Tell America’s Leaders: Continue to Stand with Israel

Have you contacted our Members of Congress this week to demand they push leadership to a vote on the aid for Israel, and push back against those who want an immediate ceasefire?  You can find their contact information on our website here  or https://www.sfmew.org/elected-officials-contact/ .  Or you can go here  (https://p2a.co/u1KNyc6) and send your message – it will only take 45 seconds.  Here’s the simple message:

An Old Jewish Joke:

In Berlin in the 1930’s, two old Jews are sitting on a park bench reading the newspaper. One is reading a Yiddish paper and the other guy’s reading a German newspaper.

The first guy asks the other guy, “How can you read that Nazi rag?”

The second guy responds, “What are you talking about? When I read the Yiddish paper, it’s all about Jews deported, Jews insulted, Jews assaulted. When I read the German paper, the news is much better! Turns out, we own the banks, we own the media, we control everything!”

Maybe we feel better reading the SF New Mexican, or listening to NPR interviewing anti-Israel spokespersons.  We don’t.  After 3 months we feel beleaguered by antisemites who get their letters printed in the New Mexican or get to spout their demands for ceasefires on NPR without first demanding the return of hostages and the surrender of Hamas’ leadership and combatants.  Why isn’t anyone in the mainstream media (or wire services used by the New Mexican) calling out the Hamas leadership hiding in tunnels as cowards – hiding behind the population they are supposed to be governing?

We feel beleaguered by morally bankrupt people in the US, on college campuses, and across the world who have celebrated the Hamas killings of 1200 Jews and other Israeli residents on October 7, celebrating deaths, rapes, tortures, and defilements as somehow being justified because they were “caused” by Israel.  Or who called for a ceasefire immediately after the 1200, attempting to pre-empt Israel’s rightful counter-offensive to root out and destroy Hamas?

They march on our Santa Fe streets calling for the end of Israel (“from the river to the sea”),

deface our elected officials’ offices,

and write morally bankrupt letters to the editor exposing their inability to think critically.  As in this letter, which shamefully equates Israel’s counter-offensive against an unprovoked attack with Hamas’ charter, declarations, and actions which explicitly call for and act toward the elimination of Israel and killing of Jews “wherever you find them,” both being “genocide.”  BTW, assertions to the contrary, you can be antisemitic and Jewish.  Being Jewish doesn’t give one moral privilege to spout historical inaccuracies and antisemitic tropes.  Being “elder” should show some wisdom, insight, and faithfulness to facts – none of which are exhibited in this letter.

Others have written exhibiting a woeful lack of knowledge of the history of the Palestinian conflict with Israel.  Mary Burton Risely (Nov 8, 2023), for example, claims “most Palestinians and Israelis would be willing to try for a two-state solution,” but blames Israel, Netanyahu, and the “settlers” for sabotaging any chance of peace.  She ignores the facts:

1. Israel has embraced peace with its neighbors and others when its enemies have entered into genuine negotiations.  Witness the peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.  Except for the treaty with Jordan (done by Yitzhak Rabin), all of these treaties were done under “right wing” Israeli governments lead by Menachem Begin (Egypt) and Netanyahu (UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan).
2. For a true peace Israel has shown its willingness to displace thousands of its own citizens from land conquered during the Arab-initiated wars of 1967 and 1973.  They forcibly evicted 8,000 from the Sinai desert with the Egyptian peace treaty, and uprooted 12,000 from Gaza unilaterally with the hope that the Palestinians would show they could govern Gaza without the IDF or Israelis being “in the way.”
3. Israel entered into the Oslo Accords (which many people think included a peace treaty or a declaration of a two state solution) with good faith; Arafat shortly after started his suicide bombing campaign in the 1990s, and second intifada in 2000, after Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered a very generous peace treaty. (See Benny Morris’ account here and Dennis Ross’ account here.)
4. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered an even more generous peace treaty in 2009 – the Palestinian leadership never even responded.
5. The Palestinians have never shown their willingness to seriously negotiate for a peace treaty.  They’ve never shown a willingness to abandon their unreasonable claims that any descendants from the 1948 war (which Israel didn’t start) who were displaced to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt should have a “right of return” to lands of pre-1967 Israel armistice lines.  (See Einat Wilf’s book, “The War of Return” and the video of her talk in Santa Fe here.)

In other words, there is zero evidence that Palestinians will negotiate seriously for a two-state solution.  Perhaps she should go live with the Palestinians and find out what they really think before she makes her unsubstantiated claims?

The New Mexican itself has made a number of faux pas in its own news section columns.  It has used misleading headlines. It has mislabeled photos, sometimes juxtaposed with articles that have little to do with the photo shown.  A letter to the New Mexican‘s editor-in-chief, Phill Casaus (not for publication), on November 16 stated,

“[The headline]…is above a picture which could be thought to be the al-Shifa hospital, but is not.  Nor is there any relation between the picture shown and the two columns beneath.

“Only a careful reading of the caption under the photo explains that this is a ‘destroyed building’ – yet it doesn’t even clarify that it is not the hospital.  Israel did not destroy any buildings in the hospital compound.  They entered slowly and carefully, with a lot of Hamas terrorists fighting them.

“Further, it is fully apparent that juxtaposing the photo, from the AP, with news stories from the NY Times and the Washington Post, makes this a local editor’s decision (as is the headline)…Isn’t it time to be more accurate in these issues?  And if you can’t because of an implicit bias (only you can know if that is the case), then at least put these headlines and photos on the editorial pages, not the front page.”

Casaus never responded to this letter.

The New Mexican has limited the op-eds it is willing to print to only those coming from the NY Times and other news wire services – not from Santa Fe residents with various viewpoints.  The wire services it continues to use (primarily Associated Press [AP], NY Times, and Washington Post) are suspect.  Matti Friedman exposed the AP biases in his well-known Atlantic article and other musings (see a prior SFMEW post here, for example).  Here is an example of the problems of these services (from HonestReporting):

The New York Times has rehired a freelancer previously exposed by HonestReporting for his pro-Hitler, pro-terrorist social media posts.

The main reporter covering the war in Gaza for the Associated Press has been temporarily suspended after calling publicly for the annihilation of Israel and comparing Israel to the Nazis.

We pointed this out to Casaus back on October 25 in an email.  His only reply, “thanks for your thoughts.”

Finally, we note with much dissatisfaction that the major news wire services feel obliged to include a paragraph in almost every article stating in one form or another the following:

More than 21,100 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, according to […] a spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant fatalities, but the majority of the dead are believed to be women and children.

1. There are no documented facts here, just “beliefs” – the number of deaths is hearsay from a notoriously unreliable and propagandistic source.  Even President Biden publicly has stated he doesn’t trust any numbers coming from Hamas.  The press in Gaza have no way to confirm the numbers or the “belief” of the proportion of women and children.  So using the number (now 21,000) is more sensationalistic than accurate, and continues to be misleading.
2. Not distinguishing between civilian and combatant fatalities gives the wrong impression on the collateral damage ratio, which no one really knows.  But the impression the wire services leave the reader with is that the 21,000 is unconscionable (compared with 1200 Israelis), whereas, simply, we don’t know.
3. Most people think of children as being vulnerable minors (say under the age of 12 or 15).  But teens and preteens are taught to be full-bore fighters by Hamas, so the “children” labels misclassifies who might be fighters.  Are these not combatants if they are using harmful attack weapons?  We do know that Hamas summer children’s camps taught children (from very young ages of 4 and 5) to use weapons and use explosives, even to wear suicide vests.
4. Some women have also been trained as fighters.  Are these not combatants?
5. So the gratuitous statement “the majority of dead are believed to be women and children” implies they are innocent bystanders when in fact many, especially those over the age of perhaps 12 or 15, may be combatants.

By its continued and frequent use this “21,100” statement has become accepted journalism, but is really sloppy reporting.  A more accurate account would be to label the number as unreliable.  Instead it is a breach of journalistic integrity.

We urge you to stay vigilant for these kinds of errors when you see them in the media, and respond appropriately.  It may be in the comments section, or writing a letter to the editor or a longer opinion piece.  This is a way to educate the media; many local reporters have no firsthand knowledge of the Middle East and need to be educated.  And educate your friends, acquaintances, and family members as well…

To write an op-ed or letter see our webpage for contact information and advice here (https://www.sfmew.org/how-to-write-to-the-sf-new-mexican-or-abq-journal/).

AND

Perhaps if you are feeling somewhat beleaguered, that feeling can be mitigated by taking action.  This battle is a marathon, not a sprint.  Write often and right now!  Go here.