On September 8, as the Taliban announced the formation of a government after retaking control of Afghanistan amid the United States’ military withdrawal, the extremist group expressed a willingness to establish ties with all countries except for Israel. Two days later, Lebanon’s new Prime Minister Najib Mikati likewise said he was prepared to cooperate with every nation besides the only Jewish one.
Yet, prominent international news organizations dedicated little coverage to these overtly antisemitic foreign policies.
By ignoring the application of a double standard to Israel — that is, one of the criterion that meets the widely adopted IHRA definition of antisemitism — media outlets risk facilitating the normalization of anti-Zionism in the diplomatic sphere.
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Yes, Taliban, Lebanon Singling Out Israel Is Antisemitism. Here’s Why.
In a September 10 piece, titled The Taliban and implicit antisemitism in int’l relations – analysis, The Jerusalem Post’s Seth J. Frantzman writes:
Most of the countries that reject relations with Israel today are Muslim-majority states. Their hatred of Israel stems from a toxic mix of religious hatred and antisemitism… This ideological logic could be seen as non-antisemitic if it was applied anywhere else, but it isn’t.
The same countries, and groups like the Taliban, have no problem with relations with numerous other states accused of abuses against Muslim minorities. It isn’t about their co-religionists, it’s about Israel and Jews.”
Indeed, the Taliban is openly courting countries such as Iran and Qatar that are the world’s worst human rights violators. Among the few nations from which representatives were reportedly invited to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Taliban government were those from Tehran and Doha.
The overture by Afghanistan’s new rulers to the Islamic Republic, in particular, is especially telling given that Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has explicitly called for Israel’s destruction. He has admitted to funding and sending arms to US-designated Palestinian terror groups with which to attack the Jewish state, and has pushed an official agenda of Holocaust denial and distortion.
#BREAKING: #IRGC is holding a missile exhibition in #Iran‘s Ahvaz city, displaying a Zolfaghar missile marked with the phrase “#Israel must be wiped off the map” pic.twitter.com/uRPaKyaqhJ
— Hossein Dalirian (@HosseinDalirian) March 21, 2018
Regarding Lebanon, Iran’s meddling in the country has long been considered a destabilizing factor in the Middle East. Tehran’s Hezbollah terrorist proxy has built up a stockpile of some 150,000 rockets pointed at Israel; carried out some of the deadliest attacks around the world; and facilitated Iranian expansionism in places such as Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Related Reading: As Israel Faces Iranian Threat, Media Minimize Iranian Belligerence
Hezbollah has a long history of initiating conflicts with the Jewish state. From 2000 to the summer of 2006, the organization attacked Israel with artillery and launched cross-border raids approximately 200 times, killing dozens of civilians and injuring more than 100. The terrorist outfit has also been accused of digging attack tunnels penetrating into Israeli territory. In 2018, IDF military engineers uncovered and neutralized six terror tunnels. It is believed that Hezbollah had planned to use the subterranean passageways to invade Israeli towns and villages.
Excluding Israel? Par for the Course
Attempts to exclude Jerusalem from international bodies and forums are a decades-old phenomenon.
While the United Nations’ animus toward the Jewish state could be discerned going back to the country’s establishment, it was in the 1970s that an outright anti-Israel bias developed. A 1973 General Assembly Resolution about apartheid said that the UN “condemns in particular the unholy alliance between Portuguese colonialism, Apartheid, and Zionism.”
Then, in 1974, UN documents began referring to the disputed territories (i.e. West Bank and Gaza Strip) Israel took control of during the 1967 war as the “Occupied Arab Territories.” All of this culminated with the passage of UN Resolution 3379 declaring that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”
Related Reading: The Durban Conference – A Hateful Anti-Israel Legacy
More recently, the 2001 UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance has been cited by many as the beginning of a dastardly campaign to compare the Jewish state to Apartheid South Africa. The Durban Conference, or Durban I, featured some of the vilest antisemitism since WWII, and experts trace the roots of the ongoing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement back to the gathering.
In response, 16 countries – including the United States and Israel – have announced that they will not be sending officials to this September’s UN event marking the 20th anniversary of Durban I.
Meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly in December adopted two resolutions criticizing Israel, bringing 2020’s tally to 17 motions denouncing the Jewish state compared to six that singled out any other country for accusations of human rights violations.
Media Complicit in Antisemitism Cover-Up?
Recent data lend credence to the notion that media are reacting to a recent upsurge in the manifestation of antisemitism in international relations “with a shrug.”
An HonestReporting analysis found that in the two-week period from August 31-September 13, “Taliban” appeared in approximately 660,000 news reports and broadcasts. By contrast, “Taliban” and “Israel” were mentioned in articles or segments only 12,000 times. When the term “relations” was added to the big data search, the number plummeted to 844.
HonestReporting also found that the term “Lebanese government” appeared about 14,000 times in reports and broadcasts during the same period. However, these stories only included “Israel” some 3,000 times. And when the term “relations” was included, the number once again dropped dramatically to only 285.
Israel Reaches Out, Lebanon Lashes Out, Media Tune Out
The findings regarding Lebanon are especially egregious given that Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz recently said that Jerusalem was prepared to offer help to the beleaguered nation on the verge of economic collapse.
“The crisis in Lebanon is devastating. The State of Israel calls on the international community to aid Lebanon. We are also willing to provide assistance,” Gantz was quoted as saying.
Accordingly, the Lebanese government is choosing to shun Israel instead of accepting what could amount to life-saving humanitarian aid for its suffering population.
Such irrationality is one of the defining characteristics of both ancient and modern forms of antisemitism.
All the while, the media are for the most part turning a blind eye to an evil emanating loudly and clearly from Kabul and Beirut.
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Featured image: Shutterstock and Qari Salahuddin Ayoubi Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images
