Richman - The Face of Palestinian Statehood

Rick Richman
Commentary/Contentions
21 September '11

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/09/21/palestinian-statehood-voa/#more-768865

In its September 8 report entitled “Palestinians and UN – Statehood or Stalemate?” the U.S. government-funded Voice of America (VOA) informed readers the Palestinians were “poised” to submit their UN petition, but Congress was “demanding President Barack Obama veto” it; that Israel was “considering a nullification of the Oslo Accords” if the Palestinians pushed their “ambitious bid;” and that the U.S. “would be perceived as a superpower crushing the aspirations of the Palestinian people” if it used its veto.

The piece was deemed a news report, not an editorial. But the more striking aspect was the picture that accompanied it — an elderly Palestinian woman standing in front of UN headquarters in Ramallah, holding the Palestinian letter to the UN. The VOA caption described her only as “Palestinian activist Latifa Abu Hmeid.” Thanks to Palestinian Media Watch, we know what the VOA omitted: Abu Hmeid was chosen to launch the Palestinian bid, as Evelyn noted, as the mother of five sons who murdered Israeli civilians in operations by Fatah and Hamas units, one son dead and the others serving life sentences in Israeli prison.

In other words, the Palestinians wrapped their UN petition – a blatant violation of the prohibition under the Oslo Accords on unilateral action – in still another act of incitement, choosing as the face of their UN statehood effort the mother of terrorists, which the VOA failed to note in its “news report” on the “ambitious bid.”

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