The Christian Science Monitor, a newspaper that has never been a friend to Israel, carries a story with this headline:
Israel’s captured youths: Gilad Shalit and a Palestinian girl with braces
You would expect it to be a profile of both Gilad Shalit and a Palestinian girl. You would be wrong. It is a story about the girl, with references to Shalit thrown in.
The teaser explains what the story is really about:
In an interview, Baraah Malki – one of the first of 20 female Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in exchange for a video of kidnapped soldier Shalit – talks about her time in prison.
Ah. So it is a profile only of the Palestinian. It is a long, weepy tale of how the poor thing suffered by being imprisoned. And while the story mentions her crime—attempting to stab an Israeli soldier—it barely mentions Gilad Shalit at all.
Here’s one mention:
Like Sergeant Shalit, who was 19 at the time he was captured by Hamas militants in a cross-border raid, her youth seems to underscore the extent to which young people here continue to pay the price of a conflict their elders have failed to solve.
And another:
Qraqe says this week’s deal appears to be a test of readiness for a more substantial exchange that would involve a much larger number of prisoners in exchange for Shalit.
And that’s it. Except for the lead paragraph:
Baraah Malki, one of 20 Palestinian prisoners Israel released in exchange for a video of captured soldier Gilad Shalit, can hardly believe that she’s home.
And that is the narrative across the media world today: It’s all about the poor, poor, pitiful Palestinians, most of whom were arrested for crimes related to terrorist activity, and barely a mention of the soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists—those selfsame terrorists that these women tried to help in other times. The media act like the “prisoners” are equal when, in fact, Gilad Shalit is not a prisoner who committed a crime. He is a hostage, kidnapped and taken by terrorists, so they can get more prisoners who actually committed crimes released.
I’m guessing that more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners will be released for Shalit. But only one member of the exchange will be innocent of any crimes—and you won’t read about that in the media narrative.
Life was so much simpler in Roman times. The Romans would have just crucified a hundred or so Palestinians a day until their soldier was released, then another thousand or so in retaliation.
Of course, Israel is far more civilized than the Romans. Unfortunately, the Palestinians aren’t…
I am sure you’re quite wrong about a thousand Palestinians being the price for releasing Shalit, Meryl. That would be disproportionate and last winter we all learned how the world loathes disproportionate action in the Arab-Israel conflict.
Unsurprisingly, the Christian Science Monitor like a lot of the western media isn’t necessarily in favor of people who try to kill Jews but you know, you have to understand why someone would be driven to that. Frustration and hopelessness will cause this sort of thing, which explains why Tibetan terrorism is such a problem.