Israeli-Palestinian peace talks may be struggling behind closed doors, but that’s nothing compared to what’s happened outside. For the third time in less than two months, an Israeli soldier has been murdered by Palestinians.
The IDF Blog reported that the latest victim is 19-year-old Eden Atias, fatally stabbed at a Central Bus Station. The killing underscores that no matter what “progress” has been made on paper, peace in the Middle East has a long way to go. Makes you wonder about the effectiveness of the process, doesn’t it?
A key part of the problem is Palestinian incitement against Israel, particularly in heroizing terrorists. Worse still, that’s not confined to the Palestinian authorities and media.
Al Jazeera, the highly popular Arab news channel, recently presented a horribly one-sided portrayal of Israel’s fight with terror. The Zionist Federation slammed the report, which tried to present the “plight” of the family of an imprisoned Palestinian terrorist.
Al Jazeera made sure to report that Israel won’t let Abdullah Barghouti’s wife visit him hardly ever, meaning his daughters have to visit him alone. But Al Jazeera failed to mention that Barghouti is one the bloodiest terrorists in Palestinian history – which means any visitors sound like mercy.
A critical bomb maker for terrorists, Barghouti was linked to the deaths of 66 Israelis, with hundreds more wounded. Included in that list was the bombing of a pizza restaurant in Jerusalem. But Al Jazeera didn’t mention that.
Said Zionist Federation Chairman Paul Charney in a press release, “Al Jazeera deliberately omitted any information about Barghouti except for his prison sentence – perhaps in order to imply that Israel simply hands out lengthy imprisonments for no good reason to Palestinians.
“This omission suggests two points. Firstly, that Al Jazeera recognised that to mention Barghouti’s history would undermine the entire point of their piece – indeed, many viewers might be surprised by how many rights even an unrepentant murderer of civilians gets. And secondly, this means that Al Jazeera were more interested in producing a cheap smear of Israel than actually reporting on the situation.”
Similarly, it appears the Palestinians have been more interested in scoring political points through incitement than reaching peace with Israel. And this week, a teenage Israeli soldier paid the price for that with his life.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, November 13, 2013)