Apart from a fairly well written and well researched article in Aftenposten on ultra orthodox Jews in Israel and how they somehow scavenge on the secular Israelis – which raises the question – why are we being told that somehow it is a dubious enterprise to be religious and to dress in a particular way? I cannot remember that we have read similar articles about nuns or monks in convents or other pious religious groups who literally stand out from the norm? Maybe Lohne could do better to next time include a small feature on famous academics, scientists, scholars, he could try to fit a man like Abraham Twersky into the ludicrously narrow boxes he tries to fit other human beings into…
Well, apart form this article, and then the usual obsession with whether or not Israel will attack Iran, or if they have the military might to do so (but it is interesting that none of these articles even remotely address the fact that Iran’s decrepit leaders have sworn to kill all the Jews in the world and bomb the state of israel into smithereens?), there has been very little ink spent on Israel the last few weeks, in the main stream media anyway.
But that is not to say that the obsession with Israel has gone away, not even that whoever spends time worrying about Israel at a time when it is perfectly clear that Israel is the smallest and most insignificant problem facing the world today, manage to be sober in their coverage.
I have already documented how the Norwegian People’s Aid is oblivious to the plight of the Syrians, but keep insisting that Israel somehow acts against International Law in Gaza (could they perhaps offer a copy of a verdict from an internationally respected Rourt, rather than their own opinions as proof for their allegations?), but at a time when Syrians are being slaughtered it would have been more elegant if their latest entry on Syria did not relate to a local event in Sunnfjord, where they listened to Syrian music.
The Norwegian Church Aid is doing somewhat better, at least on the surface on it, and have now dedicated space on their home page to the plight of children starving to death in the Sahel region. But don’t let that fool you, because at every turn and opportunity they want to put the blame for all the worlds ills on Israel. Take the Accompaniment program to Israel and Palestine . Not one of the volunteers have found it interesting to go to Sderot, Ashdod, or Ashquelon to cover the hardships for the civilian population who have their lives and livelihood constantly interrupted since they are living targets for the ruthless terrorists in Gaza. Not one of their blog entries portray the tremendous fear Israeli children live with every day, all day.
Although there is very little going on in Israel at the moment, other than Abbas’ continued racist rants in Arabic, and barely concealed rants to the Western press, some Norwegian radio programs have focused on the plight of Christians in the Middle East. Interestingly, the focus and the cause of all the problems is, according to the interviewers and interviewees, Israel. Two different radio programs, Verdibørsen (click on program for February 18 to listen in Norwegian) and Ekko (click on program for February 21 to listen in Norwegian) simply state that it is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that lies at the heart of the problems and persecutions, suffered by Christians in the Middle East, and that it is the creation of the State of Israel that caused it!
Meanwhile, Syrians are dyeing by the thousands, but hey, we can always trust the Sunnfjord chapter of Norwegian People’s Aid to play some Syrian music as a token of their solidarity!
McGon. I linked in this blog to the mans piece on Gaza. NPA is a colossal tragic jokne, or even less than that. Their obsessive massive antisemitic hatred is what is intoelrable to see.
I also heavily linked in to EAPPI or whatever facebook site. Lets see how they will like it.
“Maybe Lohne could do better to next time include a small feature on famous academics, scientists, scholars..”
Yes, and further, why doesn’t he recognize that from the culture of these “weird” “black-coated”, “bearded” – “reactionaries” – as they are portrayed – has sprung an overwhelming number of “famous academics, scientists and scholars”.
Pity that Lohne (a professional blessing compared with his predecessor and Scandinavian colleagues in the Middle-East!) misses pointing out the extreme scholarly values at the roots of their culture.
Perhaps he is not aware of the incredible overrepresentation of this group in the family trees of Nobel Prize winners ?
So, hereby brought to his, and others, attention.
Does he mention the Amish by any chance?
Brilliant piece, as ever…
The EAPPI-program is a program for the World Council of Churches in Palestine and Israel. The program is working with peace organisations on both sides of the conflict. We do not take side in the conflict but we follow the International Humanitarian Law and the Human Rights and report violations on these. During our stay we also travel around in Israel to see and learn about the situation here. We are visiting Sderot among other cities. Many EA’s have been writing about the situation in Sderot. The EAPPI only report on the things happening, people must make up their own mind on what they think about it.
http://www.kirkensnodhjelp.no/Aktuelt/Nyhetsarkiv/ledsagerbrev-usannsynlig-dialog/
http://reidunlaankan.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/ikke-i-mitt-navn-ikke-for-min-sikkerhet/
http://aprairievoice.blogspot.com/2011/01/sderot-israel.html
http://terjesblogg.blogg.no/1326400895__leve_med_bombefrykt.html
Dear Helene
I deeply appreciate your comment here and am thankful of your response.
I would like to argue that in spite of the stated non-political approach of your organization, evidence so far suggests that there is a real bias from your rapporteurs point of view. Stories from Sderot or even from settlers who are victims of terror semm to be under-reported.
As I personally know some of the rapporteurs who have participated in your program and know their political leanings, I would suggest that you may be somewhat naive in your selection of suitable participants?
I would deeply appreciate your thoughts on this.
Furthermore, as has been amply demonstrated in peer reviewed studies, the exactness and therefore the validity of eyewitnesses recollection or even recording of events are often highly biased by their own personal preferences.
An eyewitness’ account may be very emotional, but does not necessarily give a complete picture of reality.
How is your organization working to ensure that reports provide a more complete picture? A picture that addresses the inherent scenography of a “performance”?