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Trouble in St. Pete

It was a bad week for the St. Petersburg Times — both in Florida and in Russia. In Florida, St. Petersburg Times columnist Bill Maxwell chimed in with a terribly one-sided report on the suffering…

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It was a bad week for the St. Petersburg Times — both in Florida and in Russia.

In Florida, St. Petersburg Times columnist Bill Maxwell chimed in with a terribly one-sided report on the suffering Palestinian children, in light of recent UN and Amnesty International reports (“In the Mideast, Children are Suffering” – October 9).

No word from Maxwell, however, about the suffering of Jewish children, who have lost parents and siblings in Palestinian terror attacks, whose kindergartens are shot at by Palestinian snipers, or whose favorite falafel stand has been blown to smithereens.

Read Maxwell’s column at:
http://sptimes.com/2002/10/09/Columns/In_the_Mideast__child.shtml

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“Primer,” a group of Florida media activists that has been tracking Maxwell, has prepared a sharp critique of his article. See the critique at:
http://www.tampabayprimer.org/index.cfm?action=articles&drill=viewArt&art=584

* * *

Meanwhile in Russia, a different St. Petersburg Times has published a vile column by Nicholas Berry, who draws what he calls “astounding parallels” between Ariel Sharon and Saddam Hussein (“Arab’s Sharon Perceived as U.S.’s Hussein”).

Berry compares Saddam’s invasion of Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990, with Israel’s “three invasions” of Arab neighbors. No context is provided for this false moral equivalence.

Then Berry drops a bomb. He compares Hussein’s links to international terrorism, “including a definite connection to al-Qaida,” with Israel’s policy of hunting down opponents (i.e. terrorists) in far-off lands.

Berry, director of ForeignPolicyForum.com in Washington, smugly concludes that his comparison between Saddam and Israel is valid. “It all depends upon whose ox is being gored,” he says.

Read the article at:
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=100&story_id=8234

Comments to:
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Letters to the editor should always include full name, address, and phone number.

===== RICKETY REUTERS =====

Reuters reported on Thursday’s suicide bombing in Israel, in which disaster was averted when the bomber accidentally fell off the bus. Matt Spetalnick writes:

“Violence also flared in the southern Gaza Strip, where Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian youths during a tank raid — carried out despite international condemnation of earlier Israeli strikes in which civilians were killed.”

No longer is Reuters satisfied with unfairly equating the Palestinian policy of intentionally targeting civilians, with Israel’s fight against snipers cowering behind stone-throwing youths.

Now Reuters goes one step further and classifies Israeli actions under “international condemnation” — without making any parallel condemnation against Palestinian suicide bombing.

In other words, says Reuters, the Israeli actions are more condemnable than suicide bombing.

See the article at:
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=search&StoryID=1560698

* * *

Meanwhile, Reuters has been caught misleading its readers with the story, “Israeli Forces Open Fire Kill Girl.” Accompanying this article is a Reuters photo of an Israeli soldier grabbing a woman by the waist from behind. With no information to indicate otherwise, the obvious implication is that the woman being “victimized” is a Palestinian.

However, the few Reuters readers who bothered to click on the photo were able to read the photo caption, which identifies the woman as a Jewish resident of Hebron.

See the article at:
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=search&StoryID=1550630

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