Reading Progress:

Isabel Kershner Repeats the Lie that Israel Can ‘Legalize’ Settlements in the West Bank

by Jun 8, 2012Articles, Foreign Policy0 comments

Notice that while Palestinians refuse to, Kershner herself has no problem whatsoever engaging “on Israel’s terms” by stating as a fact that Israel could “legalize” such settlements by passing a law claiming as much.

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Isabel Kershner writes in the New York Times under the headline “Netanyahu Ministers Reject Move to Legalize Some Settler Homes”(emphasis added):

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel seemed headed for a showdown with hard-core Jewish settlers on Wednesday, after his ministers followed his instructions to vote against a draft bill that would have retroactively legalized illegally built settler homes in the West Bank.

That is a lie. The bill, if passed, would not have “legalized” Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This is journalism of the most despicable kind—which is what can be expected from this author, as well as her Times colleague Ethan Bronner. Kershner notes that these settler homes in question “were built on privately owned Palestinian land”, but it isn’t until the very last paragraph that she writes:

Palestinian officials said they would not engage on Israel’s terms by distinguishing between so-called legal and illegal settlements. While Israel considers the West Bank as disputed territory, the Palestinians and much of the world consider all the settlements a violation of international law.

Notice that while Palestinians refuse to, Kershner herself has no problem whatsoever engaging “on Israel’s terms” by stating as a fact that Israel could “legalize” such settlements by passing a law claiming as much.

Kershner also employs the usual euphemism you see in the Times, when the illegality of Israeli settlements is actually addressed rather than ignored completely, of “Palestinians and much of the world”. What that means is that every nation on planet Earth other than Israel itself recognizes Israeli settlements in the West Bank—every inch of which, including East Jerusalem, is “occupied Palestinian territory” under international law—are illegal, a direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Kershner’s reporting is despicable, a sorry excuse for “journalism”. But this isn’t surprising. As FAIR has observed:

Her husband, Hirsh Goodman, works for the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) as a senior research fellow and director of the Charles and Andrea Bronfman Program on Information Strategy, tasked with shaping a positive image of Israel in the media. An examination of articles that Kershner has written or contributed to since 2009 reveals that she overwhelmingly relies on the INSS for think tank analysis about events in the region.

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