Pundits and reporters in the mainstream media have a double standard when it comes to Israel and all but lie about apartheid, Jewish nationalism, and the role of the Israel lobby.

I watch and listen to public broadcasting, and in recent days, commenters on those media have repeatedly mystified Israel coverage with statements they have to know are inaccurate. These pundits and reporters are all but lying to a largely privileged American audience about apartheid, Jewish nationalism, and the role of the Israel lobby.

On National Public Radio this week, Eleanor Beardsley did a feel-good piece on a Jewish/Palestinian coexistence party running a Palestinian candidate Amir Badran for mayor of Tel Aviv.

“Badran says Arab-Jewish unity is more important than ever,” Beardsley said. “Badran has proof it can work.”

She then quoted Badran saying the two peoples need “to understand each other’s narrative and to accept each other” and quoted Jewish leader Dov Khenin saying, “Jewish-Arab partnership is the only way for Israel’s future.”

Myself, I support coexistence initiatives, but note there were also coexistence initiatives in South Africa and Algeria and the Jim Crow south. That’s the important context Beardsley left out: Israel is not a democracy. Every human rights group of stature says that Israel is an apartheid state. Israel grants Jews greater political rights than Palestinians and denies the great majority of Palestinians the right to vote for the government that determines their lives.

Again and again our media save Israel from parallels to historical supremacist regimes.

On the PBS News Hour last week, pundit Jonathan Capehart did Israel that favor when he was denouncing religious nationalism. The news hook was the speech of a Christian nationalist at the rightwing CPAC conference outside Washington who said that he wanted to replace democracy with a cross. Capehart:

read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/pbs-and-npr-leave-out-key-facts-in-their-israel-stories/