To promote an informed public discussion on the US relationship to Israel

Last January’s devastation of Gaza compelled me to publish the backstory to my cartoon below. My news source for the Israeli attacks was not the U.S. media (who stayed conveniently on the sidelines), but disturbing reports from Doctors Without Borders, who remained in Gaza trying to help the Palestinian people.

Here is the backstory to the political cartoon above:

In the summer of 2003, the world watched as land, water, and dignity were stolen from the Palestinian people — all with the silent complicity of the US media. To express my growing outrage, I drew this cartoon at my kitchen table in Maine.

After realizing that no newspaper would accept it, I decided to publish the cartoon as an advertisement in the NY Times. I focused on the quarter-page space in the Op-Ed section reserved for opinion ads. Contacting the Times, I learned that pro-Israel organizations had reserved the space for 30 of the next 52 Sundays. I took the first available date.

My cartoon was scheduled to appear on September 21, 2003.

The Times required several changes to the cartoon so that it conformed to the acceptability standards of the newspaper. These changes were made. The Times production staff then asked for and was sent the camera-ready copy.

I paid the cost of the ad in full.

On Friday, September 19 I received notification that the cartoon’s publication was cancelled by order of the Times’ publisher. I recall simply shaking my head at the news – wryly noting that this action by the Times was validating the very point of the cartoon.

I next submitted the cartoon to USAToday, where it was accepted. The morning that the cartoon appeared, I received a call at 8:45am from a USAToday vice president.

He said that in all his years at the paper, he had never had a response like what was happening as a result of the cartoon’s publication. Apparently, American pro-Israel groups are geared up for such “emergencies” and inundated USAToday offices nationwide with telephone calls and emails. But of course it was too late.

Two postscripts:

1. I received more hate mail/ threats than I did accolades.

2. A year later, senior management at USAToday had been replaced.

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Studies show that many Americans incorrectly believe the Palestinians are the illegal settlers on their own land.

I long regarded Frank Rich a champion, whose fearless exposures of moral hypocrisy in our culture and the media rang true. My view changed after this New York Times columnist gave a talk at Cornell University.

Mr. Rich was asked about our media’s reporting in the Middle East and their unwavering presentation of Israel-as-victim. How is it that Americans are so poorly informed that a large fraction believes that the Palestinians are the illegal settlers in the Occupied Territories? Mr. Rich was asked why he, as a media critic, had remained silent on this biased coverage? Mr. Rich replied, “I’m Jewish.”

His candor is refreshing but what does he mean? Is Mr. Rich suggesting that being Jewish precludes criticizing Israel? Is he suggesting that Jewish American reporters, (and more insidiously, publishers) feel compelled to defend Israel? Where is professional responsibility to the American public?

My criticism extends beyond the failings of a single reporter. As studies have shown, many Americans believe that the Palestinians are the illegal settlers on their own land. How can we be so poorly informed? And why hasn’t the news media worked to correct this misconception?

The answer, some say, is that a conspiracy exists among mainstream media to sift and shape news to favor the Israeli government. Media’s fear, according to this belief, is that a truly informed American people would realize that the Israeli agenda and policies clash with US values and strategic interests.

I don’t believe this conspiracy theory. The pro-Israel bias, in my view, is particular to each newspaper, each TV network. Bias manifests itself in a Frank Rich silence, in a reporter’s sensitivity to his editor’s predilections, in a political cartoon first accepted by staff then rejected by an owner/publisher. Taken together, the public is deprived of fact and opinion. “This is the greatest story never told,” as Steve Lendman convincingly demonstrates in his expose of willful bias in the NY Times.

The BBC has taken seriously documented reports of a pro-Israel bias in its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The BBC governors commissioned an independent study which concluded that an Israeli viewpoint did, indeed, dominate at the expense of Palestinian concerns. The commission proposed specific remedies to correct future reporting in the Mideast. This effort would never happen in the United States.

The honored role of the media in our democracy is to promote informed, public discussion on issues important to our country. “Informed” is the key word here. Full, objective information must be available to citizens to engage in meaningful debate. Mainstream media, by providing only one-sided reporting, suppresses open discussion of Israeli policies and their effect on our national interests.

We Americans are living with the consequences.

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Thomas Friedman was once brave. This New York Times columnist and author established his reputation reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His early work gave objective accounts of the suffering of the Palestinian people, placed blame for the failed peace talks squarely on the Israeli government, and exposed the undue influence that pro-Israel lobbyists wield on policies of the U.S. government.

Then the Israel lobby went to work on him. [click to continue…]

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It’s like the Sherlock Holmes case of the dog that didn’t bark. Why does the New York Times ignore or bury news that is unfavorable to the State of Israel? Two examples follow: Chas Freeman , and the USS Liberty . One recent, and the other a willful silence that has continued for forty-two years. [click to continue…]

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October 8, 2009

The cartoon posted on this site has been seen by millions of people from all 50 U.S. states and 137 different countries. I am less interested in the international response (they already know) than in the Americans who swallow whole the pro-Israel bias of the U.S. media.

This website has focused on the New York Times and its coverage of the Middle East to illustrate the control AIPAC and the Israel Lobby hold on news and information provided to the American people. The Comments from readers add depth to the message and are essential reading. Two selections appear below:

Your criticism of the media is quixotic. “The dogs bark but the caravan keeps moving on its way.” –ancient Middle Eastern proverb*

Perhaps it’s quixotic, but “A single stone that holds fast can change the path of an avalanche.” (Milosz, referring to an individual’s resistance to totalitarianism in Poland)*

The NY Times, arguably our finest newspaper, prides itself on accurate, balanced, in-depth reporting. However, regarding coverage of the Middle East, the Paper betrays its standards. The incidents reported above demonstrate how its publisher/owner and leading columnists can be co-opted. The “Gray Lady” indeed.

If the professional integrity of the NY Times can be compromised by pro-Israel groups, then all our institutional media is susceptible to manipulation.

The American people must have accurate and trustworthy news. A democracy demands a well-informed citizenry.

The message of this cartoon remains important. Perhaps six years from now the U.S. media coverage of the Middle East will necessitate another rebirth of this cartoon. And then again six years after that.

I hope not.