Why is it that Israel is always in trouble with the saintly folks at NPR and the New York Times? How did they get their facts? How do they check for fiction? And what folly leads them to consistently smear Israel, while never seeming to ask the right questions? And when I mean the “right” questions, I mean, why don’t they look a little deeper into their stories? Why don’t they question the roles, affiliations, and histories of their “witnesses“ to the ״atrocities״ in Gaza? To tell you the truth, it could make you scream. In fact, I did scream the other morning, listening to the early morning dose of poison on national public radio and when I realized it’s better to not lose your voice.
Janet in the Negev, May 2023 it’s a different world now. Or is it?
Your voice… sometimes you want to use it, and sometimes you feel like losing it. Sometimes you just feel like you don’t have the wherewithal to stand up and take the garbage that comes to you every single day. For example? A headline story on “all things considered“ the other day that highlighted Gazans’ fears of being forced to resettle in African countries. Turns out that was a non-starter. But millions of people took it in and it poisoned them just a little bit more against that dastardly enemy of mankind Israel.
Top front page news in today’s New York Times! Combatant Hamas prisoners accuse Israel of mistreatment! They are told to shut up! They forced to wear diapers! They are coerced into lining up! They are yelled at! Thanks for the insights (or should I incites) by staff reporter Raja Abdulrahim. So a few million more “intellectuals” read your scree and some of them concluded “hey might as well deface some hostage posters between classes.”
But I ask. Where oh, where is the questioning by our vaunted news team at the Paper of Record? Where is there a hint that over 100 noncombatant Israeli civilians are being held hostage in unknown circumstances against all international, and simply Human moral standards?
You may be tempted to tell me that Hamas prisoners and civilian hostages are two separate stories. You may be tempted, for the sake of logic, to tell me not to conflate issues. Consider this morning’s headline news on NPR, courtesy of anchor A. Martinez: Israel bombs a university in Gaza and in separate events its director has lost 102 family members. Oh! And the university housed a museum with thousands of artifacts going back to Roman times! Quite obviously, Israel doesn’t care about human life and Israel is happily destroying the antiquities in the region. The erstwhile audience is expected to lap it up like a kitten drinks its milk as A. Martinez tut tuts the tragic of loss of life. Nobody troubled themselves to look into the affiliation, curriculum, history, or governance of said university. No one bothered to check the controversy that this institution now, thankfully flattened, was a hotbed of Islamofascist recruitment for Hamas and other extremist groups.
I’m not bothering to post the links for these articles because if you care to sicken yourself, you can look them up yourself.
But I will post a link provided me by the Shimrit Orgal, Director of partnership at our sister community in Israel. Here’s what she writes:
Here’s a project, initiated by the parents of the captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin, which is a dedicated website aimed at an English-speaking audience, containing educational systems designed to raise awareness of the issue of captives and the redemption of prisoners. The project also encourages action and activism on the subject.
Approaching the issue from a perspective of various values derived from the concept of prisoner redemption, each set of values includes lesson/activity plans with a guide and downloadable/printable materials for learners.
That, my friends, is an example of what we call Jewish values. Speaking of values and the news, it counted as Big News the other day that that opponent of the peace process, that bugaboo to whom we can affix all of our frustrations, prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a two-state solution. Is that really news at all? But here is some:
Editor’s note (Sam Hammer). Janet is flying home today so I put in my two-cents worth. Am I angry? Yes.
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