been a spike in rock-throwing attacks on drivers, including an incident in early April when rocks thrown at a civilian car next to an Israeli settlement injured seven, including an infant who was critically wounded.

There’s a deeper, more troubling media watch concern here than the AP’s and Inq’s obsession with Israel and slow unraveling of what the Israeli military actually said. That deeper concern is the euphemism – “Palestinian American Teen” – with which the Inq’s headline cloaked this repeated rock thrower at Israeli civilians. An entirely different impression would have been lain by an Inq headline like “Arab Youth Convicted of Repeatedly Hurling Rocks at Israeli Drivers,” if not “Israel Lets Repeated Rock Thrower Off With Two Weeks.”

But headlining a Palestinian Arab Rock-Thrower as a “Palestinian American Teen,” sans reference to his criminal conduct, is nothing new to the Inq. It didn’t headline this week “Boston Police Shoot Two Chechyn-Americans,” but it has headlined, sans reference to their murderous conduct, numerous euphemisms for attackers of Israeli civilians.

“Israeli Army Shoots Four Palestinians”: A 4/29/08 Inq AP article reported: “The Israeli army shot four Palestinian militants [i.e., terrorists] who were trying to plant explosives near the Gaza Strip border fence,” and quoted Hamas calling them its members “on a jihad mission.” An Inq could have accurately headlined: “Israeli Army Shoots Four Hamas Members on Jihad Mission,” but it did headline: “Israeli Army Shoots Four Palestinians.”

“Israel Rejects Call To Free Soldier”: A classic instance of this journalism technique – headlining something honorable or benign about the perpetrator of a violent attack on Israeli civilians, and not the murderous conduct that made him newsworthy – occurred in 2011, on an issue that today is again in the news. In 1997, a Jordanian soldier standing on the Jordanian edge of an Israeli-Jordanian border Peace Park mowed down 14 eighth-grade Israeli school girls visiting the Park on an outing, murdering seven and wounding the others. In 2011, as now, appeals were made to free this mass-murderer from Jordanian prison. Israel objected. An Inq might have headlined: “Israel Rejects Call To Free Seven Israeli School Girls’ Murderer,” but it did headline (2/16/11): “Israel Rejects Call To Free Soldier.”

“Israel May Exchange Guerrilla For 2 Soldiers”: A 6/16/08 Inq AP article reported that for the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers, Israel agreed to exchange (and later did exchange) an Arab infiltrator who’d attacked an apartment building in Israel, killing a 28 year-old man and his 5 year-old daughter, whose head he “repeatedly smashed against a rock before crushing her skull with a rifle butt.” (“The child’s mother, who was hiding in a crawl space, accidentally smothered her other daughter while trying to silence the 2-year-old’s cries.”) Inq headline: “Israel May Exchange Guerrilla For 2 Soldiers.”

To the Inq et ilk, those who vow to keep targeting Israeli civilians are Anything but “Terrorists”:

There may be honest differences about what constitutes terrorism, but well within everyone’s definition of terrorists should be groups that intentionally target civilians and revel in vowing to continue to do so. But make that Everyone Except The Media when it comes to Israeli civilians. Here’s a string of examples. Count the euphemisms.

*** Some years ago, bombers exploded and incinerated Jerusalem municipal buses two days in a row and vowed to continue to do so. The Inq headlined (6/20/02): “Jerusalem Hit Again – And Militants Promise More.”

*** Not two years ago, terrorists bombed a Jerusalem bus stop with a bomb, like this week’s Boston marathon bombs, “packed with small ball bearings.” The Inq’s 4/24/11 McClatchy article: “[T]he al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, welcomed the attack and vowed to continue targeting cities deep inside Israel.”

*** A Los Angeles Times article in the 11/2/06 Inq led: “Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships killed eight Palestinians” in a Gaza clash with “extremists who have made it the prime launching ground for rockets into Israel.” Israel’s intent was “to stop the daily firing of Kassam rockets into southern Israel.” But “Hamas’ military wing issued a statement saying it had no intention of halting the rocket attacks.”

*** Midway down a 1/20/04 Inq article, the AP matter-of-factly quoted Hamas founder Yassin that “the Islamic group would increasingly recruit female suicide bombers” because “male bombers were increasingly being held back by Israeli security measures.” (When Israel took him out two months’ later, the Inq’s op-ed headline: “Did Peace Die Along With Sheikh Yassin?” When Sharon called him and his successor “murderers,” and vowed to continue targeting murderers, the Inq headlined “Sharon: Hamas Officials Still Targets.”)

*** A 12/14/11 Bloomberg News article, “Hamas Marks 24th Anniversary, Says It Killed 1,365 Israelis,” listed the group’s achievements: “Hamas militants have carried out 1117 attacks against Israel, including 87 suicide bombings, and have launched 11,093 rockets at Israeli targets, according to the e-mailed statement.” Bloomberg titled the section of its article including these terrorism statistics as Hamas’ “Military Operations.”

*** In 2001, Israel took out an Hamas terrorist whom the Jerusalem Post (11/25/01) described as “masterminding” the Mahaneh Yehuda shuk and Rehov Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall bombings, and having “had a hand” in the Dolphin Disco and Sbarro Pizza and other bombings. That day’s Inq Knight-Ridder article led: “An unrepentant Israel yesterday defended the assassination of the radical Hamas movement’s military leader, with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres calling Mahmoud Abu Hanuod a ‘professional terrorist’ who was planning more attacks.”

So here’s the lengths to which the mainstream media goes to euphemize its identification of Arab terrorists who prey on Israeli civilians:

What Actually Happened: Arab youth threw rocks at civilian drivers and Israeli troops on several occasions.

How Media Put It: “Palestinian American Teen Gets Two-Week Prison Term”

What Actually Happened: Israeli military shot four Hamas members on Hamas-described ‘Jihad mission’ who were planting explosives near border fence.

How Media Put It: “Israeli Army Shoots Four Palestinians”

What Actually Happened: Israel protests planned Jordanian release of murderer of seven 8th grade Israeli school girls.

How Media Put It: “Israel Rejects Call To Free Soldier”

What Actually Happened: Arab terrorist attacked apartment house, murdered 28 year-old father an 5-year-old daughter, whose head he repeatedly smashed against a rock before crushing her skull with a rifle butt.

How Media Put It: “Israel May Exchange Guerrilla for Two Soldiers”

What Actually Happened: Arab terrorists blew up Jerusalem city buses on two consecutive days and vowed to continue to do so.

How Media Put It: “Jerusalem Hit Again – And Militants Promise More”

What Actually Happened: Terrorists bombed Jerusalem bus stop with bomb “packed with small ball bearings … vowed to continue targeting cities deep inside Israel.”

How Media Put It: Vow of “armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad”

What Actually Happened: Seeking to end “daily” firing of rockets at civilians in Israel, IDF kills 8 terrorists in clash with terrorists who’ve made Gaza ‘the prime launching ground for rockets into Israel.” Hamas issues statement “saying it had no intention of halting the rocket attacks.”

How Media Put It: Statement of “no intention of halting” daily rocket attacks on Israeli civilians attributed to Hamas’ “military wing.”

What Actually Happened: Hamas’ founder vows to increasingly recruit female mass-murder bombers because Israel is stopping the male ones.

How Media Put It: Hamas described as “Islamic,” not terrorist group.

What Actually Happened: Hamas marked 24th anniversary with crowing it killed 1,365 Israelis in 1,117 attacks, including 87 bombings, and launched 11,093 rockets.

How Media Put It: As recap of Hamas’ “Military Operations.”

What Actually Happened: Israel targeted terrorist mastermind of shuk and mall bombings with hand in Dolphin Disco and Sbarro Pizza bombing.

How Media Put It: “Unrepentant Israel defended assassination of radical Hamas movement’s military leader.”

All this is but one facet of the media’s denigrating portrayal of Israel. The media’s mirror image of euphemizing terrorist attackers of Israeli civilians is its depiction of Israeli leaders as aggressive and hawkish, of Israeli defensive responses as offensives and retaliation. It contrasts Israeli residents of Judea, Samaria and “east” Jerusalem as settlers in Jewish settlements alongside Palestinian Arab residents of villages and neighborhoods, of the U.N. as having sought to partition Palestine into “Palestinian” and Jewish states, and of Israel being “created” and “founded” in 1948, as though Palestine’s Arabs have been “The Palestinians” from time immemorial.

Regards,
Jerry