Posted on March 29, 2017 Stephen
M. Flatow/JNS.org
A group
of Palestinians tried to burn some Israeli Jews to death March 23. Just another
day in the Middle East.
The four
attackers drove up to the perimeter of the Jewish community of Beit El, north
of Jerusalem, and began hurling firebombs toward homes there. A firebomb, also
known as a Molotov cocktail, is of course a deadly weapon. It explodes on
impact and unleashes a torrent of flames. We can all easily imagine what would
happen if those firebombs had struck people or homes.
Fortunately,
Israeli soldiers immediately fired at the would-be murderers, killing one and
wounding three others. That should be the end of the story. But it won’t be.
Here’s why.
To begin
with, one of the terrorists was 17 years old. That means “human rights” groups
will add him to their list of “Palestinian children killed by Israelis.” Even
if a killer is just one day shy of his 18th birthday, that’s good enough to
define him as a “child” in the eyes of those who want to smear Israel.
The fact
that a Palestinian died, while no Israelis were burned to death as he had
intended, meant that many news outlets portrayed the attacker as the victim.
This is in accordance with the theory that whoever dies must be the victim and
whoever killed him must be the aggressor. (Good thing the media didn’t use that
measuring stick during World War II!)
Consider,
for example, the story as presented by AFP, a major supplier of international
news. Here’s how it began: “Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager
Thursday in the occupied West Bank and seriously wounded three other
Palestinians, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.”
Since a
significant number of readers don’t get past the first paragraph of a news article,
the opening sentence is crucial. And the opening sentence here strongly
suggests that the Israelis killed a Palestinian teenager, and injured three
others, for no reason.
And
here’s how the AFP story explained the broader context: “A wave of violence
that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 257 Palestinians, 40
Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean, and a Sudanese national,
according to an AFP count.” Notice how the violence just “broke out,” like a
mysterious illness with no obvious culprit.
Here’s
something else that few in the mainstream media will report: the Palestinian
Authority’s (PA) immediate endorsement of the terrorists who tried to burn Jews
alive.
According to the Palestinian news agency Ma’an, the governor of de facto
PA capital Ramallah, Laila Ghanam, called the dead terrorist “a martyr.” She
also tried to spread some fake news, declaring that the gang of four “had been
driving peacefully” when cruel Israelis attacked them. “This is another crime,”
the PA governor proclaimed. She also said “we wish a quick recovery” to the
three wounded terrorists, presumably so they can resume trying to set Jews on
fire.
You
won’t read Ghanam’s remarks in The Washington Post or hear them quoted on CNN.
That would remind the American public that Palestinian leaders support burning
Jews to death, and publicly lie to cover for the would-be killers. And that
would undermine the campaign to give the firebomb-throwers a sovereign state in
Israel’s backyard.
No comments:
Post a Comment