The World is Created by the Word
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Anti-Israel Media biased media Israel Editors Code of Practice Israel’s capital Israeli government Jewish Capital Jewish people Kasim Hafeez Press Complaints Commission Israel world media Israel world opinion Israel Ze’ev Jabotinsky
The Guardian newspaper's London offices. Photo: Derek Harper.
One of the greatest Jewish leaders ever, Ze’ev Jabotinsky showed great understanding of the power of publicity as it relates to the Jewish people. He once said:
Who were the first to teach us to always interfere in matters that are not ours, to judge people and nations, even though we were never chosen for the position of judge? The work of the publicist is a legacy from the Prophets of Israel…Our passion is to speak, to proclaim—“Shouting” is what the same audience calls it, ‘we have no need for words, give us actions.’ One thing that audience forgets is that speech is also an action – Perhaps the most authentic of all other actions. Cities have been destroyed, and more will fall, but what was shouted in the wilderness thousands of years ago is alive and still relevant. The world was created by the Word. The world will be mended by the Article.
Today even more so, the world is indeed shaped by the word and the article – and too often unfortunately it is the anti-Israel, biased media which is shaping world opinion.
In the UK press for example, the media bias is extreme, as Kasim Hafeez, a British Muslim who recently toured Israel said: “Israel can “do no right in the UK press.” “Israel is always wrong and everything has a very negative slant.”
Thankfully it seems, at least in the UK some are taking steps to address this epidemic, as recently a non-governmental organization, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) ruled that The Guardian was “wrong to refer to Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital.” The ruling stated that “the unequivocal statement that Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel had the potential to mislead readers and raised a breach of… the Editors’ Code of Practice.”
The PCC code of ethics (which UK media must follow) states that “media must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information.” Last week, the UK Daily Mail ran a correction of an August 23 article that “mistakenly suggested” that the Israeli government was based in Tel Aviv, “when it is, of course, in Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem, the city that King David designated as the capital of Israel and the Jewish people is the Jewish capital now, three thousand years later. Thankfully small steps have been taken to ensure that in the UK media this will be crystal clear. Now the world media needs to follow.
Ronn Torossian is an entrepreneur, and author. Friend Ronn Torossian on Facebook here, and follow him on Twitter here.
