Originally published by Communities @ Washington Times
SAN DIEGO, March 24, 2011 —On March 13, a 12-year-old Israeli girl living in the West Bank settlement of Itamar returned home from a youth event only to walk into unparalleled horror by discovering five members of her family had been ruthlessly murdered in their sleep, including three children, one an infant.
Police suspect the crime was committed by Palestinian militants and it seems many Palestinians have little trouble with that possibility.
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised, but even in the midst of such pure evil, Israel is still seen by a whole lot of people as the true villain here.
Gaza residents from the southern city of Rafah responded to the news by celebrating. Candy was actually handed out on the streets! One resident said that the joy “is a natural response to the harm settlers inflict on the Palestinian residents in the West Bank” (3-12-11, Israeli News).
To his credit, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said he “clearly and firmly denounces the terror attack.” But even he went on to carefully add, “Just as I have denounced crimes against Palestinians.” (3-12-11, Israeli News).
Yes, that moral equivalency is always so helpful.
Response from the mainstream media has also left much to be desired. Many news outlets down played the story. Can you imagine what the response would be had this happened to a Palestinian family? Undoubtedly it would make headlines all over the world for two months.
Of course, this does not mean the incident has been outright ignored. The APA reported on the event in a manner that blurred hard news with rich, ripe editorial:
“Israel responded defiantly Sunday to a bloody Palestinian assault against West Bank settlers by approving construction of new settlement housing, retaliating for the stabbing deaths of a father, mother and three small children with a measure that infuriated Palestinians and, together with the attack, threw already shaky peace efforts into a new tailspin.” (Associated Press, March 12, 2011, Updated, March 13, 2011)
?Melanie Phillips, of The Spectator in Great Britain, complained about this kind of reporting, especially since the APA piece was carried by The New York Times. Unfortunately, Phillips’ complaint may get her into trouble.
Said Phillips, “And as anticipated, the moral depravity of the Arabs is finding a grotesque echo in the moral bankruptcy and worse of the British and American ‘liberal’ media – a sickening form of armchair barbarism which is also in evidence, it has to be said, on the comment thread beneath my post below.”
She also wrote, “The relatives of the massacre victims have made them publicly available in order to show the world the full horror of the Arab barbarism (Spectator, March 13, 2011)
The haystack lighting words, of course, were “moral depravity of the Arabs” and “Arab barbarism.”
A complaint was filed with Press Complaints Commission and the Bedfordshire Police by a group called, Muslims 4UK.
Inayat Bunglawala, chairman of Muslims4UK, said: “Her words went far beyond just denouncing the killings. It was a far more generalized racist outburst against Arabs as a whole.
“If you insert the word ‘Jew’ or ‘Jewish’ where she has referred to Arabs then I am sure she would have no doubt that those words would be anti-Semitic. Just as she abhors anti-Semitism it is important that she maintains the same vigorous anti-racist stance against Arabs. It is just unacceptable to use that kind of language.” (Guardian.com.UK, March 18, 2011)
Maybe, or maybe Melanie Phillips, in a comment that could have been worded better and more specifically, was merely talking about moral bankruptcy of the specific murderers and any Arabs who would celebrate the killing or try to blow some of the blame back Israel’s direction.
Of course, Great Britain’s The Guardian, who quoted Inayat Bunglawala, did not go on in that same article to quote some of the generalizing comments about Israel made in Bunglawala’s own blog, comments such as:
“The Israel lobby views any progress made by UK Muslims in this country’s political life as being against their interests. The only permissible Muslims are those who are prepared to remain silent about the crimes perpetrated by the apartheid state of Israel.” (3/11)
“David Cameron spoke out against any calls to punish Israel for its continuing occupation of Palestinian lands, its illegal Jewish settlements, its cruel and barbaric treatment of the besieged and repeatedly bombed people of Gaza and its known stockpile of nuclear weapons.” (10/10)
“Robert Halfon [a British MP] – you are a total and utter coward, much like the members of the murderous Israeli Defense Forces. Whereas the IDF like to hide inside their tanks while firing shells at little children, you hide inside the House of Commons while making your libelous comments.” (2/11)
Catching on? According to Inayat Bunglawala, Israel is an “apartheid state,” responsible for “cruel and barbaric treatment.” Oh, yes, and the IDF likes to “hide inside their tanks while firing at Israeli children.”
These, of course, are not to be viewed as bigoted comments against Israel or statements that should be examined with a True/False test.
Reactions to evil are often expressed with angry verbiage. Unfortunately, Phillips’ words seem to have caused more of a reaction than the murder of a Jewish family and their baby. Supposedly, we’re to understand the Israeli-Palestinian land disputes as a possible reason for cold-blooded murder and without condoning the murder, nevertheless remain sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians. But the legitimate outrage of a blogger over this incident is not to be taken into consideration while parsing her words.
It remains to be seen how seriously the Bedfordshire Police view this call for an investigation. But the fact that Muslims 4UK thought they could even get their attention at all leaves much to be desired and says something about the climate in Great Britain these days. After all, this is the same country where a good number of schools no longer teach about the Holocaust because it offends their Muslim population, many of whom do not believe the Holocaust even happened (Associated Content.com April 4, 2007).
Future generations will look back and marvel at an era less concerned about evil actions and more concerned about the way evil gets described. Western countries like Great Britain will be studied with raised eyebrows and scratched heads.
Note to our dear and sympathetic British cousins: You are no longer Great Britain! Just Britain!
Share this on
