by Sally Zahav
Pence was deceitfully presented in Israel as promoting a two-state solution.
Most people are aware of the fact that there is media bias in the U.S., and it has never been more apparent than now, with the Left's furor and panic over the releasing of "the Nunez memo". But media bias is, of course, not restricted to the U.S. I have only secondhand knowledge of media bias in other countries, but I have firsthand knowledge of media coverage in Israel, since this is where I live.
As in the U.S., there is a significant slant toward the left in Israel. Likewise, as in the U.S., the media here are also engaged in an attempt to bring down a duly elected head of state through clever manipulation of the media, but the phenomenon goes far beyond that one issue. One example of this manipulation was made apparent last week, after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's speech at the Knesset.
Pence's recent speech at the Knesset was truly soothing and reassuring to many Israelis after having endured eight years of both the open hostility and covert anti-Israel activism of Obama and his foreign policy clones from Foggy Bottom.
Those who have been following U.S. politics and the present administration's policy toward Israel understand that Israel now has, in the combination of the current U.S. president, vice president and administration, a true and abiding friend. A friend that is not only militarily and economically powerful but one that also demonstrates a moral clarity that previous administrations, especially Obama's, so sorely lacked.
Clarity of a different kind has been hard-won in Israel. We have paid a very heavy price to be able now to view our situation vis a vis the "Palestinians" soberly and clearly. More and more Israelis understand the true motives of both the PLO (PA) and Hamas, and their overriding, abiding animosity toward the Jewish State (doubters are invited to read the PLO Charter and the Hamas Covenant). There is now a general understanding among Israelis that the Arabs' animosity will not be overcome by giving them a bit more of Israel's land. This has been proven beyond doubt, over and over, as the "Palestinians" have refused every offer - even Olmert's most generous offer of 2008 - for land and statehood in return for an end to the conflict.
A day or so after Pence's speech at the Knesset, I saw some coverage of it on Israel's Channel 1 News. Channel 1 chose to present the viewers with this phrase, snipped out of a short sentence: "the United States of America will support a two-state solution".
Many Israelis concluded from this that Mike Pence was actively promoting a two-state solution? Three questions:
1 - Did Mike Pence actually say this?
2- What does this "clipped" phrase from the original sentence mean to the Israeli listener?
3- What does this phrase actually mean, when seen in context?
The answers to those questions, as I see it:
1) Did Mike Pence say those words or not? Yes, he did.
2)What was conveyed by this phrase to the Israeli audience?
I have not done a scientific survey of Israeli public opinion on this matter, but I have heard and read that since Pence's speech, people here have been voicing the concern that the "two-states solution" would be pushed again, as the new U.S. administration's primary policy toward the Israeli-"Palestinian" conflict, meaning that the U.S. favors the establishment of another Arab state (in addition to the 22 that already exist - besides Iran, which is not Arab), this time, smack dab in Israel's historical heartland. Would there be a demand to implement such a "solution"? Would military aid be held in ransom, as it was on previous occasions, unless Israel agreed to it or some concessions leading to it?
Israelis would probably not have interpreted that phrase from Pence's speech as native English speakers do. While Israelis, on the whole, are at least bilingual - Hebrew and English - even many of those Israelis who are proficient in English do not possess the nuanced understanding to translate what Pence said correctly, because of the word "will", and there's a simple reason for this: there are far fewer forms of verb tenses in Hebrew than in English, so to most Israelis, "will" simply means it's going to happen.
A native English speaker knows immediately that something has been left out. What do you mean "will support"? Do you or don't you? You "will" support it? When?
If Pence meant to convey that President Trump's policy was consistent with past policy in the matter of "two states", he would have said something like "the United States of America will continue to support a two-state solution." "Will", means that it will happen in the future - or, as in this case, that it might happen in the future IF --- Which leads us to the third question.
3)What was the context of the Pence phrase?
The conditional phrase, the "IF" part ("And President Trump reaffirmed that, if both sides agree") is precisely what Pence said and this was left out of the coverage. With the conditional phrase ("And President Trump reaffirmed that, if both sides agree") placed before the declarative phrase ("the United States of America will support a two-state solution"), the meaning is unambiguous. Nothing could be fairer or more supportive - to both sides, actually.
For anyone who had been paying attention to President Trump as he developed his foreign policy positions, in particular toward Israel and its long-standing, seemingly intractable conflict with the "Palestinians", it was clear that a clever news editor had deleted a vital part of Pence's sentence. Here it is, in its entirety:
"And President Trump reaffirmed that, if both sides agree, the United States of America will support a two-state solution."
A final question: Was this media distortion done intentionally, to deceive the Israeli audience and disingenuously "promote" the Leftist "two-states" solution or was it an honest mistake?
Sally Zahav, an American ex-pat who has been living in Israel since 1994.
Source: Middle East and Terrorism
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