Hamas War

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Blaming The Victims

May I just start this with a Refuah Shleimah to Yair Gamliel who was seriously wounded by an an ax-wielding Arab terrorist who trespassed on Bat Ayin, Gush Etzion, Israel.

And Hamakom Y'Nachem the family of Shlomo Nativ, HaYa"D, who was murdered by that same Arab terrorist.

A few things really bothered me concerning the news coverage. If you check the BBC at this time, you won't know what I'm writing about. There is no headline about the Arab terrorist, armed with an ax, who entered a sleepy little Jewish village and attacked and murdered children.

The New York Times writes:
U.S. Says Will Push Hard For Palestinian Statehood
But it ignores the Arab terror attack on innocent Israeli children.


And the Jerusalem Post and the Israeli TV news make a big deal about the fact that Bat Ayin isn't fenced in. The innocent residents of Bat Ayin are being blamed for the fact that a fence didn't stop the terrorist, even though everyone knows that the fences can be easily breached. My town of Shiloh isn't fenced in either.

But those claims aren't new. What really bothered me was when the news announcer said that Hamas supported the attack, and then she added that "it doesn't mean that they did it or that all the Palestinians (sic) support it."

Now, for me that back the days after Yitzchak Rabin's assassination, when all the media and politicians were blaming the "national religious" segment of the population. They were telling us to do "cheshbon nefesh," take a good internal accounting of ourselves, our morals, etc. We were all condemned by "association." When it comes to Arabs, the media considers them all "innocent."

If anyone needs to do "cheshbon nefesh," it's the Israeli media and politicians!

4 comments:

K. Shoshana said...

I read the official Hamas accounts in the North American papers and not one outlet who reported Hamas statement mentions there is nothing remotely sane or normal to take an axe to the heads of children

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
A security expert once said that the problem with having a fence is that a fence needs a gate, and then the gate is watched. The gate is watched carefully and the area around the fence is not watched so carefully. Fences are needed only when the Arabs are able to build extremely close to the edge of a settlement.
The BBC will probably claim that the attack was a legitimate retaliation for something and that the terrorist mistook the kids for adults. Or maybe his medication was at fault.
Hadassa
P.S. I - and probably anyone who's ever lived in Yesha - could fill pages with stories of the security flaws of fences, including electric sensor fences.

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
I checked out the BBC. Immediately after the attack the BBC had a news brief that's off now. The following article - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7978699.stm - is a headline on the Mid-east page. There's not too much they can say right after a child is killed. The real nasty stuff will come later. The news briefs for Lieberman's fraud questions and Livni's condemning the new government are still up.
Hadassa

Batya said...

Kateland, Hadassa,
Thanks, you've both said it well.