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Just Journalism Newsletter 28 November 2008

Analysis this week   PEACE PLAN ADVERTISED         Media drive for Arab proposal HIZBOLLAH ARSENAL 'TRIPLED'        Coverage of Barak's intelligence estimate PERSPECTIVES ON HAMAS         New angles explored in press comment EXECUTION IN IRAN        Reports on the hanging of 'Israeli spy' The week's media in numbers 3 Number of advertisements for the Arab Peace Plan placed in the Israeli national papers by the Palestinian Authority 9 Quotations in the UK press from Miliband's speech in Abu Dhabi 1 Breach in journalistic standards 5   Israel-related letters published in the UK broadsheets - all were critical of Israel TOP Breaches in journalistic standards BBC News website | 'UN envoy urges Gaza blockade end' (18 November 2008) FACTUAL ERROR | The article states incorrectly that the recent rocket attacks have caused no Israeli casualties. On Friday 14th November an 80-year old woman was injured by shrapnel in a rocket attack on Sderot. Read Just Journalism's analysis here.  Peace Plan advertised  · Last Thursday, the Palestinian Authority placed a full-page advert in three Israeli newspapers promoting the 2002 Arab Peace Plan.    · The BBC News website led its Middle East section with this story on the same day, and included Israeli reactions. The Times also noted that Israel was reciprocating by setting up an Arabic 'YouTube'-style website to broadcast Israel's perspectives to the rest of the region; this aspect was not covered by any other news outlet. · On Wednesday, The Guardian featured the full one-page advert. It was the only British newspaper to do so. Before running the advert, two letters were published, one from an Israeli asserting that the peace process was now in Israel's hands, and another from an English Jew stressing the need to remove West Bank settlements. · The media also covered the political support the plan has received. Both The Times and The Independent ran articles about how David Miliband endorsed it in a speech in Abu Dhabi on Monday, while Thursday's FT included a piece explaining how 'Senior Israelis back Arab push for peace'. TOP   Hizbollah arsenal 'tripled'     · On Monday, the BBC News website reported Israel's claim that Hizbollah's arsenal has tripled since the 2006 summer conflict. 'Hezbollah missile stock 'tripled'' gave details of Defence Minister Ehud Barak's speech to the Knesset, in which he claimed that the Lebanese Shia group possesses 42,000 missiles, some of which 'can reach the towns of Ashkelon, Beersheba and Dimona.' · The only newspaper to report these claims was The Daily Telegraph, which published a detailed story on Wednesday by Tim Butcher. He noted that the figure given by Barak supported claims made by Hizbollah commander, Sheikh Nabil Kaouk. · The journalist stated that '[d]uring the 2006 conflict many Israelis were shocked at the range and sophistication of Hizbollah rockets' and added that Hizbollah's new capabilities 'will add to public concern in Israel.' TOP  Perspectives on Hamas  · In the context of recent conflict between Israel and militant groups in Gaza, three noteworthy articles about Gaza were published this week in The Independent, The Guardian and Financial Times. (1) A comment piece by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in Monday's Independent down-played the role of Hamas in the blockade of Gaza, and attacked Israel's role. Whilst describing the missile attacks from Gaza as 'extreme provocation', Alibhai-Brown claimed that 'Israel efficiently chokes and suffocates the tiny strip of land' and was in breach of international and humanitarian law. She also singled out those who defend Israel from criticism, in particular the new editor of the Jewish Chronicle Stephen Pollard, as well as BICOM, before  concluding, 'Evil happens when the world says and does nothing. That a Jewish state expects no condemnation of the evil it perpetrates shows that nothing is learnt from history.' (2) On Friday, The Guardian offered a platform to Hamas supporter Azzam Tamimi, an academic who 'has advised Hamas on media strategy'. He blamed Israel for breaking the peace and claimed that 'Hamas is willing to abide by the hudna [truce] if Israel shows a similar commitment.' (3) The FT ran a front-page article in its weekend magazine on the role of Hamas in Gaza, focusing on its violent internal clashes with traditional Palestinian clans, and describing it as 'a group that, fired by a keen sense of ideological and religious righteousness, will move ruthlessly to crush opposition from within.' Among those interviewed was a Palestinian professor who stated  that 'Hamas... is worse than the Israeli occupation'. TOP Execution in Iran  · On Saturday, the BBC News website reported the execution in Iran of an Iranian man accused of spying for Israel. The article focused heavily on the allegations against Ali Ashtari, as well as the contents of his purported confession. The accompanying photo showed Ashtari sitting in a courtroom.  · Four days later, the website carried another article about the executions of ten Iranians accused of murder. Unlike the previous article, this piece focused on the issue of capital punishment in Iran within a human rights context. The second sentence read, 'Human rights groups say Iran is second only to China in its readiness to use capital punishment.' The accompanying photo showed the legs and feet of a man hanging, with the caption, 'Hangings have increased under the Ahmadinejad regime'.      · The story was also covered in Tuesday's Guardian, and in The Sunday Telegraph and Observer. TOP Quote of the week "Israel can get away with anything it chooses to do. So low are expectations   of this democracy that such a state-made humanitarian disaster [as Gaza] is not even news."                    Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent, Monday 24 November 2008 For more information or to contact us, please visit www.justjournalism.com Just Journalism does not endorse the views and opinions presented in the articles above.