by Isi Leibler
Over the past few years, I have followed John Lyons’ Australian
articles on Israel with increasing frustration. With the exception of a
few “fig leaves”, his reporting has been distorted, biased, and clearly
designed to demonize Israel. His most recent outburst in the Weekend Australian (08/3/14), one of the most biased diatribes against Israel that I can recollect the Australian ever having published, displays a total absence of journalistic integrity.
Lyon’s reporting relies on
untrustworthy and highly prejudiced sources. He utilizes false
testimonies from Arab propagandists and extreme Israeli leftists. He
quotes disgruntled retired Israel officials and highly questionable
human rights organizations.
He even goes so far as to include obscene, uncorroborated accusations that Israeli soldiers beat a child “to a pulp”.
Lyons fails to grasp the
asymmetry of the Israeli-Palestinian political situation, which thus
leads to a distortion of facts. In Israel, journalists enjoy freedom of
the press to pursue every angle and dissect every possible Israeli
misstep. In the corrupt, anti-democratic Palestinian Authority, where
there is no freedom of the press, they are manipulated by propaganda and
lies.
Lyons omits to provide necessary
context. He writes about the Israeli army’s alleged abuse of
Palestinian children without mentioning that the crimes committed by
Palestinian children, including stone-throwing, has maimed and killed
innocent civilians. He never mentions the education system of the
Palestinians in which their children are brainwashed to sanctify hatred
and violence – from Palestinian kindergartens to mosques and the
government-controlled Palestinian media.
Above all, he ignores the fact
that no country has a better record of ethical military practices than
Israel which trains its soldiers to abide by a strict moral code and
punishes those who violate it. Despite being the only country in the
world whose existence is under continuous threat and has been subject to
unending siege and terrorism since its inception, Israel remains
committed to defending itself in a manner that least harms innocent
civilians.
Lyons disregards the broader
context of the Middle East and fails to note that Israel is the only
democratic country in the region with Israel’s minority Arab population
enjoying greater freedom and a higher standard of living than in any
neighboring country. He makes no mention of the 150,000 Syrians who have
been butchered in recent months or the abuses taking place in Lebanon
or Egypt.
His attack on the Australian
Jewish community and distant ‘experts’ for condemning his outbursts is
somewhat pathetic, especially when he quotes a disgruntled retired
Israel foreign office official whose political views are regarded by
most Israelis as delusional, castigating Australian Jews for supporting
Israel.
It is Lyons who is out of touch
with mainstream Israeli thinking. He is oblivious to the fact that the
overwhelming majority of Israelis has no desire to rule over the
Palestinians and only want to maintain the status quo in order to
prevent a repetition of the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, which
resulted in an intensified flow of rockets against Israeli civilians. He
omits the fact that, given security assurances and a genuine peace
partner, Israelis would be willing to withdraw from over 90% of the
territories over the green line. Indeed, two Israeli Prime Minister’s
made such offers to Arafat and current Palestinian Authority Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas and were rebuffed. But Lyons seems uninterested in the
Palestinian leadership’s unwillingness to compromise or its endless
rejections of generous peace plans and fails to assign even partial
blame to the Palestinian leadership. He ignores the corruption within
the Palestinian Authority and Hamas and the cynical manipulation of
their own people.
That is not to say that Israel
is infallible. As in any society, there are aberrations. We make errors
and individuals commit crimes. In most cases a vigilant media and highly
critical public demand transparency and rectification of mistakes or
misdeeds. Our hyper self-criticism, at times even masochism, underlines
the highly developed sense of morality to which the Jewish state holds
itself.
We are not averse to being
criticized for real or perceived failures like any other country. We do
object to journalists who distort or employ double standards.
Unfortunately Lyons falls into that category and after his recent
outburst, gives the impression that he is promoting a view rather than
reporting as an independent journalist.
In fact a personal experience suggests that he has now evolved from a reporter to an activist engaged in demonizing Israel.
In August 2012, when former
Foreign Minister Bob Carr was visiting Jerusalem, I hosted a dinner
party at my home to introduce him to a number of prominent Israeli
government and media personalities. I was shocked when he informed me
that upon arrival at the entrance of my home and when departing he and
his party were accosted by a delegation orchestrated by Lyons and his
partner, urging them to cancel the visit on political grounds.
Linking this incident with his
recent outburst, I would suggest that John Lyons ask himself whether
such behavior is consistent with the role of a professional journalist.
Isi Leibler, a former president of
the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, lives in Jerusalem, where he
contributes a regular column to The Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom,
the most widely circulated Hebrew daily.
Source: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=5009
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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