Biased, Says Camera

He is a short excerpt from a recent statement by the Committe for Accuracy in Middle East Report of the Media (or Camera), calling into question America editorial policies.

America, a Catholic weekly founded by the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1909 was one of Israel's most persistent and unfair critics during its fight against Hamas and Hezbollah in 2006. In its coverage of this fighting, the magazine's editors and writers invoked the language of the Catholic Church's teachings on war to condemn Israel without using the principles of the Just War Doctrine to assess the behavior of Hamas and Hezbollah. Consequently, America's coverage was marred by a troubling double-standard in which violence against Israel was unremarkable and Israel's response to this violence was subject to intense scrutiny. (For more details of this bias, please go here.)

America's bias has manifested itself again in its response to the release of the Goldstone Report. In an editorial (“Siege Mentality,” Oct. 5, 2009), which calls on the Obama Administration to support efforts to bring Israel before the International Criminal Court, the publication's editors portray Israel as failing to protect the civilian population of the Gaza Strip during its assault on Hamas. In particular, the editorial suggests that Israeli leaders were motivated by a “deliberate if unspoken intention … to inflict collective punishment on the Gazan community in retribution for its support of Hamas.” The editorial also asserts that Israel engaged in “unlimited use of force” during the fighting and failed to live up to its “responsibility to distinguish between civilians and militants.”

Link (here) to the full statement by Camera

Photo is of members of Hamas burning a flag of Israel.