From "Honest Reporting" - How the Media Distorts News from the Middle East

The following comes from "Honest Reporting", a website I follow. I also write to the media outlets when I feel a particularly egregious bias is evident. David Cohen

"Today's headlines include the LA Times's "Gaza dark amid Israeli blockade" and The Guardian's "Gaza plunged into darkness as Israeli fuel blockade takes effect". Similar headlines appear in many media outlets. You could be forgiven for thinking that Israel has cut off the entire electricity supply to the Gaza Strip.

Despite ongoing Qassam attacks from the territory, Israel has not switched off the electricity. In fact, Hamas itself shut down Gaza's only power station after inviting the media to watch it do so.


The mainstream media ultimately assisted Hamas in creating the impression of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The fact is Israel has restricted fuel supplies in response to the terrorism emanating from Gaza but continues to provide the Palestinians with electricity.

The Times of London omits this vital fact altogether in a story headlined "Darkness falls on Gaza as Israel takes revenge for rocket attacks". AFP, while quoting Israeli officials, also omitted the facts leaving readers with the impression that Israel is simply denying responsibility.

While Gazans are undoubtedly suffering, the dark picture painted by the mainstream media is different from the reality. As the Israel's Foreign Ministry notes, the supply of electricity to Gaza from the Israel and the Egyptian power grids (124 Megawatts and 17 Megawatts respectively) has continued uninterrupted. These 141 Megawatts of power represents about three quarters of Gaza's electricity needs.

Israel Electric Company workers' committee chairman Miko Zarfati goes further:


"This is Palestinian spin. No one has stopped the supply of electricity to the Strip," Zarfati told Ynet. He claimed that his employees worked day and night in a power plant in Ashkelon while putting themselves in danger of being hit by Qassam rockets falling in the area.

The Gaza power plant only produces 30% of the electricity consumed in the Strip while Israel supplies the rest.

"It is simply offensive and arrogant for them to claim that there is shortage," Zarfati said....

"The situation is totally absurd. We're continuing to supply them electricity despite the (demand) overload for electricity in Israel and despite the fact that Israeli residents and Electric Company workers that are being sent to Gaza Vicinity communities are under threat from Qassam rockets," Zarfati railed.

Ha'aretz also reports that despite the blackout in Gaza City, southern and central Gaza - which receive electricity from Israel and Egypt directly - were not affected by the shutdown.

Hamas manipulation of the media is evident in an AP story that reported "Children marched through dark streets holding candles, an angry Hamas TV announcer shouted at the camera "We are being killed, we are starving!"

Once again, the mainstream media has wittingly or unwittingly fallen into the Hamas trap. By plunging Gaza into darkness, the terrorist organization has managed to shift the story away from its own responsibility for the Qassams and terror on Sderot. Instead, Israel's image is taking a beating for a perceived humanitarian crisis of Hamas's own making.

Please correct the stories from The Times and AFP by writing to letters@thetimes.co.uk and http://www.afp.com/english/afp/?pid=contact respectively.

Also write to your local media outlets if you feel that they are not giving sufficient context and information to this story. Full contact details for many media can be found on HonestReporting's website."

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same...

Much to the chagrin of some of my readers, I rarely allow my hope for the future to be weakened by the worst parts of our past. And then again, from time to time, I come across a news item that leaves me shaking my head. Here's one from a Jewish Telagraphic Agency dispatch:


Ms. magazine Refuses Pro-Israel Ad
Published: 01/10/2008


Ms. magazine rejected a pro-Israel advertisement from the American Jewish Congress. The ad highlights successful women in Israel. It shows photographs of three prominent Israelis -- Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni and the president of the Supreme Court, Dorit Beinish -- above the words “This is Israel.” Harriet Kurlander, the director of the AJCongress Commission for Women’s Empowerment, said in a news release that she was told when she tried to place the ad that it “would set off a firestorm” and that “there are very strong opinions” on the subject, which she believed to mean Israel. “What other conclusion can we reach except that the publishers -- and if the publishers are right, a significant number of Ms. magazine readers -- are so hostile to Israel that they do not even want to see an ad that says something positive about Israel?” AJCongress President Richard Gordon asked. Ms. magazine's executive editor, Kathy Spillar, disputes that version, telling JTA the ad showed political support for one of Israel's parties and thus violated magazine standards. "We only take mission-driven ads," Spillar said. "Because two of the women in this ad were from the same political party," that showed favoritism, and the magazine's policy is not to get involved in the domestic politics of another country. Gordon noted that the magazine in its Fall 2003 issue ran a cover story on Jordan’s Queen Noor, and the Winter 2004 issue contained an article on the Ramallah Film Festival called “Images of Palestine.” Spillar responded that "ironically" this month's issue, just coming to newsstands now, has a two-page spread profiling Livni.
Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is like expecting the bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian.- Rabbi Harold Kushner

To Blog or not to Blog...

To Blog or not To Blog… that is the question…


They walk among us. Their eyes are heavy lidded, a consequence of having woken up at four in the morning to be first in line to buy an iPhone;” their conversation is peppered with Greek words like “Beta.”

They are (drumroll, please)…’’ “first-adopters.” They aspire to be the first on their block with the newest, most “cutting edge” technology or gadget. And for some, being on the cutting edge isn’t enough; they aspire to be on the “bleeding edge.”

Which brings me to my latest foray into the technological jungle – the creation of my very first “blog.”* My goal is two fold: first, to engage you in thinking about an issue of Jewish import; and, second, to engage you in conversation with me and other members of the Sinai community. To this second goal, the “blog” technology seems particularly focused.

So, in answer to the Shakespearean query, “To Blog or not to blog,” I shall blog, verily. Please join in the conversation; and when you do, keep in mind that when you “respond” to the blog you are sending a message to everyone who subscribes to it. It’s very efficient, but not the way to send a private message!

Below, you will find a copy of the article I wrote for the January 2008 edition of the SINAI NEWS. Please take a look and, should a thought occur, please share!

Shabbat Shalom,

DBC

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According to Wikipedia, Blog is a portmanteau** of two words – web and log. Its usage word was coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871). In the book, Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice words from Jabberwocky, saying, “Well, slithy means lithe and slimy ... You see it's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.”

** a large traveling bag or suitcase with two compartments, hence the linguistic idea of fusing two words and their meanings into one.