A partisan for the other side
By Frimet Roth
 On the morning of the murderous September 22 suicide
bombing in French Hill, Ha’aretz carried an op-ed piece by Amira Hass
attacking Prime Minister Sharon for saying one week earlier: “I don't
see the terror coming to an end.” Hass considered his pessimism
baseless. Because Sharon is “counting on Palestinian terror”, she
complained, “Israel will leave all the existing security measures around
Gaza that exist now, for an unlimited time”, implying that it is the
security measures along that create the terror, and that Sharon is
therefore really behind the attacks.
Hass, a Jewish Israeli, resides in Ramallah but actually
lives in a fantasy world where Israel is under no threat from the
Palestinians, whose plight she bewails. She spews her fury at Israel
sometimes at the rate of three articles to one issue of Ha'aretz.
Nevertheless, she often carps about the limited exposure Israelis get to
her. “I know that the things I write reach fewer and fewer people. I
know they don't want to read it,” she told the Christian Science
Monitor. But if Israelis skip her articles or dismiss them, overseas
Hass is enormously appreciated. In March, 2003, she was awarded the
$25,000 UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize. In 2002 it was the Bruno
Kreisky Human Rights Award, shared with the Palestinian Center for Human
Rights. And this summer Sweden presented her with the $33,000 Anna Lind
Prize for Journalism. In her acceptance speech, Hass deemed it ironic
that she was benefiting personally from “a bloody conflict, from the
reality of an ongoing, ruthless Israeli occupation and an apartheid sort
of domination that my state, Israel exercises over the Palestinians.”
Hass's writing tends to the formulaic. Zoom in on one or
two Palestinians. Tell their tale of woe: delay at a roadblock;
inability to visit a cousin in a neighboring village; frustration at
curfews; financial hardship. Describe their clothes, the food on the
table. Include a few children. And never forget to add an Israeli
soldier. Have him engage in harsh conduct or some small act of kindness:
either will convey domination. Toss in statistics. In particular,
emphasize the number of Palestinian children killed in this war.
The crucial element in the Hass formula is the lack of
context. Roadblocks exist for no reason. Searches are conducted on
soldiers’ whims. Financial troubles are caused solely by Israel's
unjustified entry restrictions. Children killed by IDF fire are never
used as “human shields” by Palestinian gunmen. Innocent Israelis have
not been murdered by ruthless terrorists. Palestinian children have not
had explosives strapped to their bodies. And unarmed Palestinians never
aid and abet the terrorists.
During an interview in Berkeley last year, Haas referred
to intended suicide bombers as “people who want to make a suicide
attempt” and to those who have succeeded at it as “people who went to
explode themselves”. Not a word about their victims. She blurred the
line between suicide and murder-suicide again in an article she wrote
for Ha’aretz on August 15, 2001 after the suicide bombing of Jerusalem’s
Sbarro pizzeria. Fifteen Jewish civilians, Israeli and American,
perished in that attack. My daughter, Malki, 15, was among them. In that
piece Hass deviated from her usual formula. She simply presented two
lists: The first, of the paltry weapons available to the Palestinians:
“demonstrations… commercial strikes… stones… mortar shells… the suicide
bomber, et al”; the second, items from the Israeli arsenal: “F-16
fighter bombers, helicopter gunships… armored troop carriers… ships…
air-to-ground and ground-to-ground missiles… prisons…”
She concluded with the assurance that “Palestinians will
not back down” because of their many survival tactics. She listed some,
concluding with: “Many slip into Israel to earn some money, while some
slip in to leave it all behind for ever, as suicide bombers.” Once
again, Hass confused suicide with suicide-murder.
Hass opinion pieces frequently appear on the front page.
This would be odd even if her credibility had never been refuted. But in
2001, Ha’aretz was sued after Hass wrote that Jewish residents of Hebron
kicked, spat on, and danced atop the body of a dead Palestinian
terrorist, just shot and killed by soldiers after he threw a grenade at
them. Enraged Hebron residents demanded that Ha’aretz publish an
apology, were refused and then sued for 250,000 shekels in damages. No
defense was offered and the court awarded the plaintiffs the full sum.
Hass did not attend the Bruno Kreisky award ceremony, but
wrote in an acceptance letter: “Journalists are not neutral, cannot be
‘objective’…” she wrote. “The more closely I came to know Palestinians
(and Israeli occupation methods)… the less and less neutral I could be.”
A journalist with such views can cause Israel immeasurable harm.
Israel’s PR bodies must acknowledge the influence she wields and counter
her allegations—starting yesterday.
___
Frimet Roth writes on issues related to terror from her
home in Jerusalem. |
(The Jerusalem Report invited Amira Hass to read this
article and write a rejoinder, but she declined.) |
