A recent article brought in Spectator covering a Zionist event sponsored by the College Republicans, LionPac, Hasbara Fellowship, Israel Alliance, Pro-Israel Progressives featured a correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and Palestinian Affairs producer for NBC.
Who ever wrote the headline for this article needs to be fired for atrocious journalism.
The headline:
Journalist Takes Even Handed to the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Let's just take the headline first. We'll move onto the content of this man's propaganda next. Why is this called the "Arab-Israeli" rather than the "Palestinian-Israeli" conflict? Seems innocuous enough right? No. Israel has systematically denied the nationhood and nationality of the Palestinian people. They have claimed they are just Arabs, and thus the refugees driven from their homeland by the Zionist state should just assimilate into the surrounding Arab states, since all Arabs are the same anyways.
"Even Handed"? What this event most resembles were the "ex-terrorists" turned neo-conservatives the Republicans brought to warn us all about the dangers of Islamo-fascism. This is how Spec itself reports the content of this man's speech:
“People ask, ‘When did you become a Zionist Arab? What’s your story?’” Toameh said. “I have no story. I’m a journalist. As a journalist, I have no problem working for any newspaper that provides me a platform and that doesn’t interfere with my writing.”So the Palestinians who resist the criminal Israeli occupation and who fight for self-determination and national liberation - they're simply deluded by a "glorification of martyrdom."In his discussion Toameh refuted two major assumptions about the Israeli media: that it would censor Arab journalists and that Arab sources would not trust it.
“I’ve interviewed all the Hamas terrorists and leaders, and almost every Palestinian is open [to talking to the Israeli media], because this is the only way to get your message to the Israeli people,” he said.
[...Supports peace process, homelands for Palestinians along South African model labeled with the euphemism of great moderation, "I believe in the two state solution"]“Palestinian politics] is not a power struggle between good guys and bad guys,” Toameh said. “It is a struggle between bad guys and bad guys. I wish they were fighting over the future of the peace process, what is the best government for the Palestinians ... but they’re only fighting over money and power.”
And while Toameh mentioned many things the international community can do to improve the situation, he is not optimistic.
“It’s not a very promising picture,” he said. “We’ve raised an entire generation of Palestinians on glorification of martyrdom ... I don’t see a moderate force emerging.”
This follows on article about the Gaza Panel put on by the Arab Student Association that blatantly misrepresented Professor Rashid Khalidi's views by focusing on his criticism of the Palestinian leadership and ignoring his basic critique of Israel and the criminal occupation.
This was accompanied by an opinion piece by Jordan Hirsch, published the day after the Arab Student Association event, which clearly violated Spectator's own procedures about editing and review. Normally, Spectator opinion pieces need to be written and submitted for editing at least two days before they run. In his piece, however, Hirsch comments on the content of the Arab Student Association event. If the normal procedures had been followed, there is no way that Hirsch could have included, at the last minute, this reference to the speakers at the panel. He was allowed to cheat and circumvent the rules of the system.
LionPac, of course, is perfectly happy that Spectator has become an orthodox organ of Zionist propaganda. So much for "even handed" journalists. The irony.
HEADS MUST ROLL: TELL SPEC TO GET SERIOUS
| Editor in Chief | Tom Faure | (212) 854-9546 | editor@columbiaspectator.com |
|---|
| News Editor, City | Melissa Repko | (212) 854-9555 | news@columbiaspectator.com |
|---|---|---|---|
| News Editor, Campus | Jacob Schneider | ||
| Opinion Editor | Miriam Krule | (212) 854-9547 | opinion@columbiaspectator.com |
5 comments:
I don't think the most responsible way to counter the supposed presence of bias at Spectator is by issuing death threats ("HEADS MUST ROLL"), but maybe that's just me.
Also, to clarify: Spectator customarily requests that opinion submissions be turned in two days before publication, but this is not a hard and fast policy. It is a guideline that exists to a) ensure a stable content schedule, and b) allow ample time for the writer and editor to review a piece (in case it contains errors or must be edited for length).
Time and space permitting, the editor can bend that policy at his or her discretion. Indeed, this has been done many, many times in the past, most notably for supporters of last fall's hunger strike. It is certainly not evidence of bias.
You're really groping for straws these days, participante.
How do you expect to be taken seriously when you issue a call (however insubstantive) for harm to come to your peers? "HEADS MUST ROLL?" Really?
Why this fixation on "heads must roll" .... clearly figurative.... why don't you comment on the actual issue at hand!?
re: your objection to the phrase "arab-israeli conflict," that selfsame term was utilized by the journalist from the al-quds al arabi newspaper featured in the video in the post about the gaza incursion over the weekend.
is he also discursively denying national rights to the Palestinian people?
There are certainly some parallels between the quarrels on campus and abroad. Pretty scary...
http://campus.ology.com/2009/01/30/columbia-democrats-take-on-the-oldest-feud/
-Jared J. H. Catapano (ology.com)
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