Liberal and leftist print and broadcast news organizations, including the New York Times and the Associated Press, have adopted an anti-Israel and pro-terrorist bias. This bias is in addition to and consistent with their long standing anti-military, anti-national defense, anti-police, anti-self-defense, and pro-criminal bias. This bias adds to the prevalent media inaccuracy that results from outright media incompetence.

Significant media incompetence and bias is demonstrated by this Associated Press photo published in the September 30, 2000 New York Times on page A5, with the false and deceptive caption, "An Israeli policeman and a Palistinian on the Temple Mount."

The false and deceptive caption manipulated readers into believing that an angry Israeli policeman severely beat a helpless Palistinian boy until he was drenched in his own blood. It appears that the New York Times wants its readers to believe that Israel engages in severe police brutality against helpless Palistinians.

Note the expressions on the faces of the "policeman" and the boy. Then read the emails from the father and uncle of the boy to learn the truth about the identity of the boy, who attacked him, why he was attacked, and why the Israeli "policeman" was angry.

The above misleading photo and inaccurate caption illustrates only a small fraction of the frightening reality of how much of the U.S. and the international media is distorting Israel's image.

Please write, speak out and pass this page today onto your local newspaper and television editors, your family and friends.

Put the United States press and the international media on notice that media incompetence, bias, slander, libel and yellow journalism is unacceptable and will not be tolerated!

How could it be that only one month previous (August 2000) Israel was lauded at Camp David for being willing to compromise way beyond anyone's expectations and then (September 2000) in response to riots and Palestinian gunfire Israel was considered the aggressor? Israeli soldiers were defending themselves against live fire, rocks and Molotov cocktails being thrown at them by demonstrators who used their women and children as "human shields". 

Regarding your picture on page A5 (Sept. 30) of the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian on the Temple Mount - that Palestinian is actually my son, Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago. He, and two of his friends, were pulled from their taxicab while travelling in Jerusalem, by a mob of Palestinian Arabs and were severely beaten and stabbed. That picture could not have been taken on the Temple Mount because there are no gas stations on the Temple Mount and certainly none with Hebrew lettering, like the one clearly seen behind the Israeli soldier attempting to protect my son from the mob. 

Aaron Grossman, M.D. 6737 N Richmond Chicago, IL 60645 (773) 743-1194 

Subject: (no subject) Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 14:54:39 EDT
From: Heshygiss@aol.com
To: letters@nytimes.com
CC: aaronnoach@21stcentury.net, JPeditor@aol.com 

Dear Editor, 

Even the typically biased and slanted NY Times middle east reporting has hit a new low. Since the Times wishes to convey the belief that the Palestinians are all innocent lambs being tormented by an aggressive oppressor, it can not even conceive that the wounded and injured are NOT Palestinians. The current case in point is very personal to me. In the Saturday's Times on page A6, the picture of the "wounded Palestinian" is, in fact, my nephew, Tuvia Grossman, an AMERICAN Jewish student learning in Israel. His only crime was being Jewish. He was not in "crossfire" but merely the target of Palestinian lambs who stoned his cab, dragged him from the vehicle, smashed his head with stones and stabbed him in the leg. The Israeli soldier, whom you obviously wished to portray as victimizing the poor, wounded Palestinian was actually saving my nephew's life. A casual look at the background of the picture can tell anyone that it's not the Temple Mount at all!

I believe that a retraction, in a prominent position in the paper, is necessary and an apology to the parents, forthcoming.

Howard Gissinger 2809 Avenue S Brooklyn, New York 11229 718-998-2909

I was thrust into the international limelight when The New York Times and other major media outlets published a photo of me -- bloodied and battered -- crouching beneath a club-wielding Israeli policeman. The caption identified me as a Palestinian victim of the new intifada. In fact, however, I am a 20-year-old Jewish student from Chicago, studying at a yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Here's how it all happened:

It was the eve of Rosh Hashana, and I hailed a taxi with two of my friends to go visit the Western Wall. Along the way, the driver took a shortcut through one of the Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. We turned a corner and suddenly there were about 40 Palestinians surrounding the car. Before we knew it, huge rocks had smashed all the windows of the taxi. 

Some of the Palestinians pulled open the door and dragged me from the vehicle. About 10 attackers jumped on top of me, punching and kicking me. I crouched to the ground, and tried to cover my face to protect myself as much as possible. All I could see were a flurry of sneakers kicking me in the face. 

Then I felt a strong pair of hands grabbing me, and I uncovered my face because I thought someone was trying to help me. But it was just another Palestinian; he held the back of my head and punched me square in the face. I fell flat on the ground and the Palestinians jumped on top of me again. One of them stabbed me in the back of my leg, ripping through muscles and tendons. Two other Palestinians held my head so I couldn't move, while two more bashed rocks onto my head... again and again and again.

By this time the beating had gone on for about eight minutes. I had already lost three liters of blood and was losing consciousness. I said "Shema Yisrael" -- the declaration of faith that a Jew says before he dies. I tried not to black out, because I was sure if I did it would be the end.

Because it was the eve of Rosh Hashana, the image of a shofar flashed through my mind, and I recalled a Biblical story I'd learned in school. The prophet Gideon and his 300 men were badly outnumbered against the Midianite army of 130,000. So Gideon's troops banged pots and blew shofars, hoping that the noise would scare the enemy. With God's help, the ploy worked, and Gideon won the battle.

So I yelled at the top of my lungs. The Palestinians were startled momentarily, and I was able to get up and run. Unfortunately, I am heavily nearsighted and my contact lenses had fallen out. So there I was -- barely able to see a thing, with blood pouring down my face and my leg badly wounded -- being chased up a hill by 40 Palestinians throwing rocks at me. 

It was a miracle, but I somehow outran them and reached a gas station where Israeli soldiers were posted.

I collapsed on the ground, and that's when a group of freelancer photographers started snapping pictures. An Israeli policeman was protecting me, yelling at the Palestinians to back off from finishing the lynching. But the photo -- sent throughout the world by the Associated Press -- identified me as a Palestinian. The obvious implication was that the Israeli policeman had just beaten me. In truth, it was the total opposite. I was a Jewish victim of Palestinian attackers.

It's bad enough to be beaten bloody, get stitches up and down my head, and have my leg so severely stabbed that therapy is required to regain use of it. But to be used as a pawn in the media war, as part of the Palestinian propaganda to gain international sympathy, well, that hurts even more.

When a photo gets published, there are many links in the chain, and in this case, I don't know where the fault for the garbled caption lies. But it is deeply disturbing that the New York Times, the Associated Press (and everyone else in-between) assumed that if it's a victim, it must be a Palestinian.

There is a great struggle here in Israel and this event highlights the power of the media to influence public opinion. If truth is to prevail, we can't just "read" the newspaper. Be discerning and become part of the process. Otherwise, you're just a passive object of someone else's agenda.

Who are the innocent victims and who are the aggressors? The truth is often the opposite of how it appears.