Dear Friends,
As a result of one-sided reporting by Adrienne Arsenault on CBC TV News The National, Monday evening December 6 and a one-sided report on the same subject by Mitch Potter in the Sunday Star on December 5, I share the following report with you.
Shirley Anne Haber
The Media Action Group
Well, we now have a new hero, the Palestinian Arab music student from al-Najath University who was the focus of a news report by Adrian Arsenault on CBC TV News, The National, (Dec.6). He was shown on video happily grinding away at his violin on campus while Ms Arsenault echoed that he had been humiliated by the IDF soldiers who had asked him to open his violin case at a check point. This violin story was also considered the worst 'scandal' perpetrated by Israeli soldiers according to Mitch Potter of the Toronto Star by evoking memories of the Holocaust, in a full page report in the Sunday Star (Dec.5). It is typical of left leaning journalists who turn such incidents on their heads in an Orwellian reversal of reporting, turning right into wrong and up into down. Let's get this straight. The IDF at the check point who were protecting not only Israelis civilians, but also the lives of journalists such as Adrienne Arsenault and Mitch Potter, knew only too well about the large number of incidents where suicide bombs have been hidden within musical cases and other types of bags in an attempt to get past security.
In fact, it is the IDF who are the real heroes but you wouldn’t know this from the CBC footage. These young men and women, often as young as 18 or 19 years, risk their lives on a daily basis at such checkpoints so that others can be safe. Yet both Adrienne Arsenault and Mitch Potter chose to condemn these young people in their one-sided out of context reports. Yes, Israel itself has been doing a lot of soul searching on the ethical behaviour and moral values of their young people who might be influenced in some way by being in the army or as Mitch Potter states, “as the ethical price of victory”. However, Mr. Potter is leaving out something very important and as well, Ms Arsenault. Yes there have been incidents where Israeli soldiers have mistreated Palestinian Arabs and Israeli society has a right to be concerned about how their kids are growing up. But over a four year period of violence where almost every soldier has experienced one or more deaths of a sister, brother, cousin, friend, father, mother, or other family member by a suicide bombing or terrorist attack, it is frankly a tribute to these young soldiers that there have not been a lot more individual offences. This of course does not excuse the immoral behaviour of a few Israeli soldiers but it does beg the question as to whether any other country placed under similar circumstances of having to deal with the intensity of terrorist attacks that Israel has faced for the last four years would have faired any better. In fact, if we look at the behaviour of other armies such as modern day Peace Keepers, their records, I’m afraid have been far worse.
So why would the CBC and the Toronto Star want to revel in the soul searching by Israelis of possible moral corruption of a very small segment of the IDF? Why did Mitch Potter repeat the term, “scandals” over and over and use other terms such as “shocking” and “scrambling for damage control” if not to blow this whole situation out of proportion, if not to spread his deceptive message demonizing the IDF. And why did Adrienne Arsenault interview Horit Herman-Peled of the new NGO, Machsom Watch, who admitted that she had not seen the full incident of the Arab ‘musician’ although she was happy to speak effusively on the terrible behaviour of the IDF. Or the representative of NGO, Beit Tselem, who proudly stated that from her point of view the IDF soldiers got away with many misdeeds which of course is not true. When there is any questionable behaviour on the part of an IDF soldier or supervisor, an investigation is called.
Did Ms Arsenault interview the IDF soldiers who were at the check point or did she just video the words of the musician himself as a one-sided statement when he said that he was humiliated in being asked to play. In fact after hearing his discordant music, probably most sane people would agree that the soldiers at the checkpoint probably asked him to stop rather than to play and, in fact, his original goal was probably to harass the IDF soldiers in the first place. But then, Ms Arsenault only let us hear his side of the story. At the end, she did interview a young IDF officer, but it didn’t appear that he had been privy to the event in the first place and only talked about the extent to which the army goes to address unethical behaviour among soldiers.
And so we have two devastating reports decrying the ethics of the IDF whose behaviour as a whole should have been extolled; who are engaged in intimate conflict with terrorists embedded in a civilian population where most have behaved honourably most often refraining from indiscriminate attacks on Palestinians. In fact, in a recent visit to Israel, I met with Bret Stephens, at that time with the Jerusalem Post, who indicated that Israel had been forced into the unwanted position of having to re-occupy the territories where it did not want to be. We must remember that four years ago, the Palestinian Authority had control over 97% of the disputed territories. The only reason the checkpoints have been set up is to stop the suicide bombers from entering Israel proper and the violin case needed to be checked.
To quote Yossi Klein Halevi, “Israel has been fighting a precision war: Not one artillery shell has been fired, and every target has been pinpointed. There have been no mass expulsions, no destroyed villages, no indiscriminate air bombardments, no food or fuel blockades – in short, none of the tactics that countries, including democracies, fighting under far less provocative conditions have routinely adopted in wartime.” “Rather than the occupation leading desperate Palestinians to terrorism, it is terrorism that has led a desperate Israel into resuming the occupation.”
Last week while in Israel, I was privy to this vibrant dynamic sliver of a country with its modern new airport rivalling any in the world and its electric commuter train which shuttles passengers from downtown Tel Aviv to the airport in ten minutes which is the envy of every Canadian city especially Toronto. To be in Israel is to be aware that to all intents and purposes, the IDF have been successful in fighting the War on Terrorism and have won a monumental battle. They have much to be proud of.
The Fiddler Who Became a Hero
Shirley Anne Haber reviews the biased reporting of Mitch Potter of the Star and Adrienne Arsenault of the CBC in reporting on the new hero of the Palestinian movement- the fiddler. She asks why the reporting would have been so one sided, so biased? The answer is similar to why ISrael is chastised constantly for behaviour which is far less immoral than that of tens of other countries- some people, some nations, have it out for ISrael- there is no other explanation. Israel is the world's scapegoat, the world's whipping boy. Why? It can't be jealousy because there are other countries that have done well in a short period of time. It can't be simply the support of the world's super power, the US, because Israel has not always been thus supported by the US, nor has the US always been the world's singular super power. Dare I suggest it?- perhaps it is because Israel is full of Jews, is a Jewish State. And the other possibility is that, far from creating more negativity towards Jews in the Diaspora, the world's anti-Jewish attitudes and feelings are in fact focused on ISrael, thus taking the pressure OFF the Diaspora.
Dear Friends,
As a result of one-sided reporting by Adrienne Arsenault on CBC TV News The National, Monday evening December 6 and a one-sided report on the same subject by Mitch Potter in the Sunday Star on December 5, I share the following report with you.
Shirley Anne Haber
The Media Action Group
Well, we now have a new hero, the Palestinian Arab music student from al-Najath University who was the focus of a news report by Adrian Arsenault on CBC TV News, The National, (Dec.6). He was shown on video happily grinding away at his violin on campus while Ms Arsenault echoed that he had been humiliated by the IDF soldiers who had asked him to open his violin case at a check point. This violin story was also considered the worst 'scandal' perpetrated by Israeli soldiers according to Mitch Potter of the Toronto Star by evoking memories of the Holocaust, in a full page report in the Sunday Star (Dec.5). It is typical of left leaning journalists who turn such incidents on their heads in an Orwellian reversal of reporting, turning right into wrong and up into down. Let's get this straight. The IDF at the check point who were protecting not only Israelis civilians, but also the lives of journalists such as Adrienne Arsenault and Mitch Potter, knew only too well about the large number of incidents where suicide bombs have been hidden within musical cases and other types of bags in an attempt to get past security.
In fact, it is the IDF who are the real heroes but you wouldn’t know this from the CBC footage. These young men and women, often as young as 18 or 19 years, risk their lives on a daily basis at such checkpoints so that others can be safe. Yet both Adrienne Arsenault and Mitch Potter chose to condemn these young people in their one-sided out of context reports. Yes, Israel itself has been doing a lot of soul searching on the ethical behaviour and moral values of their young people who might be influenced in some way by being in the army or as Mitch Potter states, “as the ethical price of victory”. However, Mr. Potter is leaving out something very important and as well, Ms Arsenault. Yes there have been incidents where Israeli soldiers have mistreated Palestinian Arabs and Israeli society has a right to be concerned about how their kids are growing up. But over a four year period of violence where almost every soldier has experienced one or more deaths of a sister, brother, cousin, friend, father, mother, or other family member by a suicide bombing or terrorist attack, it is frankly a tribute to these young soldiers that there have not been a lot more individual offences. This of course does not excuse the immoral behaviour of a few Israeli soldiers but it does beg the question as to whether any other country placed under similar circumstances of having to deal with the intensity of terrorist attacks that Israel has faced for the last four years would have faired any better. In fact, if we look at the behaviour of other armies such as modern day Peace Keepers, their records, I’m afraid have been far worse.
So why would the CBC and the Toronto Star want to revel in the soul searching by Israelis of possible moral corruption of a very small segment of the IDF? Why did Mitch Potter repeat the term, “scandals” over and over and use other terms such as “shocking” and “scrambling for damage control” if not to blow this whole situation out of proportion, if not to spread his deceptive message demonizing the IDF. And why did Adrienne Arsenault interview Horit Herman-Peled of the new NGO, Machsom Watch, who admitted that she had not seen the full incident of the Arab ‘musician’ although she was happy to speak effusively on the terrible behaviour of the IDF. Or the representative of NGO, Beit Tselem, who proudly stated that from her point of view the IDF soldiers got away with many misdeeds which of course is not true. When there is any questionable behaviour on the part of an IDF soldier or supervisor, an investigation is called.
Did Ms Arsenault interview the IDF soldiers who were at the check point or did she just video the words of the musician himself as a one-sided statement when he said that he was humiliated in being asked to play. In fact after hearing his discordant music, probably most sane people would agree that the soldiers at the checkpoint probably asked him to stop rather than to play and, in fact, his original goal was probably to harass the IDF soldiers in the first place. But then, Ms Arsenault only let us hear his side of the story. At the end, she did interview a young IDF officer, but it didn’t appear that he had been privy to the event in the first place and only talked about the extent to which the army goes to address unethical behaviour among soldiers.
And so we have two devastating reports decrying the ethics of the IDF whose behaviour as a whole should have been extolled; who are engaged in intimate conflict with terrorists embedded in a civilian population where most have behaved honourably most often refraining from indiscriminate attacks on Palestinians. In fact, in a recent visit to Israel, I met with Bret Stephens, at that time with the Jerusalem Post, who indicated that Israel had been forced into the unwanted position of having to re-occupy the territories where it did not want to be. We must remember that four years ago, the Palestinian Authority had control over 97% of the disputed territories. The only reason the checkpoints have been set up is to stop the suicide bombers from entering Israel proper and the violin case needed to be checked.
To quote Yossi Klein Halevi, “Israel has been fighting a precision war: Not one artillery shell has been fired, and every target has been pinpointed. There have been no mass expulsions, no destroyed villages, no indiscriminate air bombardments, no food or fuel blockades – in short, none of the tactics that countries, including democracies, fighting under far less provocative conditions have routinely adopted in wartime.” “Rather than the occupation leading desperate Palestinians to terrorism, it is terrorism that has led a desperate Israel into resuming the occupation.”
Last week while in Israel, I was privy to this vibrant dynamic sliver of a country with its modern new airport rivalling any in the world and its electric commuter train which shuttles passengers from downtown Tel Aviv to the airport in ten minutes which is the envy of every Canadian city especially Toronto. To be in Israel is to be aware that to all intents and purposes, the IDF have been successful in fighting the War on Terrorism and have won a monumental battle. They have much to be proud of.
Posted by Ted Belman at December 8, 2004 09:41 AM