Fresh on the heels of this HuffBusters exclusive, regarding HuffPost's efforts to make Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu look sinister/docile via careful photo-selection and -cropping, along comes this "news" item:
"Half Of Israelis Unhappy With Netenyahu: Poll"
Wow, that sounds pretty bad, especially coming just two days before Netenyahu arrives in Washington, for what is anticipated to be a tense meeting with President Obama.
Given the fact that only about 99.9% of HuffPost's stories concerning Israel focus exclusively on its foreign relations, national security, military conflicts, etc., one might have automatically assumed that via this headline, the poll concerned these matters. One would be wrong.
So, what do those numbers in that poll actually refer to? Following the headline to the HuffPost story excerpt, it reads:
"Half of Israeli voters are unhappy with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he agreed [sic] tax hikes and spending cuts in a two-year budget, according to a poll on Channel 10 network on Thursday."
The blurb then links to this story from AFP.
So, the poll HuffPost cites refers to Netenyahu's actions regarding taxes and spending --- and not his stance on national security, etc. Granted, AFP, with its notorious anti-Israel bias (more here, here, here, elsewhere), used the same headline. But HuffPost is an aggregator that picks and chooses its sources, and claims that it seeks to represent "fairness," "responsibility," and "the future of journalism." More on the choices that HuffPost made in regards to depicting current Israeli public opinion on Netenyahu, are described below.
But wait, it gets worse. Wasn't there another public opinion poll on Netenyahu released this week by Haaretz, the left-wing source that HuffPost often relies on for Israeli "news"? Why yes, there was.
In the Haaretz survey --- which HuffPost chose not to cite --- the poll measured responses to the question of how Israelis view Netenyahu as compared to his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, in general:
- 31% say Netenyahu is a better Prime Minister than Ehud Olmert
- 27% say he's about the same as Olmert
- 28% say he is worse than Olmert
- 14% had no opinion
So, in fact, according to the most recent poll of Israelis on their general assessment of Netenyahu, more voiced their approval of him than those who disapprove of him.
Yet the HuffPost headline claims that "half of Israelis are unhappy" with Netenyahu.
Hm. So, what kinds of comments did HuffPost's blaring of unlabeled, decontextualized half-truths regarding Netenyahu foment?
Keep in mind that HuffPost (supposedly) prohibits "off-topic" comments. In this case, the "topic" is as follows:
Netenyahu's handling of Israeli government business matters, such as taxes and spending.
The following is but a sampling of the 27 comments that HuffPost reviewed, approved and published on this thread (PDF available for verification):
betz55 I'm a Fan of betz55 permalink
Of course they are unhappy. The Likud branch of the Israeli governmant and the radical, Jewish settlers of the West Bank are the embodiment of fervent, militant crusaders against equal rights. No greater evidence of Israel's messianic zeal exist than the fact that their very existence exemplifies an irrational belief in national and ethnic superiority.
Peres and Bibi, are prostituting themselves to hang on to power are the two most reprehensible characters, because they present themselves as moderate peacemakers, giving the impression that they appear to accept the two state solution. [...]
No one is destroying Israel except Israel.
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:51 PM on 05/14/2009
(reply to above)
Macready I'm a Fan of Macready permalink
you are so right betz55 . . israel is destroying itself . . . I just don't want it to take the rest of us along .. .
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:06 AM on 05/15/2009
betz55 I'm a Fan of betz55 permalink
[...] The vast majority of Jews in America COMPLETELY reject the insane neocon approach to the Middle East that Bibi and his Moldavian thug of an FM espouse. [...]
If Israel actually bombs Iran, right-wing Jews in America and Israel will finally feel the full wrath of the American masses, who will know whom to blame for their $10 or $12 gas at the pump, as well as the total implosion of the world economy, as opposed to merely teetering on the edge of Depression, as we all are now.
It is not their ideology which makes them seem so stupid. It is their illogical and chaotic reasoning that they will continue to be allowed to lay waste to every international law and convention without criticism and their "enemies" are not entitled to raise a hand in their own defense.
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:09 PM on 05/15/2009
jmundstuk I'm a Fan of jmundstuk permalink
Half of Israelis are unhappy about everything.
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:49 PM on 05/15/2009
(reply to above)
skialethia I'm a Fan of skialethia permalink
They should like in Gaza...to know what misery really looks like.
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:13 PM on 05/15/2009
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