In a May 30th story inexplicably featured on the front page of the New York Times, with an above the fold large photo, reporter Ethan Bronner tells the story of promising Palestinian students who had their Fulbright scholarships to study in America revoked because Israel had allegedly denied them permission to leave Gaza.
The hardcopy version is entitled “Confined, Gaza Students Lose Grants to Study in U.S.,” with the sub headline “No Israeli Permission.”

But when you turn to page A8, and see yet another large photo of an appealing Palestinian scholar, you learn that

when a query about the canceled Fulbrights was made to the prime minister’s office on Thursday, senior officials expressed surprise. They said they did, in fact, consider study abroad to be a humanitarian necessity and that when cases were appealed to them, they would facilitate them. They suggested that American officials never brought the Fulbright cases to their attention.

So a minor story, about a few already well educated students, that perhaps should have been about the incompetence of American officials at the consulate in Jerusalem, somehow became a story focused on supposed Israeli culpability. On the front page of the New York Times.

Letters to the NY Times can be sent to: [email protected]

On May 27, 2008, the Washington Post published an article by longtime reporter Molly Moore about the crisis over Iran’s failure to cooperate with United Nations nuclear inspectors (“Iran Withholds Key Nuclear Documents; Program Still Peaceful, U.N. Agency Says”). In her lead paragraph, Moore states that International Atomic Energy Agency

“inspectors have found no evidence that Tehran is currently attempting to divert its nuclear program to military uses.”

Moore’s analysis of the dispute over Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is limited to a single paragraph that states:

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Iran stopped weapons research in 2003; Iran has denied it ever conducted such research.

From this, a reader would have the clear impression that IAEA inspectors found no evidence of an ongoing Iranian nuclear weapons program, and that its latest report was essentially a valentine to the Islamist regime. But Moore’s version of events reflects a completely different reality from that reported elsewhere.

For example, consider the New York Times article “Atomic Monitor Signals Concern Over Iran’s Work” (also published on May 27, 2008), by Elaine Sciolino. Sciolino’s piece took a strikingly different tone, reporting that:

The nine-page report accused the Iranians of a willful lack of cooperation, particularly in answering allegations that its nuclear program may be intended more for military use than for energy generation. Part of the agency’s case hinges on 18 documents listed in the report and presented to Iran that, according to Western intelligence agencies, indicate the Iranians have ventured into explosives, uranium processing and a missile warhead design – activities that could be associated with constructing nuclear weapons.

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The Wall Street Journal (Europe) is among the few mainstream news organizations that prominently commented on the Karsenty vs France 2 court case. Its editorial, as well as an op-ed by Nidra Poller, explained the larger context of the case, as well as several of the fascinating details that point to the “shooting” being a staged hoax.

See below for “Al-Durra Case Revisited” and “A Hoax?”
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Bravo to the Washington Times for publishing a rare column about what Israelis suffer through “When Rockets Go Slam.” Author Joel Mowbray includes this gem:

A little overwhelmed that none of the women or the little girl in the immediate area of the rocket strike died, hospital spokeswoman Lea Malul resorted to quoting the late, great Israeli playwright and satirist Ephraim Kishon. “Israel,” she said, “is a country where nobody expects miracles, but everybody takes them for granted.”

To read the entire item, see below.
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Me thinks “Fresh Jive” T-shirt manufacturer Rick Klotz protests too much. Hmmm, he says he’s all about “respectful dialog,” but he lionizes the godfather of terrorism, a young Yasser Arafat, in a repulsive T-shirt design , with the slogan “the good ol’ days”. Then he proudly promotes another T-shirt design (which was being sold at Urban Outfitters) featuring “victimized” young Palestinian terrorists in training, who are indeed victims of their own extremist culture, but who more than anything strive to victimize innocent Jews.

When the public protested the T-shirts’ glorification of terrorists, potty-mouth Rick claims he is a poor misunderstood man who just wants to encourage “respectful dialog,” even though he curses anyone who disagrees with him and repeatedly drops the f-bomb on them. For someone supposedly interested in respectful dialogue, he seems to be doing a lot of hero-worship of people who have chosen murder and extremism over peace and dialogue time after time.

I can’t imagine why anyone would want to buy a Fresh Jive T-shirt or spend a dime in any store that sells them. Thankfully Urban Outfitters decided to no longer sell the terror-lovers T-shirt.

Bravo to investigative reporter Joel Mowbray for pointing out the absurd errors made by Frank Rich in the New York Times regarding the pro-Israel pastor, John Hagee. As Mowbray notes,

“Mr. Rich branded Mr. Hagee a bigot when, in fact, he [Hagee] was actually fighting bigotry.”

Frank Rich’s hit piece on Hagee is a classic example of taking words out of context. Were all the editors and fact checkers at the New York Times on vacation the day Rich’s screed was published?

To read Mowbray’s excellent essay in the Washington Times, SEE BELOW.

UPDATE: To read his comments on Hagee’s Holocaust remarks, click here.
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It’s stunningly rare to read a reliable article about the creation of the modern State of Israel, and how Arab aggression and propaganda against the Jews backfired and caused thousands of Palestinian Arabs to become refugees. Click here to read Efraim Karsh’s fascinating and in-depth article, “1948, Israel and the Palestinians,” from the May Commentary issue.

A May 15th CNN report by Ben Wedeman on Israel’s 60th birthday parrots many similar segments in the media which focus not on Israel, but on the Palestinians’ view of the event. An Arab man emotively and inaccurately claims that the “establishment of Israel” caused the Palestinian refugee problem. Wedeman fails to note that it was actually the Arab attack against the reborn Jewish state which created the war and refugee problem. If the Arabs had not attacked the Jews, there would not be a single Palestinian Arab refugee.

To read a reliable source on the creation of the refugee problem, see Efraim Karsh’s excellent annotated Commentary article by clicking here.

Click here to submit a complaint to CNN.

The Palestinian Authority (you know, the “moderates” according to many press reports) has sentenced Imad Sa’ad to die by firing squad. Sa’ad is a Palestinian police officer who gave Israel information on the whereabouts of four Palestinian terrorists. Where are the editorials in papers around the world condemning this perversion of justice – that a counter-terrorist cop gets the death penalty instead of the terrorists?

Click here to read Mort Klein’s cogent essay on this topic in the Jerusalem Post.
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Click here to read Fouad Ajami’s cogent “Reality Check as Israel Turns 60” in the US News & World Report.