Israel's South Suffers Barrage of Arab Terror, International Media Sympathizes With Terrorists

If you're dependent on the international media for information about news here in Israel, you'd think that Israel has been attacking innocent "Gandhi style" demonstrators of all ages from Gaza. You'd never know that Gaza has been launching dangerous missiles and fire-causing weapons at Israel.

The Arab terrorist Gazans and their backers choreographed a dangerous situation. Their balloons weren't party balloons. They were incendiary devices developed to burn Israeli fields when hitting the ground. This is causes enormous damage to agriculture and the environment. Simultaneously, they have been trying to destroy the security fence between Gaza and Israel in order to invade and terrorise Israel.  None of their aims are for human rights. And to make a bigger anti-Israel effect, they use human shields, holding children hoping the youngsters would be wounded or killed in order to accuse Israel of cruelty.

At night, security alarms in Southern Israel have been going off to alert Israelis to get into shelters within seconds because of the missiles shot at them. These attacks are ignored by the International media who sides with the Arab terrorists.

What I've just written is the truth, which you're not reading in Reuters or seeing on CNN, BBC etc.

Objective Journalism, Does it Exist?

I used to be a real newshound, addicted to listening to the news, reading whatever newspapers I could find, watching news shows. Yes, the whole works. And I loved the dynamics of politics ever since I was a teen. Now, as you may have noticed from the blog posts here, I'm disgusted and horrified.

There is nothing that even vaguely resembles objective news reporting. Not only do they all have their agendas, but there's no such thing as fact checking. It's beyond ignorance. There's an innocence in ignorance, but nowadays a don't see that at all. There are vicious attacks, like a modern version of the auto-da-fé.

An auto-da-fé or auto-de-fé (from Portuguese auto da fé [ˈaw.tu dɐ ˈfɛ], meaning "act of faith") was the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics and apostates that took place when the Spanish Inquisition, Portuguese Inquisition or the Mexican Inquisition had decided their punishment, followed by the execution by the civil authorities of the sentences imposed.
The most extreme punishment imposed on those convicted was execution by burning. In popular usage, the term auto-da-fé, the act of public penance, came to mean the burning at the stake. Wikipedia

Media interviews are more like either vicious interrogations or the fawning style seen in simplistic fan magazines of old.

At first I was very excited to discover that we could watch BBC News on our television, since I had happily listened to the radio version for decades. Then I had considered it, except for news on Israel*, pretty objective. But as the last American Presidential Campaign began to heat up, their support for Hillary and the Democrats so distorted their reports I could no longer trust their objectivity about anything. And not only hasn't it gotten better, it has gotten much worse. We don't have cable, just a simple "dish," and recently we don't even get the Israeli stations. CNN was never known for its objectivity.

Then  I discovered the English French TV News Channel, and I had great hopes for it, since it's not that interested in American news. I began watching it, but then they began a feature about the Israel-Arab "conflict." It begins with:

"In 1967  Israel invaded..." 

Grrr... That's what people all over the world think, and what is taught in universities even in the USA. And I have this nasty, frightening feeling that even some Israelis are oblivious to the facts, the Arab aggression that led up to the 1967 Six Days War. In order to survive, Israel had no choice other than shoot first.

About thirty 30 years ago, in the days when we hosted many journalists of an amazing selection of international media, I had a talk with a top editor of an American newspaper. I asked him what training, education he looked for when hiring someone starting in the profession. He said that he does not like to hire those with degrees in journalism, since they don't know anything other than how to write. He looks for those who majored in History, Economics, Science etc.

"Any knowledgeable university graduate can be taught how to write a good article, but I can't teach a Journalism graduate facts."

Things have changed drastically in the international media. I no longer have objective sources to learn current events and get an accurate idea of what's really happening in politics. I just know what's happening on the ground here in Israel, but not from the media. Today fake news is all over, and when trying to check accuracy, you really need to be an expert. This is both dangerous and sad. People are making decisions based on lies, fantasies, fake news and worse.

I can't see how it will get better. I am pessimistic for the future.

Here's a picture of a program from the French news channel.

*During the Intifada Part 1, I was horrified to hear an excited BBC radio reporter telling that he was with Arabs throwing rocks on Jews and how they tried to protect their eyes from the teargas the Israeli soldiers aimed at them to stop them. And in those days BBC even came to our house to film us and ask us questions.

BBC-TV News Rampaging vs Trump for Months

Something really awful has taken over the editorial staff of BBC-TV News. We've been watching the international station that we can get on our television for years, and although I've never been happy with its attitude/policy towards Israel, it generally stayed pretty clear of showing any great interest in most other national politics. The same goes for its radio news that we had listened to for decades.

As I remember, considering that this is the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, is that the only country's internal politics considered important is British. That's what is to be expected, and I have no doubt that british citizens who live all over the world count on BBC to tell them what they won't get on their local news stations. But ever since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, they have regular gig chronicling his presidency, always showing him in the worst way possible.

They began by calling it something like "First Hundred Days," I'll edit in the exact name of the program when I can. And  since apparently it has proven popular, they now say one one days plus.

Trump’s World: 100 Days of Change, BBC
Their choice of photo shows what they think of him.

In all the decades I've watched BBC News, including the two years we lived in London, I don't remember anything so negative about an American President. I think they were nicer about Imelda Marcos and certainly never had a special regular gig about any foreign leader. This anti-Trump campaign, and it is a campaign, is the worst type of editorializing there can be on a news station. And editorializing against a legally elected leader of an ally most definitely goes against the official principles of the BBC.

Ironically, they've been showing an "advertisement" for themselves which claims that they never give opinions. It is such an outrageous lie. You'd think -or is it possible?- that Hillary Clinton's speechwriter now works for the BBC!

We're very limited in the news stations we get via the "dish" we have. I can't take it anymore and hope the technician can set us up with a better variety.

Hungarian Anti-semite Handled Truth Better than Madeleine Albright

You might have heard the story, which is now on the BBC movie site about the Hungarian former antisemite, pro-Nazi, who discovered the truth about his background and became an observant Jew.

I was very impressed that the BBC, which isn't known for being at all sympathetic to Jews, Judaism and Israel, is promoting a movie about Csanad Szegedi.

BBC

A leading member of a Hungarian anti-Semitic party, notorious for his provocative comments about Jews has discovered that he is a Jew himself.Ultra nationalist Csanad Szegedi of the far-right Jobbik Party had accused Jews of ‘buying up’ the country, railed about the ‘Jewishness’ of the political elite and claimed Jews were desecrating national symbols. That was until it was revealed that his grandmother was a survivor of Auschwitz death camp and his grandfather was a forced labour camp veteran.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2188722/Anti-Semitic-politician-Csanad-Szegedi-discovers-Jewish-heritage.html#ixzz4APMYhUBl Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Yes, this is an amazing and encouraging story. And it brings me back to the very different reactions of former American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright when she was confronted with her Jewish background.

"Also, the whole aspect of charity and forgiveness and generosity — these are common in all religions as far as I can tell. It’s interesting, I was always the most most religious member of my family. ... Even as a little girl, I played priest. I really find there is a comfort in religion and it doesn’t matter which of the various traditions, it’s a similar aspect. ... The thing that makes me the saddest is the divisions created by religion when it should be the opposite. ... I look for the common threads rather than the divisive ones." Madeleine Albright, HuffPost

What I find most telling, most different in these two people is their general philosophy in life. It's pretty obvious that Csanad Szegedi, as antisemite, lehavdil (to differentiate,) and later as Torah Observant Jew believes there's one right, while Albright goes for her version of general spirituality, no true religion.

Just curious. Are you the "one right" or "many rights" type of person? I know what I am.

More on Our BBC Guest

When BBC reporter, Aleem Maqbool, trekked from Nazereth to Bethlehem he stopped in only one Jewish town, Shiloh, and stayed with me and my husband.

We knew nothing about him when we agreed to host him, but apparently, Honest Reporting considers him one of the most politically hostile correspondents around.

Maqbool's very professional, meaning that he's charming and polite and doesn't argue when interviewing. It's not that he pretended to agree with me, but afterwards he did tell me that he found my interview full of points he hadn't heard before and was hoping to get them all in the final broadcast. No, we haven't seen the final broadcast. Our television only receives Israel's Channel 1 and Jordan. I'm curious about the show and hope that we'll receive a dvd of it.

Maqbool told us that he does visit Ramalla frequently. He also claimed that it's possible to wall Israel in after Israel gives the Arabs the land they want. I mocked that idea as technically impossible, reminding him that "I'm sure your contacts in Ramalla told you how easy it is to breach the walls." He just "smiled" in response. This isn't anything just my paranoid mind devised. It has been broadcast on Israeli news shows, showing various holes in the fence/wall. There is no budget for upkeep.

After twenty-seven years' experience dealing with journalists, diplomats, etc, I don't expect them to be our friends. Only rarely have I been very pleasantly surprised.

I believe in straight-talking bluntness, no wishy-washy politician-like ambiguous political double-talk. There's nothing to be "flexible" about. I'm not "diplomatic." I'm determined and confident, not dreaming. I'm a pragmatist.

If that makes people uncomfortable, big deal.

Experts counseling women in "rape protection" say that it's all in the "body language." The same advice goes for keeping the bullies away.

The parents of the Chabad emissaries, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holzberg, murdered in Mumbai lit Chanukah Candles in India at the location of the terror attack. That's the right reaction.

We're all fighting the same terrorism. We must be unbending. That's the lesson of Chanukah. We will only survive if we're strong and uncompromising.

Our enemies are the descendants of the Biblical Amalek. The gematria of Amalek is the same as the gematria of "doubt." Show doubt, weakness, compromise and Amalek, our enemies will get stronger. It can be likened to a Law of Physics.

That's why we light one candle more each night of Chanukah. By showing our strength, we get gradually stronger and stronger. That is the true lesson of Chanukah.

Chag Urim Same'ach

May We Have An Enlightened Chanukah

Guests From The BBC

We had two people from BBC sleeping over last night. We haven't done this for a while. I'm sure I said that I'd never do it again, but... OK, I hope I said "bli neder," don't consider it a vow.

Aleem Maqbool is trekking, first with a donkey and then by foot, from Nazerth to Bethlehem as a Xmas special.

Basically, his route is part of the Derech Avot, Patriarch's Way, which goes from Shechem, Nablus, to Beersheva. Shiloh's in the middle, and he reached here, accompanied by a photographer, just after Shabbat. Since there aren't any hotels, motels or whatever in modern Shiloh, they've "taken rooms" at the Medad Inn.

I tried clearing out two of the kids' rooms for them. This is no 5 or even 4 star hotel, but as I type this, there's fresh coffee and Herby's legendary Chocolate Chip Cookies waiting for them on the dining room table.

Last night, after they dropped their stuff off, they went to Eli, armed with their camera, just north of us, to check out the "night life" and found a nice pizza place.

After they got back, my husband and I were interviewed, separately as per my suggestion, and then the usual smalltalk before going to sleep. The big surprise was that the photographer, a native Israeli, had been a neighbor of ours over thirty years ago in Bayit V'Gan, Jerusalem. Small world, it's hard to say who was more surprised.

In a short while my husband will give them a tour of Tel Shiloh. More about all this later on.