Fairfax Publications Bias

[Reffo]

I wrote before about that leftist rag, the Morning Herald. They are forever on the campaign trail to deride and discredit Israel. And now, in today's editorial, they are inviting Diaspora Jewry to be their partners ...

Herald Editorial

We believe that it is time for Jews of the diaspora to question Israel's actions. For too long the spectrum of Jewish opinion outside Israel has been narrowed on Middle Eastern questions to a compulsory, unquestioning support for the Israeli government of the day, no matter what. A few brave individuals challenge this orthodoxy - to their cost

Here is one response to them from one diaspora Jew: Nuts .... we are not as stupid as you think. We know where you are coming from and we know where you want us to end up. You are just more clever at disguising your intentions than some others ...

Clever little buggers they are, they create a straw man by pretending that we accept everything that Israeli politicians do uncritically and without question. Of course we don't but we do know the difference between constructive and destructive criticism. Leftist rags like the Herald obviously don't or more accurately, they don't want to know ...

PS
In case anyone wonders, I did not nor do I buy the Herald, it is possible to read it for free and I do because it's important to know what those who wish us harm think and say ...

[Reffo]

The Israeli government was informed, through its ambassador to Australia, that the Herald journalist Paul McGeough and photographer Kate Geraghty would be with the flotilla

Talking about Paul McGeough, he is a regular reporter about the Middle East in the Herald, this is what he had to say, in the same edition as the above editorial, about what happened and about Israeli commandos.

They hunted like hyenas - moving up and ahead on the flanks; pushing in, then peeling away; and finally, lagging before lunging. But as they came alongside the Mavi Marmara, the dozen or so helmeted commandos in each assault craft copped the full force of the ferry's fire hoses and a shower of whatever its passengers found on deck or could break from the ship's fittings

'Some of the people caught the first commando before he touched the deck - a few started to hit him, but a lot of people moved in to shelter him with their bodies,'' the cameraman said. ''Another soldier with a bleeding nose was brought in … a few people threw punches, but not as many as I would have expected.''

Do the items in bold suggest that this person is interested in objective reporting? Or is he interested in polemics and emotive reporting? Does he seem to talke sides ...?

By the way, I believe that Paul McGeough is an Irish national he is not Australian. I believe that because he was on one of the ships, Israel deported him which means that he will not be allowed to set foot on Israeli soil for 10 years. He is appealing this but I hope he will lose the appeal.

[Reffo]

Here is another example of the Herald newspaper's double standard ....

In an article on January 20, 2009 they talk about terrorists (rightly so in my opinion) ...

Given that the Guantanamo Bay detainees include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (the alleged mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US) and Hambali (the alleged ringleader of the Bali terrorist bombings of October 2002), Obama's reservations make sense

But in another article, on February 18, 2010 about the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh by Israeli agents (supposedly), suddenly an arch Hamas terrorist becomes just a militant ...

Within five hours, the Palestinian militant would be dead, the apparent victim of a sophisticated team of killers dispatched to end his life in what officials in Dubai have suggested is an extraordinary tale of modern-day espionage

I guess, according to the "highly professional standards" of the Herald newspaper, those who murder Australians and Americans, are terrorists but those who murder Israelis are just militants. Go figure ....

[Reffo]

The Age is the sister paper (rag) of the Herald. They are both a Fairfax publication. Their latest beat up on Israel has been running now for several days ...

ANTI-SEMITISM: The Age sinks to new low

The Melbourne Age newspaper has stunned and appalled the Jewish community today by confecting a scandal about the fact that the Prime Minister’s partner works for a Jewish businessman Albert Dadon.

It inaccurately describes Albert as an “Israel lobbyist” which suggests he is paid to promote Israel. That’s simply not correct and conveys a false impression

Oh dear ... What next? ... How far will this type of witch hunt go? ... Will they look for second cousins in law, living two doors away from a Jewish neighbor? related to the wife/husband of prime ministers ... And these so called liberals were critical of the McCarthy witch hunts ... Maybe they should start investigating Saudi money instead ... which is being funneled into western countries for the sole purpose of fostering hatred ...

[Mediocrates]

Yes I've reading how the new PM has been criticized for being insufficiently antisemitic recently.

Good luck with all that, Oz.

[Reffo]

I hope you are not making the mistake of thinking that all of Oz is like that Medio ... Far from it. It's just a small, noisy ragbag minority who is trying go emulate what they perceive is happening elsewhere in the world.

It seems that the Fairfax publications see it as their holy duty to lead the charge ...

[Mediocrates]

No I'm sure it's not all like that. What concerns me is that people no longer care if you recognize them as Nazis.

[Reffo]

Ah .... the good old Herald strikes again. They never seem to want to miss an opportunity to put Israel in a bad light but it's their double standard and hypocrisy that really get me ...

May the Palestinians perish, says leading rabbi

Jason Koutsoukis HERALD CORRESPONDENT
August 31, 2010
JERUSALEM: The spiritual leader of Israel's powerful ultra-Orthodox political movement Shas has declared the Palestinians ''evil people who should perish from this earth''.

The inflammatory comments by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, whose Shas party is a member of Israel's ruling coalition, outraged Palestinian leaders but attracted only a mild rebuke from the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu

OK, I have no problems with Jason writing this article. It does warrant a negative comment but AND it's a big BUT ...

Why is it that they never find the good grace to tell reality as it is? Why is it that the good old Herald never, I say never writes about the daily incitement by Palestinian Arabs (and other Arabs) of all shades against Israel and the Jews? Yet on the few occasions that some stupid Israeli comes out and makes stupid comments, they make it headline news in papers like the Herald ...

I should no longer be surprised and upset by it but their double standard is sickening ...

[Reffo]

The good old Herald is giving airtime and oxygen to that well known anti-Israel polemicist Paul McGeough again ....

The battle for the Middle East narrative

The 2006 Palestinian election ought to have been celebrated by all sides - a good narrative. A cathartic moment for Palestinians, the poll was a more consistent expression of the will of the people than most others in the region, and deemed to be free and fair by an army of international observers. But because they voted for Hamas, the entire Palestinian population was sin-binned - denied international funding - and half their elected MPs were rounded up and jailed by Israel, which then embarked on the lock-down of Gaza, which has tightened to become today's operation of the strip as the world's biggest - and, as the locals see it, the world's meanest - prison

So you want to battle for the Middle East narrative, eh Mr McGeough? And this is how you do it? You throw a lead balloon from the third floor window and you blame the Zionist for the fact that the lead balloon falls? Have you heard about cause and effect, Mr McGeough? In the case of the led balloon, it falls because of gravity, not because of evil Zionist machinations. By the same token ...

• The Israeli occupation came about because the Arabs made war on Israel
• The occupation was maintained because the Arabs refused to give up aggression against Israel
• Israel did not recognise Hamas because Hamas does NOT recognise Israel's right to exist.
• Israel retaliated against Gaza with violence after years of violence unleashed by Hamas against Israeli civilians.

And it goes both ways, my polemicist friend, Israel too has a democratically elected government which has never been recognised by Hamas nor are they showing any signs of changing their mind. Now, the Palestinians in their wisdom (or otherwise) chose to vote for such a party [Hamas] in 2006, then they too are showing their clear intentions towards Israel and Israelis, they want perpetual war. So, the price they have to pay for perpetual war is Israel's response which can and should include all methods that will bring them to change their violent intentions towards Israel. And if this includes the blockade, or worse, then so be it .......

[curlyg]

I don't understand these morons who say that because Hamas was democratically elected we should support/engage with them. Being democratically elected is a process, it does not go to substance. We (meaning all civilized human beings...) oppose Hamas because they're a bunch of racist, murderous, terrorist, Islamist, scum - not because of the process by which they came to power. By the same token we oppose Nazi ideology irrespective of whether it comes to power democratically or not.

[Reffo]

Bingo

[Mediocrates]

I picked up 'Terror and Liberalism' by Paul Berman yesterday. About halfway through. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the evolution from 19th century radical anarchism to 20/21st century terrorism and how the old ideals of liberalism morphed into that.

[curlyg]

I picked up 'Terror and Liberalism' by Paul Berman yesterday. About halfway through. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the evolution from 19th century radical anarchism to 20/21st century terrorism and how the old ideals of liberalism morphed into that.

I've been meaning to read his work, sounds very interesting.

[Reffo]

Note: I Changed the title of this thread from:

"They Are Inviting Us to Be Kapos"

to

"Fairfax Publications Journalistic Bias Against Israel"

I believe it's a more apt title for this thread.

[Reffo]

Now here is another example of biased reporting by the Herald:

The boy who took on the Israeli military - and won Jason Koutsoukis TAL EL HAWAH, GAZA CITY October 8, 2010

EXCLUSIVE

MAJED RABAH is a very special child. Only 11 years old, he is a victim of an Israeli war crime committed during last year's Gaza war.

An Israeli military court this week found two soldiers guilty of using Majed as a human shield.

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The hearing came a little over 12 months after Judge Richard Goldstone's report to the United Nations accused both Israel and the militant Palestinian movement Hamas of war crimes. Majed's case was one of 150 Judge Goldstone identified, but the only one that has resulted in a prosecution.

With the soldiers now facing a three-year jail term, their conviction has incensed many Israelis who believe the men were made scapegoats by their senior commanders who needed to prove to the world that the Israeli army could prosecute its own.

Of the 150 complaints about soldiers' behaviour during the war, including 36 for alleged war crimes, the IDF's Military Advocate-General formally investigated 47 cases.

In addition to this week's conviction, one other combat soldier was sentenced to seven months in prison for stealing a credit card belonging to a Gaza resident and withdrawing cash from the owner's bank account.

While the Military Advocate-General may still recommend charges be laid with regard to several other cases, it is believed that most investigations have been closed

So, our Jason is far from satisfied with Israel's performance. His emphasis is not on the fact that soldiers are being made accountable. His emphasis is on the so called other cases ...

Of course nobody in the good old Herald clamours for making Hamas accountable for using their own civilians as shields and Israeli civilians as targets.

Now, let's contrast this bit of reporting about Israel, to the Herald's reporting on a recent case against Australian soldiers in Afghanistan:

Diggers face likely charges on child deaths

THE Director of Military Prosecutions wants to take the unprecedented step of charging several Defence Force commandos with the deaths of five children during a raid in Afghanistan last year.

While the Director of Military Prosecutions, Brigadier Lyn McDade, has not made her final decision, the prospect of charges has infuriated senior officers, with the Chief of Army, Lieutenant-General Ken Gillespie, and other commanders expressing concern in writing.

Some in the Defence hierarchy are concerned it will further erode public support for the war and undermine the way soldiers operate in Afghanistan.

None of the military historians contacted for this report could recall Australian soldiers being charged over the deaths of civilians in the confusion of battle.

But Australian officers are angry, with one Defence source saying: ''Every time a bloke goes into a compound, he'll be thinking, 'F---, am I going to be charged with murder?'''

Another source said: ''It will undermine the whole system of war because at the back of every soldier's mind, they'll be thinking, 'If I f--- up, will I get charged?'''

Note the contrast in the reporting style. With Israel, the Herald clearly implies that in their "learned" opinion, Israel is more than likely culpable for further crimes that won't be pursued ...

In the Australian soldier's case, their reporting is very matter of fact business like, no opinions expressed.

Note also the strong reactions by both sets of soldiers, Israelis and Australians. They are both scandalised by their treatment and rightly so. Much as I feel sorry for the Afghan civilians who died in the Australian raid, I hope the soldiers will be acquitted. War is ugly and it's criminal to tie the soldiers hands behind their backs, their lives should not be forfeited on the altar of political correctness just because they fight terrorists who use any dirty means for which the "do gooders" don't want to make THEM accountable ...