It's not about equality

Earlier this year, when Israel marked its 60th anniversary, Judea Pearl published an article in the Jewish Journal under the title "Confronting Denial".  Pearl's article is certainly a must-read, but I was somewhat startled to see that an almost identical version (with some minor but interesting changes) was again published last week by Ha'aretz under the title "The Down with Israel Syndrome." This is actually a better title than the original one, particularly in view of the reason why Pearl's piece is currently again so very topical: the debate about the so-called "one-state solution" is clearly back in fashion.  

As Pearl points out, the talk about a "one-state solution" is really just a euphemism for the elimination of Israel. It is very revealing how Sari Nusseibeh recently put it when he acknowledged that the renewed debate about the "one-state solution" is "an ultimatum", but he added, referring to the current negotiations: "Unless a major breakthrough happens by the end of this year, in my opinion we should start trying to strive for equality."  

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What's left: now and then

The current issue of the journal World Affairs features a fascinating article that looks back at a time "When the Left Loved Israel". 

The authors of the piece, Ronald and Allis Radosh, focus on the flagship publication of the American left, The Nation, and highlight how much the magazine's stance towards Israel has changed: nowadays, its editorial board includes people like Richard Falk, who thinks comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany are entirely justified;  but at the time when the Nazis were in power, The Nation was led by the remarkable Freda Kirchwey who made sure that "no journal of opinion or media outlet campaigned more vigorously and vocally for Israel's creation."

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'Israel has never looked so good'

Lebanon's Daily Star is perhaps not a typical Arab newspaper, but you wouldn't really expect that an editorial there announces that "Hamas and Fatah are a bigger threat to the Palestinians than Israel" - and you certainly wouldn't expect as conclusion a statement like "Israel has never looked so good."

Commenting on the flight of some 180 men who sought safety from Palestinian infighting in Gaza by escaping to Israel last week, the Daily Star reminded its readers that this was actually not the first time that Palestinians sought refuge in Israel:

The scenes of Israel coming to the rescue of Palestinians after a bout of Arab fratricide were reminiscent of the events of Black September, during which scores of Palestinians sought asylum in Israel to escape King Hussein's crackdown on the Palestine Liberation Organization. The only difference this time around is that instead of seeking refuge from a heavy-handed Arab crackdown, Palestinians are fleeing from the murderous hands of their own Palestinian brothers."

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Peace and the media

Ehud Olmert's announcement that he would step down as prime minister after the Kadima primaries in September triggered a veritable flood of commentary in the international media. Many of the commentators worried that Olmert's resignation could have a negative impact on the peace process with the Palestinians. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with such concerns, seeing them expressed in so many op-eds illustrated all too well that when it comes to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, it's mainly, if not only, the Israelis that count for the media.

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Anti-Semitism and the 'zeitgeist'

When a Hamas representative said back in April that his group hoped Barack Obama would win the American presidential elections, he certainly contributed considerably to the image of Obama as a militant that was recently satirized in a rather controversial New Yorker cover. While Hamas has long since changed its opinion about Obama, it turns out that the group still comes up with statements that can inspire caricaturists: how the recent claim by a Hamas spokesman that "Obama wants to go to the White House through Tel Aviv" looks when it is drawn by caricaturists is illustrated by a sample of published caricatures from the Arab media compiled by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

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The 'clash of civilizations'

According to a poll released earlier this year, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah is the most admired leader in the Arab world. The second most popular Arab leader is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the third most popular leader among Arabs is, surprisingly, no Arab - it is Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Given this line-up, one thing is obvious: an Arab leader who wants to win the hearts and minds of his (no need for /her) fellow Arabs doesn't have to govern well and doesn't have worry about the economy, jobs, health care, education, civil liberties or human rights - instead, what counts is that an Arab leader is perceived as standing up to the West, in particular the US and Israel.

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Mohammed Omer's 'truth'

How does it feel for a young Palestinian journalist from Gaza to accept an award named after the legendary journalist Martha Gellhorn? Gellhorn is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding war correspondents of the 20th century, but it has been said about her that "she switched off her sympathy when it came to the sufferings of Arabs. She was entirely committed to the cause of Israel [...and] remained deaf to the Palestinian case."

That is perhaps not an entirely fair characterization, because in her famous 1961 report on "The Arabs of Palestine"  Gellhorn was by no means "deaf" to the plight of Palestinian refugees - indeed, she left no doubt that she wanted to see their problems addressed and solved as quickly as possible. But as a reporter in Europe during and after World War II, Gellhorn had seen refugees before, and she did not hesitate to point out the "unique care and concern" and "the unique publicity" reserved for Palestinian refugees. She also did not hesitate to argue that the "unique misfortune of the Palestinian refugees is that they are a weapon in what seems to be a permanent war [...] Their function is to hang around and be constantly useful as a goad."

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The inevitable reaction

"What, exactly, is a decent person supposed to think?" That was Bradley Burston's question in an emotional piece published on the website of Ha'aretz shortly after an Arab resident from the southeast Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher killed three and injured dozens in a bulldozer rampage on Jaffa Road last Wednesday. A day later, a Jerusalem Post editorial critically reviewed what the international media were suggesting their readers should think about this terrible attack.

Among the reports and commentaries highlighted in the editorial was a piece that had been published just a few hours after the attack on the Guardian's website under the title "The inevitable overreaction." Once you start to read this piece, you quickly realize that, just a few hours after the carnage, the verdict was already clear: any Israeli reaction to the attack would be an "overreaction", because if Israelis found themselves "targeted by terrorist killers", there was an obvious reason: "Occupation breeds terror" - and if this was not a good enough explanation for terrorist attacks, there was still another one on offer: "the relentless oppressive tactics employed by successive Israeli governments since the very foundation of the state." As the first comment posted in response to this article aptly noted: "Before the dead are cold and buried their murder is 'explained' away. How sad."

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Selective sympathy

It was hard to overlook the ambivalence in some of the media reports and the commentary that covered the inaugural congress held by the group Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) in London last week. The BBC's coverage was rightly criticized on "Z Word" and the excellent blog "Point of No Return" because of the apparent eagerness to provide "balance", which meant that much of the reporting was devoted to casting doubt upon the legitimacy of the issues raised by JJAC. 

Given this coverage, it is hardly surprising that the reactions in cyberspace illustrated that it was news for some, and unwelcome news at that, to learn that the implacable hostility with which the Arab world reacted to the establishment of Israel in 1948 not only resulted in a war that turned some 700 000 Palestinian Arabs into refugees, but also led to the expulsion and dispossession of some 850 000 Jews from Arab countries.

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The 'anti-lobby' nominee

When an award-winning journalist writes an article about Barack Obama's speech to AIPAC, it is quite shocking to find some themes resembling anti-Semitism and gross distortions of facts.

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