10 August, 2011

Having It Both Ways

We're all too familiar with the double standard the press revels in when it comes to Israel. No less familiar and no less significant is the license they take in accusing Israel of anything that suits their fancy and their narrative, without any adherence to fact, logic or even reason. Yesterday's Financial Times reported on the growth of the protest phenomenon in Israel. They note:

His coalition government is deeply dependent on the support of lawmakers from pro-settler and ultra-Orthodox parties. Discord on the streets is bad enough for the prime minister. Conflict and strife inside Mr Netanyahu’s unwieldy coalition may be even worse.
Source

While just the other week, Peace Now (of all places) reported, also on the protests:
“The protests in the streets are actually making [the coalition] more stable and the ones who could give Netanyahu problems are not interested in bringing down this government,” [Prof. Shmuel] Sandler told The Media Line. “Also, March is a long way off. Netanyahu will likely come to an arrangement with the settlers, maybe give them other land, and he’ll take it (Migron) down.”
Source

So it's an unwieldy but more stable coalition. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Our protests don't involve tanks or riots, but the press doesn't feel the need to report on that, in light of what's going on in "civilized" countries like England or Syria.

Only in Israel.

1 comment:

rutimizrachi said...

A thousand years ago (it seems), I thought Jews overreacted to the whole Antisemitism thing. I just couldn't see it.

Later, I was shocked, when I finally became aware of the double standard nearly everywhere.

Now, it barely fazes me.

But keep shining a light on it, because in every generation, there are plenty of people who haven't even begun their personal "thousand years" of comprehension.