Post’s ‘Breach in Gaza’ on target
Once more, a Washington Post editorial covers Israeli-Palestinian developments more thoroughly and directly — and takes much less space to do so — than the paper’s own news reporting. The commentary, “Breach in Gaza; As thousands stream across the border to Egypt, Hamas blockades the peace process” (January 24), makes several pertinent observations. Among them:
* Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip are not “starving,” notwithstanding Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s assertion to that effect;
* Israelis in the nearby town of Sderot “have been relentless terrorized [emphasis added]” by rocket fire from the Strip;
* The U.N. Security Council and its so-called Human Rights Council’s obsession with Israel is an “ongoing farce”; and
* The exaggerated, mostly Hamas-generated humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has been “exploited” by the terrorist organization.
Recent, extensive coverage by Post Foreign Service correspondent Ellen Knickmeyer has been mixed. “Israel Blocks Supplies; Steps Up Gaza Airstrikes; Actions a Response to Continuing Rocket Fire” (January 19) was relatively balanced and in context. But dispatches about the Gaza “crisis” often have been superficial, not scrutinizing Arab claims, echoing the vocabulary of Palestinian polemics, and not being as direct or clear as “Breach in Gaza.”
Newspapers, including The Post, often insist that news and editorial pages function separately, though one rarely reads a paper in which they chronically conflict. But sometimes, as in this case, editorials outstrip news coverage. — E.R.
More from SNAPSHOTS
Mahmoud Abbas’ Diatribe Threatening Israel Included Bogus Canaanite Claim
September 10, 2019
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ recent anti-Israel diatribe that aired on PA TV was monitored and translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Excerpt: "I say to [Israel]: Every stone you have built on our land [...]
CNN Calls House’s Unifying Anti-BDS Vote ‘Divisive’
July 24, 2019
Yesterday, in an overwhelming vote of bipartisan support, the House of Representatives voted 398 to 17 to adopt a resolution opposing the anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divest, sanctions) campaign. Yet, CNN's headline casts the unifying vote [...]
NY Times Cites Poll, Hides Palestinian Support for Violence
July 9, 2019
The New York Times has struggled to accurately describe polls this year. In January, editor Jonathan Weisman misrepresented Pew polling data to describe a nonexistent surge in Israeli support for the United States under President [...]
CNN’s Zakaria Indulges Palestinian Propagandist Hanan Ashrawi
June 9, 2019
Fareed Zakaria’s weekly Cable News Network (CNN) program (grandiosely named “Global Public Square”) June 9 broadcast included a discussion of the current U.S. Middle East peace plan with guests Hanan Ashrawi (Palestinian Authority official) and [...]
In Robert Bernstein Obit, AFP Inappropriately References His Judaism
May 29, 2019
Robert Bernstein (Courtesy the New Press) In its obituary yesterday for American publisher Robert Bernstein, Agence France Presse inserted an inappropriate reference to the Human Rights Watch founder who later turned on the organization due [...]