;.l1,6,60,66,1,0,10,75,192,2,15,20,25,127,10,0,
;.l2,15,75,192,2,20,25,127,15,0,
;.l3,20,75,192,2,25,127,20,0,
;.l4,25,75,192,2,127,25,0,
MEDIA BIAS
TO:    David bar-Ilan, Eye on Media, Jlem Post
FROM:  Steve Amdur, Kibbutz Haon, Jordan Valley, 15170 Israel.
       Telephone:  972-6-757572; FAX:  972-6-757554
DATE:  12 Jun 96
RE:    
REF:   Newsweek 17 Jun 96 (Dickey [Middle East Regional Editor] I&& Dennis)
CC:
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OVERHEARD OFF-THE-CUFF ACADEMIC QUIPS 
                                     
Disregarding the punchline of the lead paragraph, in which thewriter manages to report that he heard -- or  more precisely,remark that  "it's not surprising to hear"  a Jordanian academic"take a line from a horse-opera" a characterization of Israel'sPrime Minister-elect as "a lyin' cheatin' deceitin' 
l2
`deceitin''?
What happened to fornicating? 
And anyhow, 'horse opera' is 1927 slang, which is a bit oldeven for Jordanian TV
l1                               
son of a bitch"    

one may note that the writer characterizes  Netanyahu -- again,not standing behind the words  he writes, but attributing them, inthe guise of Honest Objetive Reporter Reporter (HOR , for short)to others:
l2
"The thrust of Netanyahu's foreign policy, as  sketched sofar, sounds to many Arabs  like a formula  to  divide,undermine, weaken and demoralize them."
l3
Well, add this to Israel's sins:  We're demoralizinginnocent Arabs.

And when Rabin struck a deal with the PLO in order tocut out  the fundamentalists?
l1                                          

"But Rabin and PEres alwasy gave the impression their goal was acomprehensive settlement - a 'real peace' as  Rabin used to say.
l2
[If you say so, he said so.   But like Abba Eban said,   hismain aim seemed to be to put up a wall with the Arabs on the other side of it.]
l1                                                         
Comprehensiveness is not Netanyahu's first priority."

"And he doesn't appear to worry about whether his policiesembarass Israel's Arab friends?"
l2
[Both of them?  Who's the second?
 Is the reporter reporting that he doesn't look worried?  Oravoiding a discussion of of why Netanyahu believes that therisks of further territorial concessions outweigh thepossible gains in gestures of approbation from the Arabstates?]
l1
"King Hussein has committed so wholeheartedly to peace that he nowfinds himself in the role of interpreter, if not apologist, forthe new Israeli government."
l2
[Fact is, the honkies  don't much like Arabs either;  it'sjust that they dislike Jews more.  But they sure can lay onthe soft soap for a little while when we shoot ourselves inthe foot. Rabin &  Peres they make up like saints; Hussein, areal  statesman in a very tight position, they call a lackey.
l1
"As a State Department spokesman reminded the world
l2
[Yup; the world just hangs out waiting for U.S. StateDepartment to remind it  of where things are  at]
l1
the foundation of the process is the concept of land for peace,and that would mean the Golan.
l2
[Heck, why stop there; why does  Israel need Jaffa when it's got Tel Aviv?                                            

This  is a bit of a simplification even of Peres' fantasy.]
l1
"'Perhaps some sort of quid pro quo can be reached' says Shoval. But that doesn't exactly sound like a peace process."
l2
[It  doesn't?  What is negotiation, at least until Meshiach shows  up, except quid pro quo?]
l1

"When it comes to the Palestinians, Netanyahu's camp adopts a toneof condescension....less  with shock than swagger."
l2
[Blimey, it's British racist imperialism all over again. Condescension and the short sharp shock of a swagger stick
l4
Eg, the Rabin  batons used to break  legs in 1988
But I digress
l3
[Of course one risks reading-in a false  analysis; butalso, subliminal associations based on a givenreadership's like customary word-associations, andinduced by a  proximity but not conjunction of words,are possible]
l1
"... as if all the  old humiliations and horrors and sterotypes ofthe past 50 years were suddenly revived"
l2
[Nice bit of instant revisionism that.  We  ain't eventhinking of the hh&s's of 60 years ago; like, the Jews werepaid off and the sacrificial lamb gig got taken over by theArabs.
l3
[I'm getting more into speculatively sketchingsubliminal anti-Semitic reasoning here.  One shouldexpect to find it pretty crude;  and that then can behighlighted by fitting diction to thought.  (Of course,that's a matter of intution, and that's something onecan get wrong.)]
l1                                                 
"Most of these potentates may not be democratcs
l2
[May not be? ]
l1
but dignity is something they care a lot about.
l2
[Well, it ain't  that easy to always be senitive to Assad'sfeelings, but you're right and we're wrong:  despoticbillionaire homicidal sociopaths need respect too.]
l1
And so far they've got no indication Netanyahu will offer themdignity  any  more than land  in return for  peace."
l2
[A bit of a fallacy of personalization here; we  ain'ttalking Teddy Roosevelt with the Big Swagger Stick  callingshades & Maharajas 'boy';  `dignity' here means:  territorialconcessions.]

What we got  us here is your  basic move back from  theEnglightenment of Internationalism, to Tribalism.  Them Jewsalways  was a secretive folk.  


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Photo (Nati Harni, AP):  Netanyahu wearing a black kippa. Apparently tombstones in the background.  Looks to have adash of five-o-clock shadow on his upper lip; but closerexamination suggests this was a trick of photography ordevloping -- the shadow extends over to the left cheek.  Andanyhow, the kippa  is unobtrusive and does not make Netanyahulook like a zealot.
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