Israel News Analysis: Mugging Israel in the Media

בס''ד

Originally published in Blogcritics Magazine, 10 June, 2010
Copyright © R. Kossover, 2010

Writer's note - thanks to Ed Driscoll, for the quote of Al Capone used in the movie Goldfinger.

Background

When one uses the term "media" in reference to news these days, one has to realize that it refers to any medium of communication between a relatively small group of individuals and a far larger audience. This holds just as true for the apocryphal 'Gutenberg Gazette' as it does for CBS News. The news media can be manipulated today just as it was in the early 1800's by Napoleone Buonaparte (the Corsican spelling of the name he had as the child of Letizia Buonaparte) with his "bulletins" from the front, by which he manipulated the news of his wars in Europe, by plebiscites, by which Napoleon Bonaparte, and later his nephew, Louis Napoléon, (Napoléon III) manipulated French public opinion, by censorship, which Napoleon (and later his nephew), used to control the press in their respective French Empires.

These methods of control, improved upon with the advent of new technologies, have been used
by dictatorships and illiberal regimes that have sought to suppress freedom ever since. It goes without saying that the international organizations which are coalitions of Arab dictatorships and illiberal regimes, as well as their allies, use these methods as well. One of the goals of these international Arab organizations is the destruction of Israel, and this effort can be carried out on and off the battle field.

'Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action'
Al Capone

This blogsite quoted the full Israel Today article: Obama told the Egyptian foreign minister that he is a Muslim, the son of a Muslim and that he sympathizes with what he calls "the Muslim agenda"; he asked the Egyptian foreign minister to have patience while he cleared the table of domestic problems - then he'd show the world how to deal with Israel. The interview where Obama is reported to have said this took place in March 2010. When one reconsiders the events leading up to the "flotilla" incident on 31 May 2010, one has to realize that Obama's hand was in it, and he was demonstrating to Muslims "how to deal with Israel". The subsequent media lynch is only proof of this.

This media lynch goes beyond the pages of the alleged "mainstream" media in the United States, "al-Reuters" or the Associated Press. These idiots on the Left Coast with the missing brains are going to condemn us for defending ourselves. Northern Irish sources report that on Thursday night (10 June 2010), the Council of USPG (United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) – Anglicans in World Mission – agreed that a letter should be sent to the British Foreign Secretary, Mr William Hague, expressing “shock and dismay at what happened last week when the Israeli naval forces stormed a Gaza-bound convoy carrying humanitarian aid in international waters, killing nine people and injuring many more.” Turkey is boycotting a holocaust conference in Jerusalem. In the meantime, the Palestinian Authority, while alleging to not indulge in anti-Israel incitement, does precisely this. This video shows how the PA attempts to de-legitimize the existence of our country. The quiz in it asks "which seaport is in "Palestine" and offers three cities in Israel. This is only one tiny event, a single video among tens of thousands, that pursues the goal of destroying Israel in the minds of its Arab viewers.

But the attacks on Israel and its supporters are far wider. Over the Sabbath of ראש חודש תמוז rosh Hodesh tammuz, (12-13 June 2010), Youtube pulled "We Con the World" in its continuing campaign to silence those of us who are pro-Israel. Even though YouTube hides behind the "copyright infringement" claim of Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., one has to note that Edgar Bronfman, who alleged supports Israel, is the CEO of Warner Music Group, the conglomerate that owns Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. One is forced to wonder where Mr. Bronfman's real loyalties lie. YouTube's consistent harassment of the IDF's videos - as opposed to not touching thousands of videos that encourage hate and villify Israel and Jews - impels one to
conclude that YouTube is pursuing an anti-Jewish and anti-Israel agenda, however unsystematically. Caroline Glick, the leading Israeli journalist and commentator who had produced "We Con the World" as part of her Latma.com satire series, fought back with satire. There is another weapon - Wejew. Why use the not so gentle "gentile" media when we Jews can use our own?

That is not the only avenue of attack being used in mugging Israel and its supporters. Paypal generally doesn't do business with Israel directly, but shutting off the money spigot - shutting down freedom of speech by calling anti-terror sites 'hate-speech' is now being used by Paypal. The point is not that all 'hate-speech' sites are targeted by Paypal. Were this the case, Pam Geller of Atlas Shrugged would not have a leg to stand on in her complaints. To her knowledge, and to mine, Paypal does not touch terror sites or other hate speech sites that denigrate or seek to destroy Israel or incite against Jews. This is the same precise pattern we see at YouTube. Were I a mafia don, I might suggest going to Paypal's CEO, tying him to a chair, and "making him an offer he couldn't refuse". One has to wonder if anti-Israel groups haven't beaten me to the punch (pun intended) with that idea. Establishing an alternative to Paypal is a little trickier than establishing an alternative to YouTube.

We should not assume from all of this that all non-Jews hate Jews and hate Israel. This could not be farther from the truth. Even Patrick Comerford, who was a moving force behind that shameful Anglican letter to the British Foreign Secretary referred to above, has written articles condemning anti-Semitism. There is a large grey area in this field, even among those who do not necessarily support Israel. With respect to individuals, Jews and Israelis have many friends and fervent supporters world-wide. But what is the truth is that those in power, those who shape the world's opinions, dislike Jews, and dislike Israel, and would be just as happy to see us dead as see us at all. This includes, one must note with pain, many Jews who hate themselves and the nation their brethren have created as a refuge.

There is a final point that needs to be made with utmost clarity, regarding this media mugging of Israel, which well fits Al Capone's definition of "enemy action". Santayana pointed out that he who fails to learn from history is doomed to repeat its mistakes.

While many of us Jews and Israelis on the ground have absorbed this lesson, the weak-kneed leaders of the State of Israel, who give more evidence each succeeding week of being sellouts and mere puppets of the United States and other nations not at all friendly to Israel or the Jews, fail to absorb the hard lessons they need to. And we, who have learned, must do something about it to survive.

Daily, History's Scythe moves closer, going from Kyrgyzstan westwards.