Good job by Nic Robertson of CNN asking some real questions and pushing for answers from Hamas leader Khaleed Meshaal. He didn’t get all the answers he asked for, but this was a fair interview and done with some journalistic integrity.
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Yesterday on CNN I watched an interview with Aaron David Miller. Miller worked for the U.S. Department of State from 1978-2003 and was an adviser on Arab-Israeli relations under 6 different Secretaries of State. He made a statement that I believe to be the most accurate assessment of what Israel is doing in Gaza and what can be used as an honest response to anyone who accuses Israel of brutality in the ongoing Operation.
He said the following, and I paraphrase: “Israel, without question, is not attempting to cause civilian casualties. However, Israel is conducting this operation with a specific set of objectives, and their priority is not concern for Palestinian civilians, it is to accomplish these objectives.”
I believe this to be a fair assessment. I will however elaborate on it somewhat. Israel’s objectives are to wipe out a terrorist organization guilty of killing both Israeli and Palestinian civilians, protect Israel’s civilians in the future, and to restore a peaceful life for all Israelis. These objectives must be met, for if they are not, a lot more children will be killed in the future, and many of them will be Jewish. It shows the moral right Israel has to carry out this mission, despite the tragic consequences we see today.
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The problem with the reporting of news these days is that rather than being a source of information it is a source of dramatic entertainment. It might be fair to say it has always been this way, but in light of the events in Israel I am finding the media, particularly CNN, guilty of focusing more on the dramatic aspects than on the informational ones. To call the images of crying, injured or dead children entertainment may be cynical, but then again the extent to which it is being done is clearly not for purposes of reporting the story. It is being done to draw in the viewer, and for that the guilty parties need to be ashamed of themselves.
The question that needs to be asked is this. What are they accomplishing by doing this? Are they making the world a better place by having people show their support for innocent children? The truthful answer is a resounding NO. The way in which these images are portrayed encourages anger towards Israel and sympathy for Hamas. The intelligent people running the show at CNN know perfectly well that it has this impact on society, but in what is the ultimate in cynicism, they don’t care. The images create attention and boost ratings. The more horrifying or sensational the better. It is not about right and wrong, it is about business and money.
So you have Hamas using the women and children not only as human shields but as sacrificial lambs to generate worldwide sympathy for their cause, and CNN and other agencies like it using the children for ratings. The ironic part of all this is that a large portion of the world is putting the blame on the one party involved not using the children at all, Israel. And these news agencies are very much to blame.
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These things happened,
The publishing of Ulysses by James Joyce; The first swimmer crossed the English Channel; Calvin Coolidge became president; the first Winter Olympics took place; Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic Ocean; Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse; Herbert Hoover became president; the Stock Market crashed;Penicillin was discovered; the planet Pluto was discovered; Empire State Building was completed; Amelia Earhart crossed the Atlantic; Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Party became ruling party in Germany; Social security was established; Golden Gate Bridge was opened; Japan invaded China; Germany annexed Austria; World War II; Japan attacked Pearl Harbor; Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; 60 million people killed in World War II; 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust; Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier; the State of Israel was founded; United Nations was formed; NATO was formed; Korean War; Elvis Presley; Polio vaccine created; Disneyland Opened; JFK became President; I was born; Cuban Missile Crisis; JFK assassinated; The Beatles; Vietnam War; Star Trek series; first Super Bowl; Apollo 11 landed on the moon; Terrorists Killed Israeli Athletes at Munich Olympics; Watergate scandal forced President Richard Nixon’s resignation; the movie Star Wars; John Paul II became Pope; Iranian Muslim revolution; CNN was formed; AIDS discovered; Personal Computers were invented; Soviet Union collapsed; Apartheid ended; Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa; 2 different Bush’s became Presidents; Bill Clinton became president; the Euro currency was formed; 3,000 killed in 9/11 attack in New York; Iraq War; the Internet was created; Holland lost 3 World cup finals; Justin and Kim got married.
These things happened, in the 92 years between the birth of these 2 people, my mother Sipora Groen and my youngest family member and great-niece Jara.
If this doesn’t give you hope nothing does.
I have not been one to complain about CNN over the years, but to make a headline, “Cease-fire effort collapses as rockets, airstrikes continue”, is a transparent attempt at avoiding the truth. Hamas did not accept the cease-fire, Israel did.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/15/world/meast/mideast-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews
To keep this critical fact out of its headline and only dance around what is the most important news surrounding the cease-fire effort indicates that in reporting today’s events, CNN put a distorted concept of objectivity ahead of credibility. To report that one party wants the violence more than the other is not biased journalism if it is based on actual statements by both parties. CNN executives know this and should demand that their reports have a journalistic integrity that is clearly lacking here.
This post is a variation of a comment I wrote for an earlier thread on Facebook. Although this is more controversial than I normally get on my blog, my feelings on this subject are so strong that I feel compelled to state them openly, without fear, and without reservation. To protect the privacy of those I responded to I have removed their names and adjusted the content appropriately as well as adding additional content.
I realize that personally I have a radical view on guns. Objectively I don’t usually think any radical approach is good, even when it’s my own. I don’t think good people owning guns generally do things to intentionally put other human beings in danger. I also know that many, if not most of them would gladly give up their guns if it was as a result of legislation that stopped the killing of innocent people. I know that in reality it doesn’t work that way. I know there is no connection between criminals owning guns and decent, law-abiding citizens owning guns. I even admit things don’t clearly get better by taking the guns away from good people. I just feel that many of them have misplaced passion.
A few people have tried to use the comparison of what happened in China a few days ago when a man attacked 22 children with a knife as “proof” that taking away guns won’t stop madmen. They’re correct, it won’t. But the difference between what happened in China and in Connecticut is the difference between children getting injured and children getting killed. That is right there in the headlines. Both are horrible, but clearly one is worse than the other.
I understand that the good people who own guns want to keep their guns, but I don’t understand how some of them want it so much they won’t even admit something needs to be done. That is because some, and I emphasize some are so full of themselves and their Rush Limbaugh style politics that they consider someone like me the enemy. I resent the insinuation that they are better people than I am because I lash out in anger when something like this happens. They are so concerned about their politics, claiming it to be so important to own a gun that they come after me, who has freedom of speech, maybe even a greater, certainly equal cornerstone of our society, for placing the blame where I feel it belongs.
Am I right in how I look at the gun issue? Maybe yes, maybe no. But don’t tell me how I am taking away your constitutional right to own a gun while calling me an uncaring person for exercising my right to free speech. This, ‘you liberals don’t even wait till the blood is dry to turn this into something political’ attitude is complete and utter nonsensical self-serving partisan garbage. Who are these people to tell me when I am allowed to react? Who are these people to self-promote themselves to such an extent that they try to tell the world it makes them a better person than I am? Not once do I ever even insinuate that gun owners are less hurt by what happened than I am. But with some of them, the second you state an opinion contrary to theirs, they forget what is wrong in our society and come after someone like me. They have the audacity to imply, sometimes even say outright, that people who feel as I do are part of the problem. Do I put that onus on them? God forbid. I never would. But they are the ones politicizing everything, and anyone, Democrat or Republican, who uses this tragedy as a way to prove that they are a better person than someone else, needs to look long and hard in the mirror. What they will see is someone more concerned about their image than in right and wrong.
In a less imperfect world, average citizens who own guns would be able to use them at a crime scene to either stop an evil lunatic from committing a heinous crime or if nothing else minimize the damage. However, in our world it just doesn’t happen that way. Not one of these gun related mass murders has ended with a gun-owning citizen shooting the murderer. Does that mean that a decent citizen should lose his gun? No. But saying that stronger gun control laws take away the option for a citizen to stop the crime is an argument that has yet to be proven to have any real merit. I rather you just be honest and say you like hunting or want to protect your home. Both of which you have every right to do.
I know there will be some who will feel such anger by my words that they will verbally attack me. There will be some who will read this on Facebook and possibly choose to longer be my friend. You all have every right to your opinion, but I ask you this. Do we not want the same thing? Do we not all want a country, dare I say a world, where children can live without fear, where people can go to a movie theater or to a park without fear, and where the value of human life is so great that we not only protect the children but protect all people? Of course we do. So before you come at me with all your venom and hatred, take a moment and realize that I very likely want the same thing that you do, and if that is not enough for you to have an intelligent respectful dialogue about a problem that impacts all of us, your friendship will not be missed. But my hope is that good people will wake up and actually work together to come up with a solution that allows civilized behavior to flourish and grow, not be the ultimate victim of the guns of madmen.
As I was concluding this piece, two things happened that caused me to add to it. The first thing was a chat I was having online with an old friend. She is a mother of 3 and lives in the country. She was telling me that she owns guns, but that they are locked in a large safe where the children can’t get to them. She allows her children to learn how to shoot but only while being very strictly monitored. My reaction to what she said was extremely positive. We both agreed that people need to take the careful measures that she does and since many don’t, government needs to get involved.
The second thing that happened was that I saw an interview on CNN with the family of Vicki Soto. Vicki Soto was a 27 year old first grade school teacher at Sandy Hook elementary. She is one of the victims of this terrible tragedy. She is also someone I am deeply honored to mention on my blog. She died shielding her students and saving the lives of young children. Her heroics give us hope, restore our faith in humanity, and show us that heroes still do exist and I can think of no better way to end this post than to honor her memory. As we ask God why, let us also thank God for people like Vicki Soto, for without angels like her we are surely lost. May she and all the victims of this horrible tragedy rest in peace.
Occasionally when watching reports on the events in the Middle East I make an attempt at being objective. As a Jewish man, I feel anger any time I perceive Jews as being indiscriminately attacked. It is never pleasant to see any innocent people being hurt, but human nature is that we often feel most passionately when the attack is on one of our own. Be that as it may, I made every conscious effort to listen objectively to both Mark Regev and Hanan Ashrawi on CNN earlier today.
Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, naturally was on to portray the Israeli side of the conflict. He explained how the importance of this mission is not only to stop the missiles now, but to allow the southern borders of Israel to live in peace and security in the future. The subject of the “occupation” (not objective quotation marks) never was broached with him as the discussion was entirely about the direction the conflict could go and how to stop the missiles from flying. He made one very important point. Israel has a large Arab population and there is absolutely no way of knowing that these missiles will not injure or kill Arabs and Palestinians, the one group Hamas claims to be fighting for. I am still trying to be objective but as I was listening to Regev speak, I found it increasingly difficult to understand how any sane person would argue with anything he was saying. But then again throughout the ages sanity has never been in the forefront when it comes to assaults on Jewish populations. Objectively speaking.
I then listened to Hanan Ashrawi, who as everyone knows only tells the Palestinian side of the story. I have no problem with her doing this since after all, that’s her job, but after being painted into a corner by CNN’s Gary Tuchman, Ashrawi, as intelligent as she may be, in my estimation unwillingly displayed her approval of violence. Tuchman asked her what she expected Israel to do after being victim to hundreds of missile attacks from Gaza throughout the year. He drew the comparison to Florida being attacked by Mexico and rightfully so, said that the citizens of the United States would demand retaliation and that the President would almost certainly oblige his citizenry. Her response was to speak of what she sees as the underlying problem, which in her estimation is the “occupation”. At this point I put on my Mr. Objective hat and decided to consider the “occupation” the real issue here. But when Tuchman continued to push her on what Israel should do about the missiles, she replied something along the lines of, “go back to the negotiating table.” At this point, if my imaginary hat was real, I would have taken it off, lit a fire somewhere, and burnt it to ashes.
Ashrawi, who is supposed to be one of the intelligent voices of the Palestinian world, basically revealed the worldwide philosophy among Arab and Muslim leadership today. This philosophy is violently attack until the people you are trying to defeat know that it only stops if you adhere to their demands. Throw missiles at Israel until you get what you want and then cry to the world about how Israel is killing your people without restraint. Well let’s examine that as well. 40 people have been killed in airstrikes in Gaza since Wednesday. That is 4 days of Israeli attacks “without restraint”. It doesn’t take a genius, or even someone objective to realize that if there were 4 days of unrestrained attacks there would be a lot more than 40 deaths. In fact, the reason the number is not larger is because these attacks are focused on what is believed to be terrorist hideouts or bases of operations. When the Arab League gets together to discuss this do they also talk about the 17 civilians, many women and children killed the other day by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan? These people were part of a wedding party and were killed by a bomb placed by the Taliban, an organization like Hamas in its methods and intent. In October, 19 civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. Between these 2 bombings alone 36 civilians were killed. When you factor in the fact that the Israeli attacks are targeted and have killed Hamas operatives, it is pretty safe to say that more innocent people were murdered in 2 roadside bombs planted by the Taliban, a Hamas ally, than by the “unrestrained” attacks by Israel on Gaza.
I have heard a few Palestinian spokespersons say that Israel should allow free movement in and out of Gaza. I have a simple response to that. Israel is currently being attacked by Fajr 5 missiles. These missiles are being supplied to Hamas by Iran, the nation that has publicly stated its desire to destroy Israel. With Iran in the process of attempting to construct a nuclear arsenal, and Hamas in alliance with Iran, allowing free access to Gaza would be the equivalent of cutting oneself and walking into shark infested waters. At this point it would be so easy you almost can’t even blame the shark anymore.
As someone who appreciates objectivity and hates violence, I welcome the true voices of honor and decency. But both objectivity and peace by definition can’t be one-sided. I am sure Hanan Ashrawi, a woman with multiple degrees in literacy is aware of this, but admitting this would be breaking from the strategy of force over reason and would put her in a position to do something not very politically expedient for her, which is be at peace with Israel.
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