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U.S. Muslims Angry at NPR "Encouragement" of Israeli Retaliation
WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Washington-area Muslim and Arab groups expressed shock and dismay at a report on National Public Radio's (NPR) Morning Edition show Thursday, in which a reporter appeared to be encouraging Israel to retaliate against Thursday's deadly bomb blast in Jerusalem in which 18 people were killed.
NPR responded that the reporter had not intended to recommend any kind of violence.
The program's Jerusalem reporter Linda Gradstein, when asked by host Renee Montaigne if Israel was likely to retaliate for the Palestinian suicide bombing, replied, "I think Israel has to retaliate.
"Israel has been saying from now on it will retaliate for every attack," she said. "This is the second largest attack in the last ten months of violence - 18 dead including six children. I think Israel has no choice but to respond."
The explosion was claimed by two different Palestinian anti-resistance organizations: Islamic Jihad and Hamas. The bomb, which had nails packed inside it, injured about 88 others.
Israeli Cabinet minister without portfolio Dani Naveh promised that Israel would retaliate as it has in the past, CNN reported. "We will do whatever we can in order to stop terrorists from coming into our towns," he said.
And a senior Israeli official, who asked not to be named, said, "There will be a proper and adequate response, proportionate to the event."
The official refused to say what a proportionate response might be to the attack. "You saw how horrendous [the bombing] was," he said.
The Israeli daily Haaretz said on its website that the cabinet had decided to allow strikes to go ahead. Israeli hardliners have said that after the next mass killing the Jewish state would be forced to launch a massive response against the Palestinians.
But Gradstein's comment about Israel being forced to respond seemed to be encouraging more violence, said Hussein Ibish, communications director for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).
"What you come out with is incitement, and a very aggressive stance that Israel should use violence," Ibish said.
"She doesn't ever say that Israel should urgently end its occupation… or Israel should suspend its policy of actively assassinating" members of occupation-resistance groups like Hamas, Fatah and others. "But she says that Israel must, should, will, is going to have to attack Palestinians."
Ibish said U.S. media often "forget" that a stateless group of people who are oppressed are protected by international law in fighting for their independence and a nation of their own - a right that every state should have.
While condemning in no uncertain terms the viciousness of Thursday's attack, he reiterated that international law actually restrains Israel from using violence against the Palestinian people.
But, "The idea that Israel is always responding and that Palestinians are always acting provocatively, that idea is embedded in there," he said.
He emphasized that much of the coverage in the U.S. omits the fact that the Palestinians are a displaced group who have been demanding a separate Palestinian state ever since they were deprived of their own lands fifty years ago.
"[Gradstein] seems incapable of realizing that this bombing is obviously a response to a really vicious and sustained campaign of provocation," he said, referring to Israel's assassination campaign, shooting deaths of civilians, economic blockade and other policies.
An NPR spokesperson, however, clarified that Gradstein had been attempting to address what was likely to happen in light of Israel's promise to retaliate.
"As Linda Gradstein reported, Israel has been saying that from now on it will retaliate for every attack," NPR said. "What Gradstein was trying to convey was that this public statement made it almost inevitable that Israel would feel the need to live up to its words."
But Margaret Zaknoen, the director of programs for American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ), felt that Gradstein's comment did suggest that a response was required rather than just likely, and therefore was inappropriate on two points.
"NPR has displayed a bias in their coverage of this issue," Zaknoen said. "Linda Gradstein['s comment] is just one example of the bias they display… [in which there is] soft peddling on Israel and condemnation of Palestinians."
The other issue, she said, was that "it's hugely unprofessional for a journalist to be recommending a reaction."
Zaknoen felt that in responding to a question about Israel's likelihood of retaliation, it was entirely inappropriate for any journalist to go beyond suggesting the possibility based on what's happened in the past, and on the climate in Israel's government.
"She has clearly overstepped her bounds as a journalist," Zaknoen said.
But NPR reiterated that Gradstein had not intended any kind of personal statement on what Israel should do. "She did not intend to express a personal opinion," the spokesperson said.
After the bombing, Palestinians hurriedly evacuated police buildings and other likely targets in anticipation of the promised retaliation, which came Friday morning as the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) took over the Orient House, the unofficial general headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in east Jerusalem, and several other buildings.
The move, condemned by Palestinians and left-wing Israelis who protested outside the building afterwards, as well as by France, accompanied a missile attack on a police station in the flashpoint West Bank town of Ramallah. No injuries were reported from the attack.
Thursday's suicide bombing was said by Palestinian sources to have been a retaliation for Israel's policy of assassinating hardline Palestinian activists; in once such attack last week, two journalists and two children were also killed.
But a Peace Index poll published in Ha'aretz showed 70% of Israeli Jews supported Sharon's policy of "targeted killings", and 64% believed Israel was not using enough force against Palestinians.
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