Fighting the new blood libel
Lou Marano
Jewish Journal
reposted:
Center for Security Policy
23 December 09
How do Israeli Jews deal with the shocking return of the European blood libel? So far the most effective response has come from a small group of dedicated and underfunded satirists working in a tiny studio in a farmyard east of Tel Aviv.
Ten years ago it would have seemed unthinkable that a European newspaper would print an article suggesting that the Israeli army harvests organs from dead Palestinians, coyly inviting the reader to conclude that the IDF kills Arabs for this purpose. Yet that was the theme of a story in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet last August.
The Swedish government deflected criticism by citing "freedom of the press" and distanced itself from the disgust expressed by its ambassador to Israel, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier. Israeli officials were accused of "overreacting" in their outrage and "playing the race card" by pointing out that the story is a modern recycling of medieval anti-Semitism.
Enter Latma. Latma is a Hebrew-language satirical Web site founded by Jerusalem Post senior contributing editor Caroline Glick. In a recent interview, the Chicago native, who moved to Israel 19 years ago, explained her motives and her plans for the future. Glick sees the Israeli media as part of Israel's global image problem because, among other shortcomings, they don't stand up to Israel's critics abroad.
"Our news media don't talk a lot about how absurd so much of the criticism of Israel is," Glick said.
"Whether it's the Swedish newspaper putting out this obviously false story suggesting that Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians to harvest their organs, or whether it's the Goldstone report that accused our soldiers of committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead [in Gaza] this past December and January, we don't have the media saying: ‘Wait a minute. Why are we discussing whether we should be investigating ourselves when what they're saying is completely outrageous?'"
When Latma rails against that kind of media incompetence and bias, Glick said, it almost inadvertently produces video sketches that are important for foreign as well as Israeli consumption. "When we realized the international significance of some of our videos, we decided to subtitle them and get them placed on Web sites in the United States and other countries."
(Read full article)
23 December 09
How do Israeli Jews deal with the shocking return of the European blood libel? So far the most effective response has come from a small group of dedicated and underfunded satirists working in a tiny studio in a farmyard east of Tel Aviv.
Ten years ago it would have seemed unthinkable that a European newspaper would print an article suggesting that the Israeli army harvests organs from dead Palestinians, coyly inviting the reader to conclude that the IDF kills Arabs for this purpose. Yet that was the theme of a story in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet last August.
The Swedish government deflected criticism by citing "freedom of the press" and distanced itself from the disgust expressed by its ambassador to Israel, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier. Israeli officials were accused of "overreacting" in their outrage and "playing the race card" by pointing out that the story is a modern recycling of medieval anti-Semitism.
Enter Latma. Latma is a Hebrew-language satirical Web site founded by Jerusalem Post senior contributing editor Caroline Glick. In a recent interview, the Chicago native, who moved to Israel 19 years ago, explained her motives and her plans for the future. Glick sees the Israeli media as part of Israel's global image problem because, among other shortcomings, they don't stand up to Israel's critics abroad.
"Our news media don't talk a lot about how absurd so much of the criticism of Israel is," Glick said.
"Whether it's the Swedish newspaper putting out this obviously false story suggesting that Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians to harvest their organs, or whether it's the Goldstone report that accused our soldiers of committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead [in Gaza] this past December and January, we don't have the media saying: ‘Wait a minute. Why are we discussing whether we should be investigating ourselves when what they're saying is completely outrageous?'"
When Latma rails against that kind of media incompetence and bias, Glick said, it almost inadvertently produces video sketches that are important for foreign as well as Israeli consumption. "When we realized the international significance of some of our videos, we decided to subtitle them and get them placed on Web sites in the United States and other countries."
(Read full article)
Love of the Land: Fighting the new blood libel
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