Leo Rennert
New
York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren spent some time in Gaza
during the eight-day Hamas-Israel war - an experience that left her
smitten with the family of Ahmed al-Jabari, Hamas's top military
commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
In a dispatch, headlined
"Life in Gaza's Courtyards: Displays of Pride and Sacrifice" (Nov. 23,
page A11), Rudoren points to graffiti on the walls of Jabari's
neighborhood that testify to his great popularity. "The colorful Arabic
script reads 'Welcome haiji, Abu Muhammad,' a reference to Mr. Jabari's
return from a pilgrimage to Mecca," she writes.
Rudoren
goes on to report how portraits of Jabari were held high in "jubilant
celebrations" after the cease-fire took effect, while his widow, mother
and sister sat in the family courtyard surrounded by relatives,
"praising God." And readers are told how one of Jabari's two wives
remarked that "Allah gives him a big honor because he is going to go to
paradise, thanks for God for all this."
In a similar vein, Rudoren waxes lyrical in painting a picture of women
in the neighborhood sitting in plastic chairs in a rectangle, "wearing
brown or black abayas and plain white or gray head scarves," while
children "scurried in and out, and Jabari's mother held a tiny one in
her arms."
So
touching and compelling is this scene in Rudoren's effusive ode to
Jabari and his family that she somehow forgets to mention that Jabari,
as head of Hamas's terrorist wing, directed numerous lethal attacks on
Israelis, including suicide bombings, during the second intifada. Not a
word about his role in the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians.
Instead,
Rudoren transforms this mass killer into a peaceful pilgrim to Mecca
adored by his wives and other relatives. Her affectionate portrayal of
Jabari and his family recall similarly nauseating pictures of Adolf
Hitler and Eva Braun in innocent family settings.
As for the Washington Post,
which also hasn't lacked for cheerleading of Hamas, there appears in
the Nov. 23 edition a lengthy speculative article by its Jerusalem
bureau chief, Karyn Brulliard, about
the pluses and minuses for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in
the wake of the eight-day war, ("Cease-fire has benefits and risks for
Netanyahu" front page).
Much
of the speculation is just that - the political fallout in Israel, the
implications for Iran's looming development of nuclear weapons, the
effect on the peace process, etc. Generally harmless conjectures, except
when Brulliard sums up her piece with a nasty shot at Bibi: "Although
Netanyahu says he supports a two-state solution, he has shown scant enthusiasm for peace talks that would lead to one."
"Scant
enthusiasm for peace talks" on Bibi's part? This is the same prime
minister who for many months repeatedly has begged Mahmoud Abbas to return to
the negotiating table, only to be rebuffed time and again by the
Palestinians leader, who runs away from negotiations like the plague.
But for Brulliard, the temptation apparently was too great to finish with a zinger of an anti-Israel poison pill
.
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