Media Coverage and Israel

COMMENT:

Okay, having lived in Egypt for a year while in the Air Force, I saw first-hand how the national medias in that region were extremely biased toward Israel. Everything, and I literally mean everything, has an "it's Israel's fault" spin to it. The latest confrontation regarding the Gaza strip is a great example of that and, sadly, also an example of how our own media is getting more biased daily.

I first noticed a dfiscrepancy in the reporting yesterday, with this flotilla not using the approved channels - this struck me as a little odd to say the least. IF a flotilla's true mission is humanitarian aid, WHY would it travel in unauthorized areas when authorized areas are so close? The logical answer seems to be that it had a second, covert, mission and all appearances are that the covert mission was provocation. In the Middle East, ANY action by Israel against ANY Arab is wholeheartedly believed as wrong action by Israel. Even in Egypt, which is viewed as the official "mediator" of negotiations in the region, the overwhelming consensus is that Israel needs to be eliminated (call that the moderate view in the Middle East).

In a Judeo-Christian United States (upon which this nation was founded), benefit of the doubt went to Israel and fair, accurate reporting of the facts predominated. However, in today's "get God out of every facet of life" United States, our media is as free as the rest of the world to condemn without getting all of the facts, and free to report only the portions that support the agenda. Don't forget that getting God out of the U.S. necessitates separation from Israel - the symbolic Godhead of Judaism. Obama has made it very clear in his 1-1/2 years that his Church of Christ involvement was clearly a smokescreen and not where his true beliefs lie. No true member of that denomination could consistently take such harsh, exclusionary action against Christians.

If you look at our near history, this is an ever-increasing trend with our government of rushing to judgment. Don't believe me? How quick was our President to condemn the police officer and side with the Black Harvard professor? He condemned the entire police department without getting the facts and making a fair assessment. How about the Arizona Law? Three high-ranking officials (including Obama) condemn it, yet admit they haven't even read the 10-page Senate Bill.

With that said, below is another side of the Israel issue by Sarah Palin:

ARTICLE:

The media, as usual, seems to be reporting only one side of the Israeli Flotilla incident. Don’t trust the mainstream media to give you both sides of a story fairly… you must seek out fair reporting to ensure you have all the information.

As far too many in the media, and in various governments, rush to condemn Israel, we must put the recent events off Israel’s coast into the right perspective. This “relief” convoy was not about humanitarian aid, as the liberal mainstream media keeps reporting. The whole operation was designed to provoke Israel, not to provide supplies to Palestinians held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Anyone who sees the video of Israeli commandos being attacked as they land on that ship knows the people aboard were vicious thugs, not “peace activists.” The media insults our intelligence with their outright mis-characterization of who these enemies are.

Israel delivers thousands of tons of humanitarian supplies every week to Gaza. These ships could have offloaded their cargoes at a nearby Israeli port if they really wanted to help the people of Gaza. Instead, they chose to incite confrontation and violence. Israel has a right to prevent arms shipments to Gaza that will be used to target innocent Israelis, so they were legitimately checking the cargo on the flotilla. Turkey has chosen to condemn Israel but we should be asking some serious questions about Turkey’s role in this whole affair. Why is a fellow member of NATO sponsoring such a dangerous publicity stunt? As one expert points out: “Three ships of that six-ship pro-terror convoy flew Turkish flags and were crowded with Turkish citizens. The Ankara government – led by Islamists these days – sponsored the ‘aid’ operation in a move to position itself as the new champion of the Palestinians. And Turkish decision-makers knew Israel would have to react – and were waiting to exploit the inevitable clash. The provocation was as cynical as it was carefully orchestrated.”

We can only hope the Obama Administration does not join the anti-Israel chorus in the aftermath of this staged confrontation. Please, Mr. President, we need to let Israelis know we stand with them in their fight against terrorists and those who arm and support them. America and her ally, Israel, stand by waiting for your response.

- Sarah Palin