Julie McCarthy (NPR)
A particularly egregious example of bias from a source that is already well known to be appallingly biased. From CAMERA, with thanks to Alyssa Lappen:
In perhaps the most distorted coverage of the brutal murder of a pregnant Israeli mother and her four young daughters, NPR's Julie McCarthy blamed the victims for their own slaughter. In the atrocity in Gaza on May 2, the gunmen reportedly fired on the family's car from 20 yards away. When 34-year-old Tali, a social worker who was in her last trimester of pregnancy, lost control of the vehicle, the Palestinian terrorists approached the vehicle and executed Tali and her daughters -- Hila, 11; Hadar, 9; Roni, 7 and Merav, 2 -- one by one at close range. According to press reports, the younger children were still strapped into their car seats, the car was blood-soaked, and it took the ZAKA recovery crew a long time to extract all of the bullets and collect the body parts.Julie McCarthy's egregious statement on "Morning Edition" today came at the end of a report about Ariel Sharon's referendum loss on his "disengagement" plan. McCarthy reported:
The settlers rallied support saying Israel was withdrawing under fire. But there was ample evidence yesterday to show that their continued presence in Gaza is provoking bloodshed. Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian gunmen after the men ambushed mother and her four small daughters outside the Gaza settlement of Gush Katif. The family was shot and killed on their way to the Israeli city of Ashkelon where they intended to campaign against Ariel Sharon and his plan to uproot them from Gaza. Julie McCarthy, NPR news, Jerusalem.
BLAMING THE VICTIM
McCarthy's editorializing that the Jewish community's "continued presence in Gaza is provoking bloodshed" is consistent with the Palestinian Authority view that the killing of settlers is a natural and legitimate outgrowth of the fact that Jews dare to inhabit territory that the Palestinians claim as their own. According to Ha'aretz, "A senior Palestinian source said he thought there was no chance the Palestinian Authority would express reservations, since every settler was considered an integral part of the occupation against which action must be taken" (Danny Rubinstein, 5/3/04).
Of course, though, there is no justification whatsoever within international law that justifies the killing of civilians simply because they live in territory which others claim as their own. Unfortunately, McCarthy's report suggests justification where there is none.
REVERSING CAUSE AND EFFECT
McCarthy further distorts the killing of the Hatuel family members by reversing the chronology of events. She states: "Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian gunmen after the men ambushed a mother and her four small daughters outside the Gaza settlement of Gush Katif." Why is the Israeli response mentioned before the Palestinian murder? The result is that the defensive Israeli action is amplified while the Palestinians' barbarous act is de-emphasized.
SOFT-PEDALLING THE MURDER
McCarthy's sanitized description of the Hatuels' murder employs equivalent language to describe Israel's shooting of murderers and the murderers' butchering of young children and their mother. Thus, "Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian gunmen," "the men ambushed a mother and her four small daughters," and "the family was shot and killed." From these indistinguishable descriptions, listeners would have no clue as to the brutality of the execution of a mother and four children whose bodies were riddled by dozens of bullets shot at point blank range.
Quote: Of course, though, there is no justification whatsoever within international law that justifies the killing of civilians simply because they live in territory which others claim as their own.
McCarthy's moral equivalence and ambiguity re. the execution of the Hatuel family is obscene. If my Christian foundation were stronger, I would have no hesitation is stating categorically that she will burn in hell for these remarks. She is a monster. She has no moral compass.
But, hey, it's NPR- and with that idiot Widow Croc's bequest, this outfit is untouchable.
AP managed (true to form) to bury this at the bottom of its wire coverage on Monday of Sharon's defeat:
"Ms. Hatuel's husband, David, wept in front of the five graves during the funeral Sunday in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. “I am all alone. There is no one left,” he said."
McCarthy will burn in hell for her coverage. She'll meet Arafat, Yassin and Rantissi there.
Of course, though, there is no justification whatsoever within international law that justifies the killing of civilians simply because they live in territory which others claim as their own.
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On the same note, there is no justification under international law for claiming it is 'right' to settle on other's property. I believe that by Tamar Sternthal is using the words "claim as their own" out of context here.
Bassam,
Then why do Muslims claim southern Spain?
jay
Julie Mcarthy is the NPR reporter we all had so much fun laughing at a few months ago when she referred to palestinian suicide bombers as "terrorists"--but before the word was completely out of her mouth she coughed, cleared her throat and corrected herself: They were "militants" she said, as she finished her sentence. It was a slip of the tongue that revealed the PC mindset of the dhimmi Left.
Hey Dhimmi: YOUR PAYING FOR NPR.
It is tax payer subsidized.
Carlos, good observation.
The Dhimmi Way is: it's never the terrorists' fault. And be outraged only when Muslims die or Islam is offended.
Letter to NPR
Dear Mr. Dvorkin,
In 1998, you defended NPR from charges of bias by CAMERA with regards to NPR’s coverage of the Middle East. You also denied that Steven Emerson had been "blacklisted" from NPR. However, now almost 3 years post-9/11, NPR has yet to invite this terrorism expert, whose prophetic PBS special "Jihad in America" (aired in 1994) called attention to many of the weaknesses that led to the tragedy of 9/11.
Even more disturbing is NPR’s biased coverage of Islam and Muslim culture. Based on your NPR’s website, I have compiled the following list of guests invited to share their expertise on Islam post-9/11:
Karen Armstrong (3/8/04, 10/17/01)*
John Esposito (8/15/02, 6/01/02, 3/30/02)
Ibrahim Hooper (04/06/04, 10/28/03)
Edward Said (7/31/02)*
*For sake of fairness, I am restricting this list to appearances by these guests only when they were discussing Islam or Muslim culture.
To NPR’s credit, I would like to acknowledge four appearances by Middle East expert Bernard Lewis (5/11/03, 1/3/02, 1/3/02, and 12/18/01), Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul (10/16/01), and one brief commentary on Irshad Manji’s controversial book "The Trouble With Islam" (1/14/04). However, not once have you presented other courageous scholars like Paul Samuel Huntington, David Pryce-Jones, Robert Spencer, Stephen Schwartz, and Bat Yeor who have so much to contribute to the discussion.
I will not waste our time describing Armstrong’s mealy-mouthed apologia for all things Islamic, Esposito’s notorious downplaying of the dangers of radical Islam pre-9/11, and the late Edward Said’s nauseating rants against the country that gave him such a productive life. However, your granting an audience to CAIR’s president Ibrahim Hooper is nothing short of scandalous. Note the following press release:
"Prominent members of the council’s current leadership – people who were invited to the hearings today but declined to testify – also have intimate connections with Hamas – a group that receives substantial funding from Saudi Arabia and subscribes to Wahhabist teachings."
This is testimony delivered by Charles Schumer at a judicial hearing titled "Terrorism: Two Years After 9/11, Connecting the Dots" (http://www.senate.gov/~schumer/). The Democratic senator was referring to the Council of American Islamic Relations. I’ll leave it up to you to do your homework on the recent indictment of two officials from CAIR on terrorism-related charges (Randall Todd Royer and Bassem K. Khafagi) and CAIR’s ties with the Global Relief Foundation.
Perhaps I am naïve in believing that NPR can overcome pressure from its current sponsorship to present a more even-handed understanding of Islam. Nevertheless, many of the liberals you are cultivating with apologists like Armstrong and traitors like Hooper will turn on you the minute they realize how this feel-good charade threatens America.
Make no mistake, sooner of later, NPR will find itself on the wrong side of history, and it would behoove NPR to address this problem before thoughtful liberals begin to suspect that they are being duped.
Remember that there is a double standard here - anything that a Muslinm does is ok - after all they are oppressed, surpressed, angry, powerless, etc - you name it - and the poor Muslim is that.
The West is vile - colonialist, evil, oppressive, etc.....nothing that the West does is valued or believed - afterall it is the war-mongering West which wants to exploit the rest of thw world.
Forget the good that the West has given the world - the idea of basic human rights, freedom of thought and religion, choice in one's life, advancement of science, technology, medicine, the best universities, ability to change one's lot in life and begin a new life, etc.
Forget telling me how the Arabs saved everything while Europe was in the Dark Ages - oh of that is fine - but what has the Arab and Muslim World given to us recently - Jihadis! What an advancement for the world!
This dhimmi double standard is revolting!
After you get through complaining about this dhimmi on this forum WRITE POLITE BUT FIRM LETTERS TO YOUR CONGRESSMAN, THE TWO SENATORS FROM YOUR STATE, and NPR. Tell NPR that you demand she be fired. If she is not, then write to your representatives and demand that funding for NPR be cut. Also send an e-mail to your local NPP station and complain about this.
Yeah write my senators, fat lot of good that'll do. Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Chuck Schumer. I'm part of the "vast right wing conspiracy" and they're fiddling, or diddling, while the US could be perched perilously on the brink of burning.
Jem,
Note that in my letter to NPR on a related topic, I chose Schumer's testimony against CAIR, despite the availability of many more right-wing sources with the same message.
In other words, in order to have credibility with liberals that dominate NPR, you need to quote other liberals.
Tragically, most liberals will right off meticulous scholars like Robert Spencer as a right wing quack before even reading him. Only when similar things are stated by liberals will they begin to get it.
In effect, you should not underestimate the contributions of thoughtful liberals like Charles Schumer. They my be our only hope for winning over the left .
After all, Mr. Spencer has said repeatedly that an honest evaluation of Islam and its consequences should not be dominated by any end of the political spectrum.
Jem,
Just another thought.
Given that Schumer is your senator (but not mine), you should make use of his concern over CAIR's links to terrorism to ask him to pressure NPR to clean up their act (after all, congress votes whether or not they are to get tax dollars).
Feel free to use my letter or parts of it as you see fit.
The word is not "execute."
The word is "murder."
Don't let's play by their twisted rules.
Jem:
My sympathy that you are represented by those two idiots.
There is no law that you cannot write to a the senators and congressmen from other states who will be more receptive, however, especially if they happen to be chairmen of important committees.
Rick and Jem,
Since I don't live in New York, I don't know enough about Schumer to know exactly why you dislike him, but you should at least give him credit for denouncing CAIR at a congressional hearing.
The fact that most liberals refuse to see to what groups like CAIR are doing to America
makes Schumer's testimony all the more valuable.
Do you think you will open their eyes with articles from the Washington Times or Frontpage Magazine?
They'll just laugh at you, and cite this as "evidence" that CAIR and similar groups are being "unfairly maligned" by "right wing bigots." I know this first-hand: My sister cites the fact that Mr. Spencer works for the Free Congress Foundation as "evidence" that "Islam Unveiled" is driven by a "fundamentalist agenda"!
GIVE ME A BREAK!
It's time to swallow your contempt for liberals to make common cause with anyone who stands up the the Wahhabi lobby, regardless of political affiliation.
It may be our only hope for winning over the rest of America.
how could u do it? how could u point a gun at a baby at shoot, sadistic pigs rot in hell
I will write my congressmen and senators also, and tell them to please keep funding NPR. And I'll write NPR and demand that Julie McCarthy get a raise. You might as well face the inevitable. This world will be under Islamic rule sooner or later. You just keep using contraception, and having abortions, While muslims everywhere have child after child. I've had four children in four years and have no plans on using contraception. I'm white, american, and muslim. Although almost all muslims totally hate that anyone(especially fellow muslims) would intentionally kill a child, or woman, or an elderly person. If jerks like you were to fall of a bridge and land on your fat heads, I wouldn't lose any sleep.
And don't worry; theres a good chance that any child killer will rot in hell.
Brian:
Always nice to hear from a traitor to Western Civilization, especially a semi-literate one.
Just something I found that sheds a little light on Islam's true colors when it comes to the killing of women and children:
"As for those who cannot offer resistance or cannot fight, such as women, children, monks, old people, the blind, handicapped and their likes, they shall not be killed, unless they actually fight with words [e.g. by propaganda] and acts [e.g. by spying or otherwise assisting in the warefare]. Some [jurists] are of the opinion that all of them may be killed, on the mere ground that they are unbelievers, but they make an exception for woman and children since they constitute property for Muslims."
--Sheikh Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah, The Religious and Moral Doctrine of Jihad, p.28
Brian,
Your understanding of America is pathetically shallow.
Most of Americans who are speaking out against Islam are Chrisitans who are also against abortion. With some notable exceptions, it is mostly secular humanists who refuse to see that not all religions are alike (though this is likely to change in the not too distant future).
You didn't choose Islam to fight American morality.
You chose Islam because the burden of free will, skepticism, and inquiry is just too much for you.
She's also one of the "reporter's" who invented the Jenin massacre. She claimed this huge "stink of death" from hundreds of rotting corpses, when actually only 43 were killed, mostly terrorists.
She went on to show pictures of skulls and bones being dug up.
Sorry lady, it takes more than a day for a human body to decompose to that state.