Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East
August 8, 2011
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
Double Standards Continue
Has anyone seen the usual protesters marching in their masses in the main cities of New Zealand? Where are the outraged editorials and pontificating politicians spouting their gratuitous advice? If you are mystified as to the silence enveloping those who normally have no hesitation in either condemning Israel or demanding boycotts of that country, read more about the selective amnesia afflicting our champions of the oppressed.
Michael Kuttner
I have been scanning the NZ media in an effort to ascertain if there has been an outburst of outrage over the massacres in Syria and the trampling of human rights in that country and indeed elsewhere in Arab//Moslem States. Guess what? No reports of massed marches by screaming protesters waving placards full of incitefull accusations and pictures have been reported nor have I seen anything about university academics and students organising boycotts.
I have looked in vain for editorials pontificating on the outrages taking place and offering advice as to what must be done to protect innocent civilians who are being deliberately targeted by their own Governments. Likewise I have not discerned any condemnations of the hypocrisy displayed at the United Nations by China and Russia who prevented that institution from taking any meaningful action.
I have failed to see any condemnations about the continuing rocket attacks on Israeli civilians by the Hamas terrorist regime in Gaza nor any balanced commentary questioning how Israel is expected to make peace with those whose sole aim is the elimination of the Jewish State. When Osama Bin Laden was assassinated by the USA, there was universal acclaim by democratic countries for this targeted killing of a terrorist mastermind. Do you remember what the reaction of the media and Governments was to the same action carried out by Israel against terrorist leaders responsible for the murder of Jews? Israel was condemned and pilloried by almost every media outlet and international organisation. Double standards? Of course.
Resolutions were passed against Israel at the UN. Double standards? Naturally.
One could reel off more NZ newspaper examples of selective unbalanced reporting: The deafening silence concerning Hezbollah and Syria’s complicity in the murder of the late Lebanese Prime Minister and their takeover of Lebanon which has now become a client State of Syria and a bastion for terror groups with thousands of rockets aimed at Israel. The silence as Iran continues threatening to wipe Israel off the world map and its headlong rush towards acquiring the means to do so. The lack of comment over the refusal of the Arab Palestinians to sit down and talk peace or acknowledge the Jewish State as the historical home of the Jewish People. Have you heard any protests against the racist apartheid statement by Mr. Abbas that no Jews (code name for Israelis) will be allowed to live in a prospective Palestinian State? Has anyone in the media wondered why there are one and half million Arabs (Moslems & Christians) living freely as citizens in Israel, yet accusations of apartheid are hurled against it while there is total silence about the Palestinian Authority’s racist policy?
Saudi Arabia’s refusal to permit non Moslem places of worship and their banning of Christians and Jews from entering the Kingdom if they carry or display Bibles, Crucifixes, Star of David or other non Islamic religious items is met with blanket silence in the media. Israelis are banned from entering the country because Saudi Arabia considers itself still in a state of war with Israel, a fellow member of the United Nations. Neither the media nor the international community, seem to see anything wrong with this. Double standards? Without a doubt.
I recently read a report about two Moslem women in New Zealand who had been banned by the drivers from getting on a bus because they were wearing clothing which covered their head and face. Imagine if this had happened in Israel. Every newspaper and media outlet plus all the usual Israel bashers would be in a frenzy of outraged condemnation. Contrast that with the actual reaction to the above incident.
A few muted reports, no mass marches, no boycott demand, no emergency meeting of the UN Security Council or General Assembly, an opinion piece by Paul Holmes ridiculing women who covered their hair and demanding that minorities should conform to the ‘standards’ set by the host country, one or two editorials and that was it.
Whether we agree with women covering their faces or not, the fact remains that the local reaction to them being banned from riding on a bus was not the same as if it would have happened in Israel,
Why? Double standards of course.
By now you should be able to discern a troubling pattern in the way newspapers in particular treat news and opinions about Israel as compared to other countries. Why this should be is something all of us need to deeply ponder.
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who was for many years actively involved with several Jewish Communal organisations. He now lives with his family in Israel.
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