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May 25, 2001/Sivan 3, 5761, Vol. 53, No.34
Media body count does not compute
GERALD M. STEINBERG
Special to Jewish News
The CNN presenter could barely contain herself. More than 500 Palestinians have died, she reminded Israeli Minister of Internal Security Uri Landau during a May 17 broadcast, as opposed to "only" a few dozen Israelis. Surely this unbalanced body count proved that Israel was to blame for this terrible human tragedy. Driving the point home, she declared that the imbalance was proof of excessive Israeli force.
The body count is a regular part of CNN's slant, and like other examples of "pack journalism," is also a standard feature on the BBC, Reuters, the AP, many newspapers, and other mass media. In this politically correct world, the asymmetric casualty rate is irrefutable proof of Israeli brutality and excessive force (a term that has also become part of the European ritual, and sometimes comes out in U.S. State Department response briefings).
According to this primitive concept of morality, justice requires an even body count. This would mean that whenever a Palestinian terrorist is killed in an Israeli response to eight months of deadly terror, an Israeli life should be sacrificed. This, we are informed, is justice. In this warped universe, the murder of five more Israelis in a suicide bombing in Netanya would seem to be "justice."
No deep philosophical exploration is required to understand that the relative number of casualties is entirely unrelated to responsibility for aggression and violence. During the Second World War, far more German and Japanese civilians were killed in Allied air attacks than were American or British civilians, but only a fool, or second-rate propagandist, would use this statistic to shift the blame for aggression to the Allies.
The same relationship holds true in the current war between Israel and the Palestinians. Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and his cohorts are fully responsible for initiating this carnage, and the high number of Palestinian casualties, as well as the Israeli deaths and injuries from daily terror attacks, are entirely his responsibility. Every child that has been killed in this war, Israeli as well as Palestinian, and every adult, is on Arafat's tab. And yet, in the CNN version of morality, there is no difference between aggressor and defender, between attack and response. The only determinant is the number of dead bodies to be counted, filmed, and fed to the masses between commercial breaks. If there are more dead Palestinians, this must mean that Israel is guilty.
When challenged, spokespersons for the various purveyors of 30-second morality hide behind the pretension that they are "only the messengers," protecting democratic values by providing unbiased information. However, the media's systematic collusion with the Palestinians is finally being exposed.
In a courageous article for the January edition of "Commentary," Fiamma Nirenstein, who writes for the Italian daily, "La Stampa," exposed the dirty secrets. Many of the journalists operating in the Palestinian authority are sympathetic and more than willing to play according to Arafat's rules.
After the lynching of two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority confiscated the films made by the journalists in the area. No one complained, and no sharp protests were lodged. One Italian crew from Mediaset managed to smuggle a film out of the area, and to avoid punishment for their sins, Ricardo Cristiano, from the state broadcasting service RAI, wrote a groveling letter of apology to the PA, and pledged to respect the "rules".
Hamas, the terror group that proudly took credit for the murder and injury caused by the Netanya suicide bombing, openly credits journalists for assisting the cause. The Hamas Internet site includes an account of a gathering that took place on May 6 in Gaza to honor journalists for the their rare courage and daring in joining the struggle against the Zionist enemy. Faid Abu Shimalla, who works for the BBC, pledged to continue working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Palestinian people. Some balance. Some evenhandedness.
The myths of Palestinian victimization and Israeli villainization are not confined to the press, but extend to many international "humanitarian" organizations. While hiding behind balance (meaning token criticism for Palestinian terrorist attacks), groups such as Human Right Watch and Amnesty International publish reports based on unsubstantiated allegations presented by anonymous "witnesses" charging Israeli brutality. These tales are consistent with all the preconceptions, and this is enough to condemn Israel.
Morality is not decided on the basis of popularity, or on CNN's demand for a balanced body count. As long as these distortions are repeated by journalists and international organizations, the damage to the foundations of democracy and justice around the world will grow.
Gerald M. Steinberg is a professor at Bar Ilan University in Israel.
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