A Good Place To Start

If it weren’t for writers like Daniel Finkelstein and David Aaronovitch, I would have boycotted the (London) Times a long time ago. As it is, most mention of Israel is, not surprisingly, in a negative light, particularly when reporters James Hider and Sheera Frenkel are involved. The latter, I’m convinced, is a Jew-converted-Muslim, just judging by her name. Or possibly she’s just another self-hating Jew, in which case why doesn’t she go and write for the Guardian. Anyway, the Times’ leading articles are generally quite fair. But on 29 May, criticising the United Nations Human Rights Council for its vote in support of the Sri Lankan government in it’s victory over the Tamil Tigers, at the cost of many civilian lives, the leading article stated: "Support for this deeply flawed resolution came from the usual suspects - China, Russia, India, Pakistan and a clutch of Asian and Islamic nations determined to prevent the council ever investigating human rights violations in their own or any country." It then went on to say, "It was sad to see Israel, for obvious political motives, joining in this charade, claiming that massacres, violence, repression and internment are an ‘internal affair’." Massacres? Repression? These claims were made by Israel? Israel is comparing itself to Sri Lanka?! There are obvious similarities between the Tigers and Hamas, but between Israel and Sri Lanka? Not so much. Sri Lanka is being accused of the deaths of 20,000 civilians, and of 1200 people killed in Gaza, at least 700 were terrorists. Something’s not right. On 30 May, the Times corrected itself, in a small grey box at the side of the page: "Israel is not a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council and did not take part in the council’s vote on the actions of the Sri Lankan Government. We apologise for the error." Too little too late, but the most disturbing thing is, how did the writer even come up with such rubbish? The Times has removed the error from the online article, but it can be seen here in the third paragraph.