‘Whataboutism’ Runs Amok as Jake Tapper Rattles Off Trump Talking Points
Why arbitrarily audit a handful of the 164 countries that didn’t support the US, rather than characterize their broader makeup?
‘When Was the US Ever an Honest Broker?’
“Despite US claims that settlements in Jerusalem, for instance, are an obstacle to peace…the US has done nothing over the years to prevent settlement construction in Jerusalem, to protect Palestinians living in Jerusalem.”
Phyllis Bennis on Jerusalem Move, Jeff Cohen on ‘All Governments Lie’
Some perspective on the impact of Trump’s decision to “recognize” Jerusalem as the capital of Israel–apart from what it means for “Trump on the World Stage,”
After Trump’s Jerusalem Move, Media Worry About ‘Violence’—Not Violation of International Law
By leading with warnings of a “Middle East on edge,” the media double down on dangerous stereotypes, marginalize legitimate frustration and resistance, and obfuscate history in favor of the ever-convenient, shoulder-shrugging, “they’ll just never get along” narrative.
Normalizing Ethnic Supremacy in Israel/Palestine
It’s wrong in the ethical sense for the New York Times to implicitly accept as normal politics a refusal to allow democracy to undermine ethnic supremacy.
‘Boycotts to Achieve Political Change Are Forms of Political Speech’
“Any attempt by Congress to legislate against a grassroots movement contradicts, on its face and in principle, the values that are embodied in the First Amendment.”
Talia Buford on Environmental Justice, Josh Ruebner on BDS Ban
For years, the existence of environmental racism, and the idea that it needs rectifying, had at least nominal government support; but now all bets are off.
While Attacks in Israel Make Headlines, Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza Ignored
The recent acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza—on top of the routine humanitarian crisis that defines everyday existence there—has gotten sparse coverage in US media over the past three weeks.
Threats to Campus Speech Don’t Alarm Media When They Come From the Right
Threats to “free speech” are treated differently in the media when you’re on the left—and particularly so for campus speech.
On 50th Anniversary of Israeli Occupation, Palestinian Opinions Largely Ignored
In their respective opinion pieces analyzing the Six-Day War and its subsequent effect on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, major US media have favored Israeli and pro-Israel American voices at the expense of Palestinians by a wide margin.
Three Reasons Bret Stephens Should Not Be a NYT Columnist—and the Real Reason He Is One
The orthodoxy on the New York Times op-ed page isn’t “liberalism”; Bret Stephens is the third representative of his ideological niche, the anti-Trump conservative, to currently have a home there.
NYT’s BDS Debate Excludes BDS Proponents
The last opinion column on the topic by a BDS supporter to appear in the New York Times was in January 2014. Since then, the Times has published seven opinion columns that took a clear position on BDS, all of them in opposition.
In Absence of Evidence, Media Evoke ISIS in Jerusalem Attack
As a general rule, media outlets should not let the unilateral, unsubstantiated and self-serving claims of political leaders dictate how they frame such politically charged incidents.
Vice Photospreads Present ‘Girly, Teenage’ Side of Israeli Occupation
For the second time in the last five months, Vice has run a bizarre, titillating photo spread of “girlish,” “teenage” Israeli soldiers that manages to be obtuse and borderline creepy at the same time.
Soundbites December 2015
African-American Deaths Literally Off the Chart; How Many Protesters Gunned Down? You Do the Math; From Hoax to Fox to Trump to NBC; Sanders: ‘Let Me Say Something About Media’–Media: ‘No’; Don’t Know Much About Recent History
‘Google This’ Is Good Advice From Netanyahu, Since NYT Won’t Check His Claims for You
The New York Times’ Julie Hirschfeld Davis relayed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims without question–even when Netanyahu himself urged listeners to check up on his assertions:
‘The Occupation Doesn’t Stop’
“What’s missing is what happens in between and always, and that is the status quo of military occupation, which is itself a system of violence.”
Soundbites November 2015
Lesson From Greece: ‘Don’t Fear the Media’; WaPo’s Word Problem Hides Palestinian Victims; Afghan Hospital Bombed by the Country That Must Not Be Named; PolitiFact Fumbles Facts on Iran Deal; Does NYT Mislead About Voting and Class? Depend On It; ‘Let’s Talk About the Real Issues.’
Kimberle Crenshaw on School Assault, Yousef Munayyer on Israel/Palestine Narratives
Many people were outraged by video evidence of a police officer violently assaulting a young black woman in her classroom—an incident that highlights the marginalization of black girls and women in conversations about state violence.
Washington Post Reduces Palestinian Victims to a Word Problem
To focus on the violence done to Israelis by Palestinians to the near exclusion of Israeli violence against Palestinians is a grotesque distortion of journalism.
