Media’s lax coverage accountable for rise in antisemitism, hate
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Regarding a recent story (“Jarred by anti-Semitic rants, Lynnwood council approves tax increase,” The Herald, Nov. 29):
For many years I’ve been and likely will continue to be a critic of the maltreatment of the Palestinian people by the state of Israel including its government and security and defense agencies] and, with few exceptions, Western mainstream news-media’s seemingly intentional tokenistic (non)coverage of it.
By doing so, that media, whether they realize it or not, have done a disservice to its own reputation and the Israeli/Jewish people themselves. The road to hell, after all, is also paved with good intentions.
Having said that, I still never expected the level of anti-Semitic attacks in the West since Hamas’ mass-casualty assault against Israel. For one thing, the Jewish people in Israel and especially around the world must not be collectively blamed for the acts of Israel’s government and military, however one feels about the latter’s brutality in present Gaza.
It’s blatantly immoral for them to be mistreated, if not terrorized, as though they were responsible for what is happening there.
Needless to say, diaspora Palestinians and Western Muslims similarly must not be collectively blamed and attacked for the acts of Hamas’ violence in Israel or Islamic extremist attacks outside the Middle East.
There seems to have been much latent animosity towards Jewish people in general, perhaps in part based on erroneous and disproven stereotype thus completely unmerited. Also, incredible insensitivity was publicly shown toward Jews freshly mourning the Oct. 7 victims, especially considering that young Israelis and Jews elsewhere may not be accustomed to such relatively large-scale carnage (at least not as much as is seen in other parts of the Middle East) in post-9/11 times.
There also is the possibility this public outpouring of hatred may lead some young children to feel very misplaced shame in their heritage.
Frank Sterle Jr.
White Rock, B.C.
