Lies, damn lies and Ha'aretz

john Norman

The Left has been trying to murder Israel since the '60's and the '70's (see France's Annie Kriegel's masterful analysis following the '73 war). Nothing has changed. It is antisemitism writ large, Proud'hon, Jean Jaures, Rosa Luxembourg, Simone Weil. All play their dishonest, scandalous roles to the hilt. Now the French are being joined by the Petainist Obamanites.

Laura

This is the worst of Israel's problems: institutions such as Ha’aretz, which are shameless about pulling stuff off the web when they're caught red-handed.

It might well be one day that someone like A'jad acts as Israel's hangman, but it is becoming clearer even to the woefully naive that the rope around its neck will be made by people like Ha’aretz journalists and Rahm Emanuel.

That is the choking pity of it.

YA

"inyani" sounds to me like "realpolitik" - but not better.

Leftism, useful idiotism is the illness of the West in general, so all this isn't surprising; just another proof that Israelis are Westerners, our brothers in arms, people from the neighboring trench. And should be treated correspondingly.

Ben-Tsiyon (ha rishon)

Pity that seditious Ha'aretz is not closed down and its minions not prosecuted for the blatant traitors they are !

Terry, Eilat - Israel

Here in Israel, we know Haaretz has zero credibility. They're just a bunch of Leftist Liars, like The Guardian or the BBC in formerly Great Britain. They represent an infinitesmal percentage of Israelis, our looney-left. Essentially, they are a Palestinian newspaper written in Hebrew with an even worse English version.
Unfortunately, few realize this outside of Israel - they provide propaganda amunition for all Israel's enemies & gain an undeserved credibility because the gullible & naive say, oh, gee, if an Israeli newspaper says it ....
I won't comment on what the average Israeli says about Obama, it's not language that should be printed in polite company.

Raymond in DC

Terry is quite correct. Ha'aretz was bad enough in its original Hebrew edition, but its English edition has done untold damage, as that is the edition most journalists, Arabs and westerners critical of Israel will turn to. It's also morphed in its comments section into a gathering spot for for haters of Israel and, by extension, Jews. Bigots love the validation they get from other bigots.

Margaret Muller-Johansson

Ha'aretz the land they used to call it news of the land maybe they should call it new leftie name like Ha damn lies Guardian

Lee Jakeman

To Terry, Eilat.

Fair comment, Terry. But do Israelis realise that the BBC and The Guardian have a similar reputation here in Britain? That they represent the views of the British leftist elite?

SimonP

In my own unofficial straw poll in my little corner of the UK,
I have found that many people are either not concerned or else they are positively approve of the pressure which Israel is under from the Obama administration.

And the same "sweeping majority" is true for the threat Israel is under from the Islamic world.

Some people have even said that if Israel was attacked and suffered heavy loss of life and destruction of infrastructure and personal property, it would be "only fair after what Israel did to the Palestinians" (or is alleged to have done) a few months ago.

I imagine that the result of my own unofficial straw poll reflects UK public opinion at large.

Try it for yourself, and see what response you get.

And after you've discounted the large "don't know/don't care" portion of the British public, take note of the ratio of those who are actually anti-Israel from those who are concerned about the safety and preservation of ethnically Jewish Israelis in their own land, Israel.

And do try to be fair. Don't conduct such a survey in an area of your local conurbation which has a high proportion of Muslims, or in a disproportionately left wing establishment like a university, for example, or perhaps your local council offices, or in the Houses of Parliament. And don't limit your surey to certain age groups such as the 'youth of today' or their parents.

I found the ratio to be in the region of ten to one, as I review conversations I've had with strangers in the last few weeks. And I think that if I kept this little experiment up for longer, then that ratio would become higher.

And of course, the ratio would be significantly higher among such as I mentioned above.

Aren't statistics marvellous. Aren't people marvellous.

Mr Melrose

Simon P - When conducting your straw poll do you often get an answer like... 'mmmm..actually I'm late for a bus ..bye', or 'Can't talk - I have to get the cat wormed and the worming clinic shuts in ten minutes'. Or do they just cross the street when they see you coming? Just a thought.

SimonP

Actually, Mr Melrose, I didn't deliberately set out to concust a straw poll. I was just remembering the dozen or so conversations I've had with strangers since January.

Such conversations can often turn to what's in the news at the time.

Anyone not surgically attached to their iPod is fair game for a random interview, wouldn't you say?

Beware, next time you stand in a bus queue or a water cooler and someone speaks to you, it might be me!

Travis

Haaretz has Gideon Levy and Amira Hass as columnists. That says it all.