Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Letter To NY Times Responding To Inflammatory Piece About A Third Intifada
Letter To NY Times Responding To Inflammatory Piece About A Third Intifada
March 20, 2013
Dear Editors,
I found your recent pictorial cover of the Sunday magazine section (If There's a Third Intifada Let It Start With Me!) inflammatory material at worst, and, at best, shoddy journalism. The NY Times always has a knack for blaming Israel when it comes to the stalled Middle East peace process, but this cover feature story went beyond the notion of common sense into some sort of bizarre fantasy land of make believe.
To put pictures of people on the cover who supposedly are so frustrated with living under Israeli law that they'd resort to violence, puts the TImes in the role of glorifying terrorism by calling it "resistance." Both the Times and the author come across as strangely out of touch with present day realities in the Middle East. Where's the cover story featuring some of the more than 80,000 civilians killed in Syria from the ongoing fighting that rages on? Or perhaps a feature magazine story on the ongoing crisis in Egypt, where the new government is on the verge of implementing a total Islamic takeover of society.
And yet, the Times once again focuses on the tiny state of Israel, the only real democracy in the entire region. It's as if your newspaper seems to say; "What no really dirty laundry on Israel these days! Well then, let's make it up!"
The interesting thing is that Israel would probably give away the entire West Bank to the Arabs. If, of course, the Arabs were really interested in making peace with Israel. But unfortunately, this has not been the case since these "peace" negotiations started decades ago. Case in point - Gaza. Israel turned Gaza over to the Arabs there who quickly turned it into a much more convenient and closer launching pad for missiles and bombs into Israel. Quite easy for the Times to portray Israel as the bad guy here, when, I dare say, the Times editors live far away from people who want to kill or harm them on a daily basis. Those who throw rocks at cars are not "resisters," as depicted by the Times article. They are potential killers and terrorists. Some have succeeded in murdering and maiming Israelis (as well as other Arabs) with this "innocent" act of "resistance."
It's also rather odd that the Arabs living in Israel proper enjoy more liberties than their fellow Arabs living in nearly every other Muslim/Arab country on the planet. In Israel, Arabs can live and work where they choose. They vote in democratic elections and they serve in the Knesset, Israel's governmental body. The same cannot be said for non-Muslims living in Arab countries.
The NY Times should be ashamed to run such a blatantly hostile article towards our only true ally in the Middle East. Israelis, Jews, and Israel-admirers alike reading such inflammatory nonsense should cancel their Times subscriptions and add the following line: With friends like these, who needs enemies!
Sincerely,
Dr. David Lazerson
MIM: For information about the NY Times magazine cover article see: http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=35&x_article=2422
Printer-friendly version 
Email this item to a friend