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By Jon Sutz, Editor, SaveTheWest.com
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Who attacked whom? Did these people really just “die”? The lone daily printed newspaper in Charlottesville, Virginia took an accurately-headlined AP source story about murderous Palestinian attacks on Jews, and rewrote it to indicate only nondescript “violence” was being perpetrated.
- Its (rewritten) headline claimed five times as many Palestinians “died” as Jews, contributing to the “disproportionate response” narrative, and feeding into the meme that Palestinians are the primary victims of this nondescript “violence.”
- The only pictorial slideshow featured the corpse of one of the Palestinian attackers, and those grieving him; not one image depicted any of the Jews who were murdered, or their survivors.
- When the editor was presented with the evidence of all this, and asked for an explanation, his official response was that the paper declined to comment.
Do you think an editor of your local newspaper would take a news story provided to it about black Americans who were murdered in a rash of attacks, by members of the Ku Klux Klan, some of whom were shot in response, and give it a headline that removed all indication as to who attacked whom, and the racial basis for the attacks?
Probably not. First, because such an act would be unconscionable. Second, because of the backlash the paper would face from readers, advertisers and civil rights groups.
Yet that is precisely what an unknown editor at the Daily Progress (dailyprogress.com), the lone printed newspaper in Charlottesville, VA did, with an accurate wire news story that was provided to it by the AP, regarding the recent wave of murderous attacks on Jews by Palestinian Islamists. In summary, the editor took the accurate headline that was given to the paper, which clearly identified the perpetrators and victims, and whitewashed it in order to make it appear as if it were an equitable tit-for-tat, with no indication of who attacked whom – but by the body count, made it appear that the Palestinian Islamists had paid the heaviest price for this nondescript “violence,” possibly as a result of Jews’ aggression.
The purpose of this article is to document what occurred, present SaveTheWest.com’s inquiry to the editor of the newspaper, and his response.
Background: The latest Palestinian violent jihad against Israeli Jews
Since November 2014, there have been hundreds of Palestinian attacks on Jews – because they are Jews – in Israel, and the disputed territories, resulting in the dozens of deaths and serious injuries.
Starting in mid-September, 2015, however, Palestinian Muslims began engaging in a near-daily spree of violent attacks on Jews. Some of these attacks have been captured on video, such as this one, in which a Palestinian Muslim ran down several Jews on a sidewalk, then got out and, with a meat cleaver, hacked one to death, before being shot (Caution: graphic):
Most recently, an American Jewish peace activist, Richard Lakin, who was attacked by Palestinian Muslims in Israel, died on Oct. 27 from his injuries.
The Palestinian “government” has been inciting, justifying and glorifying the Muslims who engage in this barbaric violence. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has claimed that all of those who attack Jews are martyrs: “Every drop of blood that has been spilled in Jerusalem is holy blood as long as it was for Allah.” Abbas’s advisers openly praise Palestinian murderers who were killed before they could cause more carnage.
The Palestinian Islamist movement has been also producing videos such as this one, in which they indoctrinate Muslim toddlers to gleefully claim they want to murder Jews with knives, mimicking the monsters who are now doing it:
The Daily Progress decided to whitewash Palestinian responsibility for this “violence” – and more
The Daily Progress (dailyprogress.com) is the lone daily printed newspaper in Charlottesville, VA. It is owned by Media General, a Berkshire Hathaway company.
On October 17, 2015 the AP published a wire story which was entitled (screencap), Israel: 4 Palestinian attackers shot dead in latest violence. The opening paragraph laid out the basic facts:
JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian assailants carried out five stabbing attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Saturday, authorities said, as a month-long outburst of violence showed no signs of abating. The unrest came despite new security measures that have placed troops and checkpoints around Palestinian neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. At least four assailants were killed.
In Jerusalem, where most of the violence has taken place, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said a 16-year-old Palestinian drew a knife on officers early Saturday when they asked for identification after a bystander said he was behaving suspiciously. She said the officers shot and killed the teenager after he tried to stab them. The incident took place near where two Palestinian men boarded a bus earlier in the week and began shooting and stabbing passengers, killing two.
The fact that the Associated Press played this story so “straight” is notable, given its chronic bias against Israel, and for the Palestinians, which has even been exposed by Matti Friedman, an acclaimed former AP reporter and editor.
The Daily Progress, which subscribes to the AP wire feed, ran the story on its website as-is, with the headline provided to it, verbatim:
Yet for the Sunday, October 18 print edition of the Daily Progress, however, one of its editors turned the headline inside out, to claim:
“5 attacked in latest violence; In month-long violence, eight Israelis and 40 Palestinians have died.”
If, like many Americans today, the reader of this article has not been able to pay much attention to events in the Middle East, and turned to this Sunday edition of the Daily Progress (its highest-circulation offering), he or she would have no idea, from this headline, whether Israelis were attacking Palestinians, or vice versa. Further, did these people actually “die” – or were they murdered? No telling.
It is SaveTheWest.com’s position that these acts amount to journalistic anti-Semitic bias, by not only applying a completely separate, dishonest standard to Jewish who were murdered because they were Jews – then, to actually feature a sympathetic pictorial about those who perpetrated these murders. (For more information on the common definition of anti-Semitism, see “The 3D Test of Anti-Semitism,” by Natan Sharanksy.)
For a newspaper in some other region of America to have perpetrated such an act of anti-Semitic terrorism-whitewashing would be one thing. For this act to be perpetrated by the lone daily printed newspaper in Charlottesville, VA, the hometown of Thomas Jefferson, champion of honest, candid discourse, and father of the world-famous University of Virginia, however, is shocking. Although Jefferson was well attuned to what can happen when newspapers engage in deliberate deceit:
“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”
– Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Norvell, Jun. 11, 1807
SaveTheWest’s inquiry to the editor of the Daily Progress
On October 26, SaveTheWest sent a detailed email to the editor of the Daily Progress, Nicholas Mathews, explaining our concerns, and asking why either he or someone under his supervision would rewrite the headline for this story, provided by the AP, to strip out who perpetrated this “violence,” who was victimized by it, and to claim it resulted in people “dying” (as opposed to being murdered).
Further, we requested an explanation for why the only pictorial that appeared on the Daily Progress website that was associated with this story, and which depicted grieving family members and corpses, were of the funeral of one of the Palestinian attackers, and his crying relatives:
Caption:
A Palestinian woman cries after taking the last look at the body of Ehab Hanani, 19, who was fatally shot during clashes with Israeli troops last Thursday, during his funeral in the West Bank village of Beit Furik, on the outskirts of Nablus, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
We could find nothing associated with this story that depicted any of the funerals for the Jewish victims of Palestinian attacks, or their faces or stories.
See the complete content of the email that was sent to Mr. Mathews here.
The Daily Progress editor’s response
The only on-the-record response that Mr. Mathews would offer, on behalf of the Daily Progress, is this:
“The Daily Progress declined to comment for this story.”
If you’d like to make your voice known on this matter
If you would like to express your view on this matter to the Daily Progress (www.dailyprogress.com) or its parent company, Media General, below is their contact information.
Please be polite, and base your comments on the facts.
The Daily Progress
685 West Rio Road
Charlottesville, Va. 22901
434-978-7200
Nick Mathews, Editor
Office phone: 434-978-7283
nmathews@dailyprogress.com
Keely Byars, Publisher
Office phone: 434-978-7211
kbyars@dailyprogress.com
Vincent L. Sadusky
President and Chief Executive Officer
Media General
333 E. Franklin Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Main Phone: 804-887-5000
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