Haven’t we been here before? Palestinian terrorists launch or attempt to launch rockets from Gaza on to Israeli towns and cities and Israel responds.

So who is ultimately responsible? And which side is engaged in aggressive acts and which is carrying out defensive measures? You’d think it was obvious.

But not to some of the media covering a barrage of Palestinian missiles that killed one Israeli, injured a number of others and brought terror to the residents of Israel’s south.

What is it about the Mideast that makes a journalist’s natural skepticism go completely awry? When Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu publicly advocates for peace and negotiations with the Palestinians, the default reaction of many media is to cast aspersions on Netanyahu’s intentions, effectively accusing him of being underhanded or even untruthful.

But what happens when Palestinians make public statements of intent that don’t fit with the accepted narrative of Israel as the obstacle to peace? The media ignore such statements and rarely publish the story.

by David Pollock
Published September 2011.
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Vol. 11, No. 14

Why is anyone surprised by President Obama's dramatic reversal of American policy on Israel? How can we be surprised by his throwing Israel under the bus after he has been throwing American national interests under the bus for two years?

Any honest observer can see that Obama's May 19 speech is a radical departure from 60 years of bipartisan support for Israel and that nation's right to secure, defensible borders. A return to pre-1967 borders would put Israel in an untenable position at a time when Egypt is likely to repudiate its peace treaty, Hamas is still lobbing deadly rockets into Israel from Gaza, and Iran is making daily threats to "wipe Israel off the map" with a nuclear bomb.