Backstory
As reported on 2 July, an Arab "went postal" along the Jaffa Road, killing three and injuring at least 40 people. When I was riding towards Jerusalem's Central Bus Station Wednesday, planning to go to the phone company to clear up a bill, I heard the 12:00 news on the semi-official Voice of Israel hourly news roundup. While waiting for that bus, I had seen quite a number of police motorcycles, vehicles and a number of ambulances rushing ahead in the same direction I was going.
We Israelis have some rules of thumb when it comes to seeing ambulances or police vehicles: one ambulance means an accident or a heart attack; two ambulances mean a very serious vehicular accident; three or more are the sign of a terror attack. I was convinced there had been a terror attack based on the number of ambulances and the huge number of police vehicles zipping by.
But there are also certain terms you listen for in Hebrew on the news broadcasts to indicate this: pitzútz - explosion, irúa yéri - a shooting incident, nifgá - injured, m'Habél - terrorist, pigúa - terror attack. These were among the first terms I learned in Hebrew when we moved here seven years ago. Of all these terms listed, I heard only one - nifgá - injured.
The noon broadcast spoke of otobús hit'hapékh - an overturned bus, traktor (must I translate?), and reHóv yáfo - the Jaffa Road. The more we made our way slowly up the Jaffa Road, past landmarks like Davidka Square, maHané yehudá Shuk (souk in Arabic), the famous "open air" market where you can supposedly get bargains, the more I sensed that a trip to Bezeq to deal with a phone bill would be put off - and that I would be writing an article instead. My sense of this was confirmed when the police shut off the Jaffa Road altogether just past the Shuk and directed all traffic towards Agrippas Street, which runs parallel to the Jaffa Road for a ways. After about 100 meters or so on Agrippas, the police directed all traffic away from Agrippas Street as well, and since my ultimate destination was the Central Bus Station, which is on the Jaffa Road, I got off.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jordan Richardson
How do you know the BBC deliberately distorted the reports? How do you know they just didn't simply get it wrong based on minimal information at the time of reporting?
I mean, HonestReporting most assuredly has a mandate to improve Israel's public relations, so how unbiased can they conceivably be in their mission to hold media outlets accountable to the "truth" about the region?
2 - Ruvy
I see you were nice enough to question what I didn't cover in my article, Jordan. Go to the link and pay careful attention to what it says. The BBC had a ringside seat to the whole thing, which happened right outside their Jerusalem offices on the Jaffa Road. I wish I'd been there watching with a video camera. Blogcritics would have had a pagerank 1 story on Google and Yahoo!
3 - Jordan Richardson
That speaks nothing to the notion that the BBC somehow deliberately distorted the news.
I'm sure it happens, but I see no evidence as to it happening in this situation at all. Having a "ringside" seat does not inoculate an eyewitness reporter of any kind from missing details or having an account of an incident that is incorrect. I've been an eyewitness to a car accident before and have gotten details of the crash wrong and even assessed blame on the wrong party. It's called making a mistake...
The article then goes on to whine about the BBC never "blaming the aggressors" in the various attacks, thus meaning they take a Palestinian side in the discussion. Come on. If that's not fishing, I don't know what is. So yeah, I'm not entirely convinced I should be trusting "HonestReporting" to do what their namesake claims when it simply functions as an apologist watchdog group for all things Israel.
Indeed, even the latest BBC headline "Bulldozer rampage hits Jerusalem", is also fundamentally flawed, failing to attribute the attack to the Palestinian individual who carried it out. Instead it refers to an inanimate machine as the instigator. Of course, the bulldozer did not carry out its actions of its own free will. It was not the city of Jerusalem, the subject of the headline, that was murdered, but at least three innocent Israelis.
To me, that's just utter crap "reporting."
4 - Ruvy
It's called making a mistake....
Jordan,
The BBC makes many such "mistakes". After a while of seeing what comes out of the French press, the BBC, the CBC, CNN and others, you realize that folks go to school learn how to make such "mistakes". I didn't cover their distortions in more detail because frankly, they aren't worth my time - and folks like HonestReporting do the job better - hence the mere allusion to it in my article.
5 - Jordan Richardson
The folks at HonestReporting aren't exactly the media watchdog group that MediaMatters is, as the bias is apparent in the former and the mandate is clear. They are far from an objective group and their fishing for error in the BBC reports as evidenced through my example make them sound silly.
As for the BBC, when an independent panel was set up to look into allegations of an anti-Israel bias, they found nothing conclusive. There's actually a 38-page report you can Google (check BBC Impartiality Review 2006 for more information) that contains the complete findings of the study. Allegations regarding bias of the BBC typically come from special interest groups like HonestReporting that have a mandate to uphold Israel's standing in the world. Incidentally, the BBC has also been labeled anti-American by the likes of Bill O'Reilly.
I realize your original intention has very little to do with media bias and reporting of the Vehicular Terror Attack, in your view. I think, on the other hand, that it has everything to do with it. The continued media spin from both sides of this eternal conflict surely plays more of a destructive role than many are willing to admit.
With large portions of America having a bias towards Israel that outweighs any known bias towards the Palestinians, I think a little balance is in order in terms of the coverage. Israel is more than deserving of the criticism it receives from any outlet, media or otherwise, yet in the West they are often portrayed as innocent victims. Both sides are culpable and this ridiculous spin and rhetoric serve as roadblocks to peace that show no signs of going anywhere.
6 - Jamal
Its seems the great Rev. Wright sums up the mid-east situation..
"I must tell you that Israel was the closest ally to the White Supremacists of South Africa. In fact, South Africa allowed Israel to test its nuclear weapons in the ocean off South Africa. The Israelis were given a blank check; they could test whenever they desired and did not even have to ask permission. Both worked on an ethnic bomb that killed Blacks and Arabs." Rev. Wright
Obama understands that the US must change its policies towards Israel. Once elected he will stop the monies sent to the mideast oppressors than keeps people of color in modern day concentration camps.
Jamal
7 - Ruvy
Well, hot damn! Jamal took the invite and showed up for the party! Nice to see you here. Your comments about Barry Obama make my points for me
Jamal, now that you are reading my articles, you can go to this one, and find out why I'll be voting for Barry Obama. Marcus Garvey was not the only fellow around pushing revolution....
8 - Clavos
"Once elected he will stop the monies sent to the mideast oppressors than keeps people of color in modern day concentration camps."
...But only if the whitey congress lets him, JOM.
9 - commonsense
Ironical that Ruvy whines about the BBC portraying the news as a "bulldozer attack" while the title of his piece is "vehicular attack"
10 - Ruvy
For those who do not know this and who may have problems with the title of this piece: the original title - the one I submitted when I hit "pending" and sent this baby in - was "Arab from East Jerusalem 'Goes Postal' on the Jaffa Road: Update, Backstory and Analysis."
The editor who went over this for Blogcritics Magazine changed the title.
For those still chewing on my comments about (This is Londonistan) the BBC and how it got caught with its shorts down by Honestreporting, go to that site's 'Backspin' section and complain. Before you complain, read their report so at least you know what it is you are whining about - you'll get chewed up alive there otherwise.
Love and kisses,
Ruvy
11 - Ruvy
Jordan,
I realize your original intention has very little to do with media bias and reporting of the Vehicular Terror Attack, in your view. I think, on the other hand, that it has everything to do with it. The continued media spin from both sides of this eternal conflict surely plays more of a destructive role than many are willing to admit.
With large portions of America having a bias towards Israel that outweighs any known bias towards the Palestinians, I think a little balance is in order in terms of the coverage. Israel is more than deserving of the criticism it receives from any outlet, media or otherwise, yet in the West they are often portrayed as innocent victims. Both sides are culpable and this ridiculous spin and rhetoric serve as roadblocks to peace that show no signs of going anywhere.
I'm sorry I didn't give these comments the attention they deserve, and they do deserve attention.
My primary concern in this article, where it deals with media spin, is the spin given it by the internal media here in Israel. What we do here in Israel will be decisive in determining the future of the country and that local spin has an impact on this.
But let's deal with your observations. For a number of reasons, Americans (I'm talking about the average citizen, not the ruling elites, who hate us) largely identify with us in Israel, and rightly so. Jews came here from round the world to escape religious persecution and have built a nation that is prosperous and healthy compared to its neighbors. This rings a chord with the traditions of those who arrived on the American continent in the 1600's seeking religious liberty from what was then an intolerant English society. People came from round the world to build a nation that was until a couple of decades ago the richest nation the world had ever seen. I should add that Australians have the same outlook towards us, in a general sense, as they have done something similar on the Australian continent at the "ass end of the world".
Arabs living in what they called South Syria, and those who came from neighboring countries in the last century as Jewish re-settlement brought the blessings of prosperity to the Land of Israel, may have a case to make to American public opinion. But they do themselves no favors by focusing on killing women and children, innocents in Americans' eyes. And this has been the history of South Syrian terrorism since 1920, when they attacked Tel Hai and killed off Yosef Trumpeldor, and 1929, when they murdered off Jewish residents of Hevron, and drove out Yemeni Jews who had settled south of Jerusalem's city walls.
And the blunt fact of the matter is that the Arabs' attitudes towards us has been an attempt to massacre us "irregardless of sex or condition" - whereas the Israeli response to this has largely been to target the killers of our people. So if I appear to have little sympathy for their "narrative", this is the reason why. It is the narrative of vile murderers seeking to clean the blood off of their hands so as to receive more money from the Jew-haters of the EU and Canada.
This is not "an eternal conflict". It is two separate conflicts: one between two Jewish visions for the future of the Land of Israel on the one hand (the Kulturkampf referred to in the article), and secondly between Jews determined to re-build our homeland here, and those non-Jews determined that we shall not succeed.
What you also see is that Jews who have lost faith in G-d's promise of gathering all of His people from the four corners of the earth home to Eretz Yisrael (because they never believed in Jews being reckoned as a nation alone among the families of Mankind) wander bit by bit to the camp of those non-Jews determined that we shall not succeed in re-settling our homeland. Thus you see people like Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappe, Uri Avneri and others (like the publishers of Ha'aretz or the New York Times), making common cause with the enemies of the Children of Israel. The "reform" Jews, whose goal was always to Christianize their religion so as to make their exile more comfortable, have always stood with the murderers of our people - but this is an issue that is best gone into elsewhere.
If I wasn't certain of the outcome of this not so eternal conflict, I'd still be in St. Paul MN, selling Whopper sandwiches at Burger King instead of answering you on this blog-site.
Shabbat Shalom,
Ruvy
12 - Ruvy
Jordan,
Since you and another raised the issue of British coverage of this terror attack, let's look at Arutz Sheva's report on this. In addition to briefly covering HonestrReporting's coverage of how the BBC attempted to virtually erase the fact that an Arab had purposely murdered innocent Jews in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Arutz Sheva also deals with Sky News and Reuters covered this attack.
Let's see what they have to say about the BBC.
“The BBC can have no excuse for not having the basic facts of the story in front of them from the very beginning,” HonestReporting told its subscribers.
And now, Sky News.
British news network Sky News appeared equally reluctant to label the event a terror attack, headlining its story “Digger Attack.” The reporter did not once use the “T” word, nor did she use the words “Arab,” or “Palestinian” or “Palestinian Authority Arab” to indicate the identity of the attacker in the network’s coverage Wednesday night.
As with the BBC, Sky News could not claim ignorance of the facts. Its report showed almost the entire incident, including the BBC’s footage of the off-duty IDF soldier who leaped on to the moving bulldozer and shot the terrorist, killing him and ending the murder spree.
Finally, Reuters news service also played down the terrorism aspect of the attack, saying a “Palestinian man” was shot dead “after running amok with a bulldozer in Jerusalem."
Frankly, Jordan, I expect little better from the Brits. After all, they did not execute Amin el-Husseini after he ran off to assist Hitler in WWII (that was treason under British law, punishable by death); they blocked the door to Eretz Yisrael in 1939 condemning millions of Jews to their deaths in Europe at the hands of the Nazis; they did all they could to help the Arabs after the Second World War destroy any Jewish entity here. Put simply, the Brits, by their behavior between 1935 and 1949, as well as their behavior during most of the 60 years of this nation's renewed existence, have made themselves enemies of my people.
So, from an enemy, I expect hostility.
13 - Ruvy
Now, to return to one of the central issues of my analysis of events. According to Arutz Sheva the man who killed the terrorist said the policeman was in the way.
Let's look at the key points, from the eyes of a security guard:
Oron Ben-Shimon, a security guard at the nearby Kupat Cholim Leumit office, also took part in the save. He said that when he saw the shovel of the bulldozer mowing things down, "I ran towards it. When I got there, the bulldozer was stopped, I got up on it - M.(the soldier whose name is withheld from the media) helped me - and we tried to stop the driver, who looked like he was fainted on the steering wheel. But then he suddenly got up and started the bulldozer going again. I couldn't get to my gun, and also the policeman was in between me and the terrorist - so I punched him [the terrorist] and that stunned him... Then M. - who really deserves all credit; of all the people there, he was the one who responded the most correctly - quickly realized what was happening, and took the gun from my holster and shot the terrorist three times in the head. Then a Yassam policeman got on board, shot another bullet, and that was it."
The journalists listening to the two heroes' accounts praised them highly, as well as the policeman and the Yassam officer. The fact that the policeman did not shoot and kill the terrorist, and the questions raised as a result, were not mentioned outright.(emphases mine)
This drives home my points with a sledgehammer. The role of religious Jews is downplayed in the local media to make the bankrupt secular regime look better than what it really is - a corrupt bunch of thieves ready to drop from their own internal rot and corruption.
14 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy, could you take time out from exploring the nooks and crannies of your paranoia to point us to any non Israeli news sources that are reporting this awful incident as a terrorist attack?
I've just done a Google News search and can't find any organisation reporting it as such.
You seem to be sinking into a posture where almost the entire world is your enemy. Who exactly do you see as Israel's friends?
15 - Ruvy
Ruvy, could you take time ... to point us to any non-Israeli news sources that are reporting this awful incident as a terrorist attack?
I've just done a Google News search and can't find any organisation reporting it as such.
Always willing to help out, Chris.
Try this link to CNN. Their headline: Jerusalem bulldozer 'terrorist' kills 3 in rampage
* Story Highlights
* Driver slams his bulldozer into a crowded bus in Jerusalem, killing at least 3 people
* Impact pushes bus onto its side on Jaffa Road in the western part of Jerusalem
* NEW: Police say treating the rampage as terrorist incident, not an accident
* Police shoot driver dead after rampage that lasted about four to five minutes
You can also got to the Times On-line. The headline does not say terror, but the video immediately beneath talks of a terror attack. Interestingly enough, there is this additional tidbit:
Three Palestinian militant groups -- the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, the Galilee Freedom Battalion and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- claimed responsibility for the attack, although Israeli police said initial evidence suggested that Dwayyat was a "terrorist acting on his own".
By contrast, the Ottawa Citizen, using Agence Presse France as its source, follows the standard line of questioning whether this a terror attack or not.
16 - Ruvy
I got this message from Janglo in my e-mails. Janglo (Jerusalem Anglos) is a buy-sell list in Jerusalem. But not everything is about money, is it? This message is a demonstration of what binds us together as a nation, and how we hold together in the face of terror, barbarism and the world's apparent indifference to it.
The ilúi neshamá being requested of readers is an act to honor the soul of the deceased, Batsheva NeHama, bat Ya'akov, HY"D, who was murdered by an Arab driving a bulldozer on 2 July.
Translation for those of you whose Hebrew is not yet on a par with mine:
kedushá - holiness
neshamá - soul that communicates with G-d
nishmát - soul of
ilúi neshamá, - roughly, in honor of
neHamá - comfort
yerushaláyim - Jerusalem
May G-d comfort all the mourners in Israel and redeem the blood of Batsheva NeHama, as well as the thousands others of innocent souls who have died at the hands of terrorists.
Reuven
----- Original Message -----
Sent: 04 July, 2008 11:09
Subject: [janglo] mitzvah: Chizuk for this Shabbat, l'ilui nishmat Batsheva Nechama who was killed this week HYD
Dear Friends,
Barely three days ago we were all shocked beyond belief to hear about yet another devastating terror attack in Yerushalayim.
Once again, as before, there were many victims of this barbaric act.
The attack affected me personally and pained me to the core of my heart. A very close and dear friend of mine was killed and left behind her husband, a 5 month old baby, parents, siblings and many friends.
We have not yet been able to absorb what has happened- to come to terms with reality and to deal with the pain.
Batsheva was a pure soul who was taken before her time. I was thinking that perhaps, not for nought was my friend named Batsheva Nechama, Nechama - meaning comfort. Within the Shabbos lays the power to console and comfort.
As we approach the first Shabbos that Batsheva is no longer with us, perhaps we can set aside part of our Shabbos to add kedusha and light to this Holy day.
Together let us accept upon ourselves to be strengthened in the kedusha of our speech,to use this speech on a higher level than during the week, to raise it from the mundane to the Holy.
Perhaps accept ONE HOUR at the start of Shabbat and ONE HOUR before its end to raise and sanctify the power of our speech. Please do this as an Ilui neshama for the soul of BAT SHEVA NECHAMA BAT YAAKOV HYD.
Chodesh tov (have a good month)and
Shabbat Shalom
Tzivia
17 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy, thanks for proving my point.
The CNN report has the word terrorist in inverted commas, meaning it is not shown to be so.
The fact that three groups have claimed responsibility for the attack also reinforces the view that this was not in fact terrorist in nature.
At this point, the truth of the horrible matter seems to be that someone in Israel snapped and attacked people at random.
18 - Ruvy
Chris,
In all truth, my main concern has been the internal politics of the issue, and not how you foreigners choose to distort reality here. The murderer's sister described his as a shahid, a martyr. The elders among the Arabs want peace - and life. The youth want war - and death. This murderer - this terrorist, like his neighbor in Tsur BaHer did four months ago, took an opportunity to kill Jews. He did not cease his actions when shot at. He screamed "Allah is great" and tried to kill more Jews to the last moment of his life.
Whether you think this is true or not is irrelevant. It is us, the living in Israel who carry on the mission of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to understand and to continue onwards despite the barbarism of our neighbors. We face the danger, not you. We have for four millennia.
It is only for me to try to bring you the truth from Zion. f you choose to reject it, it is your own loss at your own risk.
19 - Clavos
Oh, for Christ's sake...
20 - Jordan Richardson
The elders among the Arabs want peace - and life. The youth want war - and death.
This is not necessarily true. Groups like MEND and Palestinians for Peace and Democracy are cropping up all over the place.
In all truth, my main concern has been the internal politics of the issue, and not how you foreigners choose to distort reality here.
Perhaps this isn't the right avenue, then, what with all of us "foreigners" distorting your version of reality...
21 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy, so you're mainly concerned about politics, and are essentially using the murders for political ends? Nice.
I don't think "we foreigners" are distorting reality; it's rather a case of "can't see the forest for the trees" on your part.
We all face our own dangers. Unlike many, you have chosen to move you and your family into a specific set of risks - and knew about them before doing so - based on your faithist views.
22 - Dr Dreadful
Ruvy, I watched the BBC video (raw footage, not an edited report with commentary) of the police/soldiers neutralizing the attacker. You can barely even see the guy, let alone tell if he's a Palestinian, a Jew, a Vietnamese or Marvin the Martian.
If this had not been Jerusalem, the possibility of this being organized terrorism would probably not even have entered anyone's heads.
I don't blame the BBC for being cautious in their early reports. In contrast, Honestreporting (ha!) decided to try, convict and execute without waiting for the evidence.
23 - Dr Dreadful
Clav @ #19:
Irony, presumably.
24 - Ruvy
DD,
As I told Jordan earlier, go to "Backspin" at HonestReporting and present your views. You may have a legitimate point, but telling me that is an exercise in futility. My article has little to do with this. The foreign press distorting the facts is just the cherry on the cake of journalistic hatred, lies and distortion here. But to know that, you would have to have been at a meeting of the Association of Foreign Journalists here.
The reason I post here at all is to balance out the bullshit you all get from the MSM.
Based on its history of pro-Arab bias, that it focused on someone being shot on a bulldozer, rather than the obvious big story, the bulldozer driver crazily crashing into a bus and killing people, indicates to me that Honestreporting had every reason to go after the BBC for its headlines.
And now, the Sabbath is upon us in Samaria, and I must leave you for 25 hours or so. Catch you on the other side of the weekend.
Shabbat Shalom,
Ruvy
25 - Jordan Richardson
You may have a legitimate point, but telling me that is an exercise in futility.
You certainly nailed that one.