Media In and Outs

It’s time to take go back to the archives of HonestReporting to look at some of their past efforts at misleading, misquoting, misrepresenting and otherwise fabricating allegations of anti-Israel bias in the media.

This one from 2004 is on media coverage of the visit of Ghandi’s son to Israel by AFP and another article from the Guardian about Ghandhi and how his approached might work in the Middle East.

It takes just a few lines of ‘Palestinian Hunger Strikers - Modern Ghandi’s?’ before coming across the very first display of, what can only be described as, dishonesty. In this case, misleading representation of anothers’ views.

HonestReporting provides a short excerpt from the Guardian story that looks very bad, in which it is claimed the journalist says that Gandhi,

would undoubtedly have appreciated the concept of jihad

This is the whole paragraph from HonestReporting,

Amid the wave of articles on Palestinian prisoners' hunger strikes, AFP indicates that Mahatma Gandhi's grandson visited Israel and will fast for one day in solidarity with the prisoners. The Guardian goes so far as to state that the elder Gandhi himself 'would undoubtedly have appreciated the concept of jihad' against Americans and Israelis. These prisoners, held for terror involvement, are thereby likened to the great figure of modern non-violent resistance.

Wow! That really is an amazing claim for the Guardian to make. But is that really the writers point? Is he trying to equate the hunger-strikers with Ghandi or that Ghandi would apprieciate jihad against Israel? Is this some terrible sop to these Palestinian prisoners because of the claimed European bias that favours Arabs?

Hardly.

This is the whole paragraph from the Guardian,

Gandhi was a Hindu but readily incorporated other ideas into his philosophy. Like many Muslims today, he would undoubtedly have appreciated jihad, self-sacrifice and martyrdom as concepts, though not the methods that often accompany them.
He didn't believe in killing people …..

So besides the simple fact that HonestReporting altered the Guardians words, they also created the opposite meaning to that in the original. On top of this, despite the reference being inserted in the middle of a paragraph that talks about the Palestinian hunger strikers, the Guardian story is nothing to do with this issue – it does not mention or refer to the Palestinian prisoners hunger strike at all. It is entirley about what role Ghandi's non-violent mode of resistence could or should play in the Middle East. The Guardian article certainly doesn't mention anywhere that Ghandhi would have "appreciated", "jihad against ...Israeli's". HonestReporting has taken two articles on different issues and creates the impression that they are discussing the same issue.

It is clear from other sections of the Guardian report that it is in fact being critical of the lack of non-violent strategies in the Middle East. Even the sub-heading shows this,

Gandhi's model of non-violent resistance has met with suspicion and repression in the Middle East, writes Brian Whitaker

or this,

Some, of course, would offer a different explanation: that Islam is an inherently bloodthirsty religion. This is a view that Bin Laden and his kind have done much to encourage

The Guardian story then finished with several tales of how Arab regimes have reacted in a violent and illegal manner against their citizens who have tried non-violent protests.

But HonestReporting spins all this as an example of pro-Arab bias!! Incredible.

This is not an example of bias by HonestReporting, but plain and simple fraud and crude propaganda.

Just another crock of shit that’s manna from heaven for those HonestReportings readers who are unable to think for themselves.