(Jerusalem Post) Tom Gross - Compared to past international media coverage of Ariel Sharon, which on a number of occasions in recent years has gone beyond personal demonization to outright anti-Semitism, the reporting on Sharon since he suffered a massive stroke last week has been relatively benign. But only up to a point. Many articles in the Western media have retailed untruths, almost in passing, as though they were incontrovertible historical facts: Sharon initiated the second intifada, Sharon ordered the Sabra and Shatila massacres, and so on. There have also been some nasty headlines and cartoons. "He is the King Kong of massacres" ran a headline of a news report on Sharon on Jan. 8 in The Observer, the Sunday affiliate of Britain's Guardian newspaper. "Ariel Sharon, agent of perpetual war," was a headline in the relatively moderate Lebanese paper, the Daily Star, on Jan. 7 by its editor-at-large and frequent guest on America's NPR, Rami Khouri. "Sharon's legacy does not include peace," introduced a Jan. 5 feature on the BBC News web site by world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds.
2006-01-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive