Letter to Washington Post

Dear Editor, In "Israeli troops kill Palestinian man near Gaza border" [11/24/12], The Washington Post reports that "the shooting was the first flare-up of violence since the Egyptian-brokered truce ended eight days" of fighting. Apparently, in The Post's eyes the twelve rockets shot at Israel preceding this incident do not count as violence. By the way, the Palestinians rushed the fence in a provocative fashion attempting to cross over onto the Israeli side while ignoring warning shots - what did they expect, souvenirs?

Letter to NY Times

Dear Editor, If there were a faction in America or adjacent to America - grievance or no grievance - whose expressed goal was to destroy our country, what does The NY Times think our response would be? Let's also say that they didn't disguise this goal - even flaunted it by having it in their charter for all to see. If this faction then launched rockets at us, how would we react? What would any country do? We would do what we could to stop them. So why is Israel held to a different standard? Why is its every action held under a microscope? War was brought upon them. Proportionate force dictates that Israel must apply enough force to stop the rockets. If anything, Israel is not applying enough force. They are too cautious. But that is because they are held to a different standard than any other country. The question is why? Michael Berenhaus

Published in Washington Jewish Week

Flagrant distortion Flagrant distortion While a continuous assault of rocket attacks from Gaza has occurred all year, targeting more than 100,000 Israeli children in the entire southern part of their country, our local newspaper and the paper on record in the nation's capital, The Washington Post, remained silent until a Palestinian child became a casualty. Then there is a front-page, above-the-fold, sympathy-evoking picture in the Nov. 15 issue taken totally out of context showing the Palestinian casualty rather than all the traumatized, injured and dead Israeli children. There is no mention of the months of rocket attacks on Israel in the caption, and the accompanying article called Israel's response an "offensive" when it really was a defensive maneuver. The death of a child is tragic but tragic as well is the exploitation by the Post for the power that it evokes. For Jewish readers, it brings to mind the painful centuries-old anti-Semitic libel where Jews were labeled child killers. The picture was gratuitous and not representative of the conflict at all. The Post must stop going for the propaganda-driven "money shots" - it flies in the face of journalistic ethics. I implore Washington Jewish Week readers to write the Post to protest this flagrant distortion of the news. It stokes the flames of anti-Semitism affecting all of us. The email address is letters@washpost.com. MICHAEL BERENHAUS Potomac http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=31&ArticleID=18383&TM=54861.04

Letter to Washington Post

Dear Editor, One day, operation "Pillar of Defense" will be called the most humanitarian, precision-conducted campaign in military history. With over 1350 sites hit by the Israeli defense force, there have only been about 50 civilian deaths - and this in one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Further, some of these casualties were caused by Hamas' own rockets. (It is estimated that over 100 Hamas rockets aimed at Israel actually landed in Gaza.) Yet The Washington Post front page headline screams "Civilian toll up in Gaza fighting" (11/19/12). For this kind of warfare, with Hamas firing rockets from civilian neighborhoods adjacent to schools, hospitals, and mosques, the civilian toll was down, not up. Compare with Syria, where over 40,000 are dead. Before bombing, Israel sent out warning texts, tweets, emails, phone-calls and leaflets. Israel should be praised, not condemned.

Letter to The Washington Post

Dear Editors, While a continuous assault of rocket attacks from Gaza has occurred all year, targeting over 100,000 Israeli children in the entire southern part of their country, The Washington Post remained silent until a Palestinian child became a casualty. Then there is a front page above-the-fold sympathy-evoking picture taken totally out of context showing the Palestinian casualty rather than all the traumatized, injured, and dead Israeli children (11/15/12). There is no mention of the months of rocket attacks on Israel in the caption, and the accompanying article called Israel's response an "offensive" when it really was a defensive maneuver. The death of a child is tragic but tragic as well is the exploitation by the Post for the power that it evokes. For Jewish readers, it brings to mind the painful centuries-old anti-Semitic libel where Jews were labeled child killers. The picture was gratuitous and not representative of the conflict at all. The Washington Post must stop going for the propaganda-driven "money shots" - it flies in the face of journalistic ethics. Michael Berenhaus

Letter to The Washington Post

Dear Editor, In "Abbas: Talk could begin after UN vote" (11/13/12), The Washington Post states that "peace talks have stalled over Israel's refusal to first halt settlement construction." But is it Israel's refusal or the Palestinian's demand that their pre-condition be met that has stopped the negotiations? Many would say It is the latter, not the former. While Israel has offered time and again to sit down and negotiate, the Palestinians have laid out an ultimatum to Israel which they demand must be met prior to any negotiations. Yet the Post chooses - again - to blame Israel. Only an ingrained bias could continually blame Israel while ignoring or whitewashing the part played by its enemies. This is a bias so deep that the Washington Post apparently can't even see it.

Letter to The Washington Post

Dear Editor, Why does it seem that Israel is only in the news when it responds to attacks rather than when the attacks occur in the first place? (see "Israel shells Syrian artillery battery after 2nd mortar lands near Golan army post" (11/12/12) Michael Berenhaus

Letter to The Washington Post

Dear Editor, In "Israel closing its doors to illegal African Migrants" (11/3/12), Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights castigate Israel for blocking the entrance of illegal African migrants. These groups maintain that blocking their entrance puts the migrants at risk for "torture and abuse" from their home country and in Egypt through which they have traveled on their way to Israel. Why are Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights so conspicuously silent about the abuse and torture as it occurs and only speak out about it when the migrants arrive in Israel? Michael Berenhaus