Friday, January 02, 2009
Labels for one side only
"“People don’t just perceive her as a senator from New York who was very close to Israel,” said Ziad J. Asali, the president of the American Task Force on Palestine, an Arab-American advocacy group that favors a Palestinian state. “They perceive her as a Clinton.”" OK, notice that this Dahlan lobbying group in DC is now the chosen token Arab group in the US media. And notice that the article described it as "an Arab-American advocacy" group and it adds that it favors a Palestinian state as if to underline their credentials although even the comatose Ariel Sharon now favors a Palestinian state. It would be more accurate to describe it as Dhlan advoacy group, but that is not my point actually. Notice that when the article referred to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, it did not describe it as a Zionist or pro-Israeli advoacy group? Why only Arab groups are labeled for advoacy but not the pro-Israeli groups? I will not be surprised if a few years from now in the Obama administration the New York Times would start describing WINEP or AIPAC as "pro-Palestinian".