Sunday - August 06, 2006

Immoral Equivalence

Why is a dead Jewish woman less important than a dead Lebanese woman? The press is having a field day reporting the deaths in Lebanon but don’t have time to report on the deaths in Israel as hundreds of missiles rain down on Haifa, Galillee and even the West Bank in the most recent attacks. Is there a media bias against the Jews? I would have to say yes, there most definitely is a lot of partisan reporting going on in the current Middle East crisis.

Why do you think that is? Is an Israeli life not the equivalent of a Lebanese life. Hezbollah started this mess and then they hide among civilians while lobbing one missile after another at random targets inside Israel. So why does the Western media wring its collective hands over deaths in Lebanon and drone on endlessly about “Qana massacre” while nobody hears a word about a Jewish grandmother and her two daughters getting blown up by Hezbollah rockets? How can anyone in their right mind call a group that started a fight “resistance fighters”?

The press has lost sight of the difference between good and evil. They are trying to push the concept of media neutrality and “moral equivalence” on us, seeemingly to provide “balanced coverage”. What they are doing instead is practicing immoral equivalence when they refuse to acknowledge the difference between the opposing sides and unfairly report one sides’ deaths but not the other. They might as well admit they are helping the terrorists in their PR war. That is immoral in anyone’s book and there is no “equivalence” when one side of the equation is left empty. Q.E.D.

Israeli War Deaths Go Largely Unnoticed
—(Y-NET NEWS) - 08.06.06, 02:25

Hours after mother and two daughters are killed in Hizbullah rocket attack, media outlets around world fail to report deaths; meanwhile, British press continues anti-Israel tirade. Media bias? Hours after 60-year-old Fadia Jumaa and her two daughters, Samira, 31, and Sultana, 33, were killed by a Hizbullah rocket attack on their home in the Israeli-Bedouin village of Arab al-Aramshe, the international media has so far largely ignored their deaths.

Reuters was alone among non-Israeli media outlets to report the deaths, according to a Google news search, a number of hours after the first reports of the attack surfaced. The lack of coverage of the Israeli civilian war casualties stands in marked contrast to the swift response by many sections of the international media to reported Lebanese casualties.

Meanwhile, the British press, which has produced some of the most venomous anti-Israel coverage during the war, has continued its tirade against Israel. An article in the London-based Guardian, entitled “Militants merge with mainstream ,” argues that Hizbullah has gained widespread, cross-religious support in the Arab world, and uses terms such as “the Qana massacre” to explain the apparent newfound unity.

The article argues that Sunnis and Shiites have come together in their backing of Hizbullah: “Whatever qualms Arabs once had about Hizbullah they have since been dissipated by Israel’s attacks, the hundreds of deaths, the sight of up to a quarter of the Lebanese population fleeing their homes, and especially the bombing of UN observers and the massacre at Qana. The Shiite organisation and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, have become symbols of resistance even in such unlikely places as the Gulf countries where Sunnis and Shiites have been spotted waving the yellow-and-green flag.”

The article was co-written by Issandr el-Amrani, a freelance journalist in Egypt who referred to Hizbullah as “ Lebanese resistance fighters “ on his personal blog and who describes reports of Hizbullah members operating out of civilian areas as “Israeli lies.” The article’s authors failed, however, to note that an influential Saudi Sunni cleric, Sheikh Safar al-Hawali, has issued an anti-Hizbullah fatwa declaring that “Hizbullah is not the ‘Party of God’ but the ‘Party of Satan.’”

An Associated Press report, which undermines the Guardian’s claims, says that “Al-Hawali’s words are an addition to a previous fatwa issued two weeks ago in Saudi Arabia by the leader of the Wahhabi movement, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jabrin, which declared that it is illegal to support, join, or even pray for Hizbullah.” Meanwhile, an article has appeared on the BBC website in which a reporter for the British broadcaster, Hugh Sykes, relays a conversation he has with Lebanese residents.

The article is remarkable as it contains the views of a BBC journalist being given to Lebanese locals, rather than the other way around. In the piece, written in first person narrative, Sykes tells people in Lebanon that there would be “no point” for Israel to strike Hizbullah targets in Lebanon: “‘People keep asking me… ‘ Beirut - will they bomb Beirut again?’ ‘What would be the point?” I reply.’ Four massive thumps one night, and six the next, as Israeli bombs or shells slammed into the ground a few kilometres away. Or into the children’s homes,” Sykes wrote.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/06/2006 at 08:13 AM   
Filed Under: • Media-Bias • Middle-East •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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