David Preiser's blog
Posted at 5:00pm on Aug. 23, 2006 Hillary Watch
By David Preiser
I'm saddened every day by the disgrace which is the Senate race in the state of New York. The recent Hillary Rodham Clinton cover of Time - her 10th, no less - just added to the dark feelings. I was saying before the last presidential election that a vote for Bush in '04 was a vote for Hillary in '08, and nothing has changed my mind. The New York Times was shilling for her for more than a year before her first run for Senate, and once Giuliani dropped out we all knew she was a sure thing. After she wins her second term in November, the shilling for her Presidential bid will begin in earnest.
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Posted at 2:41pm on Jul. 15, 2006 It's déja vu all over again.
By David Preiser
The current incarnation of the war between Hezbollah and Israel reminds me of the last time Israel undertook a major offensive against elements in Lebanon.
Back in the summer of 1981, I was attending one of those "High School in Israel" programs for Americans. This was in the town of Hod Hasharon, sort of in between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. During my first couple of weeks there, Hezbollah was constantly peppering several northern communities with katyusha rockets, especially places like Kiryat Shmona. This was a daily occurrence, and Israeli civilians (including women and children) were injured and killed with each volley. I remember being surprised that there was never any mention of this in the international press. Of course, I was 16 at the time, and had no clue about the reality of Israel's position in the world at large.
At one point, Israel began an air assault on southern Lebanon, not unlike what happened a couple of days ago. Immediately, the international media ran headlines screaming of 500 Lebanese killed by Israel. The Hezbollah attacks continued for a while, more Israeli civilians died, and this was never once mentioned in news organ in a language other than Hebrew, except for a murmer in the Jerusalem Post. Mostly it was stories about Lebanese schools being blown up, hospitals destroyed, and the large amount of Lebanese civilian casualties. Naturally, only at the very end of the news accounts - if one is lucky - there would be a brief note that Hezbollah would put their artillery on hospital roofs, and launched mortars from schoolyards. More often than not, though, the international press declined to mention that it was standard practice to use Lebanese innocents as human shields.
Instead, Israel was portrayed in the media as being the sole aggressor. It was total joke, and a rude awakening to an impressionable teenager sitting in a dingy dorm room 10,000 miles away from home. The shock turned to fear when the terrorists' rockets started hitting closer to the town I where I was going to school. There was a bomb shelter next to the building, and we all expected to be in there shortly.
After this pummeling of Hezbollah military positions, Israel ended up invading southern Lebanon, and kept a military presence there for a long time. That was the only thing keeping Hezbollah from doing this time and time again.
Today, I'm seeing the same thing. The international media practically hides the numerous rocket attacks on Israel, and almost never mentions that the party responsible for the attacks is a legitimate part of the government of Lebanon. Instead, we are led to believe, by deliberate use of language and misdirection, that the attacks on Israel are merely an all too understandable response by disgruntled "Palestinians" to the usual Israeli atrocities.
Twenty five years ago, Hezbollah was not a part of the Lebanese government. It was tolerated, of course, even supported by those in charge, but it was not a legitimate faction of a governing coalition. Twenty five years ago, Hamas was not part of a "Palestinian" government. It, too, was tolerated and encouraged by Arafat, but it was not the governing party. Twenty five years ago, we were all told that all of Israel's troubles were due to the Occupation, and that all attacks on Israeli civilians were legitimate responses to that. Now we have democratically elected groups - who have sovereignty over their own territory - doing the exact same thing, yet the message we are fed is the same.
The mainstream media has generally failed us all in this regard. Can there be any question as to their bias?
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