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on her fellow Jews. Then there was Peter Noel, a frequent Voice contributor who serves as unofficial press flak for Louis Farrakhan. His true sympathies were revealed in "Homeland Terrorism: How Arabs and Muslims Should Combat It--Despite What the Jewish Defense Organization Says" (Oct. 2).According to Noel, the militant JDO's telephone hotline had criticized a pro-Al Qaeda lawyer who had been visiting New York area mosques to advise them on how to avoid being questioned by the FBI. The JDO had, among other rhetorical expressions, called this lawyer "garbage." Noel depicted this remark as a threat of the highest order. To Noel's twisted mind, the prospect of a Jew verbally expressing righteous anger (without violence) is apparently more horrifying than that of Arab thugs killing thousands of Americans in an orgy of almost unimaginable fury. The Voice has long been rife with anti-Semitism, but never has its double standard against Jews been displayed so starkly as in this article.
It should come as no surprise that the Voice is also actively promoting the new antiwar movement. Although supported by only a tiny percentage of Americans nationwide, this movement is burgeoning at our college campuses with the strong backing of Arab student groups (most of which openly support terror against Israel and many of which privately support bin Laden and the Taliban). The leaflets and web pages of the antiwar movement promote the message that any counterattack against terrorism is "racist" and that the only proper response to September 11 is to accede to bin Laden's blackmail (i.e., stop supporting Israel). The October 2 Voice carried an article, "Peace Equals Patriotism: A User's Guide to Antiwar Activism," which profiled eleven antiwar groups that the Voice suggested its readers could sign up with. The profiles were entirely uncritical; for instance, the description of the International Action Center (the single most important antiwar group) failed to inform readers that it is controlled by a Marxist-Leninist cult with close ties to North Korea and a long history of cozying up to Arab terrorists.
This article was followed on October 9 by "Make Noise, Not War," a puff piece which urged Voice readers to show up for an antiwar rally in Union Square. "Empathy and a call for nonviolent justice undergird initial antiwar organizing," the article said. How this approach will prevent bin Laden from creating thousands of new victims was not explained. Nor did this or any other Voice article spell out what the Voice's own threshold for war is. If five thousand dead is not enough, would fifty thousand do the trick? Or even five hundred thousand?
The war against terrorism is not like the war in Vietnam. The American people recognize the war on terrorism as a just war. New Yorkers should demand that the owners of the Voice conduct a thorough housecleaning to end its one-sided hate-America/hate-Israel slant. If the Voice's owners fail to act, a boycott should be launched aimed at both readers and advertisers. We are sure that the families of many of the victims of the WTC terror attack, as well as the police and firefighters' unions, would be more than happy to support such a boycott.
Dennis King is a writer and was a pioneer in exposing Lyndon LaRouche. The article appeared as an editorial in Manhattan Today of November 2, 2001.
Dear Friends,
A group of five unhappy NPR [National Public Radio] listeners from Boston asked NPR to meet with us to discuss their poor quality of reporting on Israel. We were: a tenured journalism professor and New York Times reporter, a business executive in hi tech, a retired psychotherapist, a retired businessman, and a lawyer.
On November 5, NPR sent their ombudsmen, Jeffrey Dvorkin, the head of the Boston NPR affiliate WBUR, Jane Christo, and WBUR Program Director, George Busey. (WGBH lost $200,000 worth of sponsorship a few weeks ago from two major Boston bookstores, protesting NPR's anti-Israel editorial policy.) The NPR people were friendly and charming, assuring us repeatedly that they wanted to hear from us in detail about our complaints. However, when it came to any of our actual complaints and observations, they denied that NPR coverage has to improve.
There was one telling moment in the discussion. Jeff Dvorkin said, and I quote verbatim: "We haven't really delved into the P.A. [Palestinian Authority] movement." And "We haven't moved beyond the simplistic view of a third world liberation movement against oppressive Israelis."
I thanked him for acknowledging that, and read the sentence back to him. He admitted saying it, but claimed that characterized NPR reporting at its worst.
Unfortunately, we hear NPR at its worst daily.
As most of the American media did in the 1930's covering Germany, NPR has decided that antisemitism and incitement to murder Jews is not news. Dvorkin claims that Myrna Sheinbaum at the Anti-Defamation League (212-490-2525) and David Harris at the American Jewish Committee have told him the ADL and AJCommittee do not consider NPR unfair to Israel. (Myrna says the ADL doesn't get complaints about NPR--let's
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Outpost - 10 - December 2001