Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Time is out of time-time to go out of business

It's About Time for an Apology to Israel - Gary Rosenblatt
This week's cover story in Time magazine by Karl Vick, "Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace," was simply indefensible The story has a narrow focus, concentrating mostly on satisfied Tel Aviv residents who are living well and enjoying life despite the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.
While depicted as money-obsessed and cavalier about their neighbors, Israelis in fact have displayed remarkable resilience, pragmatism and faith in themselves. Attacked by suicide bombers on an almost daily basis a decade ago, they didn't flee. They didn't panic. And they didn't teach their children to hate, or to martyr themselves. Instead they took security precautions (namely, building a separation fence/wall, which has proved successful) and went about their business as best they could under horrific circumstances.
For this, and for carving out productive lives in the face of so many who would destroy them, they are portrayed as uncaring. Time's story does not address the attitudes of Palestinians toward Israel, or Jews, though Palestinian clerics, educators and politicians demonize Zionists and Jews everywhere so regularly that it is not considered newsworthy. (New York Jewish Week)
See also Time Magazine Promotes Anti-Jewish Prejudice - Bret Stephens
Nearly every Israeli has a child, sibling, boyfriend or parent in the army. Nearly every Israeli has been to the funeral of a fallen soldier, or a friend killed in a terrorist attack. Every Israeli owns a gas mask. The whole country exists under the encroaching shadows of Hizbullah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the prospect of a nuclear Iran. When it comes to scoring cheap shots against the Jewish state, Time is not the sort of magazine to allow the obvious to disturb a prejudiced hypothesis. Can the magazine point to equally pointed cover stories about internal Palestinian affairs and what, perchance, they mean for the peace process?
Journalism aside, there's also a moral dimension here known as the delegitimization of Israel - the idea that the country ought not to exist. Insisting that Israel be wiped off the map, as Iran's leaders do with such numbing frequency, is one method of delegitimization. Suggesting that Israelis don't care about peace is another. (Wall Street Journal)

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