What utter impudence for Josef Federman of AP to circulate a  “fact check” on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s much lauded speech to the joint session of Congress.
And in so doing to commit the sin of rewriting history and coming up with some totally false and inaccurate conclusions.
I cannot recall any occasion when AP has challenged any other international leader in this way, and sadly I feel this reflects AP’s somewhat biased position
when it comes to negative reporting about Israel.    Am I naive in thinking that reporting and disseminating news is the role of journalists, not putting their own spin on it?
Let me indulge in a little fact checking of my own.
How can anyone challenge the fact that Israel is a democracy.   With all shades of opinion in the Knesset including Arab MKs who would be labelled traitors in any other country, with a Supreme Court that can and does challenge the government, with a population of Jews, Christians, Arabs,Druse and Arab and Jewish Palestinians, with Arab and Bedouin diplomats serving around the world, with votes for all its citizens and with total freedom of speech and freedom of the press, Federman’s challenge is insulting.
It is true that America has an does give Israel financial support, not just for Israel’s benefit, but because it is Americans’ best interest to have a reliable Middle East ally, but so too does it give to Egypt and many other countries in the Middle East.  That does not mean that Netanyahu’s comment about not needing American troops in Israel is open to challenge   Israel has always relied on her own capability when having had to defend herself against constant attack for the past 63 years.
Federman’s claim that there are tens of thousands of Israeli troops in the Palestinian territories will not stand up to scrutiny.
If the Israeli Arabs are as hard done by as Federman would have you believe, how come when polled the vast majority tell you they choose Israeli citizenship over potential Palestinian rule?
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Does Federman ever question the way Palestinians are treated by the Arab leadership in the other countries in which they live?  Did he speak out when Saudi Arabia granted citizenship to everyone living there except the Palestinians?  Does he question why the millions of dollars of international aid has not been used to improve the quality of life of Palestinians in the territories and why wherever they are they have been forced to retain their “refugee status”?
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A strong legal challenge can be mounted to calling so called settlements illegal.   But in any event if the Palestinians would be willing to negotiate towards peace it wouldn’t matter where Jews and Palestinians lived as they could live as peaceful neighbours.
It is beyond question that the West Bank economy is one of the fastest growing in the world and there is plenty of evidence of Israeli Palestinian cooperation in start up businesses and joint ventures which go largely unnoticed by a hostile media   When was the last time AP circulated a positive story about this cooperation?
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It is laughable that one of Federman’s dubious “checked facts” should conclude that Hamas and Al Quaida have no connection!  Hamas is a terrorist organisation with a declared aim of the destruction of Israel – hardly a comfortable bedfellow in the search for peace.
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One fact Federman can’t ignore was the inspirational reception Netanyahu received in Congress, nor can he ignore the fact that Israel’s Prime Minister had the courage and confidence to spell out his views loud and clear and to leave no one in any doubt about Israel’s desire for peace, but not at any price.
May I respectfully suggest that Federman and AP check their own facts before indulging in carrying out an inappropriate “Fact check” on a democratically elected leader.