Community Views

Opinion

ailing Attention
To A Dual Standard

Heavy Fare, No Change
On Bus Ride In Israel

111 BERL FALBAUM SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Admittedly, it
gets somewhat
tiring to continue
to harp on the
double standard
of the media and
public opinion
when it comes to
the involvement
of Israel in the news.
It is also extremely frustrat-
e , ing because the complaints re-
ally have no impact — whether
they are in the form of letters
to the editor, op-ed pieces or
meetings with editors.
But, at the same time, it is
important to continue to call at-
tention to the dual standard, if
% for no other reason than to
have the evidence at hand.
Consider the slaughter in
Egypt several weeks ago. The
Egyptian government, in an ef-
fort to control growing violence
of Islamic fundamentalists, led
a series of raids on extremists'
hide-outs.
The raids led to a number of
shootouts, which left about 25
people dead (the number var-
ied in news accounts). The loss
of life was substantial and trag-
, is by any standard. "Extrem-
ists and terrorists" were
involved, adding more "news-
worthiness" to the story.
Yet, how was it covered by
the major media? To suggest
the reports were "routine" is
immensely understating the
fact.
ABC anchorman Peter Jen-
nings, hardly one to miss the
opportunity to chastise Israel
on any violation of human
rights, gave the story about 10
seconds with no film. Other
networks gave it similar cov-
erage.
The Detroit Free Press
played the story on Page 4A
with about six paragraphs
while the Detroit News had it
tucked inside on 9A.
To its credit, the New York
Times ran the story on Page 1,
indicating some semblance of
objectivity.
One can only speculate how
the story would have played
out in the media had Israel con-
ducted these raids with such a
loss of life.
There is absolutely no ques-
tion it would have appeared on
Page 1 of most newspapers and
it would have received exten-
sive coverage on television.
And it would not have been
a one-day story.
Indeed, the deportation of
400 suspected terrorists by Is-
rael still receives massive cov-
erage with television crews
camped out with the terrorists

Berl Falbaum is a freelance
writer and regular contribu-
tor to Community Views.

daily.
Nor has the media been "cu-
rious" about Egypt's crackdown
on fundamentalists by enact-
ing the death penalty not just
for those found guilty of ter-
rorism but for those who have
"ties" to terrorists.
The Times put the word "ter-
rorists" in quotes, implying that
Egypt uses some very liberal
interpretations of that term.
But why no moral outrage by
those who seem to find fault
with every forceful action by Is-
rael?
When Egyptian President
Mubarak criticized Israel for
the deportation of the terror-
ists, he defended his crack-

PHIL JACOBS MANAGING EDITOR

er countries have dealt with
terrorism.
They discussed the history
of such countries as France and
India, but none mentioned Is-
rael — the only country in the
world which has lived daily
with the wantonness of terror-
ism for 45 years.
No other country has lived
with the reality of air-raid shel-
ters for nearly a half century
nor has any other country had
to patrol its streets with sol-
diers or organize civilian pa-
trols at night to check hospitals,
schools and other facilities for
bombs.
There was no discussion of
how the constant threat of ter-

Violence in Gaza continues, but it also is growing in Egypt and other areas.

down, which is much more
cruel and arbitrary, by stating
it was necessary. Indeed, Egypt
is using the military court sys-
tem to speed up the trials of
terrorists. None of the "hard-
hitting" journalists asked him

"It gets somewhat
tiring to continue
to harp on the
double standard
of the media and
public opinion
when it comes to
the involvement of
Israel in the news."

about the apparent contradic-
tion or hypocrisy.
Or let us reflect on the
tragedy of the World Trade
Center bombing.
The media analyzed the im-
plications of the bombing on
the national psyche — how it
will increase anxieties and fear,
particularly for New Yorkers
— and they analyzed how oth-

rorism might have affected the
national behavior of a country
like Israel.
Nor was there reflection on
how "paranoid" this country
suddenly became — under-
standably so — after one inci-
dent, let alone the implications
of living with the potential of
violence 24 hours a day.
Nor did any reporter sud-
denly recognize that none of the
more than 20 Arab countries
which threaten Israel's exis-
tence has had to worry about
any terrorist attacks or prepare
for war out of fear of being at-
tacked by the country they ac-
cuse of expansionism.
None of these Arab countries
needs to patrol streets or check
the purses of women entering
public institutions for fear of an
Israeli bomb.
Such is the frustration of
dealing with the dual standard
which continues to be denied
by those who practice it.
There will be no progress in
this debate until those victim-
ized take some strong political
action to get the attention of
the abusers and, most impor-
tant, get the message across to
the only audience that counts
— the public at large.

Monday, when I
board bus No. 8
in Israel for the
begin ring of the
Michigan Mira-
cle Mission,
memories of a
similar bus ride
will certainly
surface.
My first time in Israel was
about five years ago. I was
sent as part of a press trip
arranged through the Min-
istry of Tourism. The goal of
the trip was simple. The in-
tifada was raging, and as
part of its destruction forests
were being burned. The
smoke from the countryside
was visible in almost any city.
We were interested in inter-
viewing Israelis, getting their
thoughts about the uprising.
The Israeli government want-
ed to show us that it was
business as usual around the
country.
I was nervous, emotional,
excited — all of those things
— about finally getting to Is-
rael. As a member of youth
Zionist camps (one of my
counselors used to tell us sto-
ries of his fighting in the Six-
Day War), as a person who
makes history a hobby, and
just the emotional tie to this
country had me overwhelmed
before the trip started.
We left from Kennedy Air-
port in New York. The flight
left at 1 a.m. We were told to
check in by 10 p.m. because
of the security we had to go
through. No problem. I met
reporters from newspapers
and magazines, bylines com-
ing to life. Things were going
wonderfully. The trip on the
El Al plane went fine. Music
was played when we arrived;
people applauded; people
kissed. Nothing like this ever
happened on the planes I'd
been on before. Nobody ever
clapped when the New York
to Baltimore shuttle would
land.
Our group numbered sev-
en. We were met by a press
liaison and our guide, a well-
tanned, healthy-looking man
by the name of Danny. We
climbed aboard our mini-bus
and we were taken directly
to our hotel in Tel Aviv. I re-
member opening the curtains
and looking out on the
Mediterranean. I was in
heaven.
But then reality set in. Is-
rael was a country that was
coming up on the short end of
the world's public relations
at the time. It seemed that
whenever a rock was thrown
on the West Bank, ABC was
there to film it. The country
was under more stress than

normal and anyone could
feel that stress. There were
almost no American Jew-
ish organizational tours in
the country.
Israelis were disappoint-
ed in Americans. As one
rabbi said during a Sab-
bath sermon, "A rock gets
thrown and American
tourists go to Mexico."
There were plenty of Chris-
tian organizations visiting.
The hotels and kibbutzim
were packed with people
wanting to follow the foot-
steps of Jesus.
Newcomers are shocked
for the moment at the sight
of automatic weapons be-
ing carried by so many. We
even saw a group of chil-

Through
the valleys and
the hillsides, our
van was rocking
and rolling.

dren playing at the beach
with a well-armed chaper-
one spreading suntan lo-
tion on his shoulders
around his gun belt.
This isn't the reality that
almost ruined my first trip
to Israel.
It occurred on our second
day in Israel; we were on
our way to an archaeolog-
ical site. It became appar-
ent that one member of my
press trip was a vocal
Peace Now-type whose vi-
sion of Israel's security dif-
fered dramatically from
another person's, a right-
wing follower of the late
Rabbi Meir Kahane.
Have you ever had that
experience where you hear
voices raised in the back-
ground of your thoughts,
and you hope that the vol-
ume has more to do with
overcoming exterior noise
than anger. On Day 2 of
our trip through the beau-
tiful countryside, I found
myself asking my two col-
leagues to relax a bit. They
were, however, serious
about maintaining their ar-
gument. They weren't
diplomatic about it though.
By the fourth or fifth day
of this 10-day trip, they had
gotten the other passen-
gers, and the bus driver, to
take sides. It was basically
everyone on the bus
against the Kahane follow-
er. We were passing places
in Israel where you could

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