16 OPINION
TO ADVERTISE CALL 020 3906 8488
OPINION
17 JUNE 2021
The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper
It’s the way you tell it OPINION PIECE BY JAMES J MARLOW “Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas last night (Tuesday) and bombed several targets in the Gaza Strip.” This is how many of the news networks reported the news on Wednesday morning. Then comes the line, “Israel says, this was in retaliation for incendiary balloons launched from the territory”. Sky, BBC, ITN, LBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, and the list goes on. This prompted the mob of haters to comment on social media with lines like: “Homemade fire balloons versus US bombs – Is there a better example of disproportionate use of force?” This came from popular Jewish anti-Israel activist, Ariel Gold, based in New York. Also on my twitter thread, an account named, Jorge Orwell with the sarcastic words: “Balloons vs Fighter jets seems like a fair fight to me”. The problem is that many people expect the worst from Israel. Many have it in their
Israeli soldiers try to extinguish fire in an area close to the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip
heads, that Israel is the “bad boy” in the classroom. He is the one who causes most
THE PERFECT GIFTS FOR
EVERYONE
BUY NOW from
www.hermieshop.co.uk Quote JW29 at checkout to claim your 20% discount. 20% discount applies to mugs only. Offer ends at 11.59pm on 31st August 2021.
20% OFF
REG. PRICE £8.99
ONLY
£7.19 EACH +P&P Quote JW29 at checkout to claim your 20% discount.
of the friction, anti-social behaviour, provocation and of course the playground fights. They blame the parents and constantly tell their kids, to stay away from “that boy”. But wait, after all the anti-Israel propaganda for many years in the media, the Jewish state was suddenly praised worldwide with their Covid vaccination roll-out programme. So what happened? It is as if someone, somewhere said, Israel cannot be doing everything right. Let’s dig carefully to find some dirt. Next you have an “editor” who says, make sure you connect it with the Palestinian issue. What comes next? “Israel denies Palestinians the vaccine”. The truth was: (1) The Palestinian Authority never requested any assistance. (2) They had their own independent Health Ministry, made possible by the internationally recognised legal document known as the Oslo Accords. (3) Their Secretary General of the PLO, the late Saeb Erekat, insisted that Palestinians did not accept health care from Israel, despite using Israeli hospitals himself, on many occasions, for Covid and other issues. (4) The PA already signed a deal to receive the Russian vaccine, Sputnik. If you wish to mislead the public, you would write “Israel bombed Gaza targeting militia military compounds”. It’s not incorrect. It happened on Tuesday night. But the headline or lead-in on the news channels, is highly misleading and misses a chunk of the vital story piece. How about: “Palestinian Hamas launched more than 300 hundred incendiary balloons from Gaza into Israel, setting at least 30 separate property and agricultural land fires across the south. “In response the Israeli air force targeted Hamas compounds in the Gaza Strip”. Both statements are correct, but the
THEJEWISHWEEKLY.COM
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
second one gives more of an explanation of what actually occurred. But news editors will tell you, people don’t have time to read the details, they just need the headlines and brief bullet points of the story. If that’s the case, (and it is) Israel has once again been demonised with an inflammatory headline and this could affect Jewish communities around the world, (which it has done and may continue to do so). The truth is Hamas launched the balloons in response to the Jerusalem flag-day parade which took place in the old city on Tuesday. Hamas once again claimed victory. They always do. But you have to give them credit. As a result of their threats of firing rockets into Jerusalem if the parade went ahead, Israel had no choice but to deploy the iron dome again. They also re-routed the parade so it would not enter the old city through the Damascus Gate and it altered flight paths for aircraft heading to Ben Gurion airport. That’s a victory. Funny how this annual march has taken place every year, for more than 50 years with little fuss, in celebration of the reunification of Jerusalem known as Yom Yerushaliyim. Yes, this time it was re-scheduled from May 10, after Hamas fired rockets into Jerusalem, but it rarely gets this much world attention. James J. Marlow is a broadcast journalist previously working for ITN, EuroNews, LBC Radio, Daily Express and a number of Jewish publications. In addition, he ran a Media and Communications Training Operation and was a consultant at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. He was also responsible for the training of Shlichim at the Jewish Agency and Bnei Akiva.
