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