The current Palestinian push for statehood at the UN is a subject that covers many areas of analysis from international law, diplomacy, the workings of the UN and Israel-U.S. relations. In its reporting of the story, The Independent refers to the probability that the U.S. would use its veto at the UN Security Council and turns to an “expert” for a quote:
“Staunch US opposition to the latest Palestinian UN resolution to end Israeli military occupation and establish a Palestinian state is part of a long line of actions taken by the Obama administration to shield Israel in international forums,” Josh Ruebner, policy director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, told The Independent.
Josh Ruebner is not an expert or academic source but a member of a radical umbrella organization whose website openly promotes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and refers to Israel as an “apartheid state.”
It’s one thing to quote the concerned parties in this issue i.e. Israel, the Palestinians and the U.S. It’s another to turn to an obviously politicized and anti-Israel third-party source. Ruebner is portrayed as an outside authority when in reality he has no real place in the story. So why then has The Independent quoted him?
When The Independent does eventually quote an academic, he is “John Quigley, a professor of law Ohio State University and the author of several books on Palestinian statehood.” Quigley also happens to be the author of an academic paper “Apartheid Outside Africa: The Case of Israel” where he compares apartheid South Africa to Israel and concludes that Israel practices apartheid.
Is there a common theme running through journalist Andrew Buncombe’s reporting? Just how did he decide who to contact for quotes out of a multitude of potential sources? Is he already well-connected to anti-Israel activists and academics?
These are questions we’d like to know the answers to.
