Article: Palestinians to U.S.: Rein in Israel or we pull out

Date: Sunday, October 10, 2010

This article by Lamine Ghanmi reported on the Palestinian Arabs, backed by the Arab League, saying "they would give the United States one month to persuade Israel to halt the building of settlements in the West Bank or risk the collapse of peace talks."

Opinion: The writer inserted the opinion that this represented a reprieve for the United States.

Opinion. Bias. Distortion. Omission. Inaccuracies/b>: The writer expressed the opinion that the talks "stalled over Israel's refusal to extend a settlement freeze on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood." They stalled because the Arabs walked out. The land in question is not "occupied," but simply disputed.

Lack of Balance: The article repeats Arab positions and quotes Arab spokespersons with any balancing expression of Israeli positions other than a single sentence near the end and doesn't quote any Israeli spokespersons. The last sentence reads: "Israeli officials declined to comment on the Arab League meeting" without any explanation of the fact that the Arab League meeting was held on the Jewish Sabbath, during which no Israeli officials would be able to comment.

Ratings

Factual Accuracy: 8
Bias-Free: 5
Pro-Israel: 0
Anti-Israel: 5

Letter: Beating The War Drum Again

Date: Saturday, October 9, 2010

This letter by James Barrett (falsely) accuses Senator Joseph Lieberman of wanting to "again sacrifice more American lives in the Mideast." Its only reference to Israel comes in the pair of questions "Has Iran invaded any other country in the last 50 years? Can the same be said for the U.S. and Israel?"

We refer below only to the portion relating directly to Israel.

Omission. Misleading: The writer omits the fact that Israel has only invaded other countries after being attacked from those countries.

Ratings

Factual Accuracy: 5
Bias-Free: 0
Pro-Israel: 0
Anti-Israel: 10

Article: U.S., Israel Ink Deal For F-35s

Date: Saturday, October 9, 2010

This article by Eric Gershon <egershon@courant.com> reported on an agreement by Israel to buy 20 American jets for $2.75 billion.

Ratings

Factual Accuracy: 10
Bias-Free: 10
Pro-Israel: 0
Anti-Israel: 0

Article: Abbas to speak before Arab League on talks

Date: Friday, October 8, 2010

This short article reported on "Arab League foreign ministers meet in Libya on Friday to hear Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' case for suspending peace talks with Israel until it extends a moratorium on construction of settlements in the West Bank."

Bias. Lack of Balance: The article reported only the Arab position and quoted an Arab spokesman saying Abbas would say "resuming negotiations requires a full freeze of settlement activities" without giving any balancing Israel position or any quotes of Israeli spokespersons.

Ratings

Factual Accuracy: 10
Bias-Free: 7
Pro-Israel: 0
Anti-Israel: 3

Article: Syria: Talks with Israel up in air

Date: Thursday, October 7, 2010

This short article reported on Syrian President Bashar Assad's "assessment" of efforts by the United States and France to relaunch indirect talks between Syria and Israel.

Lack of Balance: It gave only Assad's opinion with no balancing opinions by any Israeli leaders.

Ratings

Factual Accuracy: 10
Bias-Free: 10
Pro-Israel: 0
Anti-Israel: 0

Analysis: Too much, too fast for peace? Critics question U.S. enticements in Mideast talks

Date: Thursday, October 7, 2010

Misleading: Although this read like an analysis, it was not labeled an analysis. There was little fact in a substantial article that consisted mostly of the author stating what appeared to be his own opinion and quoting and reporting on others stating their opinions.

Ratings

Factual Accuracy: 10
Bias-Free: 8
Pro-Israel: 0
Anti-Israel: 0

Article: Palestinians threaten to quit peace talks

Date: Sunday, October 3, 2010

This article reported: "Palestinian leaders said Saturday that they had lost hope in U.S. efforts to find a solution to the settlement construction standoff and repeated their threat to quit direct negotiations unless Israel agrees to halt building in the West Bank."

Absence of Rebuttal. Lack of Balance: The article repeated Arab assertions blaming Israel for their own threat to walk out on negotiations and quoted an Arab spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, claiming American efforts to find a formula to keep the Arabs from walking out "failed because Israel would not respond" without any reference to the Israeli position or any balancing quote from any Israeli source.

Effectively, the article simply repeated Arab propaganda.

Ratings

Factual Accuracy: 10
Bias-Free: 5
Pro-Israel: 0
Anti-Israel: 7