There can be little doubt or question that the Murdoch press is one-sided when it comes to its support for Israel. The Palestinians, and the issues surrounding the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, might as well not exist. In fact Palestinians are regularly demonised.
Well, recently The Australian had a headline which spoke the truth - it used the word "apartheid" - about the situation as between Palestinians and Israelis. Needless to say the local Jewish community was outraged. It didn't take long for the newspaper's Foreign Editor - the recipient of paid-for trips to Israel - to seek to make amends for what he clearly saw as the newspaper's infraction. Note the toady, and ignorant, observation about the equal status of Palestinians and Israelis, etc.
Pathetic!
Well, recently The Australian had a headline which spoke the truth - it used the word "apartheid" - about the situation as between Palestinians and Israelis. Needless to say the local Jewish community was outraged. It didn't take long for the newspaper's Foreign Editor - the recipient of paid-for trips to Israel - to seek to make amends for what he clearly saw as the newspaper's infraction. Note the toady, and ignorant, observation about the equal status of Palestinians and Israelis, etc.
"Many readers were surprised, as I was, to read a headline in The Weekend Australian: Living under the cloud of Israel’s cruel apartheid. The headline did an injustice to the story, which only used the word apartheid in reporting the comments of one person who was interviewed. The editor of this august journal has confirmed to me that the headline was a mistake, the sort that creeps into newspapers where staff are always battling the pressure of deadlines. The Australian believes, and certainly I personally believe, the word apartheid has no application to Israel, which is a democracy in good standing, which extends basic rights to all its citizens, whatever their race or creed. Too often the misuse of such a word is designed to demonise Israel, wholly unjustly. In this case, it was just a mistake."
Pathetic!
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