WHERE SHOULD A PUBLICATION draw the line on op-ed (reader commentary) even if the commentary is false and the lies documented as lies by numerous independent sources?
Is there ever a time when a publication, of any type, can ignore falsehoods and inflammatory statements and publish the canards sans comment?
APPARENTLY, THE WASHINGTON (D.C.) POST has no line over which a commentary writer can cross with impunity; it has no restriction about printing flagrant lies and half-truths.
Case in point
According to Honest Reporting1, The Washington Post (WashPost), ran an opinion piece by Tarek Loubani that claimed, among other things, that Gaza is an open-air prison. As covid-19 spreads, it's time to lift the siege.2
Loubani isn’t some naive humanitarian guided by inaccurate information. He is actually a political activist previously deported from Israel in 2003 for his activities as part of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
The ISM, while claiming to be “non-violent,” supports Palestinian “armed resistance” and has a long history of anti-Israel activities, including violence, support for terrorism and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS).
Time for truth
One: Israel has been supplying both Hamas and the PLO with materials to combat the Chinese virus.
There is NO restriction on humanitarian aid entering either anti-Israel stronghold.
Some residents of Gaza and the PLO areas still are allowed entry into Israel for work and medical care.
Two: Egypt’s border with Gaza is closed. Nothing goes in or comes out legally. Loubani’s rant fails to mention that.
The author’s greatest lies are by omission.
He fails to mention that Hamas has failed to invest in medical facilities and infrastructure such as hospitals and equipment.
Honest Reporting asks Could it be that huge amounts of money have been spent on rockets, weapons, attack tunnels and terror infrastructure at the expense of ordinary Gazans? Could it be that a terrorist organization is capable of gross mismanagement?
Indeed, Loubani apparently believes Hamas is innocent of all blame for its captives’ condition, and the WashPost either agrees or ignores the truth.
In his WashPost rant he never places any blame for any problem on Hamas. It is if Israel, not Hamas , is responsible for electrical problems (despite Israel providing thousands of gallons of Diesel fuel) or its water woes that Hamas allows to happen.
Responsible journalism
If the WashPost and other publications had honest management and had the WashPost and other publications had responsible management, Loubani’s screed could have been printed with the caveat that the information he puts forth is challenged by others on the ground.
Loubani, a Canadian, found another outlet for his rants on the magazine Logic that, interestingly never states its credentials or even its location. (Who vets the articles, anyone with the ability to challenge a writer a la a professional journal such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA?) Loubani, writing for Logic, claims to have been taking regular trips since 2011 and where the Israeli and Egyptian blockade ensures that he rarely has access to basic medical equipment like gauze and plastic gloves when he’s there. Reliable access to more expensive equipment is out of the question. 3
Never mind that foreign investors tried to build a new hospital in Gaza; there was no interference from either Israel or Egypt. Never mind that Israeli doctors — both Muslim and Jewish — provide training to Gaza and PLO practitioners.
And most certainly never mind that the majority of Hamas’ income goes to build tunnels to attack Israeli civilians, and to produce rockets to fall on Israeli civilians.
These are facts, unlike Loubani’s claims on any media that is sufficiently gullible to assume Loubani’s facts are indeed “facts” and not fiction.
Yes, Israel DOES block access of goods to Gaza on a temporary basis after being attacked by Hamas
Yes, Israel DOES block delivery of materials known to be used against it by Hamas.
Question: Why is it none of Loubani’s ilk ever seem to mention that Egypt also prevents Gazans free passage to and from Egypt. They are, after all, fellow Muslims.
If the Egyptians, a people to whom many Gazans are related (not to real or imagined “Palestinians”) won’t allow Gazans free access, there must be something wrong with Gaza. There is: Hamas, Islamic Brotherhood by name.
Let them rant
The WashPost, like the New York Times and other leftist publications, allow, if not encourage, op-ed commentaries similar to Loubani’s. This is the U.S. and we zealously guard our right to speak freely.
However, — and I write this as a former newspaper reporter and editor — publications have, at least in this scrivener’s opinion, an obligation to vet all copy for truth. In the case of op-eds, the publication is obligated to check the writer’s “facts” and when they are at variance to the truth, to publish an appropriate caveat.
Sources
1. Honest Reporting: https://tinyurl.com/y83eekp9
2. WashPost: https://tinyurl.com/ybl25t6j
3. Logic: https://tinyurl.com/y2gcn5fg
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.
