even many Israelis themselves have compassion for human beings. Why does NPR work day in and day out to obscure the truth of Israeli warcrimes?

Sent by shawna | 9:32 PM ET | 05-30-2007

Thank you NPR for bringing this issue to the forefront. This has been widely brought to the world's attention by Israeli media or peace organizations. US media almost never investigate reports "negative" or "damaging" to the Jewish state for fear of being labeled as Anti-Semitic.

Treating the Palestinian/Israeli issue in a truly fair and balanced way is still lacking in America. It is, however, a first step towards understanding the root causes of this wave of terrorism that has plagued the world.

Sent by AK | 9:44 PM ET | 05-30-2007

It is unfortunate that once again Israel is being singled out. While Israel may use coercive methods dealing with terrorists, China and many Muslim countries routinely use torture against political opponents who pose no security threats. Once again, Israel is singled out for approbation unfairly.

Sent by Fred | 7:54 AM ET | 05-31-2007

Thanks for the comment Fred. But I need to take exception to the idea that "once again Israel is being singled out."

Earlier yesterday we wrote about an imprisoned Chinese journalist who had been jailed for writing e-mail. Earlier in the week we covered the Center for Public Integrity's series on the practice of torture by U.S. allies in the war on terror. We've also covered the jailing of Iranian-American academics in Iran, and Egypt's arrest and detention of bloggers. I don't have any sense of Israel being 'singled out." It may feel that way to people who care about this particular issue, but in reality it's just not the case.

Sent by tregan | 10:29 AM ET | 05-31-2007

Tom, I notice you took the time to respond to my comment. Can I ask you why you did not respond the comments by AK? AK says the "US media almost never investigate reports 'negative' or 'damaging' to the Jewish state for fear of being labeled as Anti-Semitic." Well, you must think this true since you chose to ignore that comment while addressing mine. Fact: Using any category you can think of (per capita, geographic size, etc) Israel receives disproportionate news coverage, most of it casting Israel in a negative light. Other nations in the same region (and beyond) get scant coverage by comparison even though they have, by orders of magnitude, much worse human rights records. Any fairminded NPR listener would come to the same conclusion.

Sent by Fred | 12:21 PM ET | 05-31-2007

Sure Fred. I actually agree with you, to a point.

On the one hand, I do think U.S. media are sometimes reluctant to deal with some of these tougher issues about Israel for a variety of reasons (as opposed to Israeli media, which is wonderful - it talks about tough issues all the time! I wish our media was as vibrant and dynamic).

But AK is wrong to the extend that negative stories are never covered or investigated. I wrote about issues like this for years (as did others - I linked to lots of these stories) at the Monitor, covered the Walt-Mearsheimer report extensively, wrote about Rachel Corrie's death, and while people were sometimes upset, I was never once accused of being anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.

As for your second point about human right violations in the region, I think you're right. But I think there is a reason for that - we have higher expectations for Israel. Now, that may be unrealistic but it's true.

It's the same reason that Americans were so shocked after Abu Ghraib - we don't expect 'our guys' to do that stuff. I don't think Israel wants to be considered the same breath as these other nations in the same region that torture. But when we hear these accusations about Israel, there is a sense of our guys letting the side down again. We want Israel to be different, better. Again, maybe that's unrealistic, but it's there.

Sent by tregan | 1:04 PM ET | 05-31-2007