 |
| Abraham Foxman in 2013 with then Vice-President Biden (VIN) |
My eyes were really opened to media bias during the Trump presidency. I used to give them the benefit of the doubt. But no more. And the New York Times is among the worst of them. Which is why Abe Foxman canceling his subscription to it was the right thing to do. From VIN (republished from the Jewish Journal):
Abraham Foxman, the director emeritus of the Anti-Defamation League, tweeted on May 28 that he was canceling his New York Times subscription because the paper had printed a “blood libel” on its front page.
The May 28 print edition of the Times featured photos of children who were killed in the recent Israel-Hamas fighting, in the Gaza Strip and Israel. The headline read: “They Were Just Children.”
“I am cancelling my subscription to NYTimes,” Foxman tweeted. “I grew up in America on the NYT—I delivered the NYT to my classmates—I learned civics—democracy and all the news ‘fit to print’ for 65 years but no more. Today’s blood libel of Israel and the Jewish people on the front page is enough.”
“Me too,” replied Newsweek Deputy Opinion Editor Batya Ungar-Sargon.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the Jewish Journal that he too is canceling his subscription to the Times, saying that the front page is “libelous against the Jewish state and that they [the Times] do it amidst a tsunami of antisemitic attacks by pro-Hamas forces across the United States … it’s beyond the pale.”
The article does go on to say the following:
“Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll in Gaza because the group fires rockets and conducts military operations from civilian areas,” the article stated. “Israel’s critics cite the death toll as evidence that Israel’s strikes were indiscriminate and disproportionate.”
It also notes that a couple of the Gaza children “may have been killed when Palestinian militants fired a rocket at Israel that fell short.”
This does mitigate the headline somewhat. But when the headline screams ‘Baby Killer’ the reader will read the rest of the article with a jaundiced eye - placing greater weight on sympathy for the suffering Palestinians for which they will blame Israel.
Defending the Times is Conservative Rabbi Jill Jacobs defends. She is the executive director of Tr’uah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and of the ‘Judaism equals social justice’ mentality. Here is what she said:
“Blood libel is about the accusation that Jews kill Christian children for ritual purposes, not about how a sovereign state acts in war.”
She fits right in with those 100 rabbinical students that signed a letter condemning Israel’s response to the rocket attacks from Gaza. Is there any wonder where they get these ideas from - when prominent heterodox rabbis from the left basically say the same kinds of things?
And is there any wonder why American Jewish support for Israel is on the wane when their rabbis are so critical of Israel? And that’s with American Jews that have any connection at all to their Judaism. Which completely ignores the vast number of Jews that don’t have Israel anywhere on their radar!
If only the media would have the courage to ask the right questions of the ‘blame Israel first’ crowd. Then maybe Israel would get some fair coverage.
Last night, PBS Newshour host Judy Woodruff asked a supposed expert what she thought was the root cause of the conflict in Gaza. The response was predicable. It is Israel’s fault because of their boycott of vital goods and services. Which of course causes them much grief. She called it an act of war.
This makes Israel look like all they want to do is hurt innocent people for no reason at all. It would have been nice to hear Woodruff suggest what every journalist must know is the reason for that boycott. They had diverted almost everything that is now boycotted towards terrorizing Israel instead of helping their own people.
I wish she had asked that so called expert if she thought Israel would be boycotting them if they weren’t doing that? I wish she would have asked her whether she thinks Israel wouldn’t have preferred dealing with a peaceful neighbor in Gaza and would help them build up their country instead of boycotting them?
But Woodruff let it pass, leaving the listener with the impression that its all Israel’s fault. That is how the left portrays the conflict.
The more we can cancel that false media narrative - the more truth will emerge. Which is why I appreciate that these prominent people canceled their subscription to the Times. The more the merrier.
