Brooklyn College Hosts Ben White’s Lecture on ‘Israeli Apartheid’
Anti-Israel activist Ben White was invited to speak at Brooklyn College by the college’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. Event is co-sponsored by two college departments. (in Focus)

SFSU President Condemns Campus Event With Slogan “My Heroes Have Always Killed Colonizers”
San Francisco State University President Les Wong publicly condemned this week an event held on campus in which students created posters that read, “My heroes have always killed colonizers.” The posters were displayed in the campus square, and were created as part of a larger event celebrating Edward Said, according to AMCHA. The event was organized by the General Union of Palestinian Students . . . . (in Focus)

Where’s the coverage?
With the exception of two media, Spanish press did not cover the murder of the young Israeli Eden Atias at the hands of a Palestinian. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

The order of the factors alters the product
Europa Press not only ignored the murder of Eden Atias, but used the incident as a pretext to insist portraying once again the Palestinians as “victims”. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

Impartiality
Europa Press offers 367 words to the Palestinian version and only 27 to the Israeli. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

Pattern
A brief review of the coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict of Europe Press shows a very striking pattern: the agency appears to officiate as a spokesman for Hamas. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

Where’s the coverage? Censorship on the press by the Palestinian Authority is silenced by Spanish speaking media (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

A Return to Bias
Our CAMERA Fellow at Concordia writes in her Op-Ed that “Israel was the only specific country on the agenda when the United Nations met on September 10, 2013. At this time the world was praying for the victims of chemical weaponry in Syria. The UN made no specific or emergency condemnation of Syria at the time. It took a backseat to the permanent agenda article against the Jewish State. The executive director of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer noted that day that the same amount of time was allotted to Israel as was committed to the rest of the world. . (in Focus)

The Scary World of Uri Misgav
Uri Misgav’s column is analysed applying the same psychoanalytic method he applies to others. (Presspectiva)

The New York Times Admits Its Error
The New York Times publishes an apology for illustrating a shocking terror attack, with a picture of the terrorist’s mother (Presspectiva)

That renowned BBC accuracy and impartiality…
BBC’s man in Gaza invents an Israeli air raid. (BBC Watch)

BBC misrepresentation of Israel’s stance on Iran talks continues in Kim Ghattas report
The BBC’s State Department correspondent was the latest to misinform audiences about Israel’s stance on P5+1 deal. (BBC Watch)

Arab Israeli Citizen Shares Minority Experience with SF State
CAMERA on Campus Is In the News! This article was written by Guadalupe González and was printed in the Golden Gate Xpress on October October 29, 2013.. (in Focus)

Evidently, some Palestinian prisoners don’t evoke Harriet Sherwood’s sympathy
Sympathetic portrayals of Palestinian terrorists serving sentences in Israeli jails are something of a specialty for the Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood, yet she seems strangely unmoved when Palestinians are imprisoned (and often tortured) in Arab countries. (CiF Watch)

Napoleon, Ben Gurion and the Jewsih State
Was Napoleon a harbinger of Zionism? (Presspectiva)

Tel Aviv, Israel’s Eternal Capital
Why the foreign media keeps claiming that Tel Aviv is the capital city of Israel. (Presspectiva)

We Must Take Ownership of Our Own Humanity
Eliot Hamilton of our CCAP group Claremont Colleges for Israel: “I have found that if I mention of the State of Israel, someone will not respectfully disagree with me, but will get angry with me personally for supporting something that they see as flawed. I did not expect to be disrespected so vehemently, or to experience such hatred. . .” (in Focus)

The New York Times has turned the topic of President Obama’s interim nuclear deal with Iran into yet another opportunity to indict Israel – this time by equating Iran’s enrichment of uranium with Israel’s settlements. Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren inanely equates the continued enrichment of uranium with the establishment of Israeli homes in the West Bank, suggesting that this somehow constitutes Israeli hypocrisy. The utter ridiculousness of the comparison highlights the Times’ readiness to forgo logic in its eagerness to put forth any kind of condemnation of Israel.

CAMERA demonstrates the absurdity of Rudoren’s article here.

The Elder of Ziyon recently interviewed CAMERA’s Christian Media Analyst in New York City. The wide-ranging interview, which took place on Nov. 19, 2013 can be seen in the 17-minute video posted below or at Elder’s website here.

The Jewish wire service JTA reports:

An Israeli hospital treated the seriously ill granddaughter of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

One-year-old Amal Haniyeh, accompanied by her grandmother, crossed from Gaza into Israel to be seen by doctors at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petach Tikvah, according to reports based on Palestinian sources.

Amal reportedly had an infection of her digestive tract that affected her nervous system and damaged her brain. She was transferred back to a hospital in the Gaza Strip after Israeli doctors determined that they could not help her, and her condition continued to deteriorate.

The leader of Hamas sent his granddaughter for medical treatment to Israel, a country the terrorist organization is sworn to destroy. The Hamas charter states:

• “Israel will exist, and will continue to exist, until Islam abolishes it, as it abolished that which was before it.” [From the words of] The martyr, Imam Hasan al-Banna’, Allah’s mercy be upon him.

• …our fight with the Jews is very extensive and very grave, and it requires all the sincere efforts. It is a step that must be followed by further steps; it is a brigade that must be reinforced by brigades upon brigades from this vast Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory is revealed.

• The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinct Palestinian movement that is loyal to Allah, adopts Islam as a way of life and works to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.

• …the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to realize the promise of Allah, no matter how long it takes. The Prophet, Allah’s prayer and peace be upon him, says: “The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: ‘Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,’ except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.”

• In the face of the Jewish occupation of Palestine, it is necessary to raise the banner of jihad.

• “Say to the unbelievers: You will surely be defeated and gathered in Hell. Most terrible shall be your resting-place.” (Koran, 3:12)

Ismail Haniyeh himself has vowed to use violence to destroy Israel, as reported by Palestinian Media Watch:

We say today, explicitly, so it cannot be explained otherwise, that the armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers [Israel] from the blessed land of Palestine.

And yet he allowed his granddaughter to be treated by some of these invaders and usurpers. Not only that, but Israel cared for her!

According to The Times of Israel:

On Sunday, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, known as COGAT, received a phone call from the Palestinian Authority’s liaison office in Gaza requesting to admit the baby to an Israeli hospital, after her medical condition deteriorated. The baby was immediately transferred to Israel, accompanied by her maternal grandmother.

This seems like a remarkable development, certainly worthy of some news coverage. The Israeli and Jewish press covered it and so did some blogs however, CAMERA’s research turned up no reporting on this story by major news outlets. CAMERA could not find it on network newscasts, cable news, NPR, in The Washington Post, New York Times or any major newspaper. The story was reported by wire services AFP and UPI, but none of the popular press chose to pick it up.

Really? Where’s the coverage?

Watch Haniyeh vow to destroy Israel through violence:

The everlasting accused
The Swiss report on the death of Yasser Arafat is used by the Spanish press to point a finger at Israel,. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

The attacker portrayed as a victim
Spanish news agency Europa Press published several articles attempting to address Israeli “violence” against the Palestinians while ignoring or downplaying Palestinian violence. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

A look at information bias
The release of Palestinian prisoners and the announcement by Israel of the construction of housing in East Jerusalem reflected how the majority of Hispanic media covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

Conceding Peace
CAMERA supported Students Supporting Israel at the University of Minnesota publish an op-ed in their campus paper. (in Focus)

Brandeis Breaks with Al Quds University After Nazi-Style Rally
Al-Quds University President Nusseibeh tries to explain Nazi-Style rally on campus, warning of the “vilification campaigns by Jewish extremists.” (in Focus)

University of Massachusetts Amherst Hosts Sgt. Benjamin Anthony’s Lecture
Over 80 students attend CAMERA sponsored event at UMass-Amherst. (in Focus)

BBC misrepresents Israel’s stance on P5+1 talks yet again
Despite having heard the contrary first hand from a senior Israeli minister, the BBC claims that Israel is opposed to talks with Iran. (BBC Watch)

Why we need to talk about the BBC’s promotion of Middle East conspiracy theories
It’s time to join the dots between irresponsible Middle East reporting and the rise in antisemitism in Europe. (BBC Watch)

Silence in Media in Face of Eden Atias’s Brutal Murder
An Israeli soldier is murdered by a Palestinian and the media focuses on settlements. (in Focus)

Drexel Event on Israeli-Palestinian Peace Negotiations
Drexel students bring a Middle East expert to campus in CAMERA supported event. (in Focus)

Guardian columnist blames the persecution of Mid-East Christians on Israel’s creation
The Guardian columnist views the disturbing news of anti-Christian persecution in Muslim countries within the Middle East – resulting in Christian communities fleeing the region in large numbers – and argues that the root cause is Israel’s creation. (CiF Watch)

Iran and the media blame Israel for Beirut attacks
EFE, Bolivia’s La Razón and Mexico’s Milenio published false accusation by Marzie Afjam, of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and did not correct. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

Two days after a senior editor at The New York Times acknowledged to CAMERA the “poor” choice to prominently feature, in print and online, an emotive, sympathetic photograph of a Palestinian murderer’s mother, and nearly 24 hours after the paper’s public editor Margaret Sullivan came to the same conclusion (“Photo of Palestinian Mother was the Wrong Choice“), the offending photograph still appears (as of the publication of this post) prominently, untouched, on the newspaper’s site.

Sullivan wrote yesterday:

I spoke on Monday afternoon to two senior editors at The Times. Both agreed that the photo was a regrettable choice. The dominant image with an article should reflect the overall point of the article and the reason for its newsworthiness.

“This did not represent the essence of the story, which was clearly the moment of the Israeli soldier being stabbed,” said Michele McNally, the assistant managing editor in charge of photography. She said a less-senior picture editor chose the photograph, along with one representing what she considered the other side of the story, which showed an Israeli police officer at the crime scene. . . .

It was only later in the news cycle that photographs of the soldier’s funeral — which would have been an appropriate choice for a dominant image — became available, she said. (A photograph of the victim would also have been appropriate, [McNally] said.) . . .

The selection of the Palestinian mother’s image with the article was an effort to achieve balance, but such an effort was not appropriate in this case, Ms. McNally said. In the print editions of the newspaper, the two photographs were published on an inside page with the Palestinian photograph above the other. On the website and in other digital presentations, the Palestinian photograph was by far the more dominant image and remains so. . .

The prominent use of this photograph was a case of getting it wrong. (Emphasis added.)

The foreign editor and the assistant managing editor in charge of photography agree with the public editor that the photograph selection was wrong. So why is it still featured prominently on the Web site? Why hasn’t the photograph been swapped with one of Eden Atias’ grieving family members, now that they are available?

The mother and the family of 19-year-old Israeli soldier Eden Atias grieve next to his grave during funeral at the military cemetery of the northern Israeli town of Nazareth Illit on November 13 2013. (AFP Photo/Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

After replacing the photograph murderer’s mother with the photograph of the victim’s grieving mother, The New York Times should note the change and link to Sullivan’s column addressing the problem.

Beyond the photo gaffe, The Times has serious, ongoing systemic problems in its Israel coverage it must address and fix.

(Hat tip: Gavin Gross)

Washington Post reports of deportations of illegal immigrants from Saudi Arabia — which drew a protest outside the Saudi embassy in Ethiopia, shown above — and Israel paint very different pictures.

The Post (November 11 print edition) reported in a seven-paragraph brief, by Bloomberg News’ Glen Carey, on clashes over undocumented workers in Saudi Arabia. Riots, a result of authorities cracking down and detaining “violators of visa laws,” led to 561 people being arrested, 68 injured and two dead. No photograph accompanied the news item. the latest crack down was in addition to the 16,000 illegal immigrants the government already had arrested (“Two Killed as Saudi Police Clash with Foreigners in Riyadh”).

“Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s biggest economy, is taking action against illegal workers as it pushes to create more jobs for its citizens and stave off unrest. The kingdom made job creation a priority after uprisings in 2011 toppled leaders in the Middle East and North Africa,” the item noted.

The Post’s earlier coverage of illegal immigrants in Israel differed markedly. Correspondent Joel Greenberg took a more “photographic” approach: “Daoud Ibrahim, newly arrived from the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan, sleeps for now on a piece of cardboard in a city park in a gritty section of south Tel Aviv…. He is one of tens of thousands of African migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, who have sneaked across the border into Israel from Egypt’s Sinai desert in recent years, seeking asylum, jobs and a better life.” (“African Migrants in Israel Face Backlash, Deportations,” June 23, 2012).

This human interest feature described a public debate on a highly charged issue—Israel after all was founded in part as a haven for Jewish refugees—with more emotive adjectives and adverbs than one might expect in a news article. Illustrated with photos of distressed migrants, it failed to mention that such a discussion could take place only in a democracy like Israel.

Meanwhile, Greenberg neglected to point out that African and Muslim migrants choose Israel over Egypt and so did not have to answer why.

The Post’s more dramatic language and personalized approach toward illegal immigrants in Israel as opposed to its matter-of-fact word choice in dealing with such workers and their families in Saudi Arabia may well have colored the issue for readers.

Greenberg wrote that “a roundup of migrants from South Sudan and the deportation of more than 100 this month has left other newcomers nervous about what lies ahead and residents clamoring for more action…. ‘The situation is very bad,’ said Merhane Melake, an Eritrean who has been in Israel for five years, as he walked home. ‘We don’t know what comes next and what solution they will find for us’.”

On the other hand, The Post’s brief describes the Saudi “crackdown” this way: “Along al-Faryan Street in Manfouha on Sunday, hundreds of East Africans gathered around an intersection, some sitting on stuffed suitcases, as Saudi police watched from outside their vehicles, which blocked the roadways…. Authorities have set up a place to house violators of the visa laws in Manfouha should they surrender voluntarily…”

In Israel the subjects of the news have names and an ambiguous status, in Saudi Arabia they are “violators of visa laws.” In Israel their future is anxiously uncertain, in Saudi-Arabia they simply await their transport to be deported. Israel “rounds up” 100 illegal immigrants, Saudi Arabia arrests 16,000, leaving 561 injured and at least two killed. Affluent Saudi Arabia is trying to maintain economic “stability,” parochial Israel is trying to retain its Jewish character.

If these reports leave readers with the impression that Saudi Arabia is acting routinely but Israel oppresses struggling African migrants, they might suggest a double standard is at work. — by Lee Golan Fischgrund, CAMERA Washington research intern.

CAMERA’s Washington D.C. Office Director Eric Rozenman’s op-ed “Arab dispossession — the ‘Scarlet Letter’ lie” was published in the Washington Jewish Week.

Rozenman writes:

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, protagonist Hester Prynne must wear an “A” — for adultery — highlighting a sin not solely her own. So marked, she exists on the fringe of Puritan society.
Israel, smeared with the “D” of dispossession, often finds itself forced to the diplomatic and intellectual margins for its purported original sin — expelling the Arabs of Palestine.

He continues:

Arab-Israeli peace will not be built on lies. In any truth and reconciliation process preceding the conflict’s end, Arabs should concede who dispossessed whom.

Read the complete op-ed here.

Times of Israel reports:

The Israel Press Council reprimanded the Haaretz newspaper and its columnist Gideon Levy for an opinion piece earlier this year in which Levy suggested that a former border policeman had learned from his service dealing with Palestinians that “killing innocent civilians can go unpunished” and as a result shot dead four people in a Beersheba bank.

The tribunal demanded that both Levy and Haaretz issue an apology, Haaretz reported on Thursday. . . .

The Israel Police lodged a complaint with the Press Council after the opinion piece was published. In its decision, the council rejected a claim by Haaretz and Levy that the article was an acceptable expression of opinion and should therefore be allowed.

It said that Levy had broken the code of ethics that requires a journalist to check facts, to be accurate, and to refrain from referring to the ethnic backgrounds of people unless it is relevant to the subject. Likewise, Haaretz itself should have verified the article’s content and its accuracy, the council asserted.

As an example, it noted that Alon, the shooter, had only served in the Border Police for one year in 1995-1996, that during that time he conducted joint patrols with Palestinian security forces, and that he had not been involved in any incidents that could be construed as causing him to commit the assault in the bank 17 years later. Likewise, there was no basis for the claim that in the Border Police Alon learned to “kill innocent civilians without being punished,” the council concluded.

For more on Gideon Levy’s shoddy journalism, please see here.

The United Nations Headquarters

The Atlantic’s Wire blog just reported:

A United Nations interpreter didn’t realize her microphone was on whilst being candid with her colleagues on Thursday night during a General Assembly meeting. The slip came as the body was adopting nine resolutions condemning Israel, and none addressing issues in other countries.

The interpreter can be heard saying, at 1:58 into the video of the vote uploaded by UN Watch:

I mean, I think when you have five statements, not five like a total of ten resolutions on Israel and Palestine, there’s got to be something… C’est un peu trop, no? [It’s a bit much, no?] I mean I know it’s… yes… yes… it’s [inaudible] but it’s not the only… There’s other really bad sh*t happening. Nobody says anything about the other stuff.

The delegates laugh, including the Chair who can plainly be seen on the video smiling and laughing. The interpreter apologizes and the Secretary then says, “I understand there was a problem with interpretation.”

Yes. At the United Nations, the truth is indeed a “problem.”

Watch for yourself: