PrintAugust 30, 2010
Double standard at NY Times -- spotlight Israeli sins, but cover up Palestinian ones
In its Aug. 30 edition, the New York Times devotes considerable space to an article by Jerusalem correspondent Isabel Kershner about inflammatory remarks against Palestinians by a politically influential Israeli rabbi, Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Shas Party, which is part of the government ("Actors' Protest and Rabbi's Sermon Stoke Tensions in Israel Ahead of Peace Talks")
Kershner's six-column article takes up a full third of page A7. It quotes Yosef as calling Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas "evil" and praying that God strike "these Ishmaelites and Palestinians with a plague; these evil haters of Israel." It also quotes him as saying that Abbas "and all these evil people should perish from the earth."
The Times was right in publishing Yosef's remarks, especially since he's a major political player in the formation of Israeli governing coalitions.
The Times, however, is wrong in failing to publicize widespread incitement to violence against Israel on the part of Abbas and his governing party in the West Bank.
This double standard is made quite evident by a single sentence Kershner buries deep inside her article to the effect that "Israel is usually the one accusing the Palestinians of incitement, citing the naming of public squares, streets and cultural events for Palestinians who planned or carried out bloody attacks against Israelis."
Quite true, but such Palestinian incitement doesn't rate the splash given to Yosef's inciteful comments. In this article, it's just one buried sentence about Palestinian incitement versus far more generous coverage of Yosef's remarks in a story that runs for 25 paragraphs. Yet, Palestinian Authority incitement against Israel is, if anything, even more deplorable since it bears the full imprimatur of PA Chairman Abbas. In contrast, on the Israeli side, Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately distanced himself from Yosef's remarks and issued a statement that they do not represent the views of the government.
So where is a New York Times six-column article that takes up a full third of a page with copious quotes of PA-Abbas glorification of the bloodiest Palestinian terrorist killers?
It's not as if Palestinian incitement bears no relevance to the peace process. President Obama repeatedly has urged Abbas to put an end to all such incitement. Abbas's response? At first, he lied that there was no such incitement. Then, he argued that he was doing away with it -- another lie.
But don't count on the Times to publish an article on Palestinian incitement of similar length as Kershner's about Rabbi Yosef -- or any approximation thereof. The Times is evidently interested only in Israel-bashng fare. Palestinian incitement against Israel, usually laced with anti-Semitic stereotypes, is not on the Times' newsroom agenda.
