Reuters is a global news agency whose stories are picked up and disseminated around the world. Its reporting is thereby magnified as it is often the only source about events in many parts of the world.
The agency has a history of actively choosing to whitewash the terrorism of Palestinian groups, opting instead to call them “militants” while simultaneously calling out other organizations.
Consider the P.K.K., the Kurdistan Working Party:
July 21, 2022: “...militants of the Kurdish PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Ankara regards both as terrorist groups…. Cavusoglu said reports blaming Turkey for the attack were attempts by the PKK to hinder Ankara’s counter-terrorism…. ‘Following this attack, which we believe the (PKK) terrorist organisation carried out,‘”
June 29, 2022: “… it views as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which is also deemed a terrorist group by the United States and European Union.“
May 14, 2022: “…engaging with PKK and YPG. These are terrorist organisations that have been attacking our troops…. ‘it is unacceptable and outrageous that our friends and allies are supporting this terrorist organisation’“
April 21, 2022: “The military action was part of a long-running Turkish campaign in Iraq and Syria against militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, both regarded as terrorist groups by Ankara.“
Reuters similarly treats the terrorist group al-Shabaab in a similar fashion by clearly stating its objectives:
July 19, 2022: “…two al Shabaab terrorists were killed in action,“
April 5, 2022: “The al Shabaab group linked to al Qaeda…. Violence by the group, which aims to topple the central government and impose its own severe version of Islamic law,” didn’t specify terrorism but linked it to a well known terrorist group ad stated the groups goal to topple the government of Somalia.
Meanwhile, articles about Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas, Al-Aqsa Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are cleansed of the terrorist label and instead referred to as “militant groups” and “Islamists.”
July 24, 2022: “The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group claimed the two Palestinians slain… which is ruled by Hamas Islamists.“
June 7, 2022: “…the enclave now governed by Hamas Islamists.“
May 27, 2022: “The Islamist group Hamas in Gaza has warned of another war…“
April 15, 2022: “…the armed Islamist group Hamas, which rules the enclave,“
People around the world reading Reuters are left with an impression that Hamas is somehow not out to destroy Israel, nor a designated terrorist group by the United States, European Union and many other countries. The group thereby becomes legitimized, in sharp contrast to how the media portrays other terrorist groups when it informs the world about the violent threats such groups pose.
Anti-Zionism is pervasive, and the media is an active participant in whitewashing the terrorism and genocidal aspirations of many Palestinian Arabs.
One of the most contentious matters in politics is election integrity. Democrats and Republicans continue to trade accusations about the 2020 presidential results, with Republicans contending that there were fake votes and Democrats pointing to the January 6th riot at the US Capitol Building which attempted to negate the election results.
Four years earlier, the attacks on the presidential results were from Democrats against Russia, claiming that it used social media platforms to sway American voters. A multi-year investigation netted 13 Russians and three Russian agencies as being involved in election tampering. In response to the accusation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said “Maybe they’re not even Russians. Maybe they’re Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship. Even that needs to be checked. Maybe they have dual citizenship. Or maybe a green card. Maybe it was the Americans who paid them for this work. How do you know? I don’t know.“
The American Jewish Committee said in response to the Putin slur that Jews were “behind U.S. election meddling is eerily reminiscent of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He should clarify his comments at the earliest opportunity.” “Clarify?” Really? What a pathetic comment to the anti-Semitic libel.
The leading Democrats in Congress – Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) – focused on Putin’s refusal to extradite the Russians with a letter to President Donald Trump to use all means to get the Russians to stand trial. The Democrats ignored the anti-Semitic smear entirely. Anti-Semitism is so ingrained in society, that three leading Jewish politicians didn’t condemn it.
Now in 2022, the leading liberal newspaper, The New York Times, also accused Jewish groups for interfering in US congressional elections. On July 19 the Times wrote a piece before primaries “What to Watch in Tuesday’s Primary Election in Maryland.” The article stated that Jews were “meddling” in the primaries of a “largely Black middle-class” district.
The New York Times accuses Jews and pro-Israel lobbies of “meddling” in the primaries of a Black district on July 19, 2022
In liberal circles, teacher unions, women’s rights groups and liberal anti-Zionist organizations like the Open Society have a right to engage in lobbying. But not Jews. Certainly not Zionists. They are dishonest foreigners preying on minorities.
Political leaders and the media are openly resuscitating old Jewish libels, painting Jews as nefarious actors, not to be trusted. Much like supporters of boycotting Israel are Hamas’s willing executioners of the Jewish State, the largest public platforms are coming for the Jews.
President Biden is being pressured by pro-abortion groups to take action after the US Supreme Court ruled that the right to abortion is not federally guaranteed and that each state must decide for itself how to handle the procedure. Even in states like New York which allow abortion until the moment of birth, pro-choice people are demanding federal action.
Biden opted to hand monies to the hospital system directly because the Palestinian Authority flatly refuses to stop awarding money to terrorists that attack Jewish civilians. The Taylor Force Act, named for an American visiting Israel who was killed by a Palestinian Arab, prevents the United States from handing money to the PA while it actively funds the murder of civilians.
The US Congress must still approve Biden’s proposed $100 million award to the Palestinian hospital network. It will be interesting to see if members of congress like Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO) who were arrested during their protest about abortion in front of the Supreme Court, will approve this funding for Palestinians whom they historically prioritize over any issue, including anti-Semitism and terrorism.
Rep. Ilhan Omar arrested in front of US Supreme Court on July 19, protesting abortion ruling. She must now decide if the US should hand $100 million to Palestinian hospitals which ban abortion. (picture: Tom Williams/Getty Images)
The too familiar routine of a Palestinian Arab viciously attacking a Jewish civilian unfolded again. An Arab repeatedly stabbed a Jewish civilian, and then another Jewish civilian witnessed the crime and shot the terrorist.
The sequence is straightforward. The perpetrator and victim are clear.
But only if you see the actions through the lens of coexistence, as most Israelis and the western world perceive.
For Palestinian Arabs and their sympathizers, Jews have no right to even be next to the Arab. The basic presence of Jews was the offense, and therefore the Arab is the actual victim twice over – first having to live with Jews, and then to be shot by those same “settlers.”
Palestinian media covered the event with the header “Israeli settler shoots Palestinian in Jerusalem,” making the incident appear as an unprovoked Israeli attack on Arabs, absolution via inversion.
The Jerusalem Post headline was the opposite: “Jerusalem stabbing attack: 41-year-old in moderate condition.” The audience readily understood that the terrorist was an Arab who attacked a Jewish civilian.
The Jerusalem Post article continued with “Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the stabbing was ‘a natural response to the occupation’s crimes against our Islamic and Christian sanctities in the city of Jerusalem. This act of resistance confirms once again the failure of all attempts to stop the escalation of the act of resistance in the occupied West Bank and the city of Jerusalem,’ he said.“
While Israelis attempt to live lives of coexistence, Palestinian Arabs believe that Jews have no history or rights to live in the land, especially in Jerusalem. The Arab street, political parties and media openly support violence to “resist” the presence of Jews.
The nature of the conflict is clear: an Israeli vision of coexistence compared to an Arab vision of a Jew-free land.
If one were to be generous about the many flaws in journalism today, one could argue that the media model is so broken that the companies can no longer afford to hire enough or high quality reporters. As such, the papers simply do not do the homework required to properly educate today’s readership which already has access to tons of information online but may not be able to locate, assemble or analyze the copious volume of data.
FirstOneThrough has criticized the anti-Israel bias of The New York Times and its latest reporter on Israel, Patrick Kingsley (who is actually much better than past Times reporters), including just a few days ago regarding President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East. In his article “In First Visit As President, Biden Will Find Changed Middle East Political Scene.” Kingsley placed blame for the failure of peace between Israel and Palestinian Arabs squarely on the shoulders of Israeli action, absolving the Palestinian Authority of any criticism. One might assume that Kingsley was ignorant about the sentiments of Palestinian Arabs, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the political-terrorist group which governs Gaza. It would be both pathetic and generous to consider that the journalist covering Israel and the PA didn’t know that Palestinian Arabs poll themselves every three months.
Alas, there is a reason that many Zionists shun the New York paper and describe it as a pro-Palestinian propaganda rag, as revealed on July 16, 2022.
New York Times article on July 16, 2022, page A8, which highlights select data from Palestinian polls (five red boxes with associated questions from June 2022 PCPSR poll)
Kingsley clearly read the results of the June 2022 poll, as he cited the findings of six responses about the unhappiness of Palestinian Arabs. However, Kingsley refused to mention Palestinians preference for war against Jewish civilians and the rejection of a two state solution proposed by Biden, in other responses found throughout the poll.
While The New York Times cited some responses from a Palestinian poll about Arab unhappiness (such as Q49), it neglected to mention the various responses supporting violence (including Q47, Q48/5, Q51 and Q52, above)
Poll question 64 asked people in the West Bank and Gaza “Concerning armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel, I….,” a question which should be labelled a war crime. Outrageously, 25% strongly support and 27% support the idea – a majority of those polled.
The response to Q52 had 56% of Palestinian Arabs supporting armed attacks by Arab lone wolves inside of Israel. The response to Q51 showed that 59% of Arabs think that the lone wolf attacks “contribute to the Palestinian Interest in ending the occupation.”
The responses to many questions show that a majority of Palestinian Arabs favor armed attacks against Jewish civilians and reject a two state solution (Q42 has 69% opposing two states and Q45 has 69% opposing negotiations with Israel). But Kingsley opted to not cite any of those findings.
Instead, the article titled “Biden Gives Palestinians Funding and Sympathy, But No Long-Term Plans” ended with a quote that Biden “empathized with Palestinian frustrations. ‘The Palestinian people are hurting now – you can just feel it, he said‘” echoing the statistics of Palestinian unhappiness but not their thirst for blood nor the destruction of Israel.
While Palestinians openly tell of their desire for the destruction of the Jewish State and the murder of Jews, the mainstream media and polite politicians only can see Arab “frustrations.” It’s absolution via calculated omission, and a lethal form of anti-Semitism.
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when America became so divided as a nation. Political parties and politicians had smeared opposing sides since the founding of the republic – especially during election season – but citizens were able to sit and converse with people of a different party.
Some people have squarely put the blame on Donald Trump. The man didn’t merely have a different set of priorities and policies, but his vulgarity, misogyny and various racist and demeaning comments put him beyond the pale for many Americans. The fact that he won the presidency, did not simply upset people but made them question the moral fabric of society.
The people who voted for Hillary Clinton in November 2016 did not simply support her, they internalized her September 2016 comments about Trump supporters when she said “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.“
Clinton took aim at half of America, and the insult felt by the targets of the attack, as well as the concurrence of her supporters, continues to be felt today in a deeply divided America.
The Jewish community may similarly have broken during the 2022 primary season.
In commenting about various Democratic primaries, Jeremy Ben Ami, the head of the far-left wing Jewish pro-Palestinian group J Street smeared Jewish moderates as racists, saying “There seems to be something particularly on the line for some parts of the Jewish community when women of color speak out.“
J Street President Jeremy Ben AmiNY Times article on July 16, 2022
The vile smear would be bad enough if Ben Ami was attacking the Republican Jewish Coalition, the opposing right-wing political advocacy group to J Street. But Ben Ami was attacking fellow Democrats who support the agenda of the moderate Democratic group, Democratic Majority For Israel (DMFI) and the bi-partisan group AIPAC.
The divide in the United States is tragically growing deeper. We may now also be witnessing the cleft in the Jewish community break open, as J Street slanders Jews to the right of their far-left ideology as irredeemable bigots.
As society moves from a Bell to a Barbell Curve, with politics becoming dominated by the extremes rather than the center, it is important for all people over 18 years old to register to vote. Once upon a time, when the country was led by moderates, people could afford to stay home as the difference between a center-right or center-left candidate was pretty modest.
No longer.
In deep red and deep blue districts, extremists backed by the likes of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are being elected to the office. They secure their positions in the PRIMARIES when many people don’t come out to vote, thinking that elections principally happen in November.
In New York State this year, primaries are happening on August 23, 2022, with early voting beginning on August 13. This second primary (one for statewide positions happened several weeks ago) is because of the late redistricting in the state. New district boundaries brought various politicians in and out of their historic zones, forcing a delay in the vote.
JULY 29, 2022 IS THE LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS UPCOMING ELECTION FOR YOUR CONGRESSPERSON. You can download the New York State voter registration form, and mail it in before July 29 to help keep extremists out of power.
An example of the extremists in New York State can be found in NY-16, now headed by Rep. Jamaal Bowman who came to power with the backing of the DSA. His newly redrawn district covers southern Westchester County.
The New York Times is obsessed with telling the world the false narrative that Palestinian Arabs are helpless victims in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It pushed the fake story again, that Israel is solely responsible for Palestinian misery, ahead of US President Joe Biden’s visit to the region later this week.
The New York Times absolving Palestinian Arabs of their direct participation in their fate.
Patrick Kingsley wrote that Biden “believes in a two state solution to the conflict.” Followed by a big “But…” which accused Israeli actions of undermining Biden’s goals.
In FOUR separate locations. the Times called out “Israeli occupation” and “settlement expansion,” including falsely alleging that Jews living in the West Bank “make a two state solution less viable.”
Another reason mentioned for the stalemate in peace discussions is “divisions within the Palestinian leadership.”
Lastly, the Times wrote that peace is far off because of “Israeli disinterest in peace negotiations.”
The Palestinian propaganda piece did not inform its readers that the PA continues to pay Arab terrorists who attack Israelis, and that funding such terrorism is a condition for the US to hand the PA any monies according to the Taylor Force Act.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Times refuses to accurately describe Palestinian Arabs as almost uniformly anti-Semitic, deny the history of the Jews in their holy land, have laws which prevent Jews from buying land, elected a Holocaust-denier to president, and who favor the Hamas terrorist group to lead the country now.
Palestinian Arabs are principally and directly responsible for their stateless situation, in continuing to deny Jews their human rights and dignity. But The New York Times prefers to peddle misinformation in its ardent defense of the “underdog,” even if those Arabs are anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying terrorist-supporters. Or maybe because of it.
A terrible tragedy unfolded on the US-Mexico border, as 53 migrants were found dead in the back of a truck, who were being smuggled into the United States. It is being marked as the deadliest human smuggling incident in US history.
The tragedy is a function of a number of problems, principally, the swelling number of people attempting to come into the United States from Mexico illegally.
From 2010 through 2020, the number of people coming over the US-Mexico border was a fraction of what has been happening under the Biden administration. Pew Research, summarized the statistics from the US Borders and Customs Protection (CBP), and tracked that 2021 saw the migrants from Mexico jump to over 608,000 and from countries other than Mexico to well over 1 million. Those countries with dramatic increases included Ecuador, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba.
Texas has been particularly overwhelmed. Along the Rio Grande and Del Rio areas, migrant encounters are up over five times between 2020 and 2021.
And 2022 is seeing an even greater number of encounters – and fewer people being returned across the border.
According to the CBP, May 2022 had 239,416 migrant encounters, an all-time record, breaking the previous all-time record set in April. Only 42 percent of those were expelled, the lowest percentage since Title 42 was put in place. As a record number of people are coming across the border, a record number are also staying.
Amidst this onslaught, Present Biden requested eight percent LESS money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in his budget. The proposal also includes a request for fewer detention beds. This plan for fewer people to control the border and fewer detention beds is exactly the opposite of the needs for the situation on the ground.
These bad policies are voiced by members of the Democratic Socialists of America squad, including Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) who have all called to ‘Abolish ICE’. They have essentially cheered the lack of action by ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris‘s do-nothing approach.
Vice President and “Border Czar” Kamala Harris (right) with Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) (middle) who has called to ‘Abolish ICE’
The DSA is loudly calling to abolish ICE and lobbying government officials for ‘Open Borders‘ which helped fuel the surge at the border, as well as the Biden-Harris lack of action. It should be no surprise that such activities led to the enormous human tragedy witnessed in Texas. More tragedies are likely to continue.
Catherine Parker, a resident of Rye, NY, is running for Congress in New York’s newly redrawn 16th district, one of the most Jewish districts in the country. She has much to say about the district’s current representative, Jamaal Bowman, and it’s and not pretty.
Parker agreed to be interviewed about issues of concern to the Jewish community, as she gets her message out to her constituents.
Catherine Parker, active in politics in lower Westchester for 15 years, is running for Congress to unseat Rep. Jamaal Bowman
On Israel and United Nations
Among the three people running for the seat in the Democratic primary, Parker is the only one who put Israel on her website as part of her agenda. Her website specifies:
“Israel is an important ally to the United States, and in Washington, Catherine will be a steadfast ally of the Middle East’s only democracy. Unlike her opponent who has consistently opposed U.S. policy supportive of Israel, Catherine would have voted in support of Israel’s right to defend itself and protect its citizens and she would have voted for funding of the Iron Dome.
“Catherine opposes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement which aims to end international support for Israel. She believes wholeheartedly in a two state solution. When it comes to a deal with Iran regarding nuclear – a new Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – we need to see that it will be more protective and longer, stronger and broader than what was negotiated by President Obama in 2015. And unlike her opponent, Catherine supports strengthening the Abraham Accords and would have voted in support for the Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021.“
These very supportive statements about the Jewish State served as a basis for our conversation.
On BDS, Parker said that it’s “just a version of anti-Semitism.” She believes that it should have no standing or support in our government.
She said that aid to Israel should not be conditional, much as President Biden has stated. She offered that Israel’s security has enhanced America’s security, and with “Israel being attacked all the time from terrorist groups like Hamas, it [Israel] deserves our support.”
Parker added that she supported the Taylor Force Act which limited funds to the Palestinian Authority as long as it pays the families of terrorists. “If the PA is going to be paying stipends to terrorists, then as a country, we shouldn’t be providing economic aid [to the PA].”
Parker added that she doesn’t think that the United Nations is fair in regards to Israel. In particular, she pointed to the UN Human Rights Council which continues to target Israel, a theme the State Department discussed a few weeks ago. She had no comment about the unique perpetual agency devoted to the descendants of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and said she would look into it.
Parker has never been to Israel but aligns herself with the Jewish State. While she has no position on Israelis living east of the Green Line in “settlements,” she is eager to visit the country and to learn more.
Iran’s Nuclear Program
Parker called the Islamic Republic of Iran “bad actors.” She was disappointed that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s attempt at diplomacy had seemingly broken down, and said she is “open to listening” to alternatives to deal with the menace, including military action.
Anti-Semitism
Parker supports the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism. She discussed her family’s long connection to former Rep. Nita Lowey and supports having Holocaust education in every school in the country. Parker views this as important to combat anti-Semitism and to benefit all of society.
Why She’s Running: Bowman
Parker went through a lengthy list of reasons why she’s running for Congress and it centers around Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
She said that she believes that Bowman’s advocacy for “Defund the Police is absolutely ridiculous.” The country has “many wonderful people serving us” and the key to combating some rogue officers is to have “implicit bias training” for active police officers.
Parker thinks that Bowman has made terrible policy decisions for the lower Westchester district and for the country, including voting against the infrastructure bill, against aid to Ukraine, and against supporting Israel.
She contrasted her style with Bowman who has a terrible working relationship with fellow Democrats in Westchester (writer’s note: I have repeatedly heard the same criticism). Parker commented about how she strives for bipartisanship in her dealings with Republicans and Democrats in passing laws that benefit the community, and wants to bring that kind of care to Washington, DC. She pondered that Bowman seems to be driven by personal motivation or his ties to the socialist fringe of the party, and clearly not to his constituents.
Summary
Catherine Parker is a seasoned local politician who is learning about the larger national and international issues that concern her Westchester constituents, including Jews. Her instincts seem good and she avoided wading into unfamiliar topics until learning more. I would not be surprised to see her win endorsements for her positions on anti-Semitism and Israel from a variety of groups including Democratic Majority For Israel (DMFI) which normally doesn’t fight incumbents, AIPAC, America’s Pro-Israel lobby, as well as other pro-Israel Democrats like Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15), just to the south of her district.
By way of comparison, Bowman is supported as part of the extremist “squad” endorsed by the Sunrise Movement and the Working Families Party, which also support Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush, all of whom have cast votes and made comments deeply hurtful to the Jewish community. Consider that the DC Chapter of the Sunrise Movement actually banned progressive Jewish groups from an event, including the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) and the Jewish Council on Public Affairs (JCPA). Even far left groups like Americans for Peace Now were appalled at the Sunrise Movement’s action, as the president and CEO said “This is boycotting groups because they are Jewish and state a general … support of Israel,” even though it’s not a core component of their mission, making the action blatantly anti-Semitic.
The differences between Bowman and Parker are dramatic.
The Democratic primary will be held on August 23rd with early voting beginning on August 13.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), members of the far-left “squad.” (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
First One Through 