Israel/Palestine

Former NY Times Reporter Christopher Hedges: ISIS Is 'The New Israel'
By Tom Blumer | January 3, 2015 | 10:48 AM EST

Christopher Hedges has been gone from the New York Times for almost ten years. He has since admitted to being a socialist, been exposed as a serial plagiarist in work he has done since leaving the Times in 2005, and authored "the first issue of the Occupied Wall Street Journal, a newspaper associated with the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park."

Hedges is the subject of this post because, even aside from the plagiarism, he has called into permanent question the quality, accuracy and objectivity of his entire 15-year body of work as a foreign correspondent for the Times. At an obscure web site called Truthdig on December 15, Hedges called ISIS "the new Israel".

CNN Executive Asks Pro-Israel Teenage Activist: 'Are You Brain Dead?'
By Randy Hall | December 26, 2014 | 4:33 PM EST

In an article posted on the website for the Times of Israel newspaper, high school senior Hayley Nagelberg described a testy exchange between herself and Richard Davis in which the executive vice president of news standards and practices for the Cable News Network asked her if she’s “brain dead.”

The clash was a result of CNN's coverage of an attack on a synagogue in Har Nof, Jerusalem, on November 18 by two Palestinians who wielded meat cleavers, axes and a gun to kill American Israeli rabbis Moshe Twersky, Calman Levine and Aryeh Kopinsky; British Israeli rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg; and first responder Zidan Saif.

Heavy Metal Singer: Media Jumping to 'Crucify Israel Every Chance They Get'
By Melissa Mullins | December 22, 2014 | 4:43 PM EST

David Draiman, the lead singer of the platinum selling hard-rock band Disturbed, is using his voice to defend Israel. Draiman contends that mainstream media is biased in its portrayal of Israel, and is setting the stage for a new holocaust.

He describes the media coverage of Israel as “shameful, unbelievably biased” and “progressive, liberal propaganda.” Draiman said that news organizations including CNN, Reuters and the BBC “jump at the opportunity to chastise and crucify Israel every chance they get while ignoring and making excuses for every single transgression and every single war crime committed by these terrorists.”

New York Times: All Around the World, It's the 'Right-Wing Media' That Takes the Blame
By Clay Waters | December 3, 2014 | 10:07 PM EST

The New York Times' labeling bias isn't just aimed at U.S. conservatives; the Times' global reach and bias extends overseas, as demonstrated in Wednesday's  New York Times was crammed with dangerous and unpleasant right-wingers in Europe, Asia, and of course Israel.

NY Times Public Editor's Sad Joke: Paper Is Fair in Israel-Palestinian Coverage
By Clay Waters | November 24, 2014 | 8:56 AM EST

New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan reluctantly waded into the paper's coverage of the Israel-Palestinian conflict in her latest Sunday column, relaying criticism from both sides before throwing up her hands and defending her paper as fair and balanced. But anyone who's read Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren's coverage knows that's a sad joke.

CNN's Banfield: Since Conscription in Israel Makes 'Everyone' a Soldier, Everyone's a Target
By Jack Coleman | November 20, 2014 | 5:32 PM EST

Next time she's looking for work, Ashleigh Banfield might consider public relations for Hamas. Then again, she's already doing it.

In the wake of Tuesday's horrific attack by Palestinians against four men during morning prayer at a synagogue in Jerusalem, Banfield earnestly sought to find someway, anyway to explain how the massacre might be justified.

NYT's Jodi Rudoren's Offensive Analysis After Anti-Jewish Massacre: 'Extremists on Both Sides...Mutual Dehumanization'
By Clay Waters | November 19, 2014 | 10:49 PM EST

More offensive anti-Israel moral equivalence in Wednesday's New York Times. Jewish worshipers were massacred by Palestinians while at prayer in synagogue in Jerusalem. Yet Palestinians evaded blame in the headline of the lead story by Jodi Rudoren and Isabel Kershner: "Israel Shaken by 5 Deaths in Synagogue Assault." But Rudoren's news analysis was even worse, blaming "extremists on both sides" in the wake of a Palestinian terror attack on Jews.

Chris Matthews Refers to Meeting of Pro-Israel Group Backed by Adelson as a ‘Whore Bar’
By Curtis Houck | November 11, 2014 | 12:05 AM EST

During his MSNBC program on Monday night, Chris Matthews referred to a weekend gathering of the Israeli American Council (IAC) that is backed by Las Vegas casino owner and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson as his own “whore bar” where Republican figures “say anything for that guy, because he’s a hawk, to get his money.”

Matthews made the disparaging comments during a discussion with The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart and David Corn of Mother Jones about foreign policy and his belief that some in the Republican Party are eager to start a war with Iran.

Anonymous Obama Staffer Trashes Netanyahu; ABC and NBC Fail to Cover
By Curtis Houck | October 30, 2014 | 5:49 PM EDT

As of Thursday morning, both ABC and NBC have ignored the latest rift in the relationship between the United States and Israel as “a senior Obama administration official” told Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was nothing more than a “coward” and "chickens***." 

Both the Wednesday evening and Thursday morning newscasts on ABC and NBC made no mention of this story, which further cements the chilly reception Netanyahu and President Obama have had for each other throughout Obama’s presidency. 

Bozell & Graham Column: The Terrorist-Sympathizing Opera
By Brent Bozell | and By Tim Graham | October 25, 2014 | 8:02 AM EDT

The Metropolitan Opera in New York City is hardly a site for hundreds of angry protesters. But they have erupted over their current selection, an opera called “The Death of Klinghoffer.” Leon Klinghoffer was the 69-year-old paralyzed New Yorker who in 1985 was aboard the hijacked cruise ship Achille Lauro, then executed by Islamic terrorists because he was a Jew. The  terrorists forced the ship's barber and a waiter to throw his body and his wheelchair overboard off the coast of Egypt.

Klinghoffer’s daughters, Lisa and Ilsa, have objected to this opera for decades.

On CNN, Marc Lamont Hill Slams 'Racist' Bill Maher For Views on Islam
By Matthew Balan | October 7, 2014 | 4:46 PM EDT

Left-wing academic Marc Lamont Hill blasted atheists Bill Maher and Sam Harris on Monday's CNN Tonight for their blunt views about the Islamic faith: "When he [actor Sam Harris] says that Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas, that is horrific; it is offensive; and, as Ben [Affleck] said...quite frankly, it's racist." Hill contended that "Islam is not uniquely violent or primarily violent or any more prone to violence than any other religion."

Andrea Mitchell Grills Netanyahu: Did Israel 'Poison' Peace Process?
By Kyle Drennen | October 3, 2014 | 10:17 AM EDT

In a contentious interview with Benjamin Netanyahu aired on her 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Thursday, host Andrea Mitchell badgered the Israeli Prime Minister by repeatedly parroting a nasty attack line from the Obama administration: "...the White House and the State Department say that the new settlements in Arab East Jerusalem undercut your commitment to peace. That it could poison the atmosphere, it could turn the world against you. What is your response to that, when the President says that to you?" [Listen to the audio]

After Netanyahu explained that the supposed "new settlements" were already existing Jerusalem neighborhoods, Mitchell repeated the White House talking points: "But what do you say when the President says that this undercuts your commitment to peace and is poisonous to an agreement with the Palestinians?"