Israel Watchdogs on the media battlefield Pro-Israel media monitors say they are on a mission to keep the world’s pressBy Tibor on Krauszits toes 18 THE JERUSALEM REPORT FEBRUARY 25, 2013 THE JERUSALEM JERUSALEM THE R EPOR T FEBRUARY 25,2013 19 COURTESY HONEST REPORTING Israel Her reasoning: The disproportionate num- as a terrorist organization or a bus bombing ber of Palestinians released in return for a as a terror attack in the name of avoiding single Israeli soldier “tacitly acknowledges ‘value judgments.’” what so many Zionists believe – that the lives Selective omission: Foreign reporters rou- of the chosen are of hugely greater conse- tinely cite Israel’s “occupation” of Gaza, quence than those of their unfortunate neigh- even though Israel unilaterally withdrew bors.” A fact the journalist – described by her from the territory in 2005, uprooting all its employer as “one of Britain’s leading social settlements in the process. “Often the BBC and political commentators” – conveniently omits relevant context that would help to ac- overlooked is that Hamas, not Israel, had in- curately present Israel’s case,” says Simon sisted on the terms of the prisoner swap. Plosker, the Jerusalem-based managing edi- “Orr resorted to the anti-Semitic ‘cho- tor of the influential media watchdog, Honest All sen people’ canard,” Levick says. “It was Reporting. “That matters because the British atrocious.” media has a global influence far beyond its Faced by an outcry, the journalist issued an size,” adds the British Jew, who moved to Adam Levick requires for his job is a laptop apology. Writing in the passive voice of art- Israel in 2005. – and a touch of masochism. He employs ful evasion favored by bureaucrats and poli- Such complaints against the BBC have both to peruse The Guardian, one of Brit- ticians the world over, she noted, “My words been voiced for years. In 2004, senior BBC ain’s so-called progressive dailies, and its were badly chosen and poorly used.” She news editor Malcolm Balen was even tasked popular online spinoff, Comment is Free, then went on to lament the “problematic” with investigating the BBC’s reporting from or CiF. Levick is managing editor of CiF circumstances of Israel’s creation in 1948, the Middle East over persistent allegations Watch, which monitors bias against Israel in before implicitly chiding Israelis for not be- of anti-Israeli bias. His report’s findings are the two publications. He doesn’t have to look ing more open to criticism. rumored to be damning of the corporation, too hard. The editors of CiF and The Guardian did and the BBC has fought against their release. The Guardian is well known for its hostil- not respond to The Report’s repeated re- Subtle verbal cues: Members of Fatah or ity towards Israel, and, despite perfunctory quests for comment. In a recent column, Hamas known for their past involvement in protestations of balance, wears its anti-Zion- however, readers’ editor Chis Elliott ac- terrorism and openly genocidal anti-Semitic ism bias proudly on its sleeve. The newspa- knowledged the use of anti-Semitic termi- views are often labeled “moderate” as long per has eulogized Palestinian terrorists, and nology in certain Guardian articles. “These as they pay lip service to “the peace pro- CiF has posted flattering comments about included,” he wrote, “references to Israel/ cess.” Meanwhile, Israelis who insist on unabashed Jew-haters like Israeli-born saxo- US ‘global domination’ and the term ‘slav- reciprocal concessions from Palestinians in phonist/conspiracy theorist Gilad Atzmon ish’ to describe the US relationship with Is- the land-for-peace scheme may end up being and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. rael.” Journalists, the editor added, “have to labeled “right-wing.” “In The Guardian and especially on CiF, be aware that some examples involve coded “The common media labels include ‘Ne- Israel is the subject of rebuke and moral op- references. They need to ask themselves, for tanyahu is hawkish,’ ‘Abbas is a moderate,’ probrium quite out of proportion to any other example, if the word Zionist is being used as ‘Settlers are all religious fanatics,’ ‘Pales- country,” Levick, a Philadelphia native, who a synonym for Jew.” tinians just want to harvest their olives in now lives in Jerusalem, tells The Jerusalem Bias against the Jewish state, say pro-Israel peace,’” a prolific American Jewish blogger Report. “Their criticisms of Israel contain media watchdogs, comes in several forms who goes by the pseudonym Elder of Ziyon classic anti-Semitic tropes about the danger – from purposeful slants to selective omis- tells The Report. of ‘Jewish power,’ the old charge of dual loy- sions, from subtle verbal cues to outright Outright hostility: In a discussion ahead alties, and sometimes even the insidious sug- hostility. of the US presidential elections last year on gestion that Jews are inherently racist.” Purposeful Slant: In its online country Exhibit A on that last score: Israel’s deci- profiles during the run-up to the London MANY BAttLES, IF LEFT sion in September 2011 to release more than Olympics, the BBC failed to list any city 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, many of them as Israel’s capital, yet declared “East Jeru- UNFOUght, WOULD LEAD convicted murders, in exchange for kid- salem” to be the capital of Palestine. “The napped Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad BBC’s culture of political over-correctness to A FAR WORSE sitUAtion Shalit “is simply an indication,” opined The often hampers impartial reporting on Israel,” FOR ISRAEL’S imAGE in thE Guardian columnist Deborah Orr, “of how says Hadar Sela, a British-born Israeli who inured the world has become to the obscene runs the BBC Watch blog, adding, “The or- MEDIA. WE CAN’T LET thAT idea that Israeli lives are more important ganization’s Editorial Guidelines prescribe than Palestinian lives.” that BBC journalists cannot describe Hamas HAPPEN 20 THE JERUSALEM REPORT FEBRUARY 25, 2013 Ireland’s TV3 channel, presenter Vincent branding the ban “petty and vindictive.” Browne opined, “Israel is the cancer in for- Undeterred, Levick maintains his mission eign affairs. It polarizes the Islamic com- on his blog. His aim, he says, is to demand munity of the world against the rest of the not only balance but also an accurate reflec- world.” That statement, Honest Reporting’s tion of the facts. “The disinformation propa- Plosker points out, has put the Irish broad- gated daily about Israel in [some] foreign caster on a par with Iranian President Mah- media outlets is astonishing,” Levick says. moud Ahmadinejad, who has labeled the “It’s our job to make sure that they’re held Jewish state a “cancerous tumor.” Browne accountable and the truth about the Middle later apologized for his “infelicitous use of East is told.” the word [cancer],” before citing, like The Easier said than done: A hatchet job on Guardian’s Orr, the “injustice [of Israel’s Page 1 carries far more weight than a subse- creation] at the center of the conflict.” quent brief correction at the bottom of Page To most Israelis, the second intifada broke 13 – if any editorial mea culpa is forthcom- out as follows: Then-Prime Minister Ehud ing at all. And once a malicious claim about Barak offered historic concessions to Pales- Israel is afforded legitimacy by mainstream tinian leader Yasser Arafat during the Camp media coverage, it will often gain a life of David 2 negotiations of July 2000 to end the its own – even once proven false – by being conflict. After some dithering, Arafat re- repeated endlessly on social media by “anti- jected them, returned home and launched a Zionists.” bloody uprising against Israel. The fact that cause-and-effect relations are routinely ignored or obscured in me- THE INTERNatIONAL media, however, as dia reports, thus masking the reasons for is their wont, had a different spin on cause Israel’s actions, is cause for concern. The and effect: After the failed negotiations, dis- The Sunday Times of London subsequently IDF’s response to a deadly terror attack gruntled Palestinians started rioting, where- apologized after publishing a blatantly or a series of provocations often ends up upon Israel began responding with brutal anti-Israel cartoon by Gerald Scarfe on being presented as just another case of force. January 27 (International Holocaust Israeli aggression, seemingly out of the The dichotomy between reality and media Memorial Day) featuring Prime Minister blue, against long-suffering Palestinians. coverage proved the tipping point for Shraga Benjamin Netanyahu; (preceding pages) It’s invariably described as “dispropor- Simmons, an American-born Israeli jour- Simon Plosker, managing director of tional.” “We [often] see biased headlines nalist. He set up an email alert team whose Honest Reporting, in the Jerusalem office where chronology is inverted and Israeli members would notify one another of in- countermeasures against terror are the fo- stances of biased news coverage and fire off cus rather than the Palestinian terror that letters to editors, demanding corrections. prompted them in the first place,” Plosker The grassroots activism soon mushroomed progressive journals and blogs for anti-Se- notes. into a professionally run nonprofit organi- mitic content. In 2009, he moved to Israel, Similarly, whereas journalists exer- zation. Today, Honest Reporting has some and was appointed editor of CiF Watch a cise a healthy skepticism towards all Is- 150,000 subscribers worldwide. Headquar- year later, dedicating himself full time ever raeli sources, they rarely extend the same tered in Jerusalem, the media watchdog op- since to combating bias in The Guardian “courtesy” to Palestinian ones. They often erates offices in the United States, the United and its online mouthpiece. allow accusations by pro-Palestinian ac- Kingdom and Canada.