The irony that Israel, which is a nuclear menace and major aggressor in the Middle East region, portrays itself as a victim of its neighbours cannot be overstated. To legitimise the state of permanent war, Israel sought early on to portray its citizens as actual or potential victims of wars and persecution inflicted by Palestinian resistance and Arab states, which in turn necessitated Israel’s use of permanent war and persecution as “retaliation”.
Ha’aretz’s correspondent covered the story of the city’s unification after the Six-Day War. Fifty years later he revisits the dramatic decision that changed the face of the Middle East. He reports that this critical act, which for 50 years has prevented peace, was not a result of strategic planning or motivated by existential national need…
Israeli author Shlomo Sand writes: Zionism – the idea of a “Jewish State” – was at first fully secular and socialist, but how to define “a Jew” in a way that includes both the religious and the nonreligious (and no Arabs)? Eventually, religious features were appropriated and nationalized: the “need” for more land became a holy pact with God; Israel is only for Jews, not “all of its citizens.”
President tells Jewish GOP confab that recognition, upending US policy, was made during a ‘quickie’ briefing; says U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman reacted ‘like a wonderful, beautiful baby’
Standard Operating Procedure: top news outlets reporting on the Golan Heights issue have failed in their journalistic duties: euphemisms, partial truths, and omissions abound.
A study of 50 years of headlines in 5 top newspapers finds that media coverage of Israel-Palestine favors Israel by providing more overall coverage, more positive coverage, and greater access to Israeli voices than to Palestinian ones. Much of this can be attributed to pressure from the pro-Israel lobby.
Fifty years ago, Israel fought a war of choice: the Six Day War. Israel’s own leaders indicate that the “existential threat” in 1967 was a myth.
Author Jeremy Hammond addresses in detail the inaccurate rendition by Bret Stephens that was published by the New York Times, in which Israel is the alleged victim of aggression…
Former CIA officer Melvin Goodman reveals the questionable role played by presidential advisor Walt Rostow, and describes how Israeli leaders lied to the White House about the start of the war, lied to the U.S. ambassador about non-existent Egyptian military movements, and lied to everyone about Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty…