(Note. Over the years, I have written quite a few posts about media bias. Many focused on the New York Times. I have suggested to some on the left that they can pick out any day's edition of the New York Times, and I will show them the bias. This post focuses on a single front page story, continued for a full half page on page 17, of the April 21, 2023 New York Times. The article is titled "Moves by Israel Open a Divide With U.S. Jews." And yes, I acknowledge that conservative media also has a bias. However, my friends on the left often are unable to detect the subtle bias of the mainstream media.)
On page one we learn of the new "far-right" government in Israel. Yes, there are a couple ministers who might be described as far-right. But Benjamin Netanyahu is not, and he is the Prime Minister. Besides, a descriptive term such as "conservative" government, is not sufficiently disparaging. Nor, apparently, is even "right-wing" government. And make no mistake, the idea is to disparage the Netanyahu government. We are also told of this government's "efforts to undermine Israel's independent judiciary." This is a gross exaggeration at best. (See the March 30, 2023 post regarding "Israel's Proposed Judicial Reform, Part II," for a fair discussion of the proposals.)
On page 17 we get many quotes from prominent American Jews and American Rabbis. These people are Democrats and left-wing. They start with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass): "On this issue there is unanimity." No, there is not. "There are extreme concerns about the direction that Israel is headed, toward illiberal democracy." The current government was democratically elected. The conservative parties won. The left in Israel can no more tolerate that than the left in the US was able to tolerate the victory of Donald Trump.
After saying P.M. Netanyahu previously courted support from Republicans and evangelicals, they malign our former president with this: "President Donald J. Trump, in turn, did virtually whatever Mr. Netanyahu wanted." What President Trump did was show his support for Israel by moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel's capital city of Jerusalem, and by recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and by refusing to fund the Palestinian Authority until they stopped killing Jews. But the leftists at the New York Times opposed those measures. They opposed U.S. support for our greatest ally in the Middle East, and one of our greatest allies in the world. The Times prefers the anti-Israel stances taken by Presidents Obama and Biden.
The Times: "For American liberals, the Netanyahu government's push to overhaul the judiciary came on top of the marginalization of liberal parties in Israel, despair in Gaza and the absence of progress toward Palestinian autonomy and equal rights." The marginalization of liberal parties? Does the Times no longer believe in democracy? The liberal parties lost in the last election. Despair in Gaza? Did the Times forget that Gaza is run by Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization? Did the Times forget that Hamas does not accept Israel's right to exist? The absence of progress toward the Palestinians? Did the Times forget all the times that the Palestinians have been offered a state of their own, only to refuse as long as Israel still exists, with the Palestinians choosing war instead?
I give the Times credit for providing a quote from Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, the strongest pro-Israel organization in the U.S. Although the quote comes near the very end of the article. The Times asserts that Mr. Klein said that "American Jews of all stripes see its high court as the last lever of liberal power," although that sentence is not put in quotes by the Times. Here is what they quote Klein as saying: "That is the main motivator" of American Jewish criticism. "They're losing their power to control policy." Exactly.
One of the biggest objections to the judicial reforms is that politicians - not sitting justices and bureaucrats - would be able to select High Court justices. The conservative parties won the last election in Israel, and if the reforms pass, those conservative politicians would be able to select High Court justices. How is that any different from all the objections we heard about President Trump being able to appoint 3 justices to the Supreme Court? Not only did the left viciously attack Trump's nominees to the Supreme Court, a number of Democrats decided the selection process needed to be changed, or there needed to be term limits for the justices, or the Court needed to be expanded under Biden so that more left-wing justices could be nominated.
Is there bias throughout the media? Yes. But the more subtle bias tends to be employed by the left-wing/mainstream media.
No comments:
Post a Comment