How many of you know that several children were killed during the IDF operation in Gaza last week? Everyone? But of course. The victims are paraded in front of the cameras, their names, ages, and quotes from families pushed at the media around the world. But when it comes to Israeli victims of terror, can you remember seeing the names or ages of victims in any mainstream media source?
The media do not disappoint. Well, they do, but they do not surprise. Throught the non-Israeli media, The perpetrator of the massacre is named, aged, and there are quotes from his family about how proud they are that their son murdered seven children and one adult. But not the victims. The Israeli victims of terror attacks have no names.
The Times Online named the murderer and gave the quote on the first page of their article. The names and ages of the victims are buried in the very last paragraph of the story. And there’s a photo slideshow of the funeral procession, complete with headshot of the murderer.
The AP doesn’t bother to name the victims. The murderer is named in the seventh graf. And of course, they implicitly blamed Israel for the attack. The lede:
Thousands of Israelis gathered outside a bullet-scarred Jerusalem rabbinical seminary on Friday to mourn eight students killed by a suspected Palestinian gunman, while an Israeli official said the country would not suspend peace talks.
A bearded rabbi recited Hebrew psalms line by line, the crowd repeating after him, in memory of the dead, one of whom was 26 and the rest between ages 15 and 19. People packed nearby balconies to observe the ceremony, after which the bodies were to be taken for burial.
Naming the murderer:
The family of Alaa Abu Dheim, a 25-year-old from east Jerusalem, said he had carried out the attack. They described him as intensely religious, but said he was not a member of a militant group and had planned to get married in the summer.
Abu Dheim had been transfixed in recent days by the news of bloodshed in Gaza, said his sister, Iman Abu Dheim. “He told me he wasn’t able to sleep because of the grief,” she said.
The moral equivalency:
Afterward, Jewish seminarians gathered outside the library and screamed for revenge, shouting, “Death to Arabs,” while in Hamas-controlled Gaza thousands of Palestinians celebrated in the streets.
CNN names the killer in the third graf. This is the most it gives the victims:
The students, ages 15 to 26, died Thursday night when a gunman armed with an automatic weapon and a handgun slipped into the school and began shooting.
Notice the passive “died,” instead of “were killed.” Notice the use of the age range, which minimizes the fact that two were 15, two were 16, two were 18, and one 19. Four were minors. Children. The accompanying video that CNN is running says “The victims were men in their late teens and twenties, all devout students of Jewish law.”
The AFP names the killer and not the victims. But they at least point out how young the victims were.
Eight students — most of them 15 or 16 years old — were shot dead late Thursday at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, a seminary in predominantly Jewish west Jerusalem. Another nine were wounded.
Reuters doesn’t bother to name or age the victims, but is happy to call the seminary a college, making you think none of the victims were children.
Hamas is claiming resposibility for the attack. More on that later.
Tired of the media double standard for Israel?
So am I.
How sad.
I too see the double standard, not only against Israel but against all people who oppose this cancer of “radical Islamism”
I don’t understand it, I can’t explain it, and it saddens me to see so many people die.
Pray God send comfort to the families,
only he can help us now.
The worst was the BBC (big surprise – not). Its initial reports had the yeshiva as a military studies yeshiva graduating army troops.
chsw
A small grammatical point: “died” is active, while “were killed” is passive. “Died” makes it seem like happenstance, while “were killed” erases any perpetrator. I prefer “a Palestinian gunman murdered eight young Israeli yeshiva students…” Active verb and perpetrator.
Double standard department:
Israel has the draft.
Therefore, all Israelis are soldiers, and may be properly targeted by Palestinian freedom fighters using the only weapon available to them in their desperation. These militants may be women or children.
But let the IDF harm the hair of one child’s head in trying to take out the bomb maker hiding behind him . . .
The hatefest continues across the web.
Huffington had to close comments because
of all those blaming the Jews themselves
for this crime.
Professor Juan Cole and his multitude of
hate filled commenters once again call
Israel a criminal state. All the while
excusing the “naughty” actions of the
“few Palestinians” who commit terror.
In the Guardian the vast majority of
posters claim it is the Jew’s own fault
due to their mis-treatment of the
Palestinians.
Just as in the 1930’s most of the world
is denying the humanity of Jews while
twisting the facts for their own
purposes.
Thank G*d for the United States of
America and it’s wonderful people
who continue to rally to the cause
of Rightousness.
Arabs in Mandate Palestine were carrying out what we would now call terrorist attacks against Jews, unarmed ones for preference, from at least 1921 on. It’s the Jews’ fault for mistreating the poor Palestinian Arabs since 1967? Riiiiight. Pull the other one, it’s got bells on.