The hypocrisy and double standards of the major news organizations are so obvious, one almost doesn’t need to point them out. Almost.
Here are things that are given wall-to-wall coverage, op-eds in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, the wire services, and other major media outlets: Israeli settlements, an Israeli rabbi that makes a bigoted remark about Arabs or Palestinians, Palestinians “protesting” (read: Rioting) for some stupid reason or other at the Temple Mount (read: Al-aqsa mosque), Israel causing harm or death to Palestinians regardless of the reason (read: Retaliating for multiple terror attacks on Israeli civilians), the separation fence, and, well, pretty much everything Israel does.
Here are things that are ignored or minimized by the same media outlets above.
A Saudi cleric says even girls who have not yet reached puberty should be covered from head to toe, citing instances of child molestation in the ultraconservative kingdom and elsewhere.
He is not affiliated with the government nor considered a senior sheik.
Judge Mohammed al-Jazlani, a senior sheik, said Monday that such talk denigrates Islam and may push non-Muslims to view Islam negatively. He urged Saudis to ignore unofficial fatwas, or edicts.
An American priest who nobody heard of before he threatened to burn the Koran? Wall-to-wall news coverage and a call from the president. Did anyone explain him away as a leader of a tiny sect that nobody ever listened to?
No.
The continuing Islamization of Gaza:
The Gaza Strip’s Al-Aqsa University recently advertised a sweeping order that beginning in the second semester, female students will be required to arrive in traditional Muslim garb, from head to toe, burka included.
Will it get world-wide saturation coverage? Of course not. However, the next time a Haredi spits at a secular Israeli woman, watch the story taken up by all the usual suspects. And of course, the New York Times utterly outdoes itself over the Chuck Hagel nomination. The man embarrassed himself in all aspects of his hearing, on every subject–Iran, the Defense budget, Israel, foreign affairs–and all the Times can do is blame the Jews for Hagel’s terrible performance, and they manage to get in a defense for Brooklyn College’s shameful BDS events as well. This is how the Times appreciates dialogue on college campuses, as well as free speech:
In the Brooklyn College case, critics have used heated language to denigrate the speakers, Omar Barghouti and Judith Butler, a philosopher at the University of California, Berkeley, leaders of a movement called B.D.S., for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, that espouses “nonviolent punitive measures” to pressure Israel. Alan Dershowitz, a Brooklyn College graduate and Harvard law professor, has complained that the event is unbalanced and should not be co-sponsored by the college’s political science department. On Monday, Ms. Gould said other events offering alternative views are planned.
This, by the way, is only after weeks of protest that the BDS event does not have anyone defending the Israeli side.
And so we come back full circle. The gatekeepers at the Times are perfectly satisfied with one-side anti-Israel events, but they are shocked, shocked that someone should question Chuck Hagel’s recent 180 turn on his support of Israel and sanctions on Iran. The AP carries every lie the Palestinians tell about Israel attacks on them, almost never issuing retractions when it it shown their sources were lying, and ignores stories that put the Palestinians–even terrorist organizations like Hamas–in a bad light. Oh, sure, they may publish a paragraph or two about the new burka requirement at Gaza universities, but it won’t be the screaming headlines that a like event in Israel would cause.
Just another day in the world of the anti-Israel media bias, complete with Israeli Double Standard Time. But not to worry. It only occurs on days that end with a “y”.