Which is worse?
1) The bombing of a Palestinian refugee camp which results in many deaths including 25 civilians killed when a bomb hit a mosque where they had sought refuge; or
2) A reporter being punched by a soldier when the reporter tried to cross a barrier keeping people out of a crime scene?
If you are an editor of the New York Times, the answer is clearly choice number 2. Let me explain. Yesterday, the Assad forces in Syria carried out an air raid on the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp which is in southern Damascus. One plane dropped bombs on a mosque where many refugees had taken shelter. Twenty five are confirmed dead in that mosque with many more wounded. The New York Times has chosen not even to report the story on its web site. On Friday, a reporter in the West Bank was stopped by an Israeli soldier when the reporter attempted to enter an area that had been the scene of a crime. When the reporter refused to stop, the soldier punched him. This story got big coverage in the Times.
Can it really be that the death of 25 and the wounding of many more is unimportant because it was done by Assad, but the punching of one reporter by an Israeli soldier merits big coverage? How sick is that?
Just to be clear, the lack of coverage of the slaughter in Syria is not limited to the NY Times. A Google search reveals that the story of the air raid was reported in detail by news media in Europe and the Middle East. The story, however, was not picked up by any of the main stream media here in America. Imagine now the coverage had the bombs been dropped by an American air force jet in Afghanistan. The media would treat it as if it were the end of the world. Imagine also what the coverage would be like if the planes had been Israeli. Again, we would be hearing over and over again about war crimes. The situation is just incredible.
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