OTHER VIEWS

The Slippery, Oily Slope Into Anti-Semitism

He knows, as we do, that the United
o, why are we surprised? Why
Nations has passed countless resolutions
do we seem to be puzzled by
condemning Israel for defending itself
the world's reaction to the
during the last 50 years and none con-
Middle East crisis? Why are we
demning Arab violence.
perplexed about the application of the
He and the Arab nations know that
historic double standard when it
whenever, during war, the tide turned in
involves Israel and Jews?
favor of Israel, the world demanded a
The reason is that we continue to
cease-fire.
fight political battles on the
He and the Arab nations
principles and issues involved
know that Europe, Japan and
in the conflict while the world
others dependent on Arab oil
is motivated by entirely differ-
fear higher oil prices or oil
ent criteria. And let's put
embargos. They also know
those criteria on the table.
that Bush "43" (President
Little has been written about
George W Bush) finally
this and it might be politically
understands the role of oil in
incorrect to do so, but maybe
world politics. It took a fcw
it's about time.
months but he learned.
The issues in the Middle
BE RL
He came into office firmly
East, indeed, are complex
FALB AUM
maintaining that the moral
ones. They have harbored
Comm unity
equivalency argument — or,
hatred of many years — too
Vi ews
for that matter, political
many years. But the underly-
equivalency — was not valid
ing and controlling issues that
in the Middle East conflict.
give life to hypocrisy and double stan-
He said the United States would not
dards are oil and anti-Semitism.
acknowledge Arafat or meet with him
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat under-
until the terror ends.
stands that. He knew that his confine-
But Bush 43 caved in 18 months into
ment and retribution by Israel would
his term when Bush "41" (former
strengthen him politically.
President George H.W. Bush) and his
entourage, which maintain strong ties to
the Saudis, taught him realpolitik les-
Berl Falbuam, author, Farmington Hills
sons. New York Times columnist
public relations executive and former
Maureen Dowd artfully made the con-
political reporter, teaches journalism part
nection of Bush 41 on his point in a
time at Wayne State University in Detroit.

S

Caught Between Bias, Balance

nq

5/17
2002

34

planned against the Washington Post
Atlanta
next month.
s the New York Times biased
"When it comes to the
against Israel? Several
Middle
East, the New York
Jewish groups
has
taken a very, very
Times
including the umbrella
slanted position," Fred
group for most U.S. Orthodox
Ehrman, a senior vice presi-
congregations — think it is
dent of the Orthodox Union,
and have called for a boycott
told the Forward newspaper.
of the newspaper.
Ehrman and several other
More than 1,000 people
Jewish
leaders took out an ad
temporarily canceled their sub-
Times, naturally —
—
in
the
scriptions to the Los Angeles
claiming
the
newspaper is
Times last month after a simi- BOB MENAKER
"guilty of journalistic misrep-
lar campaign was launched on
Special
resentation and biased report-
the West Coast. The
Commentary
ing" about Israel.
California boycott lasted one
"Every day, one sees mis-
day. Organizers of the New
leading headlines, photographs chosen
York campaign have called for a one-
to elicit sympathy for suffering
month boycott and a similar effort is
Palestinians at Israel's expense and dis-
proportionate space allocated to
is
editor
of
the
Atlanta
Bob Menaker
Palestinian perspectives," the ad read.
Jewish Times, sister publication of the
Ehrman says New Yorkers can switch
Jewish News. His e-mail address is
to
the New York Post or Fox News
bmenaker@adjewishtimes.com

The president meets with a Saudi dele-
gation in Crawford, Texas, which
included a government cleric, Shaikh
Saad Al-Buraik, who is quoted as saying
the following:
"I am against America until this life
ends ... she is the root of evils and
wickedness on earth. Oh, Muslim
brothers in Palestine, do not have mercy,
neither compassion on the Jews, their
blood, their women, their money, their
flesh. Their women are yours to take,
legitimately. God made them yours.
Why don't you wage jihad [holy war]?
Why don't you pillage them?"
How does one sit across the table

from a cleric who spews such venom? A
spokesman for the Saudis appears on
NBC-TV's Meet the Press, stating the
anti-Semitic rhetoric is taken out of
context. But he is not asked to put it in
context for us.
These are the same Saudis whose
country conducted a television
marathon raising almost $100 million
for the families of the "martyrs."
But it isn't just the Saudis. Anti-
Semitism is growing at an alarming rate
in countries all over the world, some of
which do not even have Jews in their
populations. Europe has returned to its
World War II roots and other nations
throughout the world are joining in.
So what do we do?
The late Israeli Prime Minister Golda
Meir said in a statement, almost becom-
ing a cliche' in recent days, that peace
would come when the Arabs love their
children more than they hate the Jews.
She might have added that peace
would come when Israel countries
dependent on Arab oil discover their
own oil or develop abundant energy
sources cheaper than oil.
Tragically, the latter is as unlikely to
happen as the former. Which, of course,
means that Israel will once more have to
fight, not just the Palestinians, the Arab
nations and their terrorists, but the rest
of the world.
It has done so successfully in the past,
let us hope it can do so in the future. ❑

Channel for less biased reporting on
Israel — a suggestion that indicates he is
primarily interested in getting news
from unabashedly pro-Israel outlets.
That may make Ehrman feel better, but
it won't give him — or us — a full pic-
ture of what's going on over there.
Ehrman can count pictures of Israelis
and Palestinians and parse every story he
reads in the New York Times for the next
10 years. He may find some instances of
poor judgment — the Times has admit-
ted that placing a photo of Palestinian
protesters atop a story about a huge pro-
Israel parade in New York last week was
dumb. But institutional bias is another
matter.
Do boycott organizers imagine that
the editors of the Times — which is
controlled by the Sulzbergers, a Jewish
family — deliberately assign stories or
select photographs to make Israel look
bad? Anyone who believes that doesn't
know how the editorial process works.
Reporters are trained to get facts
straight, and most of them would rather
sling hash than deliberately skew a story.
Reporters and editors are also trained

to strive for balance. In some of the sto-
ries coming out of the Middle East, that
has meant reporting facts uncritically,
without context. For example, the
Chicago Tribune has dropped the words
((terrorist" and "terrorism" from Middle
East stories, arguing that "yesterday's ter-
rorist may be tomorrow's statesman."
And this is where the boycotters have
a point: That kind of journalistic,purity
attaches moral equivalency to suicide
bombers and to Israeli forces reacting to
"terrorism." Is that wrong? Yes. Is it
unintentional bias? It sure smells like it.
But boycotts, an ugly weapon that has
long been used against Jews and Israel,
will have scant economic impact on the
New York Times or other papers. If read-
ers don't like the way a newspaper is
covering a story, the best way to be
heard is to write a letter or an op-ed.
For their part, Palestinian-American
groups have complained loud and long
that the New York Times and other
major U.S. dailies are overtly pro-Israel
in their coverage. When both sides are
upset, that's usually a sign that newspa-
pers are doing their job. ❑

recent column. It is understandable that
the Jewish body politic is reluctant to
criticize Bush 43, but the fact remains
he has succumbed to pressure from oil
interests. His pro-Israel stance has been
dramatically diminished.
He makes a deal with the Saudi
prince to pressure Israel in exchange for
pressure from the Arab countries on
Arafat. That agreement is announced
with a straight face. This deal is made
with the same Saudi prince whose
media report that Jews drink the blood
of Arab children during Passover and
whose role of Saudi Arabia on Sept. 11
appears to have been forgotten or for-
given.

Saudi Hatred

