By Bruce S. Ticker
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — From The New York Times last week: “Wednesday’s aerial bombardment came two days after a Palestinian shooting attack killed three Israelis, including two women in their 70s. Israeli officials quickly vowed retribution.”
Nobody can complain that the Times ignored the slaughter of the three Israelis…in the ninth paragraph, that is, of a report headlined “Attack by Israeli Drone on West Bank Kills 3.” Three days after the fact. No further details beyond the afore-mentioned ninth graph. The Philadelphia Inquirer carried a lengthy story about the West Bank killing spree of Israelis at the top of page 2 the day after it occurred.
This is neither typical of Times coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas nor is it an isolated occasion. The Times and other publications frequently ignore important stories out of Israel or possible antisemitic acts in America. That leaves readers in various coverage areas ignorant of events. We are talking about regions with large Jewish populations that care about these matters.
The Israeli deaths go without mention in the Times for most of the week, then the same paper tells the world that three Arab family members are killed by an Israeli drone in the West Bank. When terrorists kill the three Israelis, it is treated like an afterthought.
On Monday last week, I learned through secondary media sources that terrorists shot to death two sisters-in-law as they sat in a car in the northern West Bank village of al-Fundug earlier on Monday. They then injured eight people in a bus and killed a 35-year-old off-duty police officer. One of his two sons was sitting in his car but was unharmed.
I could not find any story in the Times on Tuesday or Wednesday. Nothing appeared on the Times website.
On Thursday, the Times reported that a drone strike killed two young children and a young man in the courtyard of their home in the West Bank town of Tamoun. The newspaper attributed these details to Ahmed Asad, the Palestinian governor of the Tubas region.
I hoped to write more extensively about media coverage for some time, and this difference in reportage of two attacks was a timely opportunity. When I thought back about it, I found that few simple conclusions can be drawn.
Many Jewish critics accuse the mainstream media of bias, which is probably true to some degree. They would probably claim with this coverage last week that Times editors regarded Palestinian suffering to be important and Israeli deaths trivial. It certainly looks that way. However, many on the pro-Arab side will claim bias against them.
As evidence that many Jews can point to, the Times published a half-dozen articles in recent years describing how an Orthodox Jewish group took advantage of government funding while violating state educational requirements to teach basic secular subjects in its yeshivas and other religious schools. What an opportunity to pounce on Jewish New Yorkers, right?
Not right. I read most of these articles. The Times tackled a legitimate issue that was correctly presented to the public – unless you think it is acceptable to siphon millions of dollars from the government and deny your children a basic education.
Among Orthodox-related businesses, I had personal experience with a management company for my most recent landlord who demanded that I pay double my rent; the increase would have wiped out my savings in two or three years. The head of the company is Orthodox, and I told one of his employees to ask him for me what the Talmud says about his business practices. Fortunately, I soon moved into senior housing for a more reasonable rent.
It does seem that more negative stories are published or broadcast about Israel than the Arabs. We should not fear negative stories so long as they are true. Perhaps it is necessary for the media to present more negative stories about Arab terrorists.
A few times a week, I will learn of a story on Israel or another Jewish issue that readers should know about. I then wonder how major publications and broadcast stations will treat the episode the next day, and often I will find nothing. In some instances, the Times or the Inquirer may wait a few days to report on a significant incident. All too often, a vast reservoir of incidents goes unreported.
Bear in mind that the Times has reported on Israeli suffering and terrorist abuses. It also published absurd so-called investigative pieces exploring cases where Palestinians were killed. Deep into one story, the Times revealed that a medical worker in Gaza was not directly shot dead by Israeli fire. Rather, she died from shrapnel from shots fired near her feet. The newspaper also failed to determine the cause of death of a Palestinian journalist who died from a gunshot in the territories.
The New York Post is an exception. That paper plainly slants its coverage against liberals and Democrats, but the Post regularly alerts us to stories affecting American Jews, not only the Orthodox and those who are politically conservatives.
Some newspapers also publish opinion pieces that distort the issues. As has been stated, they are entitled to their opinions, but not the facts. Respected publications frequently run pro-Palestinian columns by authors who outright lie and issue sweeping accusations. The Press Herald of Portland, Maine, recently printed two such opinion pieces, starting with Mainer Connie Jenkins who dismisses claims that anti-Zionism is a cover for antisemitism.
“There is no relationship between antisemitism and anti-Zionism and any attempt to conflate the two is historically inaccurate and, too often, anti-Palestinian propaganda,” she writes.
Would that cover activists who physically attack Jews and cry out “F— the Jews”? I concede that many protesters genuinely opposed the deaths of civilians in Gaza, but others were openly antisemitic.
And she notes: “What is happening in Gaza is not the result of a ‘conflict between Israel and Hamas’ or a ‘war.’ It is the outcome of resistance to illegal operation, ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians.”
This must mean that the savage invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, did not qualify as “illegal occupation, ethnic cleansing and genocide of” 1,200 Jews and others.
Kristen Haddad of Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights writes that Gaza is “described by the U.N. as an open-air prison.” Was this an official statement of the United Nations or by individual delegates from Israel-hating nations?
“Walled in,” she continues, “Gazans are denied freedom of movement, their former homes visible but occupied by settlers.”
What former homes? All so-called settlers were removed from Gaza 20 years ago. Or is she talking about Jews living on the other side of the border who were murdered on Oct. 7? The towns that were plundered are part of sovereign Israel. The Arabs who ended up in Gaza and the West Bank became refugees after their leaders failed to destroy Israel at its birth in 1948.
A trivial moment in history that contradicts their attempt at revising history. Larger newspapers than the Press Herald allow such commentaries to grace – or rather, disgrace – their pages. These editors should know better than to publish writers who make up their own facts.
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Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist.