When facts get in the way of a good story

The outcry coming out of the Israeli Left these past weeks indicates that something big has happened. I am not too concerned with the Channel 2 expose on investigative news program "Uvda" ("Fact") that revealed that left-wing activists had helped expose Palestinians who sold land to Jews, knowing that they would be tortured and killed. After 600 episodes, "Uvda" can now say they devoted one show to criticizing the Left. The apologetic tone taken by "Uvda" host Ilana Dayan and her researchers was unprecedented, and it reflects on the left-wing media's inability to deal with allegations made against it by one of its own.

Investigative journalism targeting the Right -- right-wing organizations, the Right's representatives in the Knesset, the communities in Judea and Samaria, etc. -- are far more common than the one "Uvda" expose about left-wing activists Ezra Nawi and Nasser Nawajah. History teaches us that when the Left is accused of "collaborating" with the "mechanism of darkness" of the Right, it usually tries to rehabilitate itself and clear its name. After the "Uvda" expose, I wrote that now we can expect a deluge of investigations into the Right.

2.

While the "Uvda" scandal was still ongoing, another Channel 2 news program, "Ulpan Shishi" ("Friday Studio"), supplied its own controversy. Producer Omri Kronland was sent to expose the radical Right by posing as the nephew of a rich Texas man interested in funding the publication of a sequel to "Torat Hamelech" -- a book that deals with the question of killing non-Jews during times of war, among other things. The poor journalist was exposed as an imposter rather easily -- he didn't do his homework and couldn't speak the language of the holy texts. A website called "The Jewish Voice" exposed his unconvincing coaxing and posted the recorded conversations with him, which also aired on Channel 20 television.

In the conversations, Kronland was asked why his rich uncle loved "Torat Hamelech," to which he answered, "He agrees with it very much. ... He believes in a Greater Israel and in settling the land and that all of Israel should be ours. His dream is to create the land of the Bible. ... He identified with its values. He wants to donate to the momentum of the second book."

After saying "Greater Israel" several more times, the hesitant producer tried to get his partner in conversation to explicitly voice support for extreme rightists who carry out "price-tag" attacks -- acts of revenge against Palestinians for terrorist attacks and other perceived injustices.

"Do you support what they do? ... The youngsters who built communities and fight an active war for greater Israel? Does the book support that? Encourage it-" he asked.

"What do you mean by 'actively'-" he was asked.

"Uh ... price-tag attacks."

An important rule of thumb when researching influences on political, artistic or social streams, is to understand the significant role played by the fringes. It is precisely in those unsophisticated places that the naked fundamentals guiding the entire stream can be found.

"Greater Israel," "settling the land," "land of the Bible," these are terms that many Israelis identify with. But in the journalist's mind, these important terms are associated with bizarre ideology on the despised fringes of the right-wing camp. For this journalist and the bigwigs who sent him, settling Israel and the land of the Bible are just the flip side of "Torat Hamelech" and price-tag attacks.

The man who spoke to Kronland eventually suggested that the "wealthy uncle" help erect an "'Ulpan Shishi' outpost named after [Channel 2 commentator] Amnon Abramovich." He then sent the uncle -- meaning the Channel 2 bigwigs -- an encrypted message. "Bava Batra, page 22."

Bava Batra is the third tractate in fourth order of the Mishna, Nezikin. It deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of property. The page mentioned tells the story of a scholar named Rav Ada Bar Abba who was sent to test the mettle of one Rav Dimi -- to see whether the latter was a wise scholar. Rav Ada Bar Abba did so with one clever question that tested whether the man was well versed in halachic discourse. Check it out -- the lesson is clear.

3.

Despite the lack of depth in the "Uvda" expose, it was enough to embarrass the left-wing human rights group B'Tselem, which employs people who aren't always interested in human rights. Their response to Dayan and "Uvda" was violent, but that is just one of many examples of B'Tselem's methods.

Right-wing activist Noam Federman was caught by B'Tselem on camera throwing stones at Arabs in Hebron and breaking cartons of eggs. Ostensibly, yet another video of a radical rightist running amok. The State Prosecution filed an indictment against him. This week, Channel 10 reporter Roi Sharon aired the security footage taken from IDF cameras documenting the same incident. This footage tells a far more complex story than was originally thought. The security footage shows a resident of Hebron throwing rocks on IDF patrols, on security cameras and on vehicles belonging to Jews. The man even stands in the middle of an intersection and arrogantly signals to a military vehicle to try and catch him. Federman was driving one of the cars that was pelted by this brave fighter. In response, he exited his car and threw rocks back at this Rambo from Hebron, who fled and hid behind a large commercial vehicle carrying cartons of eggs. In his rage, Federman then smashed a number of cartons.

It is wrong to smash cartons of eggs, and Federman should be compelled to compensate the owner of the eggs. What I cannot understand is why the IDF patrol simply left the scene, despite being pelted with rocks. Anyway, the thing that stinks here is the method. The skilled B'Tselem camerawoman didn't capture what happened at the intersection -- a main artery for both Jews and Arabs. She didn't film the young Hebron man's rock throwing and taunting, and certainly didn't document the Arab street's tacit cooperation with him. She did what was expected of her. She documented only the end of the story -- the outcome. In this case, Federman can now defend himself in the legal arena. But these carefully edited videos are being distributed around the world, giving Israel and the settlement enterprise a bad name and adding fuel to the fire of anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel.

4.

Watchdog organization NGO Monitor, headed by Professor Gerald Steinberg, recently revealed that on Dec. 15, B'Tselem received a 30,000 euro ($33,000) grant from the European Endowment for Democracy to "fight anti-democratic laws aimed at silencing the opposition." In other words, the European Union is intervening in Israel's legislative process. The "anti-democratic" law in question is a bill seeking to compel nongovernmental organizaations to reveal the sources of their funding, when more than 50% of the funding is received from foreign governments. This bill is meant to increase transparency, not to silence anyone.

In the European mindset, democracy means that instead of respecting Israel's democratic process, they will try to impose a political stance representing the interests of foreign countries. The law does not deal with donations made by private individuals. It deals with the undermining of Israel's sovereignty.

In a confrontation with MK Anat Berko over the bill, New Israel Fund President Talia Sasson said recently: "A private individual is far more dangerous. A foreign government is bound by values. An individual is bound by nothing."

Let us reread the quote above. I have asserted repeatedly that if you look between the lines, you will see a totalitarian ideology underneath many of the Left's arguments. This ideology stems from the Left's inability to trust the intelligence of the public and its desire to impose a "re-education" of the state. The irony is that those who speak loftily about democracy are usually the biggest supporters of enslaving Israel's democratic process to the control of foreign democracies.

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