Conflicting viewpoints on the Mideast’s eternal problems are the stuff of honest reporting and always welcome. However, the July 9 issue of the JTNews, with its two slanted, lengthy articles targeting Israel as the culprit for daring to defend itself against non-stop Arab attacks is truly bizarre.
Example 1: For some reason, the JTNews assigned its own reporter to cover a church gathering sponsored by a pro-Palestinian group (“The flotilla disaster, from the other side”). Did the JTNews expect anything but what they reported at length which was a lengthy anti-Israel diatribe by the four “pro-Palestinian speakers?”
Example 2: Equally strange and sad is the special article (“A compassionate search for reality”), written by local resident Philip Gerson describing his “compassionate” journey which includes Christians, Jews and Muslims, all yearning for peace. But again, sadly, Mr. Gerson unwittingly displays his approach, when he writes: “I spent seven days in Israel and East Jerusalem (emphasis added)” In his view, it seems, East Jerusalem is not part of Israel. Mr. Gerson is sincere in his love of Israel, I’m sure, but to parrot the long-refuted Arab claims as fact is very sad and telling. Also, he fails to report who paid for this probably well-intentioned journey.