Author:
Publication: Honest Reporting Communique
Date: November 20, 2003
Dear HonestReporting Subscriber,
Today's coordinated bombings against
British targets in Istanbul, occurring just days after the dual bombings
of Istanbul synagogues, make the Islamic terrorist message brutally clear
-- their targets are the Jewish people and Western democratic civilization.
What most Americans recognized after 9/11, Europeans are now also beginning
to see: radical Islamists threaten every Western citizen, and Israel is
merely a convenient front line for their battle.
Given this, HonestReporting is concerned
about the re-emergence of a trend we witnessed after 9/11 -- the media's
shift of focus away from this stark reality, and onto Israeli policy as
a scapegoat for Islamic terrorism. (http://www.honestreporting.com/a/r/655.asp,
http://www.honestreporting.com/a/r/656.asp) Recent examples:
(1) The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
on the Istanbul synagogue bombings: "[T]he reaction of Arabs, Muslims and
others to Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza is spilling over into
anti-Semitism and violence directed against Jewish populations normally
living in peace in countries like Turkeyâ?¦ The United States
could help by returning to a credible policy of seeking a two-state solution
for the Israelis and Palestinians." http://www.post- gazette.com/pg/03322/240851.stm
Comments to: editor@post-gazette.com
(2) In Germany, Wolfgang Guenter
Lerch wrote in Frankfurter Allgemeine: "The criminal attacks on two synagogues
in Istanbul were mainly directed against Israel...Even secular Turks are
dismayed when the see what is happening in the Israeli occupied Palestinian
territories."*
(3) Lerch is just one step short
of the Egyptian newspaper, Al Wafd: "Why do we not say that the attack
was plotted in order to improve Israel's image in the EU after the recent
poll that showed it as the primary threat to global peace? Why do we exclude
Turkish Jews as perpetrators?"*
(4) K Gajendra Singh, India's former
ambassador to Turkey, writes in the Asian Times:
"Many Turkish experts suspect that
the twin bombings were a warning to Turkey, one of the few Muslim countries
to have ties with Israel...The blasts could be an act of revenge for the
daily killings of Palestinians and the Israelis building a much-opposed
wall that encroaches on Palestinian land." http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EK18Ak03.html
This media trend recasts the radical
Islamic war against the Jewish people and the West as something else entirely:
an Israeli-specific disaster that now everyone's suffering from.
Coverage of President Bush's powerful
speech (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031119-1.html)
on Tuesday in London further illustrates the problem. Bush, after pointed
reference to the pre-WWII failure to confront Nazi tyranny, called for
democratic reform in the Mideast:
"As we work on the details of peace,
we must look to the heart of the matter, which is the need for a viable
Palestinian democracy. Peace will not be achieved by Palestinian rulers
who intimidate opposition, who tolerate and profit from corruption, and
maintain their ties to terrorist groupsâ?¦ The long-suffering
Palestinian people deserve better. They deserve true leaders, capable of
creating and governing a Palestinian stateâ?¦ Leaders in Europe
should withdraw all favor and support from any Palestinian ruler who fails
his people and betrays their cause. And Europe's leaders -- and all leaders
-- should strongly oppose anti-Semitism, which poisons public debates over
the future of the Middle East."
Though Bush himself called Palestinian
reform "the heart of the matter" and warned of the dangerous new wave of
anti-Semitism, these Reuters' headlines focused instead on Israeli policy:
-- "Israel Defiant Over Barrier
After Bush Criticism" http://www.honestreporting.com/a/r/657.asp
-- "Bush Urges Israel Not to Prejudice
Peace Talks" http://www.honestreporting.com/a/r/658.asp
-- "Israel Spurns Bush Call Over
West Bank Fence" http://www.honestreporting.com/a/r/659.asp
Comments to Reuters: editor@reuters.com
As the radical Islamic war against
the innocent tragically expands, HonestReporting encourages subscribers
to monitor your local media to ensure that Israel does not again emerge
as a scapegoat for mass terror, and that the Western resolve to fight the
terrorists themselves receives accurate coverage.
--- INDIANA ARSON ---
On November 18, the CANDLES Holocaust
Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana (http://www.candles-museum.com/) was burned
to the ground, the target of an apparent arson (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103430,00.html.
CANDLES, which stands for Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Experiments
Survivors, was founded in 1995 by Holocaust survivor Eva Kor, and housed
artifacts from Auschwitz and documents relating to Dr. Josef Mengele.
One would expect that such a hate
crime - in the heartland of America - would attract widespread media attention.
Yet few newspapers covered it.
