LETTERS to 'E&P' on Media Coverage of Israel and Gaza

By: E&P Staff Here is a sampling of some of the many letters, pro and con, received here in response to commentary by Editor Greg Mitchell on media coverage of the buildup to Israel's invasion of Gaza, and events since (still posted near the top of our site). To comment, contact the email below or visit our blog at: The E&P Pub

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You?ve brought to light an issue that has concerned me and many others who are reading and watching the news coverage of the Gaza invasion.

The same veil of silence that silenced the US media leading up to the war in Iraq has now fallen over the Gaza situation. My question is what?s happened to the US media? In the UK, the media seems to be much more vigorous?aggressively questioning the rationale of their government?s positions on all issues, including the most pressing ones of the day.

I hope other journalists follow in your footsteps.

Brian Owens
American citizen based in Stockholm, Sweden
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Thank you for your gutsy analysis of the Orwellian news coverage of the Gaza situation.

MacLeod Cushing

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Your byline says New York but you must be living in a media-free cave.

NPR, CNN, MSNBC, and countless web news sites have provided plenty of coverage of the Israeli action in Gaza. Most of it has been visibly biased in support of the Palestinians. Your stating that coverage has been one-sided in favor of Israel is a gross misstatement of the
facts and may be your opinion, but is hardly reporting or objective journalism.

The New York Times is one newspaper, not "the media", and what "helpful balance" you ascribe to CNN is just plain bullshit. CNN, along with NPR, which has also heavily covered the conflict since the air strikes began, are the most obviously pro-Palestinian media outlets in America.

George Lakehomer
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I am a Canadian from a Palestinian origin. I never replied to any author or send feedback but after reading your words I felt obligated to send you this email just to say Thank You for being fair. Only God knows how much civilian Gazans are going through while the whole world is watching and switching channels while sitting on their comfortable couches enjoying their hot drinks... I sometimes wonder if there is any conscience left.. let alone a true journalism that is unbiased. Again, Sir, I wanna thank you.

A.Hajjaj
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Just a curious question: In your Jan. 4 column about U.S. media "silence" on the latest Gaza violence, I wonder why you failed to question where the coverage was of Hamas' stepped-up shelling of Israeli towns and villages prior to the IDF response. Absent such a question, which I think is a fair one because the military response isn't occuring out of the blue but in response to violent provocation, the column smacks of Palestinian sympathizing. It could have been written by Hamas' propaganda office.

And I question your label of the 2006 Lebanon invasion as a "fiasco" - which seems to be the lazy analysis because Western journalists don't have much skill or knowledge of military affairs. I thought the goal of that war was to end Hizbollah shelling of northern Israel ... which is exactly what happened.

You also make of point of quoting people discussing U.S.-made weapons being used by the IDF in Gaza and Lebanon, but don't mention that Hamas and Hizbollah is largely armed, financed and controlled by Iran. Why did you fail to mention that? Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the conflict knows both terror groups don't sneeze without permission for Tehran. Their guns, grenades, bombs, rockets and other weapons are supplied from the outside, yet you don't believe that is worthy of questioning by the media? This is a proxy war between Iran and the United States.

Bill Shea
Detroit, Michigan
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This is a thank you for running this article. As a gentile, I had long held my punches about Israeli policies, but 2006 finally did it for me. On a protest across the Brooklyn Bridge, I got to talking with an American Jewish couple whose only son went to Israel and ended up marrying a Palestinian woman. We shared the experience of waiting too long to speak up for justice and--in the case of media--fair coverage. In their case, their son educating them about the issue and bringing an "other" into the family, and my not wanting to be seen as a an anti-Semite.

Well we haven't reached the point yet, where we don't have to speak out our "credentials"--like Hass's, but the comments to the almost laughably biased Times editorial that ran give me hope that the American public, Jewish and non-Jewish, is wising up to the biased American media coverage.

Frances Chapman

As a person sensitive to the other side of the issue, I have had to turn off the media because it is so anti-Israel, as usual. Give me break.

L. Berman
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This is the same mainstream media that has for the last 8 years worked as a mouthpiece for the Bush administration. They lied to us about WMD's and now they are covering up the murder on hundreds on innocent Palestines as the world watches in shock and awe. So much for change. Olmert has been convicted of rape. Now he has raped an entire country.

Jack E. Jett
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The mainstream North American media, both print and electronic, paints a lopsided picture of a beleaguered Israel bravely defending itself against deadly rocket attacks by Hamas. It does not tell us that the deaths and injuries inflicted on Gazans by Israeli guns is at least 10 times that inflicted on Israelis by ALL the Qassam rockets fired into Israel since 2001. Our media tell us that Hamas broke the 6-month old ceasefire when in fact Hamas was reacting to Israel's violation of the ceasefire, on November 5, when it assassinated 6 Hamas officials.

How many have read the remarks of the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, former Princeton University law professor Richard Falk, who has labeled what Israel is doing to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza ?a crime against humanity.? Falk, who is Jewish, has condemned the collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza as ?a flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.? He has asked for ?the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation, and determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law.?

How do you treat civilians perceived as the enemy? You make them prisoners in their own houses, behind walls and fences. You blockade food and other essential supplies. When the people behind the walls rise up, you crush them. The U.S. government condones Israel's oppression and provides the money and military equipment to expedite the genocide. The media problem is NOT that there is support for Israel on the editorial and op-ed pages. The problem is that the front page reports on Gaza are incomplete, misleading and tailored to build support for Israel.

Ben E.