Today, National Public Radio (NPR) did its best to promote a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) by the Palestinian Authority, which has rejected negotiations with Israel in favor of a strategy of isolating Israel through the United Nations General Assembly and other international institutions.

Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep set the context for NPR’s coverage by whitewashing the long history of Palestinian war, terror, and rejection of statehood:

For Palestinians, the symbolism of this moment could hardly be better. Back in the 1940s, the United Nations approved the creation of Israel. A second state, a Palestinian state, never came into being…

Inskeep’s use of the passive voice is an attempt to avoid talking about the wars repeatedly waged by Palestinians and Israel’s Arab neighbors–first to prevent the creation of the Jewish state, then to destroy it. Palestinian leaders only belatedly, and reluctantly, embraced the “two-state solution”–but continue to deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

Following Inskeep’s introduction, NPR aired a story by NPR’s Michele Kelemen about Palestinian diplomatic efforts at the UN, which repeated Palestinian complaints about “arm-twisting by Western diplomats and threats by U.S. congressmen to cut off aid to Palestinians,” but failed to mention reports that Muslim and Arab nations are using threats of “punitive measures” against countries that fail to vote for Palestinian statehood.

The story that followed, by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, was even worse. Garcia-Navarro, reporting from Jerusalem and the West Bank, attempted to show “both sides” of the argument by interviewing Palestinians who support the statehood bid, and Israelis who… also support the statehood bid. (more…)

When the calendar approaches the Jewish Holiday of Passover there is usually much discussion and unfortunate new examples of the infamous lie against Jews, the blood libel which charges that Jews use the blood of Gentile children to make Matzo (the unleavened bread eaten as part of the holiday’s observance).

Surprisingly this week, smack in the middle of January, months before Passover, the blood libel is back in the news primarily due to the progressive media’s attack on Sarah Palin for using the term in defending herself against false charges that her rhetoric helped to incite the violence in Tucson which included amongst its victims Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords.

While the media focused on the supposed infraction by Governor Palin, they ignored a more severe infraction by one of their own, Time Magazine. Time’s offense wasn’t about using the term blood libel, or the term for any other uniquely Jewish experience incorrectly. Through the writing of Jerusalem correspondent Karl Vick, Time actually perpetuated the blood libel myth. It wasn’t the usual tale of blood being used for matzo, it was the modern version: because of its wanton desire to steal land from its innocent Arab neighbors, Israel shamelessly spills the blood of the poor peaceful Palestinians.

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After weeks of negotiations, the United States government announced that they would no longer try to force Israel to extend its settlement freeze.  Almost unanimously the media placed the blame for the impasse on Israel.

One of the settlements near the West Bank.

….. after the administration acknowledged its inability to persuade Israel to halt construction of Jewish settlements in disputed areas for 90 days. The failure embarrassed the White House, which had offered Israel various incentives, and left the administration scrambling for a new way to coax the two sides to the negotiating table. (LA Times 12/11)

Politico described the situation by comparing Israel to North Korea and its relationship to China:

Israel, in ways similar to North Korea’s national profile, depends on Washington’s guarantee of its key economic and strategic circumstances. But unlike North Korea, Israel is no longer the supplicant, and realizes that Washington has decided it must acquiesce to Israel’s recalcitrance on Middle East peace, as well as the evolution of an increasing structural division of Palestinians from Israelis within its borders.

If the LA Times, Politico and the other liberal outlets wanted to give a truthful account of what happened to the freeze extension they might have said something like:

Israel offered a ten month freeze to help the US out of a problem caused by our President’s naiveté, but the Palestinians ignored the freeze until it was too late, and any extension of the freeze was sabotaged by Hilary Clinton’s bait and switch tactics and a her refusal to put the agreement in writing.

But the truth doesn’t fit the liberal media’s agenda. They do not want to recognize that this entire settlement issue was caused by this Administration as was the failure to come to an agreement on an extension of the freeze.

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The Old Media is already misreporting the bloody incident off the Gaza coast between a flotilla of Muslim “peace activists” and the Israeli Defense Force. They are, of course, making Israel out to be the bad guys and while it is regrettable that anyone had to get killed in this incident, the fault lies with the armed “peace activists,” not Israel.

That’s right, these are supposed to be peace activists, yet they had armed themselves with bats, metal bars, and slingshots with marbles as projectiles and later firearms that they had hidden on their craft. Why isn’t anyone in the Old Media asking why peace activists are arming themselves?

In fact, the first Israeli troops that boarded the flotilla were only using non-lethal weapons — paintball guns — but this did not stop the Muslims from assaulting the troops with the metal bars, bats and slingshots. The troops did have handguns, but it is reported that as they boarded they were yelling to each other “don’t shoot, don’t shoot.” It is clear that they intended to turn the boats around with as minimal force as possible in order to ensure world opinion that Israel wants to avoid bloodshed when she can.

The Muslims had other ideas as they swarmed the first troops giving vicious physical blows. One soldier was thrown from the top deck 30 feet to a lower deck causing severe injuries. (more…)

U.S.-Israeli relations have hit a 35-year low over the contentious east Jerusalem building project. Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren said: “Israel’s ties with the United States are in their worst crisis since 1975…a crisis of historic proportions.” This is because, according to Barack Obama, Jewish homes in the Jewish homeland “hinder peace” with Muslims. According to the Associated Press:

Israel’s already strained relationship with the U.S. hit a new low last week when it announced the construction plans during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden. The timing of the announcement deeply embarrassed the Obama administration and put plans for indirect peace talks with the Palestinians in jeopardy.

What about the timing of the Palestinian Authority’s “honoring” of a mass-murdering female genocidal bomber, for whom the Palestinians are naming a square in Ramallah? The Jerusalem Post reported: “The ceremony was scheduled to take place on the 32nd anniversary of the attack, the worst terrorist incident in Israel’s history, in which terrorists commandeered a bus and murdered 37 people, including 10 children.” It too was scheduled to take place during Biden’s visit, but was postponed for a week after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked Obama’s Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, to get the Palestinians to cancel it.

“The announcement of the settlements on the very day that the vice president was there was insulting,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Obama adviser David Axelrod also said: “This was an affront, it was an insult, but most importantly, it undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region. For this announcement to come at that time was very, very destructive.” (more…)