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New York Times Demonizes Jewish Settlers

(CAMERA) Ricki Hollander - On Feb. 5, 2023, a New York Times front page article indicted "the settler movement," "settlers," "settler-activists," and "settler leaders" as international criminals responsible for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. (The term "settler" is mentioned almost 40 times and comes across as a pejorative to be drummed into readers' minds.) What about Palestinian responsibility for the wave of attacks that has been ongoing since 2022? Palestinian gunmen attacking soldiers carrying out counter-terrorism arrest operations? The slaughter of Israeli civilians outside a synagogue on International Holocaust Remembrance Day by a Palestinian terrorist? Palestinian leaders praising the attack? Widespread Palestinian celebrations following the massacre? The subsequent Palestinian shooting attacks on Israeli pedestrians, restaurants and buses? Missing from the report is the clear distinction between murderous and injurious attacks against Israelis perpetrated by large and growing numbers of Palestinian assailants, and attacks - mostly property vandalism - against Palestinians perpetrated by a very small percentage of Israeli settlers. Nor is there any contrast drawn between the justification by Palestinian leaders of deadly violence against Israelis or its celebration within Palestinian society, and the widespread condemnation of attacks on Palestinians within Israeli society, including by the vast majority of Israeli settlers. Perhaps most deceiving is the unequivocal designation that Israeli settlement in the West Bank is "illegal under international law." They are wrong. There has never been consensus among countries, international lawyers or scholars of jurisprudence about this issue. In 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that, "The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law."
2023-02-09 00:00:00
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