Israeli Deaths Matter More

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Posted in Human Rights | Tagged Human Rights

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The horrific shooting of eight young people at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem last Thursday was followed by saturation media coverage. International statesmen lined up with condemnations of the attack and condolences for the victims and their families. Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced: "This is clearly an attempt to strike a blow at the very heart of the peace process.� (Jon Smith, Press Association, 'Brown: massacre "strikes at heart of peace"', March 7, 2008)

Foreign Secretary David Milliband described the slaughter as �an arrow aimed at the heart of the peace process so recently revived.� (Donald Macintyre and Eric Silver, 'Massacre in the heart of Jerusalem', The Independent, March 7, 2008)

The Guardian�s front page declared: "the descent into violence in the Middle East accelerated last night" in a "dramatic escalation". (Rory McCarthy, �Eight dead as gunman hits Jerusalem religious school�, The Guardian, March 7, 2008). A Daily Mirror headline read: �Kids Murdered In The Library� (Allison Martin, March 7, 2008). The Telegraph asserted that the attack �is likely to be remembered as the moment the Middle East peace process died.� (Tim Butcher,  �Hopes of peace in the Middle East are blown away in a hail of bullets�, Daily Telegraph, March 7, 2008)

The contrast to reactions to the killing of over 120 Palestinians, including many women and children, in occupied Gaza the previous week could hardly be more striking. On one day alone, 60 people died in a hail of Israeli firepower using F-16 planes, Apache helicopter gunships, tanks, armoured bulldozers and ground troops.

No Western leader was heard condemning the Israeli assault on Gaza as �an attempt to strike a blow at the very heart of the peace process.� To our knowledge, no reporter suggested that �the peace process� had now �died�. No headlines screamed of Palestinian babies �murdered� in their beds. In short, news reports from the Gazan bloodbath typically lacked the anguished details and tone that suffused the reporting from Jerusalem less than a week later.

To read the rest of this media alert, please go to:

http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php