Mark Humphrys (politics)

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The media - The media and Israel


  The media bias against Israel

"Pallywood"

The laws of reporting

The use of language

Tears for Yassin. No tears for Bin Laden.

Surveys

The College View


The media and Israel

The left's bias against Israel and sympathy for the Palestinian cause is a historic mistake. It is a betrayal of liberal principles.

It is the same mistake the left made in the 20th century when it supported communists around the world.

Much of the western media promotes this left-wing narrative against Israel, including media like the BBC and RTE that pretend to be "neutral". Taxpayers in the UK and Ireland are forced by law to pay for anti-Israel state media.


  


The barbaric 7 October massacre provided a week or two of balance in the media, and then it was back to normal.
This shows the number of New York Times articles expressing empathy to Israelis v. Palestinians.
In one month time intervals from 7 Oct 2023 to 7 May 2024.
From a study: How Hamas criticism vanished in The New York Times.



"The Huffington Post: Bias In Pictures." graphically shows the kind of bias in reporting on Israel that is found throughout the western media.


  

The media bias against Israel

Some excellent sites cover the endless media bias against Israel in both news reporting and opinion.
I particularly recommend CAMERA and Honest Reporting.





Typical anti-Israel spin in The Guardian.
This picture of an unnamed dead Palestinian appears in "24 hours in pictures", The Guardian, 28 December 2011.
As CiF Watch asks, why did the Guardian omit the information that this guy was an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist who was killed by the brave IDF.
If you want the full story, you won't get it in The Guardian.



Cartoon attacking the distorted media coverage of the "stabbing intifada" in 2015-16.



"Muslims fearful after Muslim attack on non-Muslims".
Al Jazeera English spins a Muslim terror attack on Jews into a narrative where Muslims are the victims.
Palestinian Muslim jihadis carry out the most depraved killing of Jewish children at Itamar in Mar 2011.
Any objective media outlet would focus on the racist beliefs held by the Palestinians that would allow them to stab a little 4 year old boy and a baby to death (and then celebrate the killings). The clip could look for example at the constant Jew hatred on Palestinian TV, in mosques and in schools.
But no, after yet another Muslim slaughter of the most innocent and defenceless non-Muslims, the closing message is: "Muslims fearful of retaliation after Muslim attack." Of course.



Israeli comedy from Latma TV takes aim at the way leftist media uses language.
The politically correct reporter tries to say "youths", not "Arabs".



Fake news at the New York Times, 21 Apr 2018.
In an article about fake news, Nellie Bowles in the New York Times inserts her own fake news.
Her example of a "far-right conspiracy" is that "Palestinians Pay $400 million Pensions For Terrorist Families", which is entirely true.
You would think that if you were writing an article about fake news, you would be extra careful to Google your facts, but no. In the article, she spreads fake news, because it is Israel.
After controversy, the New York Times corrected it. The above shows the original, copied at CNBC.


  

News/comedy shows

  

John Oliver was good after the Mumbai massacre in 2008.
He was on the The Daily Show, December 1, 2008. Unfortunately I cannot find any video of it any more.
Anyway, he summed up the jihadis, fighting for a fantasy world that nobody wants. Killing innocent people is meant to attract the world to the virtues of a global Islamic tyranny. "We hate and kill everything you stand for - Join us!"
Their solution to everything is violence. World poverty - The solution is to suicide bomb a hotel. And so on.
It was a good speech. And genius at the end: "One final question: When will these motherfuckers go away?"



John Oliver in 2021 seems the opposite sort of person.
Angry with Israel during the Gaza war of 2021, he produces a video attacking Israel on all sorts of fronts, using of course many of the arguments the jihadis use. Almost every sentence is garbage.
John Oliver answers the question: "When will these motherfuckers go away?" with: "Not as long as people like me promote their analysis."

  

Saturday Night Live tells a racist, antisemitic "joke" about Israel, Feb 2021.
They joke (jump to 1:29) that Israel is only vaccinating "the Jewish half" of its population.
This is a racist, antisemitic "joke" based on no facts. All Israeli Arabs and all Palestinians in East Jerusalem are getting the vaccine.
Saturday Night Live told a racist, antisemitic joke for no reason.



Have I Got News for You tells a racist, antisemitic joke for no reason, 9 April 2021.




"Pallywood"




"Pallywood" by Richard Landes.
Acted and staged scenes for gullible western media by Palestinian activists and mobs.
Copy here.



Richard Landes explains the world of "Pallywood".



Revolting cartoon in Le Monde, 2002, lies about The Battle of Jenin.


  

The laws of reporting

  

Matti Friedman

Former AP correspondent Matti Friedman does a very good job of explaining how and why western reporters get Israel so wrong.
  

The Over-reporting of Israel

  


The use of language

The distorted use of language, especially in headlines, is a key feature of Western reporting of Israel. Once you realise how things could be phrased differently, you start seeing it everywhere.
  

How CNN covered the synagogue massacre, Nov 2014, in which two Jew-killers were shot by police.
"4 Israelis, 2 Palestinians dead in Jerusalem".
See other hopeless media headlines of the attack.



The above spawned parodies showing how CNN would cover other events.



Al Jazeera is mocked for this outrageous headline.
The headline is about the knife attack on a Jewish couple and their infants in Jerusalem in Oct 2015. (The father was killed, the mother critically injured, and their 2 year old was also stabbed by the racist attacker. Another Jew was also killed.)



The Daily Telegraph, 8 June 2016, reports on the Islamic terrorist shooting of Jews in a cafe in Tel Aviv in June 2016.
Apparently the headline should mention that the cafe may be a civilian target, but, being in a city, is "near" to some possible military target.
The headline doesn't even mention the Islamic terrorists.
From Honest Reporting.



A Hamas terrorist opens fire on random people in Jerusalem, killing one, Nov 2021. Police kill the terrorist.
And this is how the Irish Examiner titles it: "Palestinian shot dead after killing at holy site in Jerusalem".



It is possible to be actual journalists rather than propagandists.
Here is how the Daily Mail titled the terror attack above. That is journalism.



"School for Journalists". From Dry Bones Blog.




Tears for Yassin. No tears for Bin Laden.

Israel was demonised for killing Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Mar 2004. Yet when US President Barack Obama killed Osama Bin Laden in May 2011, he was widely applauded. Tom Gross compares the reactions:

  Israel kills Yassin, 2004 US kills Bin Laden, 2011
UN UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan: "I condemn the targeted assassination of Ahmed Yassin. Such actions are not only contrary to international law but they do not help the search for a peaceful solution." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed Osama bin Laden's death as a key turning point in the struggle against terrorism.
EU EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, described the assassination as "very, very bad news". EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said: "I would like to congratulate the U.S., pay tribute to its determination and efficiency in reducing the threat posed by terrorists and underline the close cooperation between the EU and U.S. in the fight against terrorism."
UK British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "Israel is not entitled to go in for this kind of unlawful killing and we condemn it. It is unacceptable, it is unjustified and it is very unlikely to achieve its objectives." Prime Minister David Cameron said that bin Laden's death would "bring great relief" around the world.
France French President Jacques Chirac "unreservedly condemned" Israel's assassination of Hamas terror leader Yassin. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous also said: "France condemns the action taken against Sheikh Yassin, just as it has always condemned the principle of any extra-judicial execution as contrary to international law." French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said on that bin Laden's death is a "victory for all democracies fighting the abominable scourge of terrorism. France, the United States and European states work closely together to fight terrorism, so I'm overjoyed at the news."
Norway Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen: "This act will contribute to increased tensions in the area and will make it more difficult to implement an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza." Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called the death of bin Laden "a break-through in the fight against terror".
Vatican "The Holy See unites with the international community in deploring this act of violence that cannot be justified in any state of law. Lasting peace cannot come from a show of force." Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said that while Christians "do not rejoice" over a death, bin Laden's death serves to remind them of "each person's responsibility before God and men" and "bin Laden must answer to God for having killed an innumerable number of people and exploiting religion".


Tears for Yassin in the Irish Times in 2004.
Their editorial of 23 Mar 2004 describes his killing as "state terrorism".



But no tears for Bin Laden in the Irish Times when their hero Obama kills him in 2011.
Their editorial of 3 May 2011 notably does not describe his killing as "state terrorism".



A graphic summary of the double standard.
From here.


  

Surveys

  

Survey of letters about Israel in the Irish Times after the Gaza flotilla clash of 31 May 2010.



Survey of articles about Israel on The Guardian's "Comment is Free: Middle East" section in March 2010.



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