Evelyn Gordon 26.05.20014 http://tinyurl.com/phuvgcf
I’m a longtime fan
of the Wall Street Journal. But I confess to mystification over why a paper
with a staunchly pro-Israel editorial line consistently allows its news pages
to be used for anti-Israel smear campaigns–and I do mean smear campaigns, not
just “critical reporting.” A classic example was its assertion in an April 7 news report that Israel had agreed “to release political
prisoners” as part of the U.S.-brokered deal that restarted Israeli-Palestinian
talks last summer. The Journal was sufficiently embarrassed by this description
of convicted mass murderers that it issued a correction in
print, yet the online version still unrepentantly dubs these vicious terrorists
“political prisoners.”
A more subtle
example was last week’s report titled “On Middle East Visit, Pope Will Find a
Diminished Christian Population.” While Israel is the glaring exception to this
Mideast trend, reporter Nicholas Casey elegantly implies the opposite in a
single sentence that’s dishonest on at least three different levels: “Syria has
seen an exodus of nearly half a million Christians, and in Jerusalem, a
population of 27,000 Christians in 1948 has dwindled to 5,000.”
First, while Casey never says explicitly that Jerusalem’s
shrinking Christian population reflects the situation in Israel as a whole,
it’s the obvious conclusion for the average reader–especially given the
juxtaposition with Syria, which implies that both countries are treating their
Christians similarly and thereby causing them to flee. This impression is
reinforced by the only other statistic he gives about Israel: that Christians
have declined as a percentage of the total population.
The truth, however,
is that Israel’s Christian population has grown dramatically–from a mere 34,000
in 1949 to 158,000 in 2012, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
That’s an increase of almost fivefold. And while Christians have fallen as a
share of the total population, that’s mainly because they have significantly lower birthrates than
either Israeli Jews or Israeli Muslims.
Second, even his
statistics on Jerusalem are dubious. Since he doesn’t source them, it’s not
clear how Casey arrived at his figure of only 5,000 Christians nowadays. But
the most recent figure published by Israel’s internationally respected
statistics bureau, in 2013, put the city’s Christian population at 14,700 as of
the end of 2011. It is, to say the least, highly unlikely that after remaining
stable at about that level for 44 years (more on that in a moment)–decades
punctuated by repeated wars, vicious terrorism and deep recessions–the
Christian population would suddenly plunge by two thirds in a mere two years at
a time of strong economic growth and very little terror.
Third, while
Jerusalem’s Christian population has undeniably plummeted since 1948 even
according to Israel’s statistics, Casey neglects to mention one very salient
point: The entirety of that decline took place during the 19 years when East
Jerusalem–where most of the city’s Christians live–was controlled by Jordan
rather than Israel. By 1967, when Israel reunited the city, Jerusalem’s
Christian population had fallen by more than half, to just 12,646, from Casey’s 1948 figure
(which does roughly match other available sources). Since then, it has actually
edged upward, to 14,700.
Throw in the de
rigueur innuendos that the Palestinian Authority’s declining Christian
population is mainly Israel’s fault, and Casey’s verbal Photoshop job is
complete: The one country in the Middle East whose Christian population is
growing and thriving–a fact increasingly acknowledged by
Israeli Christians themselves–has been successfully repackaged to the average
reader as a vicious persecutor that is driving its Christians out.
