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Soccer 1, Jimmy Carter 0
Why the visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by the former president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been, surprisingly, a media non-event.
Fans of Beitar Jerusalem, the soccer team owned by Russian oligarch Arcadi Gaydamak, surged onto the field in the 86th minute of a game that could have won Beitar the national title for the second year in a row. Beitar was leading 1-0 at the time; now it faces a disciplinary hearing at the hands of the Israeli Soccer Federation.
That is the story that made banner headlines on the front pages of Yedioth Aharonoth and Maariv, Israel’s two mass-circulation Hebrew dailies, on the day Jimmy Carter visited Sderot. The television news broadcasts and radio talk shows were similarly occupied by the Great Soccer Scandal.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni gave a thoughtful speech to a gathering of moderate Arab leaders at the Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade 2008. She also responded well to Arab-Israeli MK Ahmed Tibi’s claim that Israel was not a real democracy. “The fact is that you are an MK in Israel, and represent 20 percent of the public, and can say whatever you please. This is the proof that Israel is a democratic state,” said Livni, during a public Q&A session. Tibi aroused controversy when he registered at the Doha Forum as a representative of Palestine, rather than Israel.
And in other news (buried in a tiny item toward the middle of the local news), former US president Jimmy Carter visited Israel and the West Bank.
The visit of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and author of Peace, Not Apartheid, to Israel and the Palestinian territories was simply a non-story here. Even the evening news gave the visit only a fleeting mention, with 40-seconds of footage, accompanied by toneless voice-over narration, toward the end of the broadcast.
My feeling is that the media’s lack of interest in the story is a reflection of the Israeli public’s apathy toward peace initiatives in general, and self-appointed private-initiative peace makers with dubious credentials specifically. But a few colleagues claimed that Carter was being ignored as a sort of punishment. Not only was the ex-president urging Israel to negotiate with Hamas, which is classified as a terror organization by the US, EU and Israel, but he also announced plans to meet notorious Hamas military wing leader Khaled Meshal, who is based in Damascus. The Israeli government was enraged. And the Israeli public doesn’t take too kindly to the idea of talking to terrorists, either.
Still, even here in super-liberal Tel Aviv, the fact is that I could not find anyone on the street who could acknowledge anything beyond bare awareness of Carter’s visit.
Curious to know whether the Palestinian street was similarly underwhelmed by the visit of an ex-president who is considered pro-Palestinian, I called a Palestinian friend who is the Ramallah-based correspondent for a major international Arab satellite news channel.
Turns out that the people on the streets of Ramallah didn’t really care about the visit of “an ex-president who is old and has no real power,” either. As for the local media, my Palestinian friend put it like this: “For the Arab media, the really important thing is that Carter made a clear statement in support of negotiations with Hamas.”
“Meaning..?” I asked.
“Meaning that Al Jazeera, which supports the Islamists, gives Carter’s visit lots of coverage, with top billing to his statements about Hamas. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority’s satellite television station ignored the statements about Hamas and focused on Carter’s visit to Arafat’s grave.” (the Palestinian Authority is headed by Fatah, which is anti-Hamas).
And that is how reporting the news works in the Middle East. Everyone has an agenda, nobody bothers to pretend otherwise, and the concept of objective reporting is considered laughably naïve.
What I’m wondering is, why hasn’t anyone mentioned the fact that Efraim Halevy, the recently retired former head of the Mossad (and author of Man in the Shadows), also advocates negotiating with Hamas?
Lisa Goldman is a freelance Canadian-Israeli journalist, who blogs at On the Face. She lives in Tel Aviv.
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20 Comments
1. Sean:Now that we’re talking to Hizballah, Hamas, Fatah and all the other terrorists, what’s keeping us from talking to Al Qaeda? Given the propensity many Americans and Europeans have for these murderers, it cannot be difficult to find someone to speak and exchange hugs with them. At the very least, our policies would be consistent.
Apr 16, 2008 - 1:49 am 2. Allyson Rowen Taylor:Lisa Goldman has a different spin on what she heard, as I was in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem at the same time as Carter, and yes, it was largely ignored. But people were angry that he was meeting with HAMAS. Ms. Goldmans comments about Efrain Halevy however, is typical of the desire for peace in Israel, but even Halevy, with his credientials, is living in a dream world. YOU CANNOT NEGOTIATE WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE A CHARTER CALLING FOR YOUR DEATH!. Efraim, is like Carter-Old news!
Apr 16, 2008 - 3:44 am 3. william:Not much difference between Carter and Obama though.
Apr 16, 2008 - 4:50 am 4. Adam:Talk about brothers in arms! A great ticket for the hate America crowd and the ones that love to bolster up the bad guys.
Two “ christians” that preach at us that the good guys are the bad guys and the bad guys are the good guys.
B. Hussein Obama and Jimmah Carter certainly are two peas in a pod….. well actually, just two tiny peanuts in a shell.
Reply to the previous comments: this is what goldman is talking about, nobody is interested in peace in this region. everybody does not want to talk to anybody else.. the result: more violence.. more hatred and more bloodshed.
Apr 16, 2008 - 5:01 am 5. william:is this what you are looking for?
Adam,
Apr 16, 2008 - 6:10 am 6. John Samford:Peace at any cost is not peace. Peace by appeasing evil is not peace.
Read a history book.
Adam, so far there is no working definition of “peace” in the Middle East. As an outside observer, it looks like the Arabs ( NOT Palestinians, there are no Palestinians, since no Nation named Palestine has ever existed. I challenge anyone that thinks there ever was a Palestine to name the first King of Palestine and his capital) see peace as Israel being wiped off the map, while Israel sees peace as being left alone to recapture the land they controlled thousands of years ago.
Apr 16, 2008 - 6:45 am 7. Saltherring:Naturally, there can be no negotiations until a different definition of ‘Peace’ has been accepted by BOTH sides. That will require negotiations, which leaves everybody ’stuck on stupid’, chasing their own tails. This will continue until Israel gets the will, or the Arabs get the means, to exterminate the other side.
I say a pox on both houses.
I might suggest that Carter is senile except for the fact that he was just as naive and ignorant during his presidency. Only traitorous fools give credibility to terrorists by parlaying with them. Maybe the U.S. State Department should appoint Carter as roving ambassador (read: court jester) to North Korea, Iran, Syria and the Palistinian Territories. If the evil despots who rule those lands had an idiot like Carter to laugh at, perhaps it would motivate them to ‘lighten up’ a bit. And then his ‘04 convention buddy Michael Moore could team up with him….a real Laural and Hardy show!
Apr 16, 2008 - 6:57 am 8. asdfs:2 words… Logan Act
Apr 16, 2008 - 7:33 am 9. C. Siegel:I work at Hadassah. Carter visited Pediatric Intensive Care and nobody here much noticed. It was a MUCH bigger deal when Richard Gere visited, but then, Gere is better looking. As Emmet Tyrell says, Carter looks like Don Knotts of the Undead.
Apr 16, 2008 - 8:00 am 10. Morton Doodslag:What a bizarre way to conclude an article about the utter hollowness of fool’s errands like discussing peace with genocidal Islamic supremacists… After explaining the utter hollowness of fool’s errands like discussing peace with genocidal Islamic supremacists, Ms. Goldman dreamily wonders why more isn’t discussion isn’t happening over Helevy’s utterly hollow call to discuss peace with genocidal Islamic supremacists.
Memo: it is utterly hollow and meaningless to discuss peace with genocidal Islamic supremacists. I read the Mother Jones interview with Helevy, and it amazes one to see the manner in which this intelligence chief glosses over the catastrophe of the 2005 unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. He seems completely incurious as to why it failed so completely — and it doesn’t seem to enter his mind that the current “situation” in Gaza is exactly what the Muslims wanted and will often choose when given the chance. Perhaps the fact that this idiot ran the Israeli intelligence apparatus for years is one reason Jihad against Israel is more menacing today than ever before in history? Perhaps the fact that our intelligence agency distinguished him with an award is a clue as to why WE are more menaced by Islamic Jihad today than ever before in history.
Our leaders, out agencies, our military have few clues about the nightmare unfolding from the cancerous heart of Islam.
Apr 16, 2008 - 8:13 am 11. kareem:THANKS U.S.A that you still give Audacious Men
Apr 16, 2008 - 8:34 am 12. Joe B:It must be noon. Just when you think he is wound down, Jimmy Carter pops out of the clock.
Apr 16, 2008 - 8:53 am 13. Big Ben:I hope Carter endorses Obama real soon, at least in time for the upcoming primary in Pa. The endorsement should be worth 3 to 5 points for Hilary.
Apr 16, 2008 - 9:16 am 14. always right:kareem:
THANKS U.S.A that you still give Audacious Men
To kareem,
Apr 16, 2008 - 10:08 am 15. Lichthammer:Can you keep them both? Please, please?
“And that is how reporting the news works in the Middle East. Everyone has an agenda, nobody bothers to pretend otherwise, and the concept of objective reporting is considered laughably naïve.”
The above is not specific to the Middle East, it’s how the news media work in general. You also forgot part of their credo: If there are no news to report – make up some.
It’s called “football”, by the way.
Apr 16, 2008 - 11:56 am 16. M.E.:This man, before disappearing in Naught, wants probably to appear in front of the world in all his ignominy. Or may be, meeting the Palestinian terrorists, he hopes to obtain a place at least in Muslim Hell (Islamic paradise, as known, is reserved only to suicide “martyrs”).
Apr 16, 2008 - 12:48 pm 17. Jeeves:Whether the news blackout on Carter was intentional or inadvertent, the Israeli media has stumbled upon the the proper way to treat this liar: ignore him, as you would a child having a tantrum.
Ms. Goldman needs to get out more if she thinks media bias is a peculiarity of the Middle East. And what does her final remark about Halevy mean? That media won’t cover him either because of his misguided views on Hamas? He should get together with Carter and MK Ahmed Tibi, the Knesset’s “Palestinian” representative. They could discuss apartheid.
Apr 16, 2008 - 2:22 pm 18. Cerabus:Some one please tell jimmy that the world does not need him and he will never be able to undo his mistakes.
Apr 16, 2008 - 4:30 pm 19. Moishe3rd:What seems to me remarkable is not the insouciant Mr. Carter who totters from Hamasistan to Hezbollin to Fatachland with unscrupulous disregard for any values that might relate to good and evil, but rather, the actual government of Israel that Mr. Carter appears to be trying to emulate.
Apr 16, 2008 - 8:49 pm 20. Roark:What is the actual difference from what Jimmy is doing and what the entire government of Israel is doing?
Soccer 1 Jimmy Carter -3,587
Apr 17, 2008 - 5:33 pm