Soccer Dad

Fixing potholes, killing jews

Mediacrity takes issue with a recent New York Times article "Voted in, Hamas Sets a West Bank City Astir. Mediacrity writes:

The front page of the New York Times today contains a feature story on the Hamas takeover of a town on the West Bank. But this is not the Hamas that is known and loved by all for its sacred mission of mass-murdering civilians. According to Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief Stevie Erlanger, this is an "armed resistance" group.

Erlanger used the term twice in his article, thereby adopting terrorist terminology that sanitizes this murderous group. To Erlanger, Hamas's bloodlust is not an oft-proven fact, proudly hailed by Hamas wherever its slimy presence is evident, but is nothing more than just an allegation -- how it is "regarded by Israel and the United States."

There's more to the article. The mayor is portrayed as a born again reformer. (Fatah's fault is not its failure to take on Hamas but to be corrupt. Hamas will fix that.)

At the end of the article Erlanger gives the Hamas mayor an opportunity to respond to the most troubling allegations against him:

And what about Hamas's military resistance to Israel?

"We are committed to the calm," he said referring to a cease-fire with Israel, "but Israel arrests our members and kills not only our leaders but civilians, so it's natural after that to hear about a reaction. This circle of violence is evidence that Israel doesn't want the calm."

In the last month, he said, Israel has arrested "more than 300 responsible figures of Hamas who were either candidates or coordinators for the election," a figure Israel does not deny; they included some of Hamas's most respected figures in the West Bank, like Sheik Hassan Youssef. "This could affect the results," Mr. Masri said.

Erlanger editorializes "... a figureIsrael does not deny ..." Might he have written:

"Israel had evidence that most - if not all - of these figures were abetting the military wing of Hamas financially or logistically. This is something that Hamas does not deny?

Of course, but Hamas, a terrorist organization by any definition (weaselly qualification noted above notwithstanding) is not on trial, only Israel is. That's the way it is in much of the media, as I noted about the Washington Post late last year in "More democratic than america."

No doubt Mayor Masri will get the trains running on time also.

Technorati Tags: terror, Israel, Media Bias, Hamas.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.