Cartoons? Where Is the Arab Media?

I don't often agree with Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame, but today he raised a great point on Brooke Baldwin's show on CNN. In saying that he would not have published the Mohammad cartoons before the Paris attack, he now says that the Western media should, indeed, publish them as a sign of solidarity with  the victims and with the idea of a free press.


-Rubin Oppenheimer (Maastrich, The Netherlands)


More importantly, Bernstein asked, "What about the Arab media?" In other words, what are they doing? That's a great question. I can help, Carl.

First of all, let's assume that virtually all the Arab media outlets are controlled to one extent or another by their respective governments. Al Jazeera today is running the headline that France's Muslims fear an Islamophobic backlash. They, of course, add that they (Al Jazeera)  condemn the Paris attack and insist it has nothing to do with Islam. In another article, they state that the attack is a "windfall for the extreme right parties" (like Front National).

Duly noted.

We should also note how even mainstream Arab media treats the Jews with attacks that bring to mind Julius Streicher's Der Stuermer, cartoon caricatures and all.



This is just one of hundreds of examples. It is from Al Watan (Saudi Arabia, September 2010)

You talk about cartoons.

In addition, the Arab media still gives credence to the old Russian tsarist forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, even though it has been discredited for most of the 20th century and up to today. Somebody in the Middle East never got the memo. Palestinian media, both in the West Bank and Gaza, is full of anti-Jewish diatribes. Even Mickey Mouse wants to kill the Jews (hat tip Memri).


And today, the Investigative Project on Terrorism is running this piece about the Palestinian media celebrating the deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue last month.

So there is your answer, Carl. But you are an investigative journalist. Don't ask. Get out there and run this stuff down for yourself. Here is your start. In fact, I could be your next Deep Throat.

Strike that.