Picture this: seven people are killed by a Palestinian blast that destroys the home of a Palestinian militant. The Palestinians assume that the Israelis did it, so they fire 50 mortar shells and rockets at southern Israel. In response, the Israelis target Hamas militants preparing to lob more bombs at them from the Gaza Strip and kill three of them.
You're the BBC. So, how do you write it up?
Here's the headline: Israeli air strike targets Hamas.
Here's the first sentence of the article: Palestinians mourned as 14 people were killed in Thursday's violence.
The casual reader is left with the impression that the Israelis are the aggressors and that they caused 14 deaths. You have to read through the body of the article to learn that the Palestinians had lobbed 50 mortars and rockets at Israel before Israel lifted a finger.
Let me ask you this. If 50 rockets and mortars were fired by a neighboring country or territory, however disfunctional, into your country, wouldn't you feel your country had the right to respond?
What should the headline have been?
Palestinians Bomb Israel; Israel Responds With A Surgical Strike
Palestinians Bomb Themselves And Israel, Prompting Israeli Response
Once Again, Palestinians Disrupt the Peace in the Middle East
Perhaps you can come up with a better headline.
Israel is not perfect. But the land of Israel is the apple of God's eye. And the same prophetic voices that predict the coming of the Messiah at the end of the Age also predict that the Jews will be restored to their land and that they shall, in a time of great national crisis, "look upon Him whom they pierced, and mourn as for an only Son".
Don't bet against Israel.
And that's the way the Ball bounces.
2 comments:
What was it, a bomb maker's house that blew up in the first place?
The article implies that it was one Palestinian faction bombing another group of militants.
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