Pigs Sometimes Fly - Even in Israel
It is pretty obvious to everyone in Israel that the disengagement plan was a complete failure, and that all of the dire consequences that we on the right side of the political spectrum predicted have indeed come about.
This is shown by the fact that even the left leaning journalists are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to find a way to spin it - and are coming up short.
I just listened to an interview on IDF radio. Ilana Dayan was speaking to Ari Shavit, who wrote an article in Haaretz this morning. His position is that the disengagement plan was a failure because we did it stupidly. The problem was that we thought that it would solve all of our problems quickly, and that was unrealistic. We should have analyzed the plan better. This is particularly infuriating for me to hear because this is what those of us who opposed the plan said for at least a year before it occurred - and we were completely ignored.
Then came the real bombshell. Ilana Dayan said that "maybe we journalists didn't do our job correctly by asking the tough questions". Maybe? Maybe? The so-called objective press blindly assisted the radical left throughout the whole process, because of their desire to see settlers thrown out of their homes. Doing their job of asking pointed questions was forgotten because of their own political bias. Now, when the failure is apparent to all, it suddenly occurs to them that they made a mistake.
Will this mean that they will improve in the future? I don't know. I honestly think that the veteran journalists cannot change, and will always be biased. My only hope is that the younger ones, not as set in their ways and seeing this grave mistake, will try harder to do their jobs professionally in the future.
It is pretty obvious to everyone in Israel that the disengagement plan was a complete failure, and that all of the dire consequences that we on the right side of the political spectrum predicted have indeed come about.
This is shown by the fact that even the left leaning journalists are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to find a way to spin it - and are coming up short.
I just listened to an interview on IDF radio. Ilana Dayan was speaking to Ari Shavit, who wrote an article in Haaretz this morning. His position is that the disengagement plan was a failure because we did it stupidly. The problem was that we thought that it would solve all of our problems quickly, and that was unrealistic. We should have analyzed the plan better. This is particularly infuriating for me to hear because this is what those of us who opposed the plan said for at least a year before it occurred - and we were completely ignored.
Then came the real bombshell. Ilana Dayan said that "maybe we journalists didn't do our job correctly by asking the tough questions". Maybe? Maybe? The so-called objective press blindly assisted the radical left throughout the whole process, because of their desire to see settlers thrown out of their homes. Doing their job of asking pointed questions was forgotten because of their own political bias. Now, when the failure is apparent to all, it suddenly occurs to them that they made a mistake.
Will this mean that they will improve in the future? I don't know. I honestly think that the veteran journalists cannot change, and will always be biased. My only hope is that the younger ones, not as set in their ways and seeing this grave mistake, will try harder to do their jobs professionally in the future.
posted by westbankmama at 8:30 AM
4 Comments:
I'm afraid that your hope is a vain one. The MSM here works like the Supreme Court. The current occupants admit the new ones and only admit those who think like them (except for token rightists like Yisrael Harel or Moshe Arens at HaAretz). The exception is the JPost which still has something of a rightist tradition from its days of being owned by the Telegraph.
Don't hold your breath waiting for a real mea culpa from the MSM. Short of a Jayson Blair type scandal, it won't happen.
Shavit, to his credit, was always something of a skeptic towards disengagement. He thought it was the right thing to do but he also ackowledged the cost to the residents of Azza.
Go to IMRA and find some of his stuff from last year. (The stuff at Ha'aretz probably already disappeared.)
The only good I can see coming from the disengagement is that any Palestnian aggression and crime is now squarely on their shoulders. It's their territory, there are not Jews - or their dreaded greenhouses - to blame anymore. But Israel's media relations and other cultural arms have to drive home the point.
carl - you are right, of course *sigh*
soccerdad - I didn't know that about Shavit, I'll check him out
jeremayakovka - well, normal people will think that way - but if you look at the EU, the UN, and the MSM in most places in Europe (not to mention the entire Arab world) - what we went through last summer made absolutely no difference. What worries me more is when the State Department gets antsy and Condi comes out with these statements. Our current leaders are not strong enough to tell the Americans to mind their own business for a while and let us do what we have to - that takes self-confidence and a bit of Jewish chutzpah - sorely lacking unfortunately lately.
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