jerseyhoya wrote:A couple of pieces from center/center left, pro-Israel Jews. The first on Europe and anti-Semitism, the second a much longer piece on media coverage of Israel. Neither of which are earth shattering, but I think the direction Europe is heading in is worrisome, and the second makes good points about the different ways the West overemphasizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict vis-à-vis pretty much everything else in the world even if you're not buying the author's different examples of anti-Israel coverage in mainstream US media.

Europe's Slow Surrender to Intolerance

An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth

When the hysteria abates, I believe the events in Gaza will not be remembered by the world as particularly important. People were killed, most of them Palestinians, including many unarmed innocents.

pacino wrote:the man who shot himself in the back to commit suicide while cuffed actually didn't shoot self in the back but was shot in the chest but still cuffed with hands behind back while seated in a cop car


SHOCKING

jerseyhoya wrote:A couple of pieces from center/center left, pro-Israel Jews. The first on Europe and anti-Semitism, the second a much longer piece on media coverage of Israel. Neither of which are earth shattering, but I think the direction Europe is heading in is worrisome, and the second makes good points about the different ways the West overemphasizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict vis-à-vis pretty much everything else in the world even if you're not buying the author's different examples of anti-Israel coverage in mainstream US media.

Europe's Slow Surrender to Intolerance

An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth

Some readers might remember that Britain participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the fallout from which has now killed more than three times the number of people ever killed in the Israel-Arab conflict; yet in Britain, protesters furiously condemn Jewish militarism. White people in London and Paris whose parents not long ago had themselves fanned by dark people in the sitting rooms of Rangoon or Algiers condemn Jewish “colonialism.” Americans who live in places called “Manhattan” or “Seattle” condemn Jews for displacing the native people of Palestine. Russian reporters condemn Israel’s brutal military tactics. Belgian reporters condemn Israel’s treatment of Africans. When Israel opened a transportation service for Palestinian workers in the occupied West Bank a few years ago, American news consumers could read about Israel “segregating buses.” And there are a lot of people in Europe, and not just in Germany, who enjoy hearing the Jews accused of genocide.

Jerusalem, internationally renowned as a city of conflict, had slightly fewer violent deaths per capita last year than Portland, Ore., one of America’s safer cities.

jerseyhoya wrote:A couple of pieces from center/center left, pro-Israel Jews. The first on Europe and anti-Semitism, the second a much longer piece on media coverage of Israel. Neither of which are earth shattering, but I think the direction Europe is heading in is worrisome, and the second makes good points about the different ways the West overemphasizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict vis-à-vis pretty much everything else in the world even if you're not buying the author's different examples of anti-Israel coverage in mainstream US media.

Europe's Slow Surrender to Intolerance

An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth

In early 2009, for example, two colleagues of mine obtained information that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had made a significant peace offer to the Palestinian Authority several months earlier, and that the Palestinians had deemed it insufficient. This had not been reported yet and it was—or should have been—one of the biggest stories of the year. The reporters obtained confirmation from both sides and one even saw a map, but the top editors at the bureau decided that they would not publish the story.

Some staffers were furious, but it didn’t help. Our narrative was that the Palestinians were moderate and the Israelis recalcitrant and increasingly extreme. Reporting the Olmert offer—like delving too deeply into the subject of Hamas—would make that narrative look like nonsense.

swishnicholson wrote:Yes it seems crazy that he could be cuffed and put in a police car without police first determining whether he had a gun. yes, it took a ridiculously long time for the coroner's report to see the light of day. Yes, the victim's motives for "suicide" seem unclear,and the case should be further investigated. But I don't see it as unlikely that the shots were in fact self-inflicted.

swishnicholson wrote:

pacino wrote:the man who shot himself in the back to commit suicide while cuffed actually didn't shoot self in the back but was shot in the chest but still cuffed with hands behind back while seated in a cop car


SHOCKING

I could very well be an idiot, but I'm not sure this is really all that much. The coroner still concluded it was a suicide. It seems most likely the guy did possess a gun,and he was not shot by a police issued firearm . Since he was handcuffed, I'm not sure it's that outlandish for the cops on the scene to conclude he must have been shot in the back, and it to require further examination in order to ascertain that he somehow twisted his hands around in order to shoot into the right side of his chest and have it go through and out his left arm (if I have it right).

Yes it seems crazy that he could be cuffed and put in a police car without police first determining whether he had a gun. yes, it took a ridiculously long time for the coroner's report to see the light of day. Yes, the victim's motives for "suicide" seem unclear,and the case should be further investigated. But I don't see it as unlikely that the shots were in fact self-inflicted.

swishnicholson wrote:

pacino wrote:the man who shot himself in the back to commit suicide while cuffed actually didn't shoot self in the back but was shot in the chest but still cuffed with hands behind back while seated in a cop car


SHOCKING

I could very well be an idiot, but I'm not sure this is really all that much. The coroner still concluded it was a suicide. It seems most likely the guy did possess a gun,and he was not shot by a police issued firearm . Since he was handcuffed, I'm not sure it's that outlandish for the cops on the scene to conclude he must have been shot in the back, and it to require further examination in order to ascertain that he somehow twisted his hands around in order to shoot into the right side of his chest and have it go through and out his left arm (if I have it right).

Yes it seems crazy that he could be cuffed and put in a police car without police first determining whether he had a gun. yes, it took a ridiculously long time for the coroner's report to see the light of day. Yes, the victim's motives for "suicide" seem unclear,and the case should be further investigated. But I don't see it as unlikely that the shots were in fact self-inflicted.

But according to the full final report of the Iberia Parish coroner, which was released nearly six months later and obtained exclusively by NBC News, White was shot in the front, not the back. The bullet entered his right chest and exited under his left armpit. White was left-handed, according to family members. According to the report, the forensic pathologist found gunshot residue in the wound, but not the sort of stippling that a close-range shot can sometimes produce. He also found abrasions on White’s face.

And yet, despite the contradictions – and even though White’s hands were never tested for gunpowder residue – the Iberia Parish coroner still supported the central contention of the initial police statement issued back in March. Dr. Carl Ditch ruled that White shot himself, and declared his death a suicide.

The State Police did issue a cursory preliminary incident report stating that White had been shot with a .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun, but that no weapon had been found when White was searched prior to the shooting. According to the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office, parish police are issued .45 caliber handguns.

The Sheriff’s Office also said via email that White had not been involved in a physical altercation with officers.

The coroner’s report notes that White had two lacerations on the left side of his face – one above his left eyebrow, and one on his left cheek. Lewis said that the last time he saw White – meaning after the police stop, when he was about to walk home and White was in custody – White’s face was unmarked. The original police statement in March said White had been “uncooperative” before the incident, but the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office told NBC News that White had not been involved in any physical altercation with police.

The report does not explain why the initial police statement said White shot himself in the back. Officials declined to comment on why no weapon was discovered during the two recorded searches of White.

td11 wrote:yeah let's read #$!&@ jeffrey goldberg opinion pieces for fair and balanced views on israel

It is often said that Israel is judged by a double-standard. This is not true. Often, Israel is judged by a quadruple standard. There is one standard for developing-world countries; a second for Europe; a third, more stringent standard, for the U.S., and a fourth, impossible, standard for Israel. Often, this quadruple standard bothers me, especially when it is deployed by Judeophobes. But the truth is that I judge Israel by a higher standard than I judge other countries, precisely because it is a Jewish country. Jews gave the world the gift of ethical monotheism, and the idea that all people—not just kings—are created in the image of God. Judaism holds that Muhammad Abu Khdeir, and Tariq Khdeir, are created in the image of God, and therefore, to abuse them, to destroy them, is to desecrate God's name. Each time a Palestinian is abused in custody by Israeli authorities, those who commit the beating are violating the spirit and promise of their country.

jerseyhoya wrote:He's one of the most (the most?) prominent American journalists on the Israeli Palestinian conflict, and the piece itself isn't really about Israel.

swishnicholson wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:A couple of pieces from center/center left, pro-Israel Jews. The first on Europe and anti-Semitism, the second a much longer piece on media coverage of Israel. Neither of which are earth shattering, but I think the direction Europe is heading in is worrisome, and the second makes good points about the different ways the West overemphasizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict vis-à-vis pretty much everything else in the world even if you're not buying the author's different examples of anti-Israel coverage in mainstream US media.

Europe's Slow Surrender to Intolerance

An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth

When the hysteria abates, I believe the events in Gaza will not be remembered by the world as particularly important. People were killed, most of them Palestinians, including many unarmed innocents.

i'm afraid i didn't make it any farther than that. Maybe i'll try again in the morning.

td11 wrote:i think it's bad to view people being anti-israel (/israeli policy) as being anti-semetic.

http://www.haaretz.com/mobile/.premium- ... E8B113F0CB

td11 wrote:i think it's bad to view people being anti-israel (/israeli policy) as being anti-semetic.

http://www.haaretz.com/mobile/.premium- ... E8B113F0CB