The Media’s Netanyahu-Lieberman Hate Fest
Why is the mainstream media placing the onus for peace on Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman?
The Washington Post did note in an editorial that, while the conference communiqué called on “‘the international community to prosecute those responsible’ for alleged ‘war crimes’ committed by Israel in its recent offensive in Gaza,” it also stated, “We stress our solidarity with Sudan and our rejection of the [ICC's] decision.”
Also in attendance was Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He, too, rapped the Gaza offensive as a “criminal war” against “helpless civilians” and called Israel’s security fence a “racist wall.” He also came out just as strongly in favor of the alleged genocidist, stating, “We must also take a decisive stance of solidarity alongside fraternal Sudan and President Omar al-Bashir.”
“Peace in Doubt as PA Pres Backs Sudanese Despot.” Don’t bother Googling that one, I made it up.
If anyone wanted to get on Abbas’s case instead of Lieberman’s, they could also ask why he doesn’t do a better job preparing his Palestinian Authority for the envisaged peace with Israel. Indeed, why doesn’t he do so at all? A poll conducted last month by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) found, along with a marked rise in Hamas’s popularity over Fatah since the Gaza war, that “54% of the Palestinians support … armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel.”
But, unlike Abbas’s words in Doha that were at least picked up by the Washington Post and a few others, this poll was mentioned almost nowhere except in a few pro-Israeli blogs. It wouldn’t fit the MSM’s beloved script of Israeli “hardliners” eager to put peace on ice.
Also reported this week: “The Palestinian Authority has issued yet another warning to Palestinians against selling their homes or properties to Jews, saying those who violate the order would be accused of ‘high treason’ — a charge that carries the death penalty.” The warning was issued by Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, chief Islamic judge of the PA, reacting to reports that U.S. Jewish businessmen had bought land from Palestinians on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
As Jerusalem Post reporter Khaled Abu Toameh notes, “Scores of Palestinians have been murdered over the past three decades for allegedly selling their property to Jews or for acting as intermediaries in real estate deeds involving Jews.” Sheikh Tamimi also said that, “The Jews have no rights in Jerusalem” and that under Islam it’s a “grave sin” to sell houses and land to them. In such a climate, the news Thursday afternoon that a 16-year-old Israeli boy was axed to death in a Palestinian terror attack was, as always, shocking but not surprising. And, as always, all this will more or less fall under the radar as the MSM continues its Lieberman and Netanyahu hate-fest.
To understand the reality of the Israeli-Arab/Muslim conflict, take the picture produced by the mainstream media and turn it 180 degrees.
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P. David Hornik is a freelance writer and translator living in Tel Aviv. He blogs at http://pdavidhornik.typepad.com/
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25 Comments
1. Paul Rhoads:Hear hear. That “180 degree rule” also works in lots of other cases.
Apr 4, 2009 - 1:12 am 2. SAF:Simple. The MSM hates America first and Israel second.
Apr 4, 2009 - 4:17 am 3. Lynn B.:“Arabs have lost their worth, their humanity, and their culture”….Algerian Anwar Malek
Apr 4, 2009 - 5:42 am 4. marymcl:“Palestinians would have a state and peace by now IF Arabs had disengaged from the Palestinian cause”…Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Sarraf
Arabs invented the zero but have done nothing since except wear it around their heads, waists, and have become a backward looking society. All for the sake of a religious ideology which has become imbedded in their politics. They have confused oppression with religious freedom.
I hope a stronger Israeli gov will find the way to overcome the hysterics of the Pal government. Fatah and Hamas seem to be very much afraid.
The Arabs are doing what they’ve done all along. They keep their eyes on the prize, which is the elimination of the “Zionist entity” and prosecute the war of words. It’s the one thing they’re manifestly good at, and they can’t even claim full responsibility for that, since the longevity of their cause owes so much to endemic anti-Semitism and left-wing delusion in the West. You’d think the people who prate on endlessly about nuance and context would’ve noticed this strange habit the Arabs have of never speaking or writing the word Israel.
The big problem now is that the US is led by a man who just knelt before the king of Saudi Arabia, the home of Wahhabism, which gave us that mass grave in New York. The same man who is sending thousands more of our troops (though not as many as promised or recommended) to what is perhaps the most infamous military graveyard in human history for no reason other than political cover for a reckless campaign promise he has neither the interest nor the backbone to keep anyway.
Apr 4, 2009 - 8:24 am 5. Still Bill:As a Christian living in the USA who supports Israel, I keep asking why leftists continue to demand that Israel compromise with ignorant Palestinians. When have Palestinians offered to compromise? Their idea of negotiations is: “You give and I take.” Hamas is an Arab Nazi organization, plain and simple. The only difference between the mentality of Hitler’s Nazis and Hamas’ Palestinian Nazis is that Hitler’s Nazis generally had IQs above 100. Israel sooner or later will come to the realization that a military solution is the only viable solution. The Japanese found that out in 1945.
Apr 4, 2009 - 8:45 am 6. Francis W. Porretto:The talking has gone on long enough.
We’ve seen innumerable instances of the Muslim states — in which I include the Palestinian zones on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip — excoriating the Israelis for wholly imaginary “crimes” while whipping their own populations to ever greater heights of suicidal anti-Semitic frenzy. We’ve seen Arab leaders pay for, and Islamic clerics sanctify, suicide bombings and other terrorist acts against Israel. We’ve seen Muslim “spokesmen” claim that there’s no such thing as an Israeli civilian. We’ve seen the “international community” swallow the Arab/Muslim bilge uncritically, passing it along in their own pronouncements on the rights and wrongs of the Israelis’ situation as if their statesmen and public-relations people were merely hand puppets for HAMAS. In over sixty years of endless talk, nothing has changed.
Things changed when the Israelis erected the security fence. They change when the government unleashes the IDF to kill Palestinian terrorists and take vengeance for their deeds.
Here’s a shiny new idea for Israel: No more talk. Express yourself solely with bullets, bombs, and border and immigration policy. Speak in no forum whatsoever about the Palestinians, the “two-state solution,” or anyone’s “framework for peace.” And never, ever respond to any uninvolved party’s accusations or dictates about what you ought to do.
They’ll get the cause and effect picture soon enough. Count on it.
Apr 4, 2009 - 8:46 am 7. David W. Lincoln:Why? Because they do not want to countenance anything that would show them to be wrong.
Apr 4, 2009 - 10:21 am 8. Shef Rogers:Maybe because Lieberman is an outright fascist, and has been called one by many responsible Israeli commentators. Once again we see rich Americans trying to be more Israeli than the Israelis, and messing everything up in the process.
Apr 4, 2009 - 10:45 am 9. kk:Arab League support for Sudan’s Bashir while simultaneously asking the same ICC to pursue Israeli officials for “war crimes” is a case of the Arab League’s Minister of Double Standards getting lost in the Ministry of Circular Logic.
I am personally looking forward to Avigdor Lieberman persuading Vladimir Putin to explain Russia’s logic for a nuclear Iran while Obama and Hillary keep trying to find a reliable Russian translator.
If ever one needed proof of US MSM hypocrisy, it was in Saturday’s NYT op-ed on Israel’s “war crimes” while the Jerusalem Post was reporting on NYPD counter-terrorism actions to protect NYC’s Jewish institutions from attack during Passover. Apparently, that was news the NYT did not think ‘fit to print’.
Apr 4, 2009 - 11:01 am 10. Morry Rotenberg:Recall that it was the MSM that has given us our current government. Whatever the MSM thinks is good is bad and etc. Who cares, no one reads what they print anyway except the moon bats.
Apr 4, 2009 - 11:14 am 11. mohammed:The idea that the Arabs whether they be so called Palestinians, Egyptians, or Saudis are at all interested in peace or coexistence with a Jewish(non Muslim, non Arab)country in their midst is a delusion. Only progressives could be so deluded including the Israeli left.
Israel has fared quite well over the past 60 years. It doesn’t need peace with it’s neighbors.The periodic wars have forged a tough and powerful state that will prevail and be around long after anyone remembers what a “Palestinian” was anyway.
the far right can only bring the inevitable closer. as the neo-cons did america so shall likud hasten the demise of zionism and their supporters. bury your heads in the sand deeper that can only prevent you from reading the obvious writing on the wall.
Apr 4, 2009 - 12:15 pm 12. fred:The Left is going to push as far and as hard as they can now. They have the power to advance their issues and try to help their allies, the Paleosimians.
Apr 4, 2009 - 12:35 pm 13. glenn:“Why is the mainstream media placing the onus for peace on Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman?”
Because whatever else he is he won’t cut your head off because you disagree with him. If they (the media) place the onus for peace where it belongs, on the Arabs, the media guys might get their heads cut off.It’s simple cowardice.
Apr 4, 2009 - 1:09 pm 14. Gary Rosen:glenn, I think you’ve gotten right to the heart of the matter.
Apr 4, 2009 - 3:25 pm 15. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:Somebody pi$$ed the trolls off…
Apr 4, 2009 - 3:35 pm 16. Still Bill:#11 mohammed: Why do Muslims continue to follow a coward like Osama bin Sissy Boy? He hides in a cave like a scared rabbit. What’s his idea of being a martyr? Dying of old age? Come out and show your sissy face Osama bin girly boy! Show some balls for once in your life, you gutless pimp.
Apr 4, 2009 - 3:38 pm 17. AThinkingPerson:Nothing like Muslim and Palestinian hate to fuel yet more violence. Such wolves in sheeps clothing. When Americans a thousand miles away can see this, why can’t those closest to the internal workings of those two groups?
Apr 4, 2009 - 3:46 pm 18. Spinoneone:RE: #12 Fred. The Left and the o Administration will do everything they can to stop America, economically, militarily, and socially. O and his wife are educated Marxists and their true colors are showing. Israel means nothing to them; it meant nothing to their minister, either. Why would Barack Hussein Obama care about anything except himself and his creed?
Apr 4, 2009 - 4:38 pm 19. John Galt:(March 26, ‘09)
This article is translated from Moshe Feiglin’s article in the Makor Rishon newspaper.
The new government that Netanyahu is going to present soon has no new message and is incapable of dealing with the gangrene spreading in our land since the hug with Arafat. What we have been getting since Oslo is what we will continue to get. Bibi’s new government will be predicated on commitment to Oslo and all of its offspring agreements, commitment to continue the war against the settlements and the end of the struggle against the ‘rule of law gangsters.’
The security nightmare who fled Lebanon for the Four Mothers movement, brought Katyusha rockets to Hadera and transformed a military triumph in Gaza into a strategic loss (this is only a partial list) will continue to serve as Defense Minister. The “extreme rightist,” who supports dividing Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state will be our Foreign Minister. He will likely restore Jericho casino tycoon, Martin Schlaf, to his position of decisive influence over Israel’s foreign policy – through the good offices of his friend and confidante, Dov Weissglass, who will be the General Director of the Foreign Ministry. Justice Minister Friedman will be replaced by a ‘court’ religious Jew – to the glee of the judges in Jerusalem.
As we warned, you may have voted Right. But what you got was the Left of the Left.
As far as Netanyahu is concerned, he has won a major victory. True, he originally preferred Tzippy Livni to Avigdor Lieberman, but everything actually worked out for the best. With Lieberman in Netanyahu’s government, nobody can accuse the Likud of veering sharply left. Nobody will demand of the Likud MKs to vote against the government, because even a “radical rightist,” the Left’s most maligned object of hatred – is in the government.
For his part, Lieberman will do all that it takes to ensure that the politicians in the State’s Attorney office will postpone the indictments hanging over his head. Nobody there will want to see how the disengagement from the Golan Heights or from Samaria is delayed because Lieberman has been forced out of the government. The credit line from Schlaf’s Austrian bank will no longer concern the people in the State Attorney’s office. And Lieberman’s proposed demand for loyalty from Israel’s Arabs – well, that will be indefinitely tabled. Just like the mayor of the folklore city of Chelm, who would never fix the bridge so that he would have something to promise in the next elections.
Bibi’s achievement is remarkable. He knew what he wanted, stuck to his goal, stood up against all the pressure from within his party, was willing to be embarrassed for his illogical aspirations and achieved his objective.
Bibi’s intentions were clear from the start. Before the primaries that were held months ago he wooed leftists Dayan, Meridor, and Hefetz into the Likud. He made it clear that he had no intention of solving Israel’s crisis situation. Instead, he would prefer to stretch out deep inside the pampering space of the crisis, itself.
Bibi’s advisors explained to him that the battle that he fought against yours truly would translate into a loss of votes for the Likud. But he didn’t care. On the contrary – he wanted to make sure that the Likud would not get too many mandates, bring too many MKs loyal to the principles of the Likud onto the Knesset roster and prevent him from achieving his goal. True, Bibi was a bit too successful and actually lost to Kadimah. But as expected, the rightists parties that he loves to hate endorsed him for prime ministerial candidate. In typical Bibi fashion, he received the mandate to form the government from the Right and ran straight to his friends on the Left.
Before the elections I traveled from settlement to settlement in Judea and Samaria and (successfully) tried to convince the people there to vote for the Likud. I remember one election rally in Talmon, where I said to the settlers, “I am not calling upon you to vote Likud because I think that Bibi will safeguard Talmon better than Tzippy Livni. I am calling upon you to vote Likud because the way out of Israel’s crisis depends upon the faith-based public’s entry into the national leadership arena.”
When I voted for the Likud and called upon others to do so, I did not deceive myself for a moment. I did not vote Likud to safeguard the land. Under the rule of the elites and Israel’s current mentality, I do not see any party that is capable of doing that. If I had not defined a different, much broader goal for myself, I would not have taken the trouble to go to vote, at all.
I voted Likud to strengthen the belief based alternative for leadership of Israel that is developing inside it and in its merit. I am happy to report that many belief based voters have begun to view politics through this long-term prism. They also voted Likud.
The house of cards that Netanyahu has built will not stand up against the strong winds blowing – certainly not against the storms waiting for the Jews in the Land of Israel. If an average government in Israel lasts two years, this hybrid creation will likely collapse in an even shorter time.
The faith-based voters will reap the fruits of their vote after Netanyahu’s inevitable fall. It will be the dawn of belief based leadership for Israel.
http://www.jewishisrael.org/eng_contents/update/5769/6933.htm
Apr 4, 2009 - 5:30 pm 20. Jack in Silver Spring:David – As they say in the vernacular, ‘gut gezukht’ (well said). To Shef Rogers at #8 – I suggest you read Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism to know what a real fascist would look like. Avigdor Lieberman may be many things, but he is not a fascist.
Apr 4, 2009 - 7:09 pm 21. Delia:Harsh. Way harsh, dude.
I refuse to wear a burka come hell or high water. I’m a sexy beast and I’m gonna flaunt what I got whilst I got it. Pfft!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…Homey says, “Uh-Uh, no way José”.
*wiggles booty and does a belly dance*
Apr 4, 2009 - 9:06 pm 22. glenn:Actually I may have oversimplified just a little. There’s probably a little self loathing and anti-semitism mixed in with the cowardice.
Apr 5, 2009 - 6:57 pm 23. Thomas:Why is this fuss?
78% of the of those people that must not be namedand their organizations orchestrating the media war against Lieberman. Whatever we say – as innocuous as it may sound – will be construed as hate mongering and swiftly banned, censored and removed from the blog.
Anyway the gift from king Saud (praise be upon him) and his humble servant, the Magic X. will catch up with them, something of a fair and well deserving payback for mistakes committed in life.
Apr 5, 2009 - 7:22 pm 24. Markus:My sympathies are with the Jewish state. However, Netanyahu and Lieberman and the settlers are doing no favors to anybody by attempting to put the “two-state” genie back in the bottle. The only final status alternative to a two-state solution is a one-state solution. A one-state solution in which Jews are outnumbered by Arabs.
Continuing to colonizing the West Bank is turning Israel into Rhodesia. Which ineveitably was forced to become “Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.” And then just Zimbabwe.
I thought for a while the Lieberman recognized these brute demographic facts. It seems, however, that he has decided to make common cause with those who believe that a Jewish minority can somehow rule over a disloyal Arab majority.
Apr 6, 2009 - 5:50 pm 25. Gary Rosen:“My sympathies are with the Jewish state.”
Sure. That’s why you’ve never had a single good thing to say about Jews or Israel and compare Israel to Nazi Germany.
I lauged out loud at that one. It reminded me of how fortunate Jews are that antisemites are invariably nitwits, misf*cks and born losers. You’d be better off spending your time trying to raise your IQ to double digits, pal :^).
Apr 7, 2009 - 10:02 pm