The Guardian’s crusade against Israel is simply relentless. In the last few weeks alone, the newspaper which aspires to be the world’s leading “liberal voice” has published the following:
A piece by Omar Barghouti, a leader in the BDS movement, which characterized Israel as an apartheid state and calls for the “right of return” – euphemism for the desire to eradicate Israel’s Jewish majority, and radically redefine it as the 51st majority Muslim state.
A piece by Khaled Diab advancing the view that Israel should cease to exist as a sovereign Jewish state – and a writer who has also expressed his belief that the use of violence against Israelis is a legitimate “means of resistance”.
A piece by Ben White, a regular CiF contributor who has characterized Zionism as an ideology of extermination, which, again, accused it of practicing colonization and ethnic cleansing.
A video, which appears front and center on CiF’s Israel page, to illustrate Neve Gordon’s recent piece, entitled “Ethnic cleansing in the Negev.”
A piece by Mya Guarnieri called “Children are just Israel’s latest victims“.
A piece by Laila El-Haddad entitled “Calling Gaza a Prison Camp is an understatement.”
A Guardian editorial defending, no, praising, an Israeli who was convicted of revealing state secrets to the media.
Two consecutive pieces by Rachel Shabi based on a picture of a female IDF soldier posing next to Palestinian prisoners, which she posted on Facebook – coverage which now includes an entire photo gallery of (9) images of Israeli soldiers’ “trophy pictures,” with absolutely no context provided.
Indeed, this photo from the collection contained the caption:
“Bloodied and broken, the body on the floor is all but ignored by the soldiers”
Of course, the only thing being ignored is the fact that you can CLEARLY see an IV – that is, medical aid – being administered by the Israeli soldier.
In addition to the grossly misleading caption, no other relevant information is provided. We don’t know who the suspect is or the events which ensued leading up to that moment. We are not told if the Palestinian belonged to terrorist organization, if he was armed, if there was firefight, and, if there indeed was a firefight, how it began. In short, we don’t even have the most rudimentary information about the event. We simply have one photo – a snapshot representing one split second frozen in time – and provided only enough text to advance the desired narrative: the cruel and sadistic Israeli hovering above a helpless and innocent Palestinian. Such articles, essays, photographs, and accompanying captions, characterize both Israelis and Palestinians as mere political abstractions – symbols, not the real, nuanced, flesh and blood, complex human actors that they are.
In addition to all of this, writers at the Guardian, at times, frame pro-Israel groups who wage an aggressive defense against such distortions in dark, conspiratorial tones. A recent piece by Jonathan Steele characterizes the U.S. president, and media, as bowing to pressure from the lobby – inferring that any defense whatsoever by the Jewish community will be framed in such classic conspiratorial tones. Such a narrative attempts to delegitimze Jews for the mere act of getting involved in the political process in defense of what they see as their interests.
Jews who are schooled in the often dark and tragic history of our people are not surprised that Israel, the modern state of the Jews, is surrounded by enemies who openly seek her destruction. Yet we also simply can’t avoid being continually shocked that, 62 Israel years after her birth, such enemies are given comfort – politicaly aided, and abetted – by those who claim to possess a progressive orientation.
Let there be no doubt that those of us who understand what Israel’s Independence means in the context of Jewish history – those dedicated to the notion that the modern Jewish state (what Theodor Herzl characterized as the ‘Guardian of the Jews’) shall not perish – will not cease to be outraged, won’t stop fighting this onslaught. We will be, in a word, “relentless” in her defense. We won’t back down, not now, not ever.
