I remember Rodney King, after the South Central Los Angeles riots saying, ?Can?t we just all get along?? I?ve thought about that and have come to a conclusion. No, we can?t all get along. It?s great to have the attitude of ?love thy neighbor? and ?war isn?t the answer?; however, when there are those whose sole existence is based on your destruction, the attitude better be one of a strong defense rather than turning the other cheek.
Unfortunately, somehow, the reasons behind that defense seem to be getting lost in the phraseology of the media. The tirade against Israel is so consistent and uniform in the style of reporting that sometimes I just have to wonder if there are more than a few of these ?journalists? who coincidentally are on the payroll of the Arabs. I can?t help but wonder who instructed them not to use the word ?terrorists? when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Where did they pick up the catchy phrase ?martyrdom? to describe these mass murderers? Who has instructed them to describe terrorist groups such as Hamas as ?freedom fighters?? When they strike Americans, they are terrorists. Why the one-edged sword? Whenever the cry for journalist accountability goes out, the ?free speech? defense is raised. I?ve yet to read any of their reports that mirror the continued polls of the Palestinians, which show that eighty-one percent of them support continued violence.
They speak of the ?cycle of violence? each time that an Israeli is killed. Yet, I rarely see any understanding for Israel, who is defending its citizens just like any democratic government, justifying its actions. When Israel finds it necessary to retaliate against a particularly violent terrorist attack on its citizens, somehow the reason for the provocation is delegated to the back section of the newspaper. Usually under the heading about the ?cycle of violence?. I keep waiting for Peter Jennings, the BBC, CNN and even, lately, Fox News to refer to these terrorists as ?terrorists?. They are not militants. Terrorists are the ones who sneak up on unsuspecting innocents, such as patrons in a coffee shop, or disco, or even students praying in class, and shoot them. Despite the reporting, there is no moral equivalency.
The code word of ?resistance? is to clothe murderous activities in a semblance of legitimacy. How about the key expression, ?struggle for independence?? I wonder what that could mean? The Arabs are clever, though. By using those phrases, Arabs see to it that Americans tend to become confused and compare the PLO war with their own War of Independence. The two couldn?t be more different. There are no legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. Their sole goal is to kill Jews. If they ever accomplished that, then they could move on to the Christian people, who they also consider an abomination.
Phraseology. Josef Goebbels, who was Hitler?s Minister of Propaganda, once said, ?If you tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth.? The world media repeats the lie of calling the Jewish settlements ?occupied territory?, which allegedly is an obstacle to peace. Israel didn?t ?just appear,? as I was told by some Egyptians when I went to view the pyramids. They said that Israel ?appeared? one day, out of nowhere. The same for making Judea and Samaria bloom. It took a lot of hard work and brilliant engineering. There are no territories, only survival.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times ?resident Nazi?, Tracy Wilkinson, continues her almost daily attacks on the Jewish state, with columns of the ?Life Draining from Towns in West Bank? variety. I find it amazing that in almost every column that she writes, Tracy somehow manages to glamorize the terrorists and sends a plea for compassion to his suffering family. The LA Times will devote two pages to the olive trees that were cut down from the ?freedom fighters?? family orchard; yet, there is absolutely no empathy for the Jewish side of the story.
The terrorists are winnning their propaganda fight. And they garner the front-page sympathy columns about how their cities are suffering because of the actions of a few. The mothers of yeshiva students bury their children. It?s not a ?militant? attack, but yet another terrorist attack! Terrorists attack, while the Times publishes two-page columns about how ?the Palestinian children don?t have enough to eat and signs of malnutrition have crept into a population that was once relatively healthy.? I want to scream out that the Arabs, who are so obsessed with the complete and utter destruction of Israel, have chosen this path by their evil and mindless bombings. Now, they find that they have no one but themselves to blame for the situation they find themselves in.
As a journalist, I know how easy it is to change a news column by a phrase here, or a nuance there. It?s the job of the press to report the news, not to make it. Yet, watching the media coverage when it comes to the events in Israel, I feel as though I am watching the coverage of the Warsaw ghetto uprising only from Hitler?s perspective. What is wrong that they just don?t ?get it?? I would love to see the reaction from my country if these same animals strapped bombs to their women and children to go and butcher civilians on our shores. Would we say the Arab cause is equivalent to our own? Most of the mass media probably would, as the vast majority of our government actors and press have never even traveled to the area and are totally uninformed about whom they?re writing and speaking.
Yet, they continue to write about the ?roadmap? for the Middle East that they?ve conjured up. In reality, it would be the road to hell. All it does is condone and reward savage acts of terrorism on one side, in the vain and delusional hope that somehow Israel?s Arab neighbor states will be miraculously transformed from a sow?s ear into a silk purse. It?s not going to happen.
By the time, if the time ever comes, that the Arab world is brought out of the seventh century mentality, it will be too little and too late. Too much damage has already been done by their obsessed hatred of Jews. They have already sacrificed their morality and the health of their family structure. The Islamic culture, as we know it today has already committed moral suicide. They don?t have to plan for suicide in coffee shops.
They?re already dead.
--------------------------------------------------------
Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She can be reached at bestredhead@earthlink.net.
Unfortunately, somehow, the reasons behind that defense seem to be getting lost in the phraseology of the media. The tirade against Israel is so consistent and uniform in the style of reporting that sometimes I just have to wonder if there are more than a few of these ?journalists? who coincidentally are on the payroll of the Arabs. I can?t help but wonder who instructed them not to use the word ?terrorists? when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Where did they pick up the catchy phrase ?martyrdom? to describe these mass murderers? Who has instructed them to describe terrorist groups such as Hamas as ?freedom fighters?? When they strike Americans, they are terrorists. Why the one-edged sword? Whenever the cry for journalist accountability goes out, the ?free speech? defense is raised. I?ve yet to read any of their reports that mirror the continued polls of the Palestinians, which show that eighty-one percent of them support continued violence.
They speak of the ?cycle of violence? each time that an Israeli is killed. Yet, I rarely see any understanding for Israel, who is defending its citizens just like any democratic government, justifying its actions. When Israel finds it necessary to retaliate against a particularly violent terrorist attack on its citizens, somehow the reason for the provocation is delegated to the back section of the newspaper. Usually under the heading about the ?cycle of violence?. I keep waiting for Peter Jennings, the BBC, CNN and even, lately, Fox News to refer to these terrorists as ?terrorists?. They are not militants. Terrorists are the ones who sneak up on unsuspecting innocents, such as patrons in a coffee shop, or disco, or even students praying in class, and shoot them. Despite the reporting, there is no moral equivalency.
The code word of ?resistance? is to clothe murderous activities in a semblance of legitimacy. How about the key expression, ?struggle for independence?? I wonder what that could mean? The Arabs are clever, though. By using those phrases, Arabs see to it that Americans tend to become confused and compare the PLO war with their own War of Independence. The two couldn?t be more different. There are no legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. Their sole goal is to kill Jews. If they ever accomplished that, then they could move on to the Christian people, who they also consider an abomination.
Phraseology. Josef Goebbels, who was Hitler?s Minister of Propaganda, once said, ?If you tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth.? The world media repeats the lie of calling the Jewish settlements ?occupied territory?, which allegedly is an obstacle to peace. Israel didn?t ?just appear,? as I was told by some Egyptians when I went to view the pyramids. They said that Israel ?appeared? one day, out of nowhere. The same for making Judea and Samaria bloom. It took a lot of hard work and brilliant engineering. There are no territories, only survival.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times ?resident Nazi?, Tracy Wilkinson, continues her almost daily attacks on the Jewish state, with columns of the ?Life Draining from Towns in West Bank? variety. I find it amazing that in almost every column that she writes, Tracy somehow manages to glamorize the terrorists and sends a plea for compassion to his suffering family. The LA Times will devote two pages to the olive trees that were cut down from the ?freedom fighters?? family orchard; yet, there is absolutely no empathy for the Jewish side of the story.
The terrorists are winnning their propaganda fight. And they garner the front-page sympathy columns about how their cities are suffering because of the actions of a few. The mothers of yeshiva students bury their children. It?s not a ?militant? attack, but yet another terrorist attack! Terrorists attack, while the Times publishes two-page columns about how ?the Palestinian children don?t have enough to eat and signs of malnutrition have crept into a population that was once relatively healthy.? I want to scream out that the Arabs, who are so obsessed with the complete and utter destruction of Israel, have chosen this path by their evil and mindless bombings. Now, they find that they have no one but themselves to blame for the situation they find themselves in.
As a journalist, I know how easy it is to change a news column by a phrase here, or a nuance there. It?s the job of the press to report the news, not to make it. Yet, watching the media coverage when it comes to the events in Israel, I feel as though I am watching the coverage of the Warsaw ghetto uprising only from Hitler?s perspective. What is wrong that they just don?t ?get it?? I would love to see the reaction from my country if these same animals strapped bombs to their women and children to go and butcher civilians on our shores. Would we say the Arab cause is equivalent to our own? Most of the mass media probably would, as the vast majority of our government actors and press have never even traveled to the area and are totally uninformed about whom they?re writing and speaking.
Yet, they continue to write about the ?roadmap? for the Middle East that they?ve conjured up. In reality, it would be the road to hell. All it does is condone and reward savage acts of terrorism on one side, in the vain and delusional hope that somehow Israel?s Arab neighbor states will be miraculously transformed from a sow?s ear into a silk purse. It?s not going to happen.
By the time, if the time ever comes, that the Arab world is brought out of the seventh century mentality, it will be too little and too late. Too much damage has already been done by their obsessed hatred of Jews. They have already sacrificed their morality and the health of their family structure. The Islamic culture, as we know it today has already committed moral suicide. They don?t have to plan for suicide in coffee shops.
They?re already dead.
--------------------------------------------------------
Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She can be reached at bestredhead@earthlink.net.