See this page for links to articles on OpEdNEws that articulate both sides on the issues in the middle east. It is the goal of OpEdNews to air opinions from both sides to stretch the envelope of discussion and communication. Hate statements are not accepted. Discussions of issues and new ideas for solutions are encouraged. .Rule 1: When the issue is "who started it," never distinguish between the acts perpetrated and the motives for them. Do not mention that when the Israelis go after some Arab genocidal maniac, the reason is to stop that person, and also the person's family if necessary, from generating attacks on the Israeli population or from hiding weapons being used to launch destruction on Israel, while when an Arab group goes after somebody - Israeli Jew or Arab, another Arab, journalist, politician, truck driver, merchant, etc. etc. etc. -the purpose is to hold the person hostage, to force him or her to spout Arab Jihadist propaganda, to force him or her to kneel in front of black-masked killers bent on beheading their victim, and in general to wreak vengeance on anyone and everyone in the world who is an "infidel" or who supports "infidels" (by which is meant anyone and everyone who does not believe in the version of the Islamic religion espoused by the group of kidnappers). Especially do not mention this difference: That what the Israelis do is not for the purpose of disrupting peace talks which seem to be nearing fruition, while that is precisely the purpose of the Arab Jihadists. Never make such distinctions. Just say it was the Israelis who "started it" or it was the Arab group that "started it," and never mind the acts that "started it" and what the reason was for committing the acts. Make the Israelis trying to defend themselves appear to be equal in violent acts to the Arabs who have dramatically different motives for "starting it."
Rule 2: Continue to fail to use proper terminology for explanations of what is happening, because that will put you at odds with your fellow conformist media people and might serve to offend Arabs. So, continue to refer to the Near East as the "Middle East" or "Mideast," even after you have been told dozens of times that "Middle East" is a political term introduced by the British and is in fact a totally inaccurate identification of the region where the present horrors occur. Continue to refer to genocide bombers as "suicide bombers" even after it has been established hundreds of times that the maniacs blowing themselves up are doing so for the purpose of killing and maiming other human beings, and that constitutes genocide, while suicide is an act committed solely for the purpose of taking one's own life. Never mind that distinction; use "suicide bomber" so that Arabs are afforded the comfort of viewing the genocidal maniac as a "martyr" for "the cause". Continue to fall in line with Arab propaganda by identifying the people inhabiting the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as "Palestinians," whereas in fact there is no such person on earth as a "Palestinian," Palestine does not exist and if it did exist it would be a regional term including Israel and its people, the term "Palestinian" was and remains entirely an invention of Yassar Arafat and his Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and the whole purpose of introducing the term "Palestinian" was to make it appear that the people of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are the only proper inhabitants of the region. Continue to fall in with Arab propaganda by referring to land occupied by Israel as "occupied territory," whereas in fact that land was occupied by the Jewish ancestors of Israelis for as long as there were Arabs and the Israelis remain there because they won five wars against Arabs who tried to oust them from the region altogether and they have a thousand times more right to be in the territory than any Arabs do. As for the Islamic jihadist genocidal maniacs and the acts they commit, identify the organizations and individuals as "terrorists" so as not to offend Arabs and followers of the Islamic quasi-religion in one of its varied forms by using the proper identification Islamic jihadists, and so as to avoid having to identify the acts committed by appropriate terms such as genocide, fratricide, mass murder, etc. - again, so as to avoid offending Arabs and followers of one version or another of Islam. Oh, and above all, be sure to continue to use the terms "Israelis" and "Jews" interchangeably so that the conflict can be identified strictly as between Arabs and Jews, even though there are more than half a million Arabs in Israel along with a lot of Christians, Buddhists, agnostics, and atheists. Avoid offending Arabs by pointing out that, as in Iraq, this is much more than a conflict between Arabs and Jews, but rather is a conflict between false religion-based maniacs and anybody who does not believe in their version of Islam.
Rule 3: Dutifully report Arab justification for kidnappings, killings of journalists, genocide bombings in public places, torture, beheadings, etc., as "self-defense." Never fail to quote Arabs' reasons for using that term: "We are helpless, powerless people being subjected to the brutal Israeli oppressors and occupiers of our territory." Just let them say it and do not offset that excuse in your reports by pointing out that these violent Arab jihadist acts of genocide are not being carried out just in the territory of Israel and nearby territory, but also in Britain, France, the Phillipines, Africa, and - wow, do not mention this - in countries such as Saudia Arabia and Jordan, Iraq, and Pakistan. Never mention any of these facts which get in the way of the Arab line of "self-defense," because you might offend Arabs. And, oh yes, by all means do not mention in a story containing the "only means of self-defense" line that these Arabs are so helpless and powerless against the Israeli oppressor that they had to rain more than 200 missiles at a time onto homes, schools, and hospitals in Israel because, as the Arabs say, that is the only means they have of combating the great superiority of Israelis (outnumbered, by the way, 300 million to 6 million, by Arabs).
Rule 4: When calling in editorials for restraint, be sure it is the Israelis that are the target of your plea. Do not ask the Arab jihadists for restraint, because you know what underdogs they are, and do not ask the Saudia Arabian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iranian or Lebanese governments to put restraints on the genocidal maniac organizations they are harboring, because, you know, if only the Israelis would show restraint, so would the genocidal maniacs. (For sure.)
Rule 5: Do not distinguish between acts of kidnapping. Excoriate the Israelis for kidnappings on the same basis used for Arab jihadist kidnappings. Ignore any facts which would tend to create distinctions: such as Israelis kidnapping murderers who have killed Israeli citizens, in contrast to Arab jihadist kidnappings of journalists, persons on peace missions, Christians, truck drivers, merchants, clerks, anybody who can be held hostage or beheaded on the basis of their being "infidels" or persons cooperating in some way with the "infidels."
Rule 6: Never identify the Arabs killing Jews, Christians, Shiite Arabs, and Sunni Arabs, as murderers or criminals of any kind. Call them combatants in civil war, insurgents, or any other name that will avoid "sensitivities" and that will appease "liberals" and "progressives" and "humanitarians" who are pouring sympathies all over the place for the "poor, oppressed Arabs."
Rule 7: When you use the David vs. Goliath angle, make out the 6 million Israelis to be Goliath and the 300 million Arabs to be David. And, oh, by the way, be sure to use that angle in the same preposterous manner in which the true David vs. Goliath story in the Old Testament has been twisted around a billion times by writers who have never read the Old Testament and therefore do not know that Goliath, an overgrown lummox weighed down by 150 pounds of armor, never had a chance against "little David," who did not even need a slingshot, since he possessed such superhuman strength that he was able to tear lions' jaws apart with his bare hands. (And, oh yes, you media people, never read the Old Testament to get the story straight, because that would spoil the fun in repeating one of your stereotyped analogies a billion times instead of having to be original.)
Rule 8: In discussing the issue of who or what is "destabilizing" the Near East region (and be sure to keep calling it the Mideast region lest your fellow media people think there is something peculiar about you), never mention the religion angle - because if you wrote or broadcast that the major factor destabilizing the region is religious fanaticism, just think of all the protests and boycotts you would generate, along with the very real possibility that you might be fired from your job for doing so.
Rule 9: In keeping with the above rules, observe the "do not mention" rule. You got it right all the time before the Hezbollah-Israel conflict when you did not mention that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the other genocidal maniacs supplied with rocket launchers by Syria and Iran, were violating the Geneva convention, as were the governments of Syria and Iran, by means of the following acts: Announcing the goal of destroying Israel, firing missiles into Israel, and committing other acts of war against Israel that were not to be identified as acts of war. So, do not stop now. Keep observing the "do not mention" rule.
Rule 10: Amplify the voice of the Arabs claiming that Hezbollah won a victory over Israel and has become the great hero and liberator for the "Arab world", so that there is justification for reinstating Hezbollah as a government in southern Lebanon and as the militia that Lebanon, Syria, and Iran - as well as Hamas and the Islamic Jihadists - use as the military force against Israel. Then the conflict can resume and you will not have to find something else to write about and broadcast. Of course there is the chance that given the fanaticism of Hezbollah the next conflict may escalate into nuclear or biochemical warfare. But what the hay, think of all the fun you are having in the meantime by invented stories instead of true stories. After all, fiction is more fun than fact, and we all have to die.
