For LA Times "The Gaza Kitchen" book review - Two parts falsehood, one part travesty

Tamar Sternthal..
CAMERA Media Analyses..
09 April '13..

In an enthusiastic Los Angeles Times review of The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey, Carol J. Williams, together with the cookbook authors Laila Haddad and Maggie Schmitt, take the opportunity to brew up a number of false charges against Israel ("For Gaza cooks, it's two parts rice, one part defiance"). In the introduction to her interview with Haddad and Schmitt, Williams writes:

Israeli troops have imposed a tight cordon around Gaza border crossings, sea access and airspace since the strip's 2007 takeover by the militant Islamic group Hamas, crippling a fragile economy where nearly half the residents are jobless.

That means Gazans are confronted with daily challenges to put their signature foods on the family table: Locally made olive oil has disappeared, the once-resplendent olive groves blasted by artillery exchanges. The deep channel of migrating fish off the Mediterranean shore is now off limits. Even the red tahina that reflected Gazans’ unique way of toasting sesame seeds has faded into memory for many, a victim of import controls.

Food Restrictions Lifted in June 2010

First, there is absolutely no restriction on the import of tahina, or any other food, since June 2010. As the Los Angeles Times' own Edmund Sanders reported on Oct. 18, 2012:

Under international pressure, Israel ended the restrictions on food in 2010, though it continues to ban commercial exports and imports of goods such as cement or other items Israel says could be used to build military bunkers or weapons.

Indeed, Williams' introduction stating that Israel's "tight cordon" supposedly causes daily hardships for Gazans' meals is entirely false given that all food restrictions have been lifted since June 2010. Williams' distorted narrative also ignores the fact that Israel does not have sole control over Gaza's border crossings. In fact, Egypt shares the Rafah border with Gaza, and imposes its own blockade on the territory.

Whitewashing Hamas at the L.A. Times

TS..
CAMERA/Snapshots..
09 October '12..







A Los Angeles Time article about a Middle Eastern hacker attack on American banks whitewashes Hamas. E. Scott Reckard, Andrew Tangel and Jim Puzzanghera report:

The attacks on banks began last week on the largest institutions in the country: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America. They spread to Wells Fargo on Tuesday and U.S. Bank on Wednesday. Another attack has been threatened against PNC Financial Services on Thursday.

The U.S. government and banks have been working feverishly to learn more about the attackers. A financial executive not authorized to speak publicly described a "war room" where bankers were coordinating efforts with the Department of Homeland Security.

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam is the name of the military wing of Hamas, the political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Experts say the attacks appear to have originated from the Middle East, thought it isn't clear who is behind them or the motivation. (Emphasis added.)

But Hamas isn't merely "the political party that governs the Gaza Strip." It's also been designated as a terror organization by American (as well as European and Israeli) authorities.

Hamas' designation as a terror group is more than slightly relevant to a story about shadowy Middle Eastern hackers named after a wing of Hamas. Why in the world would the Times withhold this critical information from American readers?

Link: http://blog.camera.org/archives/2012/10/la_times_misleads_about_hamas.html

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Benson - What Passes for “Progress” at the LA Times

Pesach Benson
Honest Reporting/Backspin
02 November '11

http://honestreporting.com/what-passes-for-progress-at-the-la-times/


A really dumb LA Times staff-ed praises Palestinian unilateralism because their statehood strategy doesn’t hinge on blowing up Israelis.

In past decades, Palestinian nationalists thought they had to hijack planes or blow up Israeli civilians in order to attract international attention. Some still do, but moderate leaders are lately discovering that the path to recognition might lie instead through the United Nations . . . the Palestinian switch to a diplomatic strategy represents progress.

Oh really? While UNESCO gave the Palestinians a thumbs up, half of the PA not governed by Mahmoud Abbas was firing rockets at Israel. That’s a story even the LA Times covered in reports one and two.

More than 60 rockets have been fired in the past week. Ashkelon’s the next Sderot. And no amount of goodwill from UNESCO the PA, or the LA Times news room will bring back Moshe Ami, who was killed in one barrage.

And the Times calls this progress?

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CAMERA - LA Times Op-Ed Denies Delegitimization

M.J. Rosenberg

Tamar Sternthal/Steven Stotsky
CAMERA Media Analysis
21 July '11

http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=33&x_article=2087



On July 17, 2011, readers of the LA Times were presented with the absurd assertion by guest Op-Ed writer M.J. Rosenberg that “Israel can't be de-legitimized, and no one is trying to do so.”

In fact, one does not have to look beyond the Op-Ed pages of the Los Angeles Times to find a steady drumbeat of columns doing just that. The Times' regular publication of columns calling for the establishment of a “binational state,” meaning the dissolution of the Jewish state, prompted Judea Pearl, professor at UCLA and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, to observe in 2008:

Each year, in preparation for Israel's birthday, newspaper editors feel an uncontrolled urge, a divine calling in fact, to invite Arab writers to tell us why Israel should not exist. . . .

I am concerned about the possibility that a non-negligible percentage of Los Angeles Times readers, especially the novice and the hasty, would interpret the publication of Saree Makdisi's call for dismantling Israel (“Forget the Two-State Solution,” L.A. Times, Opinion, May 12) as evidence that his arguments and conclusions are deemed worthy of consideration in the eyes of the editors of the L.A. Times, whose judgment the public has entrusted to protect us from Flat Earth-type deformities. This concern became especially acute after reporters Richard Boudreaux and Ashraf Khalil (“For Some Palestinians, One State With Israel Is Better Than None,” L.A. Times, World News, May 8 ) had already touted the “one-state” slogans in the same newspaper, with unmistaken sympathy, under the cover of “World News . . .”

In fairness to the editors of the L.A. Times (unlike The Nation and The Christian Science Monitor), articles calling for the elimination of Israel are often balanced by articles calling for peaceful coexistence. But, ironically, this “balance” is precisely where the imbalance occurs, for it gives equal moral weight to an immoral provocation that every Jew in Israel considers a genocidal death threat, and most Jews in the world view as an assault on their personal dignity, national identity and historical destiny.

If calling for the dismantlement of the Jewish state is not an attack on Israel's legitimacy, then what is? Likewise, smearing Israel as colonial, apartheid, anachronistic, and a war criminal which practices ethnic cleansing – all slurs which have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, and which depict an entity which has no right to exist – are also attacks on the nation's legitimacy.

Op-Ed contributors calling for Israel's end over the last decade range from Palestinian-American academics, to Hamas leaders, to anti-Zionist Jewish professors and freelance writers.

The following are several examples – all from the LA Times – of what Rosenberg assures us “no one is trying to do.”

LA Times Gets Its Facts Wrong on Lifta (Updated)

Tamar Sternthal
CAMERA Media Analysis
26 April '11


http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=33&x_article=2027

This analysis replaces an earlier, less detailed article first posted on April 7.

On April 7, the Los Angeles Times published a lengthy front-page feature story about Israeli plans to redevelop the abandoned Arab village of Lifta next to Jerusalem (“Israel and Palestinians have conflicting visions for village's future”).

The article, by Jerusalem bureau chief Edmund Sanders, contained multiple factual errors and relayed a selective account of Lifta's 1948 history. The two Israeli figures cited in the article, though hailing from the far political fringe, are presented as authorities, even though “historian” Ilan Pappe has openly dismissed historical accuracy in favor of ideology, and Daphna Golan supports the “right of return” and labels Israel an "apartheid state."

Los Angeles Times editors failed to respond to CAMERA's communications concerning factual errors, but did follow up with an online Opinion piece by Ghada Karmi praising the Lifta article and further charging Israel with “demolishing every vestige of Palestinian life and history in the land.”

Edmund Sanders' 1,365-word article about development plans for Lifta, an abandoned Arab village outside Jerusalem in which many empty homes and other buildings still remain standing, touches on, in his words, “one of the most intractable issues in Mideast peace talks: whether Palestinians should have the right to return to ancestral homes inside Israel and what this would mean for Israel's survival as a Jewish state.” Unfortunately, the article's many errors and one-sided historical account shed little light on that key issue. Moreover, editors at the paper have failed to respond to CAMERA's documentation concerning the factual errors which we first wrote about here.

FACTUAL ERRORS

Government Buildings on Lifta Land?

First, Sanders incorrectly writes that Lifta's “farmland was confiscated and is now the site of Israel's Supreme Court; its parliament, the Knesset; and Hebrew University.” According to the Jerusalem municipality, none of those institutions are built on land formerly belonging to Lifta. Elie Isaacson, the spokesman for the municipality, noted that the Knesset's land is leased from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. As for the Hebrew University and the Supreme Court, they sit on land that once was part of the Arab village of Sheikh Badr, not Lifta.

Likewise, a phone call to Israel Kimhi of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, and a foremost expert on the city of Jerusalem, confirmed that Lifta's boundaries did not extend that far south. He consulted a British Mandate era map and found that Lifta's boundaries only went as far south as Jaffa Street, and did not reach the government compound area to which Mr. Sanders refers.

LA Times Misreports 'Nakba Law' (UPDATED)

Tamar Sternthal
CAMERA Media Analysis
10 April '11


http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=33&x_article=2027

This article has been updated as of 26 April '11. Click here for new article.

April 10 Update: Sanders Also Errs on Lifta Land

April 7, 2011 -- In a Los Angeles Times article today about Israeli plans to develop the abandoned Arab village of Lifta, Edmund Sanders misreports the recently passed Israeli law popularly referred to as the "Nakba Law" ("Israel and Palestinians have conflicting visions for village's future"). Erring on several counts, Sanders writes: "The Knesset last month passed a law that would impose fines on groups or authorities that commemorate the Palestinian displacement." This is a gross misrepresentation of the so-called "Nakba Law," which can be viewed on the Knesset Web site here. The first and second paragraphs of the law, in English (CAMERA's translation) read:

A body which is budgeted (ie, a state-sponsored body) or supported according to clause 21, or a public institution supported according to clause 3a shall not incur expenses in order to engage in activities which involve --

a) 1) the rejection of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish nation; 2) the rejection of the democratic character of the state; 3) support for armed struggle or acts of terror, of an enemy or terror organization, against Israel; 4) incitement to racism, violence, or terror; 5) dishonoring of the national flag or national symbol; In this sub-section, "expense" -- includes waiving income.

(b) If the Finance Minister sees that a state budgeted or supported body does not abide by this clause, he is entitled to withold funds from the state budget that are supposed to be transferred to the said body . . .

Thus, the errors in Sanders' description of the law are manifold. First, the law does not apply to "groups or authorities" at large, but specifically to state-funded bodies, such as municipalities, public schools, and the like. NGOs and private outfits do not fall into this category, and there is nothing in the law to prevent them either from commemorating "Palestinian displacement" or rejecting the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. As the fourth paragraph of the law states, "Accordingly, the law will forbid all governmental entities, or bodies which receive government funds, to organize or fund activities which undermine the foundations of the country or to contradict is basic values."

Second, the bill does not outlaw "commemora[tion] of the Palestinian displacement." Rather, it outlaws the rejection of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish nation. One most certainly can recognize or memorialize Palestinian displacement, and at the same time recognize that Israel is the state of the Jewish nation.

Third, contrary to Sanders' report, the law does not allow for any "fine." Rather, it grants the Finance Minister the discretion to withhold funds that were otherwise budgeted to the entity.

Separately, Sanders reliance on "Israeli historian Ilan Pappe" as a source in the same article is highly problematic. Pappe has repeatedly and openly eschewed historical facts in favor of ideology, stating, for example, "Indeed the struggle is about ideology, not about facts, Who knows what facts are? We try to convince as many people as we can that our interpretation of the facts is the correct one, and we do it because of ideological reasons, not because we are truthseekers" (Le Soir, Nov. 29, 1999).

Additional instances in which he expressed this sentiment can be seen here. In line with his embrace of ideology over facts, Pappe has repeatedly backed bogus charges against Israel, including the myth of a 1948 massacre of the villagers of Tantura and the bogus assertion that Israel committed a massacre in Jenin in 2002. He has also backed international boycott campaigns of Israeli academia, rendering Sanders' description of him -- "Israeli historian Ilan Pappe" -- inadequate and misleading.

April 10 Update: Sanders Also Errs on Lifta Land

Additional research on Sanders' April 7 article has turned up an additional factual error. The article claims that Lifta's "farmland was confiscated and is now the site of Israel's Supreme Court; its parliament, the Knesset; and the Hebrew University." According to the Jerusalem municipality, none of those institutions are built on land formerly belonging to Lifta. Elie Isaacson, the spokesman for the municipality, noted that the Knesset's land is leased from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. As for the Hebrew University and the Supreme Court, they sit on land that once was part of the Arab village of Sheikh Badl, not Lifta.

Likewise, a phone call to Israel Kimhi, of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, and a foremost expert on the city of Jerusalem, confirmed that Lifta's boundaries did not extend that far south. He consulted a British Mandate- era map and found that Lifta's boundaries only went as far south as Jaffa Street, and did not reach the government compound area to which Mr. Sanders refers.

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Geographically-Challenged Architecture Review

TS
CAMERA/Snapshots
03 February '11

http://blog.camera.org/archives/2011/02/geographicallychallenged_archi.html

One would think that a journalist reviewing an architecture exhibit would have a handle on the relevant geography. Think again. A review today in the Los Angeles Times of the "Decolonizing Architecture" exhibition states that the exhibition is

driven by a simple but provocative question: If and when Israel decides, or is compelled, to leave the occupied territories in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, what should returning Palestinians do with the buildings, roads and bridges the army and the settlers leave behind? (Emphasis added.)

Um, hello? The fate of structures in the Gaza Strip is not a question, provocative or otherwise, since Israel completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip, pulling out each and every last civilian and soldier in 2005, a dramatic event covered in depth by the Los Angeles Times at the time. (The only Israeli left in the Gaza Strip is captured soldier Gilad Shalit.)

Acceding to Palestinian requests, Israel leveled much of the single-family housing, which did not meet Palestinian needs. Israel, however, did not raze the synagogues and they were subsequently torched by Palestinian mobs. The Los Angeles Times' own stories about the Israeli evacuations and the fate of the remaining buildings include "Gazans Burn Synagogues in Israeli Soldiers' Wake, Jubilant Palestinians storm in after Israel refuses to raze temples in former settlements," (Laura King and Ken Ellingwood, Sept. 12, 2005) and "Gaza Sites Are Awash With Palestinians on a New Shore; After Israeli troops leave, thousands flock to a long-forbidden beach. Others cart off what remains from abandoned homes," (King and Ellingwood, Sept. 13, 2005).

The departing Israelis left in place most of the farmers' hothouses, which had been purchased by Jewish American philanthropists and turned over to the Palestinians. Rather than make use of the 3,000 greenhouses to help build the Palestinian economy, looters destroyed them. For details, see the Los Angeles Times' "Palestinians in Gaza Loot Greenhouse Equipment," (AP, Sept. 14, 2000).

The fate of settlements, past and future, has certainly been a challenging subject for the Los Angeles Times in recent days. The paper still owes its readers a correction on Saree Makdisi's false claim that the "Palestine Papers" show that Palestinian negotiators agreed to let Israel hold on to large West Bank settlements.

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LA Times Stringer Peddles Israel Lobby Trash

Honest Reporting/Backspin
19 January '11

http://backspin.typepad.com/backspin/2011/01/la-times-stringer-peddles-israel-lobby-trash.html

Over-stretched Western news services rely heavily on arrangements with Palestinian free-lance writers and photographers who know the West Bank: the terrain, the language, the people, the mores. For better or for worse, Big Media coverage of the West Bank would grind to a halt without stringers.

One such writer on my radar is LA Times stringer Maher Abukhater. Calling for greater EU political involvement in the peace process is fair enough. But Abukhater's out of bounds when he writes in today's Daily Star of Beirut:

Unlike the U.S. (which has a policy of blind support for Israel for various reasons but mainly due to control by the pro-Israel lobby of the U.S. Congress that as a result ties the hands of the White House), Europe has actually adopted policies toward the Middle East far more advanced than those of the United States . . .

Thus, Palestinians share part of the blame for keeping Europe away because of their mistaken belief that only the U.S. can deliver Israel. But with the U.S. administration’s hands tied because of the strength of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, neither has the U.S. been able to deliver and Palestinians have been left alone in the cold.

Let's get a few things straight.

1. US Jews, like all Americans, are entitled to lobby their elected leaders on whatever issues concern them, whether we're talking about, for example, health care reform, tuition vouchers, the environment, etc. That's Democracy 101.

2. The US public strongly identifies with Israel because of so many common values: life, liberty, equality, democracy, freedom of speech, accountability, and more. You don't find those values in the Palestinian Authority.

3. To say a group of Jews is capable of controlling Congress and tying the White House's hands to the extent Abukhater describes is, at best, small-minded ignorance, and at worst, anti-Semitic conspiracy-mongering.

4. HonestReporting has exposed how How Palestinian Fixers Manipulate Their Media Bosses and taint Western news coverage. See also The Influence of Palestinian Stringers on Foreign News Reporting.

Abukhater's entitled to his views. But a major US daily like the LA Times shouldn't rely on any journalist who peddles such trash.

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Media, Academia Destroying Themselves Over Israel

Institutions are crumbling as the lies needed to uphold the Israel narrative become too much to bear.


Barry Rubin
pajamasmedia.com
15 June '10

The irrational slander and hatred of Israel is not destroying Israel. It is destroying the institutions — media and academic, especially — being driven to madness by this obsessive irrationality and decline from their own proper standards.

Like an oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, the number of lies, logical fallacies, concealments, and strategic misconceptions necessary to make Israel look bad has grown so large that it threatens the health of the media and intelligentsia.

For in their assaults on Israel, these particular news media — of course, not in all they do nor in the work of all who report for them — have left behind professional ethics, rationality, and their own credibility. Political correctness has eclipsed factual correctness, and the purpose of some newspapers has been redefined from reporting the news to merely reporting the news that furthers the political agenda of editors and journalists.

The above, of course, is strenuously denied by those who embody such behavior, though it is of no surprise to those who are reading these words. And in this growing gap, the former lose credibility and the latter lose respect for what should be one of the main pillars of Western democracy and defense against the ideologies of dictatorship.

There is no institution that is more clearly typical of this malady than the once-respected and now justly often-ridiculed New York Times. Only the Times could donate a huge space to Tony Judt, a man without qualification to discuss the Middle East, claiming that the idea Israel is being delegitimized was a propaganda myth created by the Netanyahu government … while Judt daily delegitimizes Israel.

(Read full article)

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