I just heard an infuriating broadcast on Morning All Things Considered (a program that was particularly woefully mistitled this morning--it should have been One Side Considered) on the situation in Israel and the West Bank. It was shockingly blatant anti-Israeli propaganda, even for them.

First, they give a run down of the news--Israel is still ignoring the U.S. calls to withdraw, except for a couple villages (which are not really part of a withdrawal, but just going through the motions to try to assuage world opinion). They are still holding the major cities, and "claiming" to have found rockets close to Jerusalem.

But the worst part was when they reported that there was a firefight on the Church of the Nativity. The reportage is that the Israelis have fired on it. The Israeli's "claimed" to have been fired on first (but who can believe those lying Jews, I suppose one is to infer from the way they say it). They report anger from the Holy See, with a quote from some representative, who describes the attack as "barbaric," and there is "no excuse."

Absolutely no mention is made of the fact that armed Palestinian terrorists have been holed up there for days, possibly with hostages. Not just no criticism--no mention. If one only heard the report, and had no other knowledge, one would assume that the Israelis simply attacked one of the holiest Christian sites, with no true provocation.

Where is the condemnation, where is the outrage, at the Palestinians for taking over the Church in the first place? I've heard absolutely none, including from the Holy See.

Then, after the "news," they of course have the obligatory, unbalanced interview with Peter Jennings' ex-girlfriend, Hanan Ashrawi. They pitch a bunch of softballs at her, asking how terrible it is, expressing sympathy, asking if it's true that she's depressed and without hope, as she goes through her litany about Israeli "terrorism" and "war crimes," how the Palestinian Authority is being dismantled and how the world simply stands by while Israel is not held accountable.

They don't, of course, sully the moment by asking any unpleasant questions concerning Palestinian, or Palestinian Authority accountability for murders of Israeli civilians, or about the weapons caches being found. Again, if one heard only this broadcast, one would never know that prior to the incursion, Israel had been plagued by waves of murder bombers. No, it's just the innocent Palestinian people being oppressed by the Evil Jews.

Disgusting.

Are you surprised? I've sent you email each time I actually listen to an NPR report and, at this point, their bias is not surprising. The trouble, of course, is that their listening audience may not be as well read as yourself or people who visit weblogs--they will absorb this tripe and not question it.

I wrote to USS Clueless some time back on a Reuters slide show I saw on Yahoo.com that, to a day-old human, would have represented a story not unlike the one you conveyed from listening to NPR. You were left with the idea that Israel was this maniacal powerhouse marching through killing anything in sight--and that they were enjoying it.

The myopic view of some media outlets is shocking. The odd effects without causes views of the world...

The problem with NPR is that we're paying for this tripe.

I want my money back.

Myria

See also "Deus volt!" at http://avoyagetoarcturus.blogspot.com/2002_04_01_avoyagetoarcturus_archive.html#75166219.

Lucky for them it's 2002, not 1002.

Myra - write your Congresscritters. If every blogger or blog-reader who's POId by NPR did so, we might start to see some changes.

That reminds me of something I heard on ATC in the early 90s, one of the things that finally turned me off of Always Taunting Conservatives. There had been some kind of provocation and response in Israel, I forget exactly what. It was shortly after Arafat had, in English, hedgingly recognized the existence of Israel--though not in Arabic, of course. Bob Edwards or another "perfectly modulated voice of reason" was reporting. He concluded that "Israel says that the PLO is a terrorist organization. The PLO has recognized Israel and is calling for dialogue." I was, like, christ! What turnip truck did _you_ fall out of?

"One Side Considered"? "All Things Distorted"?

That's why I dropped my NPR membership two years ago.

You seem to be the type of individual who reads anti-semitism into everything. Understand that criticism of Israeli policy is not criticism of all jews. I'm sure you are bothered when african americans cry racism at the slightest provocation. I see little difference here.

You seem to be fantasizing (no wonder you don't want to leave a name).

No one, in the original post, or any of the comments said anything about anti-semitism.

We only pointed out that the broadcast was totally one sided.