Soccer Dad

Why Carpenters Don't Believe in Glass

I remember from the old newspaper feature Jumbles a question. Why don't carpenters believe in glass? The answer, "Because they never 'saw' it." In Middle East reporting much happens because the reporters never see it.

Take for example the notion that Israel's military response isn't working. Of course, as has been noted by Evelyn Gordon, Israel's military response to terror has been successful. Not perfect, but successful:

Furthermore, two of the worst months of the past year were months in which military activity was drastically curtailed: June 2003, with 32 deaths, and August 2003, with 29. June was the month of the road map "peace process," during which Israel largely suspended military operations so as not to disrupt the "momentum toward peace." August was the month of the famous Palestinian cease-fire, to which Israel responded by restricting its own military activity. (In fact, the death toll that August was higher than in 22 of the 34 months without a truce!) One could thus reasonably assume that had Israel maintained the military pressure over the summer, the year's death toll would have been even lower.

(read the complete article, her case is impressive.)

Even ignoring Gordon't case, even little pieces of evidence that Israel's military response is preventing violence get the short shrift.

In the New York Times's report on the suicide bombing in Petach Tikva on Thursday Richard Bernstein and Greg Myre reported:

"Although it's been a quiet period as far as civilians are concerned, there hasn't been any letup in suicide bombing attempts," Gil Kleiman, an Israeli police spokesman, said at the scene of Thursday's bombing.

Mr. Kleiman cited five cases of suicide bombers since the Haifa attack, with three would-be suicide bombers caught before they detonated their explosives and two who killed themselves but did not cause any Israeli deaths.

"We've had almost three months where they weren't successful," Mr. Kleiman said. "Why do we catch so many terrorists at Kfar Kassem?" he asked, referring to a West Bank crossing point. "It's because that's where the security fence ends."

True they quote Gil Kleiman on the subject of the security fence, but they write that Kleiman cited five cases of suicide bombers over the past 2 1/2 months. That's quite a bit lower than other reports have it. The Jerusalem Post reported:

While it was the first major bombing since 21 people were killed at Haifa's Maxim restaurant in October, the IDF has thwarted at least 35 attacks in recent weeks.

According to Ha'aretz

Baker said security forces had prevented 22 suicide attacks within Israel since the previous attack within the Green Line took place on October 4. In that attack, a suicide bomber blew herself up at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa, killing 21 people. "This goes to show that Israel cannot let its guard down," he said.

It also raises a couple of questions that the New York Times and Washington Post won't consider. For one thing Israel did let down its guard for humanitarian reasons in honor of the Christmas holiday:

In honor of the Christmas season, the IDF and Government Coordinator in the Territories are working to facilitate the freedom of religion of Christian citizens wishing to practice their worship in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

for another talks of withdrawal encourage terror according to Brigadier General Gad Shamni:

There is a link between the recent rise in terror attacks in the territories and Israeli declarations about a unilateral withdrawal from settlements, according to Brigadier General Gad Shamni, commander of IDF forces in the Gaza Strip.

"There is no doubt that it has an effect," Shamni told Army Radio. "We saw it in Lebanon, too [before the IDF withdrawal in 2000]. The moment you talk about withdrawal, it puts fresh wind into the sails of the organizations working against us," Shamni said. He noted that the increased number of terror incidents in the Gaza Strip over the past two months also reflects the inability of Islamic Jihad and Hamas to carry out attacks outside of Gaza.

Well I guess the Times can claim that they didn't see those other 30 attacks. They can also deny that terrorists take advantage of Israel's humanitarian gestures. They can also deny that talk of withdrawal in any encourages more terror. But these things do happen. And when these advocates of peace ignore them they are encouraging more violence, not less.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by SoccerDad at December 27, 2003 11:32 PM