We Defeat Ourselves - JTA Blows the Call

By: Paula R. Stern
November 1, 2009

We Defeat Ourselves - JTA Blows the Call

Last week, after more than a decade in court with appeals and counter appeals, an Israeli court finally ruled that an old man who had proven that he owned some property, had the right to evict residents of the building in which they had been squatted, denying him access and failing to pay rent. The problem, of course, was that the man was Jewish and the property was occupied by Arabs.

Finally, after court battles  and legal haggling and endless delays, the man was clear to reclaim what the courts carefully had determined was his. Whole volumes can be written on how much evidence the man had to provide, how many times he had to provide it, how many lawyers he paid and how many appeals were filed. Finally, the end of the legal wrangling had arrived and the man went with several others to hand out eviction notices. The Arabs seemed to have been expecting them and began pelting them with rocks. In an attempt to defend themselves after two had been hit by rocks (one in the head and one in the chest), one 63-year-old man pulled out a gun and shot in the air.

As is often the case when an Israeli fires into the air, several Arabs complained to the police that they had been injured. It is a known phenomena to many. One Jew fires a single bullet in the air, five Arabs fall and claim to be injured. The media rushes to condemn the violence. The police rush in, separate the parties and begin an investigation. Quietly, weeks later, the police announce no one was injured, the Jews did nothing wrong. Of course, as is often the case, the so-called violence was on page one of major newspapers; the retraction some dozens of pages later, buried deep inside the newspaper, if they even bothered to print it.

In this case, in our latest incident, one Arab insisted he had been shot in the hand and showed the police a scratch. Had the man been hit, explained the Israeli who shot in the air, the man would have lost his hand because of the nature of the bullets he had in his gun. The police confirmed that it was physically impossible for this injury to have been caused in the manner in which the Arab claimed and yet several major news outlets reported this ”shooting” as fact.

No, there were no injuries among the Arabs and the police quickly released the Jews that had been taken into custody based on Arab charges and complaints. Not until after they had been detained, their Sabbath violated, and one man almost denied vital, life-saving medication. Not until the news had their story – no matter how inaccurate it was.

What is amazing is not the story – told so often in various fabrications, but how Israeli media covered the news report. In Jenin, several years ago, there was a talk of a great massacre. One claimed 500 dead, another thousands. At its high, reports of even 5,000 dead filtered out. No, months later the evidence could not be ignored. Not 5,000, not thousands, not 500, not even 100. Fifty-two – and the vast majority gunmen/militants/combatants. We are in the midst of the same lies now with the Goldstone Report and Gaza.

Today, I heard the story directly from someone who was there, one of seven, the wife of the man who fired into the air. She explained to me that it was only when the Arabs started advancing towards her and throwing rocks at her, that her husband raised his gun. They did not come seeking violence, but were quickly surrounded and attacked by a mob. They advanced towards her and her husband went to defend her…and even then, he kept his head and his training. He fired into the air, to distance the rioters and gain help for his wife and friends.

This is Israel - we must defend ourselves. This is, as the man later told the police, our country and if someone throws stones at you when you have broken no law (unlike the people illegally living in the old man's house), you have the right to self-defense. Why would a 63-year-old man seek trouble, he asked the police? He has a pace-maker, for heaven’s sake and was born in the days right after the Holocaust, during a time when Jews did not know how to defend themselves. He defended himself on Friday, and his wife, and the State of Israel arrested him and put him in jail based on the false claims of witnesses who had every reason to lie and no reason to tell the truth.

I have doubts whether anyone from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) spoke to any of the Jews involved in the incident - it certainly doesn't seem so from the ridiculous headlines they used: "Jews arrested in brawl over home ownership."

A brawl? Doesn't that give the hint of guilt on both sides? Jews with the backing of the Israeli courts went to issue eviction notices to illegal residents and were attacked with stones. This is a brawl? One wonders whether it is perhaps time to buy JTA a dictionary.

The absurd title is only one inaccuracy. Of course, no one was injured among the Arabs; no one was shot in the hand or elsewhere. According to the witness I spoke to, the police watched the video she had taken and quickly agreed that the claims were false and that there was no way any Arabs were shot by this man's bullets.

Also, telling, however, is the file name (URL address) of the JTA article. While they decided to be a bit more diplomatic in the headlines, the assumption of guilt was there in the file name: http://jta.org/news/article/2009/11/01/1008854/right-wing-jewish-activists-detained-after-brawl-with-arabs-in-jerusalem.

Note the name – “right wing Jewish activists.” Why were they labeled as such by JTA? Was it because they dared to attempt to uphold the court ruling? Was it because they dared to defend themselves? The JTA knows nothing of these people; I have met several.

The JTA, with no evidence and little in the way of facts, has failed to deliver accurate reporting by choosing to apply words it hopes will prejudice the reader. There was no brawl in our homeland on Friday. There was an attempt to serve justice. One that was thwarted by violent Arabs and close-minded police. And there was an attempt to blame the victims of violence by denigrating what happened (a brawl??), and using political labeling to undermine their action.

We defeat ourselves when we surrender our rights and allow others to be granted victory by our cowardice.