Scenes of violence on and around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City are currently causing further damage to Israel’s already fragile diplomatic and public image. Descriptions of Israeli police “storming” the Temple Mount add to the impression, aided by the inflammatory rhetoric of Palestinian groups and neighbouring Arab states, that Israel is carrying out aggression against Muslim holy sites.
In the case of the Palestinian rioting on the Temple Mount, there has been no Israeli instigation of any kind. Contrary to Palestinian claims:
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There is no construction, renovation or archaeological activities taking place underneath the Temple Mount or al-Aqsa Mosque that could in any way endanger its foundations.
Israel has nothing to hide and even took journalists on a tour of the Western Wall tunnels to show that this is indeed the case. According to chief engineer, Ofer Cohen, “There’s been a lot of talk about instability [based on ongoing archeological excavations in the area], and let me reassure you, we have improved the structural stability here tenfold over the last few years and have actually strengthened areas where there was danger of further collapse.”
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There was no attempt by any Jewish groups to enter the Temple Mount compound to pray or confront Muslims at prayer.
Instead, during the High Holidays, a group of non-Jewish French tourists were pelted with rocks when entering the compound (as is their right to do so under existing arrangements for visitors). Israeli police intervened to protect those tourists.
As reported by Ha’aretz, “It’s true those were French tourists,” said a Fatah activist this week, in a belated acknowledgment on the Temple Mount incident that sparked riots earlier this month. But he immediately played dumb: “But how could we have known?”
The Guardian, however, simply reports:
Palestinians, however, have been increasingly concerned about right-wing Jewish settlers entering the compound and about rumours – denied by Israel – of excavations near the site.
The Times, meanwhile, recycles an old myth:
It was clashes outside the al-Aqsa mosque that sparked the second intifada – a widespread violent uprising by Palestinians. The origins of that event are traced to Ariel Sharon’s provocative September 2000 visit to the compound.
This, despite the evidence to the contrary as stated by members of the Palestinian leadership themselves:
Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque is wrong.. . . This Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat’s return from the Camp David negotiations, where he turned the table upside down on President Clinton. (Palestinian Communications Minister Imad Al-Faluji, Al-Safir, 3 March 2001. Translated by MEMRI)
The Daily Telegraph disregards proven history and a wealth of archaeological evidence, referring to the Temple Mount:
where the two Jewish temples of antiquity are believed to have been built.
“Believed”? There is no question (other than in the minds of those deliberately seeking to delegitimize Jewish rights and history in Jerusalem) that Jewish temples stood on that site. Period. So why does the Daily Telegraph feel the need to use such language?
In general, the media has been content to present the story in simplistic terms – the Israeli “Goliath” versus the Palestinian “David”. A bit more digging and sophisticated analysis would reveal that the situation is much more complex as the leader of Israel’s extremist Islamic Movement, in collaboration with Hamas, seeks to use the Temple Mount issue to create violence and instability. The situation is also part of a continuing fight between Hamas and Fatah over control of eastern Jerusalem.
Can the media not look at the bigger picture?
Please send your considered comments to:
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The Guardian – [email protected]
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The Times – [email protected]
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The Daily Telegraph – [email protected]
Remember to include an address and daytime telephone number.
SWIMMING IN THE CIF CESSPOOL
Veteran and respected British journalist Harold Evans wrote a damning indictment of the Goldstone Report in The Guardian’s op-ed section, a venue not normally the preserve of any positive pieces on Israel:
The rockets were war crimes and ought to have been universally condemned as such. While new rockets hit Israel over many months there was no rush by the world’s moralisers – including Britain – to censure Hamas, no urgency as there was in “world opinion” when Israel finally responded. Then Israel was immediately accused of a “disproportionate” response without anyone thinking: “What is a ‘proportionate’ attack against an enemy dedicated to exterminating your people?” A dedication to exterminating all of his? . . .
No doubt there were blunders. A defensive war is still a war with all its suffering and destruction. But Hamas compounded its original war crime with another. It held its own people hostage. It used them as human shields. It regarded every (accidental) death as another bullet in the propaganda war. The Goldstone report won the gold standard of moral equivalence between the killer and the victim. Now Britain wins the silver. Who’s cheering?
Read Harold Evans’ full op-ed here.
While the appearance of a pro-Israel article may have been a surprise, the reaction on The Guardian’s Comment is Free site was not. Regular CiF commenters, not used to seeing articles defending the Jewish state, became enraged and demonstrated the sort of hatred, poison and demonization that has become all too common on CiF’s message boards.
CiF Watch takes a look at some of the more distasteful comments in what has become a cesspool of anti-Israel hatred:
Rather than comment on the merits of the article, the comment thread instantly became alit with comment after comment dripping with poisonous anti-Israel hatred so much so that it would put your typical Stormfront comment thread to shame.
Read the full blog posting for a selection of comments that prove, once again, just how far The Guardian is prepared to sink.
HR UK’S CEO SPEAKING IN LONDON
HR UK’s CEO Joe Hyams will be delivering a presentation on the different types of anti-Israel media bias, the work of HonestReporting and how you can help defend Israel against an increasingly hostile British press.
Date: Wednesday 11 November, 9.15pm – 10.15pm
Venue: Edgware United Synagogue
Entry fee: £7.50 for Edgware United members; £8.50 for non-members
HR UK Managing Editor Simon Plosker will also be travelling around the country speaking on university campuses during November, including Durham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and London.
Students can contact their local Jewish Society for more information.
