The New York Times' Confused Attack On The Israeli Victims Of Hamas Terrorism

What is it about The New York Times and terrorists?

In June 2007, Ahmed Yousef--political adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, who became the prime minister the following year--wrote an editorial in the New York Times about What Hamas Wants.

A few days ago, The New York Times featured an op-ed by Ali Abunimah--described as an author, omitting the fact that Abunimah is the co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, a partisan supporter of Hamas.

Abunimah tweeted his reaction to the terrorist attack:

Civilian deaths are always tragic. Israel must stop using civilian settlers as human shields for the land it is stealing

But when not giving a podium to terrorists and their supporters, The New York Times satisfies itself to do their work for them. In this case, they took Abunimah's lead and just blamed the victims:

Killing of Israeli Settlers Rattles Leaders
The killing of four Israeli settlers, including a pregnant woman, in the West Bank on Tuesday evening rattled Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the eve of peace talks in Washington and underscored the disruptive role that the issue of Jewish settlements could play in the already fragile negotiations.

In case anyone should miss the point, The New York Times stresses that these were no ordinary Israelis--no, they were settlers: Jews who by their very nature are being "disruptive". If only Israel would make one more concession and 'freeze' the settlements so that no building could be done on land that is likely destined to belong to Israel as part of a peace deal--if only Israel would do this, the attack would not have happened.

But wait! That's not their argument. After all, it is the Palestinian Authority that is supposed to be Israel's peace partners. They are the ones making the settlements into the issue. Hamas, on the other hand, has declared in their charter that they have no interest in peace with Israel at all, want to destroy Israel and replace it with another Muslim state.

Contrary to The New York Times, there are, in fact, two separate issues here

If The New York Times was being honest, they would recognize that the Hamas attack underscored the disruptive role that Islamic terrorism plays in the already fragile negotiations.

But being so friendly with the likes of Yousef and Abunimah apparently dampened their enthusiasm to take that approach.So they have to tiptoe around the issue of Hamas:

The military wing of Hamas, the Islamic group, claimed responsibility for the attack — in which gunmen fired on a vehicle carrying two men and two women at a junction near the city of Hebron — and described it on its Arabic Web site as a “heroic operation.”

As far as The New York Times is concerned, Hamas is simply an "Islamic group"--an Islamic group that has a "military" wing, the kind that has "gunmen" (not soldiers). You know, gunmen who go around murdering civilians in cold blood.

But its the Jewish settlers who are disruptive.
According to The New York Times.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Technorati Tag: Media Bias and Hamas and Terrorism.