Accurate information on Israel

Article www.Christianview.org

by Philip Rosenthal 14 November 2000

MEDIA BIAS AGAINST ISRAEL..............................................................................................................................1

WHICH WORLDVIEW ARE YOU LISTENING TO? .............................................................................................2

SOURCES OF FREE AND ACCURATE NEWS INFORMATION ON ISRAEL ....................................................2

Media bias against Israel

A lot of Christians have been closely following events in Israel with regard to the increase in
violence etc. Unfortunately, most have been using the secular media as a source of information.
While some of this is accurate, most is highly selective and interpreted from either a secular liberal
perspective or a Muslim perspective rather than a Christian perspective. Some of it is blatantly
biased, inaccurate and fails to report on information critical to the debate - with the result that
Christians do not have the resources to defend their positions in public debate. Secular
liberals tend to portray the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) also as liberals seeking redress
for past injustices rather than as a violent militant Islamic organisation bent on destroying Israel.

Examples of inaccurate reporting would include for example reporting on child causalities in the
conflict without reporting on the fact that the PLO has been using its schools and television stations
to incite hatred against Israel for years and now is encouraging children to throw stones at Israeli
police and soldiers - whilst adult terrorists shoot at the soldiers with real bullets from behind the
children. When the Israeli's return fire - children unfortunately get shot. Thus it is the PLO and not
Israel that is responsible for the deaths of Arab children in the conflict. But CNN, the BBC, SABC
and our newspapers do not report on this or show any pictures or video footage of the terrorists
shooting from behind the children. Also the failure to report on PLO human rights abuses against
their own people; corruption, violation of democratic process etc.

They repeatedly showed footage of an Arab child unfortunately shot in crossfire, but refused to
release graphic footage of Israelis beaten to death by a mob inside a PLO police station because they
felt this may result in a backlash. Fair logic - but why the double standard? While accurately
reporting that most of the causalities have been Arabs, they fail to mention that almost all incidents
of violence were initiated by those who were injured or killed - and encouraged by the Palestinian
authority TV, police and political leaders. The main reason for this bias is that the news agencies are
using Arab reporters sympathetic to the PLO as their sources of information on violence in Arab
areas - because they are afraid to go in themselves (see article at bottom).

Another extreme example reported in all our newspapers was a photo of a teenager with blood
streaming down his face and an Israeli solider with a baton behind him. The caption indicated that
the teenager was an Arab beaten by the Israelis on the temple mount. The truth was that the teenager
was Jewish and had just been beaten up by a PLO mob and rescued by the Israeli soldiers - further
the photo was not taken on the temple mount, but outside a petrol station - which could be seen in the
background. Some newspapers did later publish a retraction. But this is a pattern fuelled by
anti-Israel political bias. This kind of reporting is aimed at marginalising Israel and increasing
pressure to give in to PLO demands for statehood - which would further jeopardise Israel's security.
Unfortunately, barring a brief period after the holocaust the world media has always displayed a
 Accurate information on Israel 2

strongly anti-Jewish and anti-Israel political bias.

Reporting of the historical context of the conflict also tends to omit important facts.

See article at bottom of this email from the Jerusalem Post on CNN reporting bias.

Which worldview are you listening to?

From a secular perspective, Israel has no purpose. It is just an irritation and source of conflict in the
Middle East - threatening global stability, by refusing to give in to Arab demands. From an Islamic
perspective it is a symbol of their defeat and needs to be destroyed to regain their honour. From a
biblical perspective it is the fulfilment of Gods promises to Abraham and his descendants.
Furthermore, the way our modern nations treat Israel will dictate how God will treat them:

GE 12:2-3 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Christians should be careful to interpret the worldview of the writer - when reading our newspapers
or watching TV news. If you are interested in current events in the Middle East, you are encouraged
to supplement your reading with one of the email lists below and visit their web sites:

To join the South African Christian email conference discussion on Israel, email israel-jewish-
subscribe@egroups.com and post your views to israel-jewish@egroups.com

Sources of free and accurate news Information on Israel

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM (Daily news update)

http://www.icej.org/

To subscribe (free), please email a blank message to: icej-news-service-subscribe@icej.org.il

BRIDGES FOR PEACE (Weekly news update) http://www.bridgesforpeace.com

To receive it, simply send an e-mail message that only says: subscribe
bfp-update <your name>. Send to listproc@grmi.org

THE JERUSALEM POST http://www.jpost.com/

Article on media bias from Jerusalem Post

Government 'unhappy' with CNN coverage

14 November 2000
By Herb Keinon

CHICAGO (November 14) - Israel is "unhappy" with CNN's coverage of the current wave of
violence, and the issue was scheduled to have been raised at a meeting in Washington Sunday night
between Prime Minister Ehud Barak and top CNN executives, a senior official in the Prime
Accurate information on Israel (Nov 2000).doc 27 August, 2002
 Accurate information on Israel 3

Minister's Office said yesterday.

The meeting was called off, however, because of the long delay in Barak's arrival in Washington.

Nevertheless, a senior source in Barak's office said Israel feels that the coverage has not been
objective, partly because CNN - due to its own security considerations - is relying on Palestinian
stringers from the territories whose sympathies, he said, are evident and come through in their
reporting.

The planned meeting with Barak was an outgrowth of a formal complaint the Foreign Ministry filed
with the news network about a month ago.

The source charged that in addition, CNN is not giving equal time to pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli
spokesmen, and is not accurately quoting inciting Arabic signs and statements, even when those
signs and statements appear on the screen.

One example of a pro-Palestinian bias, the source said, is referring to Gilo, when reporting on shots
being fired on the Jerusalem neighborhood, as "Palestinian lands." The meeting with CNN is part of
a public opinion offensive the government is undertaking. Another component was the recent
appointment of political-security adviser Danny Yatom as coordinator of the government's media
policy during the current crisis.

"They [some of the international media] are saying that we are killing children, shooting at stone-
throwers," a senior official in Barak's office said. "What we want to do is present a different picture."
This will be done, he said, by providing various media outlets with film showing that reality is not
always as simple as it may appear in a short film clip or still picture.

Please do copy and distribute this article. Comments and questions welcome.
by Philip Rosenthal
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Accurate information on Israel (Nov 2000).doc 27 August, 2002