AP: All the Propaganda that’s fit to print

Posted on 03/27/2011 by Meryl Yourish

The AP should change its name to All Propaganda. Witness:

Israeli airstrike kills 2 Gaza militants1
Israeli aircraft struck a Palestinian rocket squad in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing two militants2 as the military prepared to activate a new defense system to shoot down incoming rockets.

Islamic Jihad, a militant group that frequently attacks Israel, confirmed two members were killed in the airstrike, while a third was critically wounded. The group did not specify whether they were in the process of launching rockets3.

Gaza militants, including Islamic Jihad and the territory’s Hamas rulers, had said over the weekend that they would halt their fire if Israel did4. It was not clear whether they were reneging on that pledge5 or whether the air strike hit a rogue group of militants6 ignoring the cease-fire overture7.

By the numbers: These are the three paragraphs that wind up in the “World news” section of your local paper. Let us analyze this so-called objective news report.

  1. The headline: Note that the AP does not hesitate to use the active “Israeli airstrike kills,” and blames Israel in the headline. It isn’t the mystery of the butchery—sorry, “knife attack” that killed the Fogel family. It isn’t “Rockets kill Israeli” headline that are used when the “crude, homemade” kassams kill a civilian. It’s an Israeli airstrike that killed the “militants.”
  2. Again, the AP is totally certain that Israel killed the militants, as opposed to their continued game of “Gee, nobody’s claiming the bomb attack, so we don’t know if Palestinian militants did it” routine.
  3. Note the attempt by the AP to make it look like Israel is the aggressor here (see below). Gee, the terrorists didn’t admit they were trying to murder civilians. Go figure. And yet, Ynet managed to find out that they were, indeed, part of a rocket-launching group, in an article published before the AP release.
  4. Here we have the moral equivalence game again, putting the Israeli response to rocket fire into the same category as terrorists firing rockets, and calling the lack of both a cease-fire—so that when Israel defends itself from terrorists, it is “breaking” the (pick one) calm, lull, cease-fire, relative calm, quiet.
  5. Seriously? How many times have terrorists said they’d stop firing rockets if Israel would stop it actions against them and then immediately claimed that Israel “broke the calm”? The AP is still pretending that the terrorists’ word counts for something? Tell that to the dead and wounded in Israel. But take note that the AP constantly publicizes these “pledges”—only to subtly accuse Israel of being the one that first broke the “calm.”
  6. Islamic Jihad claimed the dead terrorists as theirs. The only reason the AP has to imply the dead terrorists were “a rogue group” is to give PIJ cover for breaking their “pledge.”
  7. See 5 and 6. This is the AP bending over backwards to try to clear the “militants” of any wrongdoing. Gee, maybe they were just on their way to their grandmother’s house, and happened to be struck by a Hellfire missile launched haphazardly by the IDF.

We are also back to the incorrect AP boilerplate about the 2006 Gaza war.

The renewed hostilities have fed concerns of another large-scale Israeli military operation against Gaza militants. In December 2008, Israel invaded Gaza in response to years of rocket and mortar barrages on its southern communities, killing 1,400 Palestinians , including more than 900 civilians, and causing widespread destruction.

Thirteen Israelis also died.

Hamas has admitted that 600-700 of the dead were “militants”. The AP is now passing along incorrect propaganda. And, as always, note the juxtaposition of Israeli and Palestinian dead, as if it’s all about the numbers, and not about the object of Hamas, which is the eradication of all Jewish Israelis.

And last, but not least, here are paragraphs four and five, which also sometimes show up in your World News section of the Sunday paper:

A spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry, Ihab Ghussein, accused Israel of seeking to perpetuate the violence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had “no interest” in escalating things.

Note that the accuser is Hamas, and the accusation is that Israeli is behind the “violence.” One last time: The terrorists launch rockets. Israel responds by killing the terrorists. That makes the cause the rockets, the effect the Israeli airstrikes. The AP always uses this tactic to make it seem like Israel is the aggressor. Here’s paragraph six, which will absolutely be cut out of the article in the World News section:

“But we won’t hesitate to employ the might of the military against those who would attack our citizens,” Netanyahu added in remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

This is why the world is so against Israel. It is constantly pummeled by the anti-Israel narrative, the Palestinian propagandists and their allies in the world media.

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media Bias, Terrorism | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on AP: All the Propaganda that’s fit to print

Winter break

Posted on 03/26/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Look what I found in my drafts: A story about my class from December 15, 2005. These were my students from my next-to-last year teaching. The wiseass is Megan, who is still a wiseass today. And the class did go the entire year without a single negative point. I’m a softie.

There’s no real conclusion to the post, and it’s impossible to get back the same feeling I had while writing it, so here it is, in the raw.

Yesterday was my last class before the winter break, three full weeks of sleeping in on Sundays and no rushing to class on Tuesday afternoons.

Tuesday classes are always the bigger challenge. The children have been in school all day, and the last thing they want to do is learn for two more hours. They are always more active, less patient, rowdier. On Sundays, I get them at the beginning of their day, not at the end. Sunday is a breeze.

This year’s class is the best-behaved class I have ever had. They’ve gone two and a half months without a single negative point. (I give and take points which the students can trade in for prizes throughout the year).My previous classes are a bit jealous and tend to pooh-pooh the current class as a bunch of goody-goodies, but that’s not the case. They’re a small, tight-knit group of six, and there are only two boys. I’ve noticed that the recipients of most of my negative points over the years have been boys. Oh, the girls get them too, but not nearly as often, and when girls get negative points, they tend to stop the behavior that brought it on–as opposed to the boys, who effect bravado and challenge me to give them more. It is a mistake to challenge me, particularly if you are a nine-year-old child challenging my authority. I always win. Especially since, as I suspected all along, none of the boys really wants to be known as the child who got the most negative points ever. One came close, last year, until it was pointed out to him that his father would likely ground him if he got any more points (we were on our way to negative fifteen, and he was lying on the floor underneath the table, kicking his legs in glee every time I raised the point score).

The boys in my current class happen to be of the generally well-behaved variety. One of the girls likes to be a wiseass, and has come very close to being the first in the class to get a negative point, but a side-effect of having zero negative points has arisen: Nobody wants to be the first one to get a negative. The mere threat of that brings instant good behavior.

I have sweetened the pot by awarding them five points for every month they go without a negative. Eight months of class, five points per month, and that’s the equivalent of one free prize per student. This is probably the best the system is ever going to be, and a year for the record books. I know the children in third grade; no way is it going to be a negative-free year next year. So I’m enjoying this class while I can, and, well, I’m enjoying them very much.

Since yesterday really wasn’t an easy class day, we did a lot of review, some game-playing, and had a bit of free time. I gave them the last few minutes of class, and they wanted to sing Chanukah songs. They started singing the Dreidel song (with the multitude of verses we learn in music class), broke down quickly, I started to help, and then they improvised. Instead of “I had a little dreidel, I made it out of clay,” they started using their names, which gave rise to the problem of things like, “What rhymes with Ben?” Before I knew it, I was making up rhymes for one of them, and suddenly each of them stood in front of me in turn, jumping up and down and saying, “Me! Now me! Do my name!”

And they discovered another hidden talent of Ms. Yourish: She can improvise rhymes with very little effort. I have a habit that very few people know about. I make up lyrics to various tunes that pop into my head, and the lyrics will not only match the task I am currently doing, but will rhyme as well. And I sing these songs out loud. The meter isn’t always on, but Tig and Gracie aren’t very critical. Neither are the children who have been privy to my improv routines. In fact, my students loved being the stars of their very own dreidel song rhyme.

Posted in Life, Teaching | Tagged | Comments Off on Winter break

Time for friends

Posted on 03/26/2011 by Meryl Yourish

I found this one in drafts, too, from February of 2006. Janet and Chris are the ones who helped me find my current job. They now have an even bigger and better TV. And Chris still knows things that nobody else I know knows.

So as I was saying, I spent half the weekend up in Northern Virginia (which Southern and Central Virginians believe is not actually part of Virginia). I was visiting Janet and Chris, longtime readers of this blog, who I had met last spring on a trip up to D.C. for a play. This time around, I was finally able to accept their invitation to spend a little time with them because religious school is not held on holiday weekends. So. I left food for the cats, packed my bag, my camera, and my cooler, and headed north, intending to meet up with Janet and Chris about lunchtime.

On the way north, I noticed that the entire population of Washington and the surrounding suburbs was heading south. I swear, there was at least a 30-mile backup, from D.C. alll the way to Fredericksburg. And there was the reverse backup on the way home today. I haven’t seen anything like it even in New Jersey on a Friday during the summer. (You so do not want to be heading south on the Garden State Parkway on a Friday in the summer. Shore traffic is horrendous.)

We had a lovely lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, during which we puzzled over what to call the decor (I think we decided on “overdone”) and where to spend the afternoon, which was deteriorating rapidly into a real, honest-to-God winter day. We wound up driving around the District (I picked up the lingo while I was there) and stopping in the Thomas Jefferson and Lincoln memorials. The T.J. memorial was nice, but I felt a genuine sense of awe looking up at the statue of Lincoln. Even the groups of kids were taking it seriously. I stood next to a bunch who were reading the Gettysburg Address out loud, and not sarcastically.

And then it was off to Janet and Chris’ home, which is quite lovely, what with having four cats and all. I have pictures, but I also have problems in that I have no decent image editing program, and the pictures aren’t compressing down as I cut them. I really have to find some time to get my other computer running, so I can have access to Fireworks again. Buying Dreamweaver Studio or Photoshop is simply not in the budget right now. But I digress.

We went to dinner with friends of theirs, and had a wonderful time. The food was good, the company was good, and when we got back home, the 50-inch widescreen TV was good. We watched the Olympics and mocked the speed skaters’ costumes. Oh. My. God. What were the Russians thinking? Do the Poles not have eyes? I mean, the costumes could have been more hideous, but only if you were standing in front of them.

One of the side-benefits of my trip was traveling to the various kosher butcher shops and markets in the Rockville area. Janet and Chris spent quite a lot of time finding the shops and plotting out a map for me using MapPoint. I left the house with three map printouts and two pages of directions, which I promptly rewrote as I realized there was no way I’d be able to decipher them while driving. See, I work like this: “Go to X street. Make a left.” The directions work like this: “2.4 miles to Y street. Left. Stay straight for .3 miles.” Come to think of it, I always rewrite my MapQuest directions when they do stuff like that, too. Chris says it’s because men think in vectors, and women think in landmarks. Chris, by the way, knows a lot. I don’t think there was a question that came up last night that he couldn’t answer. I was very impressed. Even funnier was Janet’s staring at him and saying, “How do you know that?” and his saying, “I don’t know.” It’s knowledge retention, and going with your gut. I tell my students that all the time. Go with your first instinct when answering a question; most of the time, you’re right.

Posted in Life | Comments Off on Time for friends

Why is Meryl looking back?

Posted on 03/26/2011 by Meryl Yourish

You might have noticed that I’ve been putting up posts from my past. That’s because in April, this blog will celebrate its tenth anniversary. I’ve been blogging since before Instapundit—since before anyone in the current JBlogosphere, in fact. And this blog turned towards the subjects of Judaism and Israel as its main subjects right about the time I’m of the posts I’m republishing.

Back then, the JBlogosphere was Tal G in Jerusalem, and Israeli Guy, Imshin (Not a Fish), Gary Farber, and Allison Kaplan Sommer—and I was here before all of them. Lair Simon was a commenter at LGF when I first started blogging. Israpundit/Ted Belman started around the time of the posts I’m reprinting. The Elder of Ziyon? Pshaw, he’s just a toddler in comparison (although an extremely gifted one).

Ten years. I’ve been doing this for ten years. I can’t even begin to estimate the number of words I’ve written, or the thousands of hours I’ve spent blogging. But I do know that I’m not bored yet, and I’d like to try to get some of my old fire back. The redesign was originally planned for the Yourish.com birthday celebration, but thanks to my tech support, Jay, we have the new layout now. And as I have the time, I’ll be bringing back more posts that I’m pretty sure very few of you have read. My blogging time is more constricted lately because I’m writing fiction again. (That’s the main reason I’m so interested in the ebook revolution. A writer no longer needs to rely on the agent-publishing house route to becoming a published author.)

It’s always been about the writing for me. That’s why I started this blog, and that’s why I keep going. That, and the message. I know you can get the other side of the Israel story in dozens of places now. But none of them has my specific level of snark, and, well—I was here first.

Posted in Blasts from the past, Bloggers, Site news | 2 Comments

The Jerusalem Bombing

Posted on 03/25/2011 by Rabbi Kaufman
I think we need to take a step back and look at this week’s bombing with open eyes. First of all, the major terrorist groups applauded. It was a successful terrorist attack and that is horrible. Second of all, however, none of the major groups claimed it and compared with previous attacks by the major groups, this attack was not highly effective. It was in fact, amateurish, which leads me to a number of conclusions which no one seems to be discussing.
Let’s look at the facts. First of all, this was not a suicide attack. The bomb was not placed on a bus, but was some sort of IED placed alongside the road and detonated by remote or even by timer (a highly cowardly act and one which limited casualties significantly). This is not the traditional M.O. of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc…. The bomb killed one person. Some have said that it was as small as a 1-2 kg device, which is relatively tiny. I assume that it must have been packed with the usual shrapnel to inflict the number of injuries that it did.
I think this is a going to turn out to be a copycat and quite possibly a young one at that. I would not at all be surprised if this was a second try with the Gilo bombing recently being a failed attempt #1 and with more attempts planned in the future. We all know that the major terror groups glorify martyrdom. They can find numerous people to march onto a bus and detonate. We also know that they have access to much more substantial amounts of explosives. If you can leave a bag with a 1-2 kg device, you could leave a bag with a 10 kg or 20 kg device. Why such a small bomb? It does not make sense to me that whomever did this was sent to do so by a major terrorist group.
I think that this attacker is likely not a traditional attacker and may even be a lone actor learning the trade, possibly even in their teens or early 20s. This just does not ring of “master plan” or anything approaching that to me. The Itamar attack was much more in line with a traditional attack. That may well have been part of a broader plan. This one is more in line with an amateur radical experimenting.

One dead, fifty injured is terrible, but I think if Hamas or Islamic Jihad was running this operation, you might have 50 dead and 100 injured.
While Israel certainly faces the threat of highly organized terrorism, this may be one case in which the enemy is an individual. The police will have a good idea if this is the case based upon the materials included in the bomb. Hopefully, there is video of the area and the bomber might eventually be identified.
Meanwhile, I think we can expect another attack of more substantial scope as this bomber improves his or her skill unless he or she is caught first. If the same bomber made both bombs (Gilo and Jerusalem) and they detonated on the day that they were finished, it took about two weeks between the bombings which would make the next bombing take place right about the 3rd or 4th of April and two weeks after that is Pesach.
Posted in Israel, Terrorism | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Friday news briefs

Posted on 03/25/2011 by Meryl Yourish

That’s funny, I thought this was a war crime: Phosphorous shells only count when Israel uses them in Palestinian territories. When the Palestinians fire them into Israel, well, then they’re just desserts, or something.

Israel helps Japan: Israel is sending tons of humanitarian aid, as well as doctors and equipment to help the Japanese survivors of the tsunami and quake. They’ll be setting up a field hospital like they did in Haiti. And why are they doing it? Not to make the Japanese like them. They’re doing it because the Torah commands us to do so.

Legends in their own minds: Psst—NYTimes—it doesn’t matter how many times you say it is, J Street is not significant in the Jewish community. They have no significant membership, no support in Congress, and no support among the overwhelming majority of American Jews. And NYTimes staff: Wishing will not make it so. I learned that a long time ago.

Hard times in Syria: Another domino is falling. Of course, we have no idea what’s going to happen if the people of the Middle East actually do topple all their autocracies, dictatorships, and kleptocracies. But at least it’s awesome to hear the Syrian people tell Assad that they don’t want to be Iran’s tools. But don’t get cocky on this: Hezbollah has probably already sent thousands of their own to beat protesting Syrians, the way they did in Iran. Assad is no Ghaddaffy, and Syria isn’t Libya. I think it will be very, very blood there.

Posted in Israel, Jews, Middle East, Syria | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

They’re not interested in the truth

Posted on 03/25/2011 by Meryl Yourish

The AP dutifully releases another report of “violence” between Israelis and Palestinians. The headline says that both sides suffered injuries.

Israeli, Palestinian hurt amid rise in violence

The lead concentrates on the effect, then cause, which is how the media usually treats Palestinian attacks on Israelis—they report the response by Israel to being attacked.

A Palestinian was shot and wounded by Israeli police Friday after he injured a soldier in the West Bank, police said, the latest incident amid a spike in violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the Palestinian attacked an Israeli soldier with a stone at a bus stop early Friday, inflicting a serious head wound. Police who arrived at the scene shot and wounded the Palestinian.

Is that truly what Rosenfeld said? That the Palestinian attacked a soldier with a stone? Because here’s the first-person report of the police officer who shot the terrorist.

I stopped the vehicle and saw two people fighting. At first I didn’t understand it was a terror attack. I stepped out of the squad car and ran towards them. That’s when I saw the soldier, who was in uniform, and the terrorist leaning over him with a rock in his hand, repeatedly beating the soldier’s head with it.

“There was a lot of blood. Only then did I understand it was a terror attack. I kicked the terrorist. He got up and began attacking me with the rock. I fired a shot in the air, and when that didn’t help, I shot him in the leg. He continued advancing towards me so I fired a few more shots at his leg – that’s when the incident ended.

He shot in the air first, then shot the terrorist in the leg. Oh, those evil, evil Israelis, giving a terrorist a chance to hurt two Israelis with one rock.

Of course, the AP probably could have interviewed the police officer just as easily as the Ynet reporter did. We know AP has scads of people in Israel and the territories, because they’re constantly filing articles about the area. They never seem to be able to find all the facts of the story, though. Or if they have them, they don’t report them. Take this boilerplate which now appears in every AP story about the “cycle of violence:”

Also this week, Israeli shelling killed three children and their uncle in Gaza as militants in the Hamas-ruled territory ratcheted up their rocket fire into Israel. The army said it was targeting militants.

It was targeting “militants.” The Israeli army never targets civilians. That’s the Palestinians. But the AP always puts in those weasel words, a way that subtly adds doubt to the credibility of the Israeli story. Why not something like, “The army was targeting militants, according to Joe Spokesman”? Or “Joe Spokesman said the army was targeting militants.” That would work. But no, this way, they get to make readers think Israel deliberately fired at civilians.

Not that the anti-Israel side cares that it was an accident. Every time I descend into the fever swamp that is the comments on an article about Israel, I see the utter hatred by the “anti-Zionists” for all things Israel. Even on the stories about the butchering of the Fogel family.

But I expect better of our so-called objective media. And I am—almost without fail—disappointed on a daily basis.

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media Bias, Terrorism | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on They’re not interested in the truth

Thursday news roundup

Posted on 03/24/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Watch the British reaction now: The woman who died was a British tourist. Watch for the sudden condemnation of Palestinian terror attacks from the British media. No, let’s get serious. They’ll blame Israel for the death. Also in the article: There are two PIJ members under arrest by the PA. The PIJ has gone into hiding. Never fear. The IDF will get them.

This is what a hero look like: The man who noticed the bomb and saved dozens of lives speaks from his hospital bed, where he is badly injured. Don’t forget that the animals that create the bomb surround it with metal ball bearings, nails, and shrapnel to cause the greatest amount of damage possible. It’s not just the heat and concussion that kill. I wrote about that in 2006. And before that, in 2002, where I found an article that has X-rays of terror victims, where you can see the metal throughout their bodies.

Amuyal, whose call to the police just seconds before the blast most likely saved lives, is suffering from a fractured pelvis, steel pellets have penetrated his body and shrapnel is deeply embedded in his left hand and leg.

Refuah shlemah to you and the other victims, David.

The AP reads my blog: The headline on their current story about Israel actually mentions the right cause and effect:

Gaza militants rocket Israel, drawing reprisals

Of course, the earlier headline blamed Israel:

Israel retaliates for deadly blast, rocket attacks

The blame-Israel crew is alive and well at AP headquarters. I’m not worried that I’ll have to find something else to write about.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Terrorism | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The UN condemnation shell game

Posted on 03/24/2011 by Meryl Yourish

What did UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon say when the Fogel family were butchered in their sleep?

The Secretary-General condemns last night’s shocking murder of an Israeli family of five, including three children, in a West Bank settlement. He calls for the perpetrators to be brought to justice, and for all to act with restraint.

What did he say when the IDF misfired a shell, killing Palestinian civilians by mistake?

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the killing of three Palestinian children and their uncle and the wounding of 13 other civilians by an Israeli tank shell in the Gaza Strip earlier today. He is very concerned at an escalating situation in Gaza and southern Israel. He reiterates as well his condemnation of rocket fire by Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, including from populated areas, against civilian targets in southern Israel. He calls on all to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law.

And what did he say in response to the bombing of Jerusalem’s main bus station?

The Secretary-General strongly condemns a bomb attack today adjacent to a bus stop in West Jerusalem, which has reportedly killed one woman and injured over thirty Israeli civilians, some of them seriously. Such attacks are unacceptable. The Secretary-General is deeply concerned and calls for an immediate cessation of acts of terrorism and violence against civilians in order to prevent further escalation and loss of life.

Do you see a pattern here? Which party does he most condemn, Hamas or Israel? What does he react to the most viscerally, terrorism or the death of civilians by either side? And what kind of condemnation does the butchery of a four-year-old, a three-year-old, a young child and their parents get?

The Secretary-General condemns last night’s shocking murder of an Israeli family of five, including three children, in a West Bank settlement. He calls for the perpetrators to be brought to justice, and for all to act with restraint.

Oh. That’s right. It was only Jews. And “settlers,” while we’re at it. No need to get as up in arms as he does over Palestinian civilians killed by errant IDF fire.

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Terrorism, United Nations | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The UN condemnation shell game

Why authors are leaving traditional publishing for e-books

Posted on 03/23/2011 by Meryl Yourish

This is why, in a nutshell, authors are going to leave the publishing houses:

Joe: We figured out that the 25% royalty on ebooks they offer is actually 14.9% to the writer after everyone gets their cut. 14.9% on a price the publisher sets.

Barry: Gracious of you to say “we.” You’re the first one to point out that a 25% royalty on the net revenue produced by an ebook equals 17.5% of the retail price after Amazon takes its 30% cut, and 14.9% after the agent takes 15% of the 17.5%.

Joe: Yeah, that 25% figure you see in contracts is really misleading. Amazing, when you consider that there’s virtually no cost to creating ebooks–no cost for paper, no shipping charges, no warehousing. No cut for Ingram or Baker & Taylor. Yet they’re keeping 52.5% of the list price and offering only 17.5% to the author. It’s not fair and it’s not sustainable.

Amazon offers 35% royalties on 99 cent ebooks, 70% royalties on $2.99 and up. Every way you turn it, the publishers are screwing authors on ebook royalties. And self-publishing has become easier, faster, cheaper, and more respectable. And it’s opening the market for short stories as well, a market that used to afford a living for writers like Kurt Vonnegut, but that now pays almost nothing.

Joe: You’re on track to make $30,000 this year on a self-published short story. I’m not aware of any short story markets that pay that well.

Barry: Well, it’s early yet, but yes, The Lost Coast has done amazingly well in its first few weeks, netting me about $1000 after the initial fixed cost of $600 for having the cover designed and having the manuscript formatted. I plan to continue to publish short stories and I’ll be getting the new John Rain novel, The Detachment, up in time for Father’s Day, and I have a feeling that each of the various products will reinforce sales of the others.

That sound you hear is the sound of thousands of authors realizing that writing for money is not dead. In fact, it sure looks like a new age of writing and reading is just around the corner.

Time to decide between Nook and Kindle, methinks.

For the real writing/reading geeks among you, here’s the link to the full conversation—all 29 pages of it.

Posted in The Catmage Chronicles | 3 Comments

Update on the Jerusalem bombing

Posted on 03/23/2011 by Meryl Yourish

A woman has died from her injuries, and the AP still can’t bring itself to blame Palestinians in the headline. And we also have the “cycle of violence” theme redux. Note the language. “A bomb struck” the bus stop. It must have been walking by, or lying in wait, and then it attacked. And who killed the woman? Why, the bomb did. As for who was responsible? Well, “authorities” think it’s Palestinian terrorists. I mean, militants.

A bomb struck a crowded bus stop in central Jerusalem Wednesday, killing one woman and wounding more than 20 other people in what authorities said was the first major Palestinian militant attack in the city in several years.

The bombing brought back memories of the second Palestinian uprising last decade, a period in which hundreds of Israelis were killed by suicide bombings in Jerusalem and other major cities.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but authorities blamed Palestinian militants and threatened harsh retaliation. The attack came against the backdrop of a rising wave of violence that has threatened a lengthy period of relative calm, and made hopes for a negotiated peace ever more distant. The moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank condemned the violence.

What is that rising wave of violence? Dozens of rockets, mortars, and Grad missiles fired on southern Israel. In response, the IDF is killing terrorists who are firing the rockets. This is the AP “rising wave of violence.” Also, the “relative calm” that the AP cites includes hundreds of shells fired into Israel. Hundreds. That’s considered “relative calm.” Or a ceasefire that Hamas “mostly” holds. Your home was hit by a rocket? Hey. You’re not dead. It doesn’t count. You were killed by a rocket? Hey. It’s only a few here and there. Doesn’t count. The cease-fire holds.

There will likely be some kind of strong reprisal. Hamas has been asking for it, because it needs to cement its hold on Gazans. The natives are getting restless, protesting against Hamas and demanding more freedom. Watch for the UN condemnation of Israel. It will be blistering. But that’s a post for another time.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Media Bias, Terrorism | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Update on the Jerusalem bombing

Palestinian terrorists bomb Israel, AP can’t figure out whodunit

Posted on 03/23/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Palestinian terrorists managed to get a bomb through the Israeli defenses and blew up a telephone booth at a crowded bus station in the heart of Jerusalem today, wounding 25, but so far, no deaths.

Terror in capital: At least 25 people were hurt Wednesday afternoon after an explosive device was detonated in a phone booth near the Jerusalem Convention Center.

One person sustained grave wounds in the explosion and three others were seriously hurt. Five other victims were moderately wounded and the rest sustained light injuries.

Most victims are young, aged 15-30, said Shaare Zedek Medical Center Deputy Director, Ovadia Shemesh.

The AP can’t figure out who planted the bomb. Please note that in the headline, they don’t mention Palestinians—unlike yesterday’s articles, where they put the words “Israel” and “kills” in the headlines of stories about Palestinian “militant” and civilian casualties. I may have to start a new media bias subcategory called “Killed by Israel.”

Israeli police blame militants for bombing
Israeli police are blaming Palestinian militants for a bomb attack at a crowded bus stop in central Jerusalem.

Yitzhak Aharonovich, Israel’s minister of public security, says militants planted the one-kilogram (2-pound) device in a bag on the sidewalk.

Authorities say about 25 people were wounded, several critically, in Wednesday’s attack.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, the first bombing in Jerusalem in years.

And since no one claims responsibility, of course, the AP can’t figure out whodunit.

Posted in Israel, Media Bias, Terrorism | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Palestinian terrorists bomb Israel, AP can’t figure out whodunit

The Helen Thomas Playboy interview

Posted on 03/23/2011 by Meryl Yourish

If there were ever any doubt in your mind that Helen Thomas is a Jew-hater, all you have to do is read the Playboy interview and the doubts will disappear.

Since the latest SNN is not yet out, I think I’ll just take bits and pieces from my segment for you.

I know the thought of Helen Thomas in Playboy magazine causes even lifelong atheists to pray to God that the article has no pictures. I’m sorry, fellas. It does. The good news is, she’s not naked. The bad news? Now that I’ve put that thought in your head, it’s going to take you a month to recover enough to have sex again. Some excerpts below:

[SNIP]
THOMAS: Well, that immediately evoked the concentration camps. What I meant was they should stay where they are because they’re not being persecuted—not since World War II, not since 1945. If they were, we sure would hear about it. Instead, they initiated the Jackson-Vanik law, which said the U.S. would not trade with Russia unless it allowed unlimited Jewish emigration. But it was not immigration to the United States, which would have been fine with me. It was to go to Palestine and uproot these people, throw them out of their homes, which they have done through several wars. That’s not fair. I want people to understand why the Palestinians are upset. They are incarcerated and living in an open prison. I say to the Israelis, “Get out of people’s homes!” It’s unacceptable to have soldiers knocking on a door at three in the morning and saying, “This is my home.” And forcing people out of homes they’ve lived in for centuries? What is this? How can anybody accept it? I mean, Jewish-only roads? Would anyone tolerate something like that in America? White-only roads?

PLAYBOY: You mean Israeli-only roads, not Jewish only, right? [Editor’s note: Israel closes certain roads to Palestinians, but roads are open to all Israeli citizens and to other nationals, regardless of religious background.]

THOMAS: Israeli-only roads, okay. But it’s more than semantics because the Palestinians are deprived of owning these roads. This is their land. I’m sorry, but we’re talking about foreigners who came and said, “God gave this land to us.” [Former Israeli prime minister ­Yitzhak] Rabin said, “Where’s the deed?” I mean, come on! Do you know that an Arab Palestinian trying to go home to see his mother has to go through 10 checkpoints and then is held there, while an American tourist can go through right like that? The Palestinian people have to carry their kids to hospitals and are not allowed to drive cars and so forth. What is this? No American Jew would tolerate that sort of treatment here against blacks or anyone else. Why do they allow it over there? And why do they send my American tax dollars to perpetuate it?
[/SNIP]

And little miss Jew-hater’s best little defense:
[SNIP]
PLAYBOY: Do you have a personal antipathy toward Jews themselves?

THOMAS: No. I think they’re wonderful people. They had to have the most depth. They were leaders in civil rights. They’ve always had the heart for others but not for Arabs, for some reason. I’m not anti-Jewish; I’m anti-Zionist. I am anti Israel taking what doesn’t belong to it. If you have a home and you’re kicked out of that home, you don’t come and kick someone else out. Anti-Semite? The Israelis are not even Semites! They’re Europeans, and they’ve come from somewhere else. But even if they were Semites, they would still have no right to usurp other people’s land. There are some Israelis with a conscience and a big heart, but unfortunately they are too few.
[/SNIP]

You got that? It’s Zionists. We’re clear on that. She has nothing against Jews. Just Zionists. Right? Got it? Good.

Now read this:

[SNIP]
PLAYBOY: In the wake of your anti-Israel comments, a blogger from The ­Atlantic argued there’s really no distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. He wrote, “Thomas was fired for saying that the Jews of Israel should move to Europe, where their relatives had been slaughtered in the most devastating act of genocide in history. She believes that once the Jews are evacuated from their ancestral homeland, the world’s only Jewish country should be replaced by what would be the world’s 23rd Arab country. She believes that Palestinians deserve a country of their own but that the Jews are undeserving of a nation-state in their homeland, which has had a continuous Jewish presence for 3,000 years.…”

THOMAS: [Interrupts] Did a Jew write this? [Editor’s note: The writer is Jeffrey Goldberg.]
[/SNIP]

Uh-huh. Zionists. Not Jews. Zionists.

It’s time for the Yourish.com mantra: Anti-Semites of the world, just die already. Helen Thomas, we’re talking to you.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel | Tagged , | 1 Comment

There’s dead, and then there’s killed by Israel

Posted on 03/22/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Let’s take a look at two different tales of dead civilians.

The first is the AP narrative of what happened last Saturday, when terrorists stabbed three children and their parents to death. The details are grisly; they include stabbing a three-month-old infant in the heart and slashing the child’s throat.

First, the two headlines:

Israel hunts for killers of sleeping settlers

Israeli strike misses target, kills 4 Palestinians

and the earlier headline:

Palestinians: 4 killed, 13 wounded in Gaza Strip (Fox News rewrote the headline a bit, but I link there because their links don’t break.)

Note that the AP does not identify the killers in the story about the Fogels’ murders. In fact, the AP does not explicitly blame Palestinians, or even “militants” for the murders in the lead—as if it was just some sociopath who wandered into the Fogels’ home and brutally murdered three children and their parents. Here’s how the attack is described in the second paragraph:

The knife attack, which killed two young children, a baby and their parents as they slept, was the deadliest in years. It comes at a delicate moment, with pressure building on Israel to launch a new peace initiative and the Palestinians pushing for world recognition of an independent state _ with or without a peace deal.

And what killed the children? The “knife attack.” Not a Palestinian “militant,” even. The knife did it. Compare that to the headlines of the Gaza story, which uses the words “killed” and “Israel kills” in the headlines and leads. The Fogel story? “Israel hunts for killers”—not a word about Palestinians.

Look again at the description of the scene in Gaza. This is in the lead—the third paragraph—of the early edition of the story:

TV footage showed body parts and shrapnel at the scene of the attack. Hamas said Israeli tank fire had hit the house in what would be the deadliest Israeli attack on Gaza in months.

You know how far down you have to dig for a similar graf in the story about the Fogels? Before the AP uses the words “Palestinian” in relation to the murderer?

TV footage from the scene showed children’s toys covered in blood and furniture tipped over. Israeli officials said at least one Palestinian militant infiltrated the settlement, entered the family home and stabbed the parents and three of their children, ages 11, 3 and 4 months, as they slept.

Thirteen paragraphs.

Note also that use of the words “attack” to describe both terrorist attacks and Israeli shelling of terrorists launching attacks. While it is correct semantically, it still essentially puts terrorism and defense of civilians into the same category. Because the IDF trying to stop mortar launches is just like Palestinian terrorists breaking into a house and going from room to room, slashing the throats of children.

Of course, the real difference between Israelis and Palestinians can be seen in their reaction to the death of civilians. When the Fogels were murdered, Gazans celebrated. At the news that a mortar strike went horribly wrong, the prime minister of Israel expressed his regret for the deaths.

Yes, it’s awful that three children and an adult were killed. But their deaths are also on Hamas, because they launch mortars from civilian areas—hoping for exactly something like this.

And if you’re wondering why Hamas suddenly launched a barrage of missiles—they want to distract their people, who are actually rebelling against their Islamist masters. Hamas doesn’t want Gazans marching for freedom, like the rest of the Arab world. Expect more missiles every time Gazans try to break free. And, of course, expect more of the same from the AP.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Media Bias | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Oh, boy. You know, this “aside” business has created a monster. Do you remember what happened eight or nine years ago when I discovered the title attribute to the hyperlink? Hoo-wee, we’re gonna have some fun here.

Why, it’s like my own personal Facebook status!

Bored now. U call, k? LOL!

Posted on 03/21/2011 by Meryl Yourish | 1 Comment