Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The Mistreatment of Children is Intolerable But...

... "to understand the problem in context, it needs to be acknowledged that the Israeli army faces constant and often dangerous provocation in the area, with children in the vanguard of stone-throwing and violence... [It] was an excessive response to an ongoing, simmering conflict and not the product of state-sanctioned racism... Israel's enemies will undoubtedly seize upon the West Bank revelations to falsely depict [the Middle East's only functioning democracy] as being innately racist. It's not and never was." (Editorial: Israel moves on child justice, The Australian, 11/2/14)

A mere overreaction, nothing more, nothing less.

Typically, The Australian's editorial line here is seriously out of whack with its Middle East correspondent John Lyons' clear and unambiguous recognition, in his weekend feature on the subject, that the problem is entirely of Israel's own making:

"While Israel is under pressure over the issue, at its heart is the occupation... Central to the conflict is that the Palestinians wake up each day under an occupation they do not want." (Palestinian children pawns in an unjust system, 8/2/14)

The question arises: does the editor (Sheridan?) even bother reading what his own correspondent writes?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

transfer is in the dna of zionism.

such discriminatory device(s) flow.