18 Friday, November 16, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS NEWS GULAG RECORD The years go 13- y slowly for GRIGORY ROZENSHTEIN and his family who first gpplied to emigrate to Israel in 1973. The Rozenshteins are Orthodox Jews who live with daily harassment. Their son is ridiculed for ob- serving the Shabbat. Natalia Rozenshtein has issued this appeal: . . It is important for us, for our children, to be brought up in our homeland, studying the language, . . . and culture of our people . • . I appeal to . . . all those bring- ing up children, and those who understand suffering and pain . ." PROVIDE A LIFELINE TO SOVIET JEWS send cables to: Butlerova 2-1-69 Moscow 117485 RSFSR, USSR protest to: . Grigory Ruzenshtein Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin 1125 16th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Sponsored by: AMERICAN WOMEN FOR BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY 23125 COOLIDGE HIGHWAY OAK PARK, MICHIGAN 48237 VISIT OUR NEW SHOWROOM! In Stock - Unbelievable prices on new and used furniture: • LAZYBOY • PATRICIAN • CHROMCRAFT • & MORE "Your office can be complete immediately" SAVINGS ON JANITORIAL SUPPLIES 10600 Galaxie • Ferndale, Michigan 48220 .399-9830 • Ex-Detroiter's book examines news media bias against Israel BY ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN Special to The Jewish News Most Americans tend to believe what they read in the newspapers, hear on radio or see and hear on television. According to Double Vision, a significant new book by Ze'ev Chafets, a native of Michigan who served for five years — 1977-1982 — as the director of the Israeli Press Office, that trust was sadly misplaced during Israel's incur- sion into Lebanon. Chafets discussed his book Wednesday at the annual Jewish - a u- biit 0-e wisn- uommu nity Center. Chafets indicts the American media, particularly its elite — major circulation news- papers, the top news magazines, the electronic networks and lead- ing journalists and commentators — for distorting America's view about what happened in the Mid- dle East. In clear, concise prose, in pages replete with anecdotes, personal experiences and observations, Chafets traces the development over what he calls "a decade of hostility" of a double repertorial standard which tended to under- mine the favorable attitude to Is- rael of the overwhelming majority of Americans and cast the Arab nations and the Palestine Libera- tion Organization in a more favorable light. Exposing ignorance, incompe- tence and bias among foreign correspondents on Middle East assignment, he dissects American media coverage of the Lebanese War to explain why it presented so inaccurate and slanted a ver- sion of what was actually taking place. It is a dolorous tale of re- porters infected with an animus against the Jewish state, of in- timidation by the PLO leading to pro`-Arab stories and self- censorship, and of the unquestion- ing acceptance of PLO claims of exaggerated war damage and casualty reports. amply his Inevitably, documented accusations and re- velations raise critical questions about the role and responsibility of the press and its obligations to its readers and the country. After all, the ability of news gatherers and purveyors to go after the facts and print the news without fear or favor is the grand divide between a press that is free and one that is shackled by totalitarian or authoritarian governments. While Chafets levels no charges of corruption or venality, he makes it clear that, far froam dis- tinguishing itself, America's and the free world's media failed by far to live up to the ideals and ethics and principles of jour- nalism. Part of the problem, he con- cedes, may have been due to some initial errors by the Israel De- fense Forces — inappropriate cen- sorship, keeping correspondents away from some of the action — but these were soon corrected. Nor did Israel's acts of commission or omission explain the wildly in- Abraham. Foxman is associate national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B nai B'rith. - Ze'ev Chafets puts the spotlight on media bias. accurate reports of carnage sup- posedly inflicted by Israel which were given front-page coverage despite their PLO origin and ob- vious political motivation. Chafets called this "the major fac- tual lapse of the war." Nor did Israel's mistakes in press relations explain a forgery by photograph, a picture dissemi- nated by UPI which purportedly depicted a girl with her arms blown off and her body severely damaged and burned as a result of a bombardment by Israel's- Air Force. Traced, the photograph turned out to be that of a boy, not a girl, in possession of both arms; one broken but not as a result of the conflict. When the facts were brought to the wire service's at- tention, Chafets writes, "UPI, after some initial dithering, pub- lished a correction." It was much too late of course to catch up with the initial propaganda impact. What Chafets found most vile, reprehensible and almost sadistic in the coverage of the Lebanese war was the comparison of the Jewish state with Hitler's Reich. This anti-Semitic analogy, which until the war had been exploited solely by the Soviet Union, some Arab dictators and Jew baiters on the lunatic fringe, was adopted by such columnists and reporters as Nicholas Van Hoffman, Georgie Ann Geyer, Carl Rowan, Pete Hamill, Vernon Jarret and Loren Jenkins, all bylined in reputable, large-circulation newspapers. NBC's John Chancellor made a similar comparison, commenting that Israel air forays reminded him of the bombing of Madrid dur- ing the Spanish Civil War. The comparisons showed most vici- ously in cartoons by such artists as Steve . Benson, Tony Auth and Bill Shorr which compared Sha- ron to Klaus Barbie, Beirut to a death camp and falsely quoted Begin as saying, "For every prob- lem there is a final solution." Chafets also says that an "anti- Israel fever" existed in the press which contributed to the "lack of proportion" in the reporting that emanated from the Lebanon front. Among those particularly infected with the anti-Israel virus, he says, were correspon- dents based in Lebanon. He calls them the "Commodore Battalion" Continued on Page 26