Anti-Israel Media Bias: An Idiot's Guide
5) Learn the history of this conflict enough to know that Pallywood has been actively deceiving journalists for at least 15 years now, in an effort to delegitimize Israel. Before publishing "information" fed to you by fixers and "eyewitnesses," realize that even Amnesty International has admitted the unreliability of eyewitnesses in this conflict. The most galling Pallywood example from this latest round of Arab terrorism is the inflammatory lie —by the so-called moderate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — that Israeli forces had "executed" a 13-year-old. The truth: he was treated in the same Israeli hospital caring for the boy he tried to murder.
Such lies can kill. Because when it comes to this conflict, Arab leaders know that violence replaces reason at the slightest provocation — like hooligans at a football game incited to attack the opponents of their beloved team.
So inciting lies are very much a weapon. The media should know this and expose the falsehoods, rather than blindly proliferate them. Journalists should know that "reporting" inflammatory claims can produce mob violence, and should therefore be doubly careful about checking facts, unless of course their goal is to trigger riots (which do produce more sensational news stories).
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6) Learn the history of this conflict enough to know that Arab Muslims have been killing Jews in this area for over a century, with shifting excuses over time.
7) Stop trying to use the latest of those shifting excuses to justify the unjustifiable (here, too, the BBC is an offender). No alleged grievance warrants randomly stabbing people in the street. The average Syrian is infinitely worse off than anyone in Gaza or the West Bank, but Syrian teens aren't randomly stabbing civilians.
Countless refugees from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere have risked their lives for the hope of a better future in Europe. And yet, there are virtually no Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza among the millions desperate to reach Europe. So random stabbings don't reflect some miserably unfair existence — they are the product of raw hatred and incitement.
8) Take note of nuances. 92 Israeli Arab Muslims have committed terrorist attacks. They are not under occupation (and have better freedoms and living standards than most of the Arab world has). So clearly these attacks are not about any political dispute; they are driven by the same hateful incitement that rejects any state for the Jews.
9) Show cause and effect (ideally one before the other), and not just effect. When you show only Israeli responses to attacks, it makes Israelis look as if they wake up every morning asking how they can hurt Arabs. Israelis actually have better things to do with their mornings. Like cure cancer and stuff. But when people are trying to kill them, they understandably get a bit distracted. If the world could keep Israelis safer, cancer might get cured faster.
10) Articles should contain a logical subject and verb, preferably in a way that indicates who did what. According to CNN, Joseph's Tomb spontaneously "catches fire." CNN would rather change the laws of physics than blame Muslims for trying to burn a Jewish holy site. But there is a long list of non-Muslim sites that have been desecrated or destroyed by Muslims — from the Buddhas of Bamiyan razed by the Taliban to the countless monuments and churches destroyed by the Islamic State. History is also littered with Islamic conquests that converted non-Muslim holy sites into mosques.
11) Israeli lives matter. Getting both sides of the story means including photos and profiles of Israeli victims of Arab terrorism at least as often as you include photos and profiles of Arab attackers who were killed while trying to murder innocent Israelis. In case you're not sure what it's actually like to survive a stabbing attack, Kay Wilson's TED Talk is a must-watch for some valuable context (and a reminder of what a life-affirming culture looks like, as opposed to the death cult trying to stamp it out).
