ZioNation Progressive Zionism-Israel Web Log

Ir-Amim on Sheikh Jarrah - Language, Logic, Politics and Propaganda

Most of you have heard of the "heartless" eviction of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem by the "evil Zionist" "right wing" "ultranationalist" Israeli government. It was probably described to you in about that way, and pictured as another step in the "expansionist Zionist ethnic cleansing" of "Arab" East Jerusalem.

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Ami Isseroff on 02.09.10 @ 12:46 AM CST [link] [No Comments]

Sunday, January 24th

Study shows Dutch newspaper's bias against Israel

NRC Handelsblad is one of the leading quality newspapers in the Netherlands, and thus a logical subject for a study of bias in reporting about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I conducted such a study in 2008 and 2009, in collaboration with the WAAR foundation, a group of volunteers who are alarmed by the anti-Israel bias in Dutch media in recent years. I picked two time periods to monitor: the winter of 2007-2008 and last year's Gaza War and its aftermath.
Last September I published the findings on the Internet in Dutch, after the newspaper itself declined to comment on the study. Recently I added an English summary of the study, see: Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Dutch Media: A study of NRC Handelsblad.

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Ratna Pelle on 01.24.10 @ 03:28 AM CST [link] [1 Comment]

Thursday, January 7th

Israel's bad image: Blaming the victim

All of us know what a beating Israel has taken in the press. Newsweek's Michael Hirsh has taken note of Israel's bad image, but instead of naming the real culprit, he uses it as the occasion for another round of (relatively mild) Israel bashing. The entire problem, according to Hirsh, is Israel's inept public relations skills.

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Ami Isseroff on 01.07.10 @ 08:47 PM CST [link] [12 Comments]

Thursday, December 17th

J Street's 'pro-Israel' effort on behalf of the Hamas

Suppose that you were alive and an adult in 1944 and got a letter that read something like this:

Dear xxx,
Germany is in crisis, and without addressing the urgent humanitarian needs there, the prospects for long-term peace and real security for Europe and the Jews will grow dimmer. We must act.

Despite repeated allied bombings, V1 and V2 rockets ontinue to land in southern England and residents still do not yet have true security.

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Ami Isseroff on 12.17.09 @ 03:16 PM CST [link] [10 Comments]

Sunday, December 6th

Newest Jewish Invention: Zionism without Zion

We Jews are no doubt a very clever people. Just ask any Jew and he or she will tell you about our Nobel prize winners, about Maimonides, about Baruch d'Espinoza, about Albert Einstein and many others. Any Anti-Semite will also tell you how clever and shrewd we Jews are. So it is not surprising that one of the tribe has come up with an earthshaking proposal that will make the Middle East safe for peace. He is not just any Jew. He is a journalist for Ha'aretz, which considers itself the cleverest and most sophisticated of all Israeli newspapers, and he is not just any journalist. He is the internationally renowned Yossi Melman. Everyone knows how clever and knowledgeable he is.
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Ami Isseroff on 12.06.09 @ 01:14 PM CST [link] [7 Comments]

Sunday, November 29th

The mythical peace that is just out of reach

The conventional wisdom in much of the world holds that there is an Israeli-Arab peace settlement that is just out of reach - so near yet so far, frustrated only by tactical accidents. We all know what the peace settlement must look like, says the myth. If only Israel wasn't so stubborn about building in Jerusalem or (under Ehud Olmert) not negotiating at all about Jerusalem, there could be peace in a week. But somehow peace, like the lost tribes of Israel in the medieval Jewish myth, remains beyond reach, on the other side of the Sambatyon river in a land that Christian mythology identified with the Kingdom of Prester John. The river throws up rocks of settlements and fire of "misunderstandings" and nobody can pass.
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Ami Isseroff on 11.29.09 @ 03:32 PM CST [link] [4 Comments]

Sunday, November 15th

Israel must learn from its diplomatic successes

Few may realize it, but Israel, and in particular Benjamin Netanyahu, scored a diplomatic success this week. Maybe not a home run, but at least a double. French FM Bernard Kouchner greeted Netanyahu's visit with dark mutterings claiming that Israel does not seem to want peace. We have become used to French diplomats making bizarre remarks about our "shitty little country," and praising Iran as a force for stability in the Middle East. Nonetheless, Kouchner's visit portended a frosty reception. But Netanyahu stole the show by offering to meet with Syrian President Hafez Assad in order to make peace. This elicited the predictable Syrian reaction, and earned Bibi the following priceless headline, in Al Jazeera, no less, Syria rejects Israel talks. That headline may have been worth the whole trip. Israel proposes peace talks, an Arab country refuses.

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Ami Isseroff on 11.15.09 @ 02:28 AM CST [link] [4 Comments]