Recently a facebook group was created to unify people all over the [facebook] world to sympathize for the constituency of Sderot, a border town of the Palestinian occupied region of Gaza. To offer a quick news update to anyone unaware, Sderot, a town of nearly 20,000 has been the recipient of Kassam missiles from their Hamas driven neighbors in the Gaza strip. This facebook group called “Empathy with Sderot Day, 2/20/08 maintains a membership of 6,950. Outstanding.
I was invited to this group from an Israeli friend of mine and old co-counselor Udi, who while attending Hebrew University in Jerusalem is also working on various campaigns to bring relief to the civilians of Sderot and his hometown of Ashkelon (which too has recently been the recipient of attacks from Gaza). I bring up this facebook group because it was the first thing that came to mind after reading an article in the IDS this morning entitled “Palestinians suspend peace talks with Israel as Gaza death toll mounts.” This article (and the article that will appear in tomorrow’s IDS) declares a clear anti-Israel bias, and this is entirely upsetting. In creating this facebook group, Udi encouraged all members to change their facebook photo to feature the graphic above on Feb. 20, so to spread the news about the constant state of alert these Israelis are living in. Tzevah adom translates to “Color Red” or “Red Alert.” Constituents of these two Israeli border cities continuously hear this alarm on a frequent basis as it sounds before missiles land in their neighborhoods.
After reading this article, I am forced to wonder why the editors at this student press (who most likely are less concerned with Israel’s representation in the media than I) selected this Associated Press (AP) story to print in their publication today, and whether or not they realize that they are making a solid statement by printing this article, and giving it this particular title. Everyone who follows the current events of the nation and world knows that an anti-Israel bias often prevails in CNN, Fox and well, now, the Indiana Daily Student, and I question these motives. Are the journalists at our campus newspaper sitting in the Ernie Pyle building with a stated agenda, or are they nonetheless finding the first AP story and photo that pops up on their screen and placing it on their Nation & World page. Is the anti-Israel bias that abounds American media more so the result of motive or ignorance? If I were to ask the editors of any daily press that strives in its mission towards objectivity why they chose to feature a photograph illustrating Palestinians mourning the death of a Palestinian teenager shot by an Israeli settler, how would they answer me?
1 comment:
Okay, Becca, two comments and a question:
1. Instead of just stating that there's an anti-Israel bias in the American press, prove it. Do the research and see if you can back up what you're saying. (And then, of course, you'll need to explain what an "anti-Israel bias" is to you.)
2. Sderot is an interesting place in a lot of ways: among them that it was an Israeli "border town" where Israel settled many of its new immigrants. Working class towns such as these have been described by some historians as notorious for Israeli governmental neglect in terms of both money and services. Now that it's being pummeled by rockets from Gaza, however, Sderot's being elevated as a symbol of Hamas's aggression, and the center of a clarion call for Jewish aid from around the world.
The question: How does one story, which you've described as being rather innocently (or naively?) chosen, suddenly fit into a whole fabric of symbolism and social communication in the way you've described? And why this particular use of symbolism? Is it really for Sderot, or for something else?
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