Western media guilty of hypocrisy in the way it views Middle East

Eleven Israelis were injured, including an 18-month-old infant, when a Palestinian man armed with an axe rammed his car into a bus stop on a crowded Jerusalem street on Monday.

Since the beginning of autumn, there have been more than 100 Palestinian attacks during two-and-a-half months of violence in Israel and the West Bank. Twenty-two Israelis have been killed and more than 200 hurt by lone wolf-style terrorist attacks.

Yet in a general sense, if this is remarked on in the global media, it is oftentimes under headlines emphasising that the Palestinian terrorist has been killed by Israelis.

It is very rarely condemned for what it is, an attack on the civilian population of the only democracy in the Middle East. Contrast this with the media outrage at last week’s underground stabbing in London, then ponder on the hypocrisy of the West in how it frames terrorist attacks.

According to a poll published yesterday, 67% of Palestinians support stabbing attacks on Israelis.

The poll, conducted by the respected Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, also found that 66% of those asked had said that an armed intifada would “serve Palestinian national interests in ways that negotiations could not” (The Jerusalem Post, December 14).

Is this not something worthy of comment in the western media?

Dr Kevin McCarthy

Kinsale

Co Cork