As it is impossible for us to be made aware of all the events occurring all over the world our media, wherever we live, serve as filters, deciding what is newsworthy and what is not. We, who are inclined to believe that freedom of speech is a supreme value, would not dream of calling those filters censorship.
However, if we pause a moment to ponder that point, we cannot but realise that that is exactly what it is. Not formal, not official, not governmental, not acknowledged but none the less censorship.
According to Wikipedia, the encyclopedia of the twenty first century, “Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication … as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body. … It can be done by governments and private organizations … in a variety of different contexts including … the press, radio, television … for a variety of reasons including … to promote or restrict political or religious views.”
In Points to Ponder I plan to bring less publicised news items to your attention hoping that you will read the contents with an open mind and, where relevant, will take a moment to open the link and watch or read the contents. This is the sole and only aim of Points to Ponder.
If you are not interested in pondering, please do not hesitate to ask to be removed from my contact list.
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A picture is worth a thousand words. How true this is especially when the photo is doctored to present not only a false image but the exact opposite of the truth.
The photo on the right shows an Israeli soldier about to hit a Palestinian demonstrator. The photo on the left shows what has been omitted – the Palestinian demonstrator is beating an Israeli soldier.
The point to ponder is not only why the editor of HaAretz knowingly doctored the photo but how many of the photos we see daily in the press are similarly falsified.
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The efforts of US Secretary of State, John Kerry to resolve the main reason for instability in the Middle East, and perhaps even the greatest threat to world peace, by getting the Israelis and Palestinians to begin negotiations are commendable.
To achieve this Israel is being pressured to agree to the Palestinian pre-conditions that they a) stop all building in Jerusalem and the West Bank and ultimately remove all the Israeli settlers; b) allow Palestinian refugees return to Israel and c) end the occupation and withdraw to the 1949 cease-fire lines.
Ponder then on these points:
a) Why is it legitimate for Palestinian state to be Judenrein, without a single Israeli/Jew, while Israel has over a million Arab citizens?
b) Why is the definition of refugees all over the world who taken care of by UNHCR (the UN High Commissioner for Refugees) different from that of the Palestinian refugees handled by UNRWA? As I am sure many of my readers are not aware there is a difference I would like to refer you to the second half of the article appearing on the link: http://www.ratzer.com/index.php?lang=en&article=newsletter_19May11
c) Why is it that demonstrators all over the world decry the Israeli occupation, a term which many legal experts dispute, but never mention the undeniable occupations of Tibet by China, Chechnya by Russia, Kurdistan by Turkey, Iraq and Iran or Northern Cyprus by Turkey to name but a few areas of dispute?
d) If we examine the turmoil in Egypt and Turkey, the daily Moslem atrocities against fellow Moslems in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon can we honestly say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the main reason for the instability in the Middle East?
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Lately Israeli journalists who cover Palestinian affairs have been harassed and worse by fellow Palestinian reporters who have signed a petition calling on the Palestinian Authority to ban Israeli correspondents from operating in its territories. In response the Palestinian Authority has issued instructions requiring Israeli journalists to obtain permission from its Ministry of Information before entering Palestinian cities.
Foreign journalists based in Israel have not distanced themselves from the campaign of intimidation against their Israeli colleagues perhaps because these foreign journalists want to stay on good terms with Palestinian reporters and so limit their reporting to stories of Palestinian suffering.
The point to ponder is this:
If anti-Israel incitement by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas over the past two decades has so radicalized Palestinian journalists that they perceive any meeting with an Israeli as a crime how much more radicalized is the Palestinian population?
Khaled Abu Toameh, who describes himself as a Moslem, Arab, Palestinian, Israeli journalist, ponders: “How can anyone talk about resuming the peace process when Palestinians are being told by their leaders, on a daily basis, how bad and evil Israel is? If Israel is so bad and evil, then how can any leader go to his people and say that he is negotiating with them?”
To read his article in full log into http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3686/palestinian-journalists
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