Mya Guarnieri: Sorry, But I Don't Have Room For The Facts!

In the world of desperate cop outs, it would be hard to outdo Mya Guarnierie.

Who is Mya Guarnieri?

She has taken to writing about the Middle East. Most recently, Guarnieri has written about Orthodox rabbis who have forbidden Jews from renting to Arabs. That, of course, is news--and we would expect people to write about it.
But by the same token, we would hope they would write about it accurately.
No such luck.


CiF Watch wrote a letter to the editor of Comment is Free, requesting a correction to Guarnieri's article:

Mr. Elliot,

Regarding Mya Guarnieri’s recent post at CiF, Israeli rabbis’ racist decree strikes at the soul of Judaism, CiF Watch seeks a correction pertaining to the last sentence in the following passage:

“It could be argued that those who signed the proclamation – a group of men who are distorting Judaism to the point that I refuse to acknowledge them as rabbis – are extremists, that they don’t represent the majority. Even if that is true, it doesn’t change the fact that many are government employees. And, so far, the state has done nothing to put them in check.”

Also, note the sub-title:

“Telling Jews not to rent houses to Arabs is religious fascism. So far, the state has failed to intervene.”

As I pointed out in my post at CiF Watch yesterday, government officials have, indeed, acted and quite emphatically condemned the rabbi’s bigoted remarks before Guarnieri’s story went to print. – a fact which Ms. Guarnieri should have been aware of.

Read the entire letter.

However, the key point about her sloppiness is that Guarnieri is knowingly sloppy in leaving out the relevant facts. Cif Watch notes the following exchange:

Guarnieri's response is revealing:

sorry, but I'm not reporting on the issue. harriet sherwood did that already for the guardian. the article you see above is called an OP-ED.

it's space to make an argument. and because i have a limited amount of room, i can't possibly report on every aspect of the story and make an argument, too.

if you want straight reporting, you might want to check the news pages

Her cop out reminds me of Robert Reich, who when confronted with the fact that he had completely manufactured statements reported in his memoirs, explained:

Look, the book is  a memoir. It's not investigative journalism. [Liberal Fascism, p342-343]

Guarnieri is making an argument! She has time for the facts!!

CiF Watch also notes that putting aside omissions, Guarnieri is not above distortions in her article.

There is also a contrast that she apparently overlooked:

Guarnieri’s opening notes that the rabbis who signed the decree “urged Jews to first warn and then “ostracize” fellow Jews who disobey the edict.” In this passage one can’t help but note a contrast in penalties between Israeli and Palestinian societies handed out to those whose behavior contradicts social mores. Jews, who violate this decree, will be issued a stern warning and face the possibility of limited social opprobrium. In contrast, for instance, Palestinians who are “caught” selling land to Jews risk the death penalty. Indeed, According to the 1973 legislation, the sale of property to Jews or Israelis constitutes a crime against state security and well-being, punishable by death and the confiscation of the culprit’s possessions.

Such contrasts escape her. For instance, back in August Guarnieri compared Pastor Terry Jones with the KKK:

Islamophobia: the new antisemitism
When I was growing up in Gainesville, Florida, the Klan was still a force. Now a pastor wants to burn the Qur'an, what's changed?

While comparing the pastor to the KKK is certainly convenient, we can only lament the fact that Guarnieri again just did not have the space to point out the obvious differences.

Seems to be a habit.

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