To: puborectalis who wrote (664754 ) 7/31/2012 3:23:26 PM From: joseffy 1 Recommendation Respond to of 1576155 Wash. Post, NY Times furious at Romney for demolishing their false Israeli-Palestinian narrative by Leo Rennert July 31, 2012americanthinker.com With headlines blazing and printer's ink aplenty, the Washington Post and the New York Times turned downright apoplectic about Mitt Romney's comment in Jerusalem that differences in "culture" are the key to Israel greatly outpacing the Palestinian territories in economic performance. "Romney angers Palestinians with remarks on economy," reads a six-page headline in the Post. "With Jerusalem Comment, Romney Raises Sparks," blares a six-column headline in the Times. The headlines are a tip-off that these two papers deem Romney's remark an unpardonable affront to their own narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For years, they have blamed Israel for prolonging the conflict with the Palestinians and here comes Romney with one well-chosen word demolishing their basic thesis - that Israel is at fault for not making greater concessions, for refusing to divide Jerusalem, for expanding settlements. Take your pick. But avert your eyes from any Palestinian transgressions. Romney turns this Post/Times premise upside down and squarely puts the onus on the Palestinians -- that they have demonstrated "cultural" propensities that foul their own nest. Such as being governed by a kleptocracy under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and a theocratic terrorist regime in Gaza. Such as failing to empower women and such as trampling over basic human rights in suppressing Hamas adherents in the West Bank and Fatah members in Gaza. None of this, of course, graces the pages of the Post and the Times, which instead seek to parry Romney's remark about "cultural" impediments on the Palestinian side by blaming Israel for limiting trade with roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank and a blockade of Hamas-governed Gaza. But that's confusing cause and effect. Neither the Post nor the Times acknowledges that such Israeli restrictions are the effect of another key component of Palestinian "culture" -- i.e. a propensity to resort to violence and terrorism against Israel. When PA President Mahmoud Abbas glorifies terrorist killers by naming public places and facilities after them, he promotes and justifies terrorism. And it's not just an idle threat. Somehow, the Post and the Times seem to have forgotten the first intifada and the second intifada -- the latter killed more than a thousand Israelis and injured several thousands more. And to this day, Palestinian rockets fired from Gaza continue to bombard civilian targets in southern Israel and terrorize 1 million Israelis within their range. All of this falls under Romney's rubric of Palestinian "culture" - - yet goes unacknowledged by the Post and the Times. There would be no blockade of Gaza nor dwindling numbers of roadblocks in the West Bank if the Palestinians genuinely foreswore violence. But that's highly unlikely because resort to violence against innocent civilians is also sadly ingrained in their "culture" -- a reality that the Post and the Times stoutly continue to ignore. Leo Rennert is a former White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief of McClatchy Newspapers Read more: americanthinker.com