Posted by Jillian York to Global Voices Online
Following a second bulldozer attack by a Palestinian civilian in less than a month (Global Voices covered the first one here), Palestinian bloggers are frustrated by how local and international media has covered both events, and ignored more universally significant issues in the country.
Desertpeace repeats the popular headline in today’s news, “Heavy machinery attack injures 2 near Obama’s Jerusalem hotel,” then asks:
THIS ONE still hasn’t been reported…. and it happened almost a month ago.
Israelis Assault Award Winning IPS Journalist
~~~ WHY??? ~~~
KABOBfest is perplexed at the focus on Obama’s whereabouts:
The New York Times and world press covered today’s bulldozer attack in Jerusalem, the second in a month. The frame was typical: enraged Palestinian used construction equipment to attack Israeli civilians. The extra spice in the article is that it occurred “near” where Obama will be staying soon. Wow, what a news hook!
The blogger then remarks:
Pundits were alarmed by the last bulldozer attack, saying Palestinians were finding new ways to try to destroy Israel – yet Palestinians are in the stone age compared to Israel’s advanced killing technology. The bulldozer is now the Palestinian Merkava.
An anonymous commenter on the post showed concern:
A few more attacks like this and they will purge Palestinians from construction duties and replace them with Filipinos. Same quality of work, no political baggage. Construction is the last industry in Israel that still relies on Palestinian labor, but not nearly as much as it once did. If you go to Netanya, the entire city was built by Palestinian labor in the 1970s. A lot of Palestinians are going to lose their jobs over this.
Another commenter, uday, was alarmed at Obama’s response to the incident:
Speaking at a news conference in Amman, Obama said “Today’s bulldozer attack is a reminder of what Israelis have courageously lived with on a daily basis for far too long.”
What colonialist Israelis have “lived with”?! And what about the helpless Palestinians being crushed daily by the Zionist Boot?! Are they not courageous? Is 60 years of occupation, humiliation and oppression not long enough for Obama to notice?!
Following the bulldozer attack, it was reported by the Jerusalem Post that a group of angry yeshiva students attempted to lynch two Palestinians. Of this story, blogger Chet points out:
Dear friends,
Here is the other event in Jerusalem today that your media will most likely ignore. Guess how this would be covered if the roles were reversed.
Times are tense.
This madness is man-made,
Sam
For more on this story, read Maya Norton’s coverage of the Israeli blogosphere on Global Voices.