The Tradition of Time/Newsweek Magazine Covers

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Then:-



Did anyone say anti-Israel, anti-Jewish?


Omri has some more here.

And check out Honest Reporting.




(Kippah tip: JD)


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Really NEWSWEEK, This You Had to Print?

There are people who don;t like Israel's policies. There are people who don't like Jews. There are people who are kooks. And there are Jews who are all three.

For example:-

As Israeli generals continue to ponder when to attack Iran and by which route, they are acutely aware that their decision may be the spark that starts World War III. But that is not their primary concern. Their agenda is to safeguard the state of Israel, allowing an acceptable loss of life for the greater Israeli good. Up until now, the Israelis' strategy has been to convince the world that their enemies are not theirs alone, and they have had some success in this ploy.

The European Union's decision-making process has been infiltrated by pro-Israel administrators and politicians at various levels, who see it as their mission to lobby Brussels so that the EU will continue to appease Israel's demands for preferential treatment on trade, on arms delivery and export licenses and on political decisions that favor Israel's wider agenda. That agenda is to foil the advancement of a viable Palestinian state by any means—political and economic—and in this it has been successful for many years.

The only solution now is a radical reform of the U.N. Security Council that will expand its membership to reflect the real world (and realpolitik) by the doubling of its membership and the removal of veto power. Only then will the United Nations be accepted by the world's nations as the supreme international authority of final decision and appeal.

Michael Halpern
Westbourne, England

Sneaky That Salama

Vivian Salama (*)

published an item in Newsweek in its January 14, 2008 issue entitled: "The Other Christmas Rush Is Christians Fleeing Arabia".

It's theme?

Christmas is usually a time to celebrate the arrival of Christians in the Holy Land. But this year, as Patriarch Michel Sabbah of the Latin Rite Catholic Church revealed during his Christmas sermon in Bethlehem, local leaders are currently concerned with the opposite phenomenon: exodus.

Her examples?

Last year, dozens of Christians were slain in Iraq and a Syriac Orthodox priest was beheaded in Mosul. Two prominent Christian Palestinians were recently killed in Gaza. A political stalemate in Lebanon and the increased dominance of Shiite Hizbullah has made Maronites fear their traditional perks, like control of the presidency, are slipping. Even in Egypt, where religion has played little role in government, Christians now worry that the increasing popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood could lead to new restrictions.

The numbers?

There are now just 12 million to 15 million Arabic-speaking Christians left in the Middle East, and this could drop to 6 million by 2025. Countries are being transformed: in 1956, Lebanese Christians made up 54 percent of the country; today they're about 30 percent. Iraq's Christian population has fallen from 1.4 million in 1987 to 600,000 today...Fred Strickert of Wartburg College estimates that hundreds of thousands of Christian Arabs have been displaced in the recent years, including half a million from Iraq alone.

And to be fair, she notes:

Christian Arabs emigration isn't new.

But, being very unfair, she writes also

And Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, was 80 percent Christian when Israel won independence in 1948; now it's 16 percent.

But dear Vivian (and her Newsweek editors), of the almost 60 years since Israel was established in 1948, Jordan was the ruler of Bethlehem for 19 years up until 1967 and since 199 , the Palestine Authority has been responsible. So, altogether, quantitatively, Israel can only be blamed for less than 50% of the problem - if indeed the Christians of Bethlehem are left the city due to Israel. Your phrasing left an uneasy implication: Israel is responsible.

But we all know, except those who receive their information from Salama and Newsweek, that the plight of Christians in territories controlled by Arabs referring to themselves as "Palestinians" is particularly acute. After all, she did mention the murders of Christians in Gaza. She didn't mention rapes, thefts, gang violence, petty harassment, forced marriages and more. Some of this I've blogged about previously. Here are other sources for the true story: I; II; and, of course, Justus Weiner's study.

Newsweek was irresponsible in letting that sentence get published.

======================

(*)
Vivian Salama is completing a masters degree in Arab and Islamic politics (here's an example of her writing and here's another and another on the Israel lobby) at Columbia University. She has written for the Daily Star, Newsweek, USA Today, the International Herald Tribune, the Jerusalem Post and other publications. She has also appeared as a political commentator on the BBC, South African Broadcasting Corp., and as a reporter and commentator for Voice of America radio. Prior to working in the Middle East, she was a producer for WNBC News in New York.

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UPDATE

I sent this letter:-

Vivian Salama's "The Other Christmas Rush" (January 14, 2008), on Christians fleeing Arabia, included a problematic sentence: "Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, was 80 percent Christian when Israel won independence in 1948; now it's 16 percent". The unavoidable implication is that this situation is Israel's fault.

However, of the almost 60 years since Israel was established in 1948, Jordan ruled Bethlehem for 19 years up until 1967 and since the end of 1995, the Palestine Authority has been responsible. Israel, if indeed guilty of anything, can only be blamed for less than 50% of the problem. But the truth is that the Christians, in Bethlehem and elsewhere in PA-controlled areas, suffer from murders, rapes, forced marriages, thefts, gang violence and petty harassment committed by Muslims, not Jews. The Church of the Nativity was invaded and occupied by Muslim terrorists. Israel is the only state in the Middle East in which the Christian Arab population has grown in real terms - from approximately 34,000 in 1948 to 130,000 - and enjoys civil rights.

Have you sent a letter?

editors@newsweek.com

Begin Who?

In a story entitled, "Return of the Generals, Israelis start looking to ex-soldiers for leadership", Newsweek concludes its review of Israeli politics with this paragraph:-

...a general might well be voted into office — which could serve everyone's interest. The Jewish state has been down this road before. After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Israel had been caught unprepared by a major invasion, the electorate turned against the civilian prime minister, Golda Meir, who ultimately resigned. She was replaced by a respected military man, Yitzhak Rabin. And it was Rabin, of course, who eventually led the country to its first major peace treaty with the Palestinians.

That last sentence caught my eye.

So, I penned this letter and sent it off:-

Your May 7 report on Israel's politics notes that Yitzhak Rabin, remarkably a former general, led the country "to its first major peace treaty with the Palestinians". While true, the correspondents should have informed your readers that it was Menachem Begin, former Irgun pre-state underground commander who, almost 15 years earlier, achieved the first ever peace treaty with an Arab country, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Stay tuned.