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Human Interest Stories in New York Times Skewed Toward Palestinians

(CAMERA) Ricki Hollander - On May 2, the New York Times published a detailed human interest story on a Palestinian in Beit Hanoun in Gaza whose house was hit and whose son was injured by shrapnel from an Israeli artillery shell fired in response to Kassam rockets launched at Israel by Palestinians from that area. Israeli suffering is minimized by the way the deadly Kassam rockets are described: "the inaccurate, homemade Kassams." "Homemade"? Does the Times really not know that the Kassams are made in a bomb factory? And do they truly fall "harmlessly," when thousands of Israeli parents live in fear every day that their child will be killed or maimed by them? Israeli civilians in Sderot, Netiv Ha'asara, Yad Mordechai, and other southern Israeli communities have been killed and traumatized by Palestinian rocket attacks. Netiv Ha'asara was hit by over 100 rocket and mortar shells in the past three years. On July 17, 2005, Dana Glakowitz, 22, was killed there while sitting on her front porch. On November 2, 2005, five Israelis were injured in a mortar attack on Netiv Ha'asara by Palestinian terrorists firing from Gaza. The southern Israeli town of Sderot has been the target of hundreds of rocket attacks. On June 28, 2004, Mordechai Yosefov, 49, and his grandson Afik Zahavi, 3, were killed outside a kindergarten by Kassam rockets. Dorit Aniso, 2, and Yuval Abebeh, 4, were cut down by Palestinian rockets on September 29, 2004. On January 15, 2005, Ella Abukassis, 17, was killed while shielding her younger brother from a Kassam rocket. So far in 2006 there have been four human-interest stories in the Times on Palestinians versus none on Israelis: "Warm and Fuzzy TV, Brought to You by Hamas" (Jan. 19); "One Booming Business in Gaza: Tunneling for the Gunrunners" (Jan. 24); "Head High, Hamas Member Returns from Israeli Jail" (Mar. 1); "Gaza Crossings: Choked Passages to Frustration" (Mar. 4). The New York Times has essentially ignored the Israeli targets of the Palestinian attacks from Gaza. Rarely if ever does the newspaper run human interest stories interviewing families or friends of the victims or examining the effects of the daily disruption of civilian life in southern Israel.
2006-05-05 00:00:00
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