Israelization of the Western Discourse
Michael Saba, Arab News
22, August, 2006
My 15-year-old son commented to me the other day, “Dad, everything coming from American politicians and the media is so Israel-centric. I was watching Senator John McCain (US Republican senator from Arizona and a presidential contender) on TV commenting on the Lebanon crisis last night and all he could say was ‘Israel this and the Israelis that’. It was as though no other country or people exists in the Middle East.”
After the Israeli attack and invasion of Lebanon, the US House of Representatives voted 410-8 to support the Israelis. The US Senate didn’t even bother to take a count on the issue. A voice vote from the Senate showed almost unanimous support for Israel.
A front-page article in the New York Times this week focused on a US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) program called Screening Passengers by Observation Technique or SPOT. The program focuses on the appearance and behavior of passengers boarding airplanes in the United States. According to the Times article, certain behavioral characteristics and the physical appearance of passengers that TSA personal have been trained to observe can indicate that these passengers might be terrorists. These passengers are pulled from the line and put through a rigorous examination process. Guess who helped to develop the program and trained the TSA staffers... Israeli airport security officials and El Al airline trainers.
David Brooks, a nationally syndicated writer and weekly contributor to the New York Times published a recent article titled, “Culture at the Core of Global Conflicts”.
This article maintained that certain cultures can’t seem to learn how to behave properly in the modern world. He indicated that Muslim culture is a particular culture that is problematic and Muslim cultures can’t seem to teach their adherents how to behave properly. As an example, Brooks states that the Kuwait mission to the UN picked up 246 parking violations per diplomat between 1997 and 2002 whereas certain cultured and civilized nations (my words) such as Israel received no parking violations in the same time period.
While driving in a taxi in New York City recently, my cabbie (not of Middle Eastern origin, by the way) said to me, “You know they keep talking about Israel’s security on that Lebanon deal and the US and the UN say that Israel needs a 20 kilometer security zone inside Lebanon. Why don’t they put a 20 kilometer security zone inside Israel instead?”
American right-wing fundamentalist Christian Zionists regularly meet and express their wholehearted support for Israel. In their minds, Israel can do no wrong and the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state with Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel and Israel alone is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
On Aug. 17, a group of 85 Hollywood notables placed a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times that accused Hamas and Hezbollah of being terrorist organizations and blamed them for the deaths of all the civilians in Lebanon and Israel including the civilians that were killed by Israel’s bombing of Lebanon. Among the signatories are famous actors Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Sylvester Stallone, James Woods, Kelly Preston and William Hurt. Israel is always right in Hollywood.
One doesn’t have to look very hard to read that the loss of Israeli lives during the current Lebanon crisis though seemingly not that large by Western standards, 157 Israelis, would be equivalent to the loss of about 6,700 American lives on a population ratio basis.
And it is pointed out that the number is more than twice the number lost in the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy. No one seems to point out that the loss of 1,300 Lebanese civilians on the same population ratio basis to America would be equivalent to about 103,000 Americans.
And very few mention that of the 157 Israelis that have died in this conflict, 114 were Israeli soldiers who were invading Lebanon.
Israel has lost about 43 civilians to Lebanon’s 1,300, a ratio of 30-1! All these deaths are tragic and unnecessary, but Israel’s casualties seem to have more importance with the Western media and with Western political pundits.
So when I answered my son about the Israeli bias in the Western media and American political discourse, it was an easy question to reply to. With great sadness, I told him that he had figured the existing American equation out at a very early age.
He then told me that it wouldn’t always be that way. He said that with the Internet and alternative sources of information for everyone these days, the truth is “out there.” “They’ve fooled a lot of people for a long time, but, like Lincoln said, ‘You can’t fool all of the people all of the time’ and that was before the Internet!”
22, August, 2006
My 15-year-old son commented to me the other day, “Dad, everything coming from American politicians and the media is so Israel-centric. I was watching Senator John McCain (US Republican senator from Arizona and a presidential contender) on TV commenting on the Lebanon crisis last night and all he could say was ‘Israel this and the Israelis that’. It was as though no other country or people exists in the Middle East.”
After the Israeli attack and invasion of Lebanon, the US House of Representatives voted 410-8 to support the Israelis. The US Senate didn’t even bother to take a count on the issue. A voice vote from the Senate showed almost unanimous support for Israel.
A front-page article in the New York Times this week focused on a US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) program called Screening Passengers by Observation Technique or SPOT. The program focuses on the appearance and behavior of passengers boarding airplanes in the United States. According to the Times article, certain behavioral characteristics and the physical appearance of passengers that TSA personal have been trained to observe can indicate that these passengers might be terrorists. These passengers are pulled from the line and put through a rigorous examination process. Guess who helped to develop the program and trained the TSA staffers... Israeli airport security officials and El Al airline trainers.
David Brooks, a nationally syndicated writer and weekly contributor to the New York Times published a recent article titled, “Culture at the Core of Global Conflicts”.
This article maintained that certain cultures can’t seem to learn how to behave properly in the modern world. He indicated that Muslim culture is a particular culture that is problematic and Muslim cultures can’t seem to teach their adherents how to behave properly. As an example, Brooks states that the Kuwait mission to the UN picked up 246 parking violations per diplomat between 1997 and 2002 whereas certain cultured and civilized nations (my words) such as Israel received no parking violations in the same time period.
While driving in a taxi in New York City recently, my cabbie (not of Middle Eastern origin, by the way) said to me, “You know they keep talking about Israel’s security on that Lebanon deal and the US and the UN say that Israel needs a 20 kilometer security zone inside Lebanon. Why don’t they put a 20 kilometer security zone inside Israel instead?”
American right-wing fundamentalist Christian Zionists regularly meet and express their wholehearted support for Israel. In their minds, Israel can do no wrong and the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state with Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel and Israel alone is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
On Aug. 17, a group of 85 Hollywood notables placed a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times that accused Hamas and Hezbollah of being terrorist organizations and blamed them for the deaths of all the civilians in Lebanon and Israel including the civilians that were killed by Israel’s bombing of Lebanon. Among the signatories are famous actors Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Sylvester Stallone, James Woods, Kelly Preston and William Hurt. Israel is always right in Hollywood.
One doesn’t have to look very hard to read that the loss of Israeli lives during the current Lebanon crisis though seemingly not that large by Western standards, 157 Israelis, would be equivalent to the loss of about 6,700 American lives on a population ratio basis.
And it is pointed out that the number is more than twice the number lost in the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy. No one seems to point out that the loss of 1,300 Lebanese civilians on the same population ratio basis to America would be equivalent to about 103,000 Americans.
And very few mention that of the 157 Israelis that have died in this conflict, 114 were Israeli soldiers who were invading Lebanon.
Israel has lost about 43 civilians to Lebanon’s 1,300, a ratio of 30-1! All these deaths are tragic and unnecessary, but Israel’s casualties seem to have more importance with the Western media and with Western political pundits.
So when I answered my son about the Israeli bias in the Western media and American political discourse, it was an easy question to reply to. With great sadness, I told him that he had figured the existing American equation out at a very early age.
He then told me that it wouldn’t always be that way. He said that with the Internet and alternative sources of information for everyone these days, the truth is “out there.” “They’ve fooled a lot of people for a long time, but, like Lincoln said, ‘You can’t fool all of the people all of the time’ and that was before the Internet!”
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 6:07 PM
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