Israel Matzav

The media's double standard

I sent an email on Friday to Shomron Regional Council spokesman David HaIvri (pictured), asking whether the reports regarding the protests against the presence of Hagai Amir in Shavei Shomron for the Sabbath were true, or whether they were exaggerated. He said that they were exaggerated. He also sent me these comments about Amir's release, which were originally written to someone else.

I think that the media in Israel allows its people to present a twisted outlook on life to aro[u]se popularity, I guess you might call this yellow journalism. If anyone like me dare say on Israel's radio what you said here, the entire media community with have a festival twisting my words and making me into a monster. I am actually still reminded of things I said on the matter 16.5 years ago. On the other hand, Israel just recently released from prison hundreds of terrorists who killed and maimed thousands of Israeli's. The Israeli media in that case presented a 180 [degree] about-face view as to say that there could be nothing more normal and accepted then to do that, and if someone like myself would have challenged that on the media again they would have had a festival at his expense making him into a heartless weirdo.

BTW - the "special treatment" given to the Amir brothers in Israel's punishment system is far from equality under the law, which would be expected in a free and western society. Yes, they were convicted [of] murdering a very important person in Israel. But, the same law applies to any other person in Israel. The punishment should not be so drastically different from someone who murdered anyone else. 16.5 [years] in solitary confinement is a very extreme (even inhuman) level of punishment that was inflicted on them solely as an additional means of punishment because of the victim in [this] case. The media as a watchdog for democracy, human rights and freedom should have been the first to question these procedures and they did in the case of Adnan Khdar. But, they operate with a double standard.

Indeed.

Labels: David HaIvri, mainstream media, Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:54 PM