Thank you for this well written, fact-filled article. Will it be published in our local paper? The misinformation published needs to be corrected for the Topanga community.
Thank you so much! I am guessing you are a fellow Topangan? I'm so glad you found this and agree, things have been getting dicey here. I know there was an unfortunate incident on a Topanga Instagram post as well.
I sent a much more condensed version of this to the editor of the Chronicle. I'm hoping that it gets published, though I truly do not know the ideological persuasion of the editor and how that will affect the articles she accepts. I am hoping she will accept it as a way to offer balance to the previous article in the Chronicle. If not, I'll try to send it to the Topanga New Times.
I'm mildly nervous about people in our community hating me upon seeing the article, not that that stopped me from sending it. I'm not really nervous for my sake, but for my 10-month old daughter's sake. I hope it won't result in me getting ostracized from mommy and me groups or playdates or any such thing. So sad that we live in a time where we have to worry about such things!
Yes, I am a fellow Topangan. Raised my boy and girl twins here who are now 21 at ASU and Northeastern...both dealing with a tremendous amount of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred and misinformation. The world has turned on its axis truly. I am done being a polite, quiet, 'go along' person - when lies are put out there, I am writing letters, making calls and getting involved. At my university and my childrens'...
As for the article, I wrote an email to the editor, Flavia Potenza, with my concerns and critique around the journalistic integrity of the author. It was not intended as a letter to the editor to be published; just a critique of how she is approving articles and pieces going into her paper.
I will copy and paste it here for you. She did respond, appreciated my writing to her, said (if truthful, who knows) that my email made her think and definitely wishes to get another point of view or two published soon. Your 10 month old daughter will be proud of you for standing up to hate and lies. I agree - very sad that this is where things are at right now. I worry about my daughter or son attending a Jewish event on campus and getting bullied and harassed - but we need to continue on as we as a people have always done. Be well. Stay strong and safe.
(email)
Dear Flavia,
As a longtime Topanga resident, I have appreciated the articles and news found in your paper. We are a special community and having a local paper highlighting community issues and events is an important asset to all of us. This is why I am so deeply disappointed in your publishing of the November 24th article entitled 'Israel's Onslaught: To What End?'. Unfortunately, this piece contains an enormous amount of misinformation and bias. I would have hoped that your paper would have upheld the four key principles of journalistic integrity which are so missing in our world of sound bytes, bots planted by foreign governments and uninformed individuals who do not do their research but post lies widely on social media. Fred's article failed to:
1. Seek truth and report it - I will only pick out a few statements that are incorrect or unbalanced and should never have been printed. There are so many in this piece I do not have the time to pull all of them apart. Here are a few...
'The dominant ideology of Zionism is the removal of the Arab population' - not true. If one looks at more objective, well regarded sources, one sees that the dominant ideology centers around the creation and support of a Jewish state in Palestine with no reference around removing Arabs. It also speaks to the return to the land of its indigenous people - Jews have lived continuously in the region for nearly 4,000 years.
'the forced displacement of some 700,000 Palestinians in 1948...' - does not even mention that over 850,000 Jews were kicked out of Arab nations when the state of Israel was formed.
'there is little to no evidence that Hamas use civilians as shields...' - please read the attached strategic communications document from NATO which says repeatedly of the known strategy of Hamas to use Palestinians as human shields.
Additionally, the article does not even mention Iran's role in training and arming both Hamas and Hezbollah in the North for many years in order to remove Israel entirely and all its citizens from the region.
2. Minimize harm - needless to say, this incredibly misinformed piece with so many false statements around Israel, Zionism, and Hamas only fuels the flames of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment in our community. Anti-semitic incidents are up nearly 400% as reported by the Anti-Defamation League - this includes physical violence and online violence (harassment, assault, vandalism). The lack of fair balance and truthful reporting only serve to contribute to an environment of hate, bigotry, ignorance and violence.
3. Act independently - I do not know what Fred Samia's background is and if he has any confilcts of interest but it does state that he has worked in the Middle East which should require further transparency as to what role with what organization since he appears to be characterizing Hamas as a revolutionary group instead of a terrorist group. All independent and objectives sources consider Hamas to be a known terrorist organization - and has been designated a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by the United States since 1997. News outlets, including yours, which neglect to describe Hamas accurately constitutes an omission of key information that distorts readers’ evaluations of the conflict between it and Israel.
4. Be accountable and transparent - the lack of accuracy, balance, fairness and low journalistic standards is apparent throughout this piece. It is a 'hit job' on Israel with a statement like 'a large segment of Israeli society is already rabidly anti-Palestinian...'. There is no reference because it is not fact-based. In fact, over 20% of Israel's population is Arab with full citizenship rights - these are descendants from Arab Palestinians who lived in the region when the state of Israel was formed and did not leave. Additionally, in a recent survey published in Reuters, 70% of these Arab Israeli citizens said 'yes' when asked if they feel part of the country (Israel) which is the highest finding for this group since the survey began 20 years ago.
I hope and pray that all the remaining hostages will be returned safely to Israel, that the Palestinian people will be freed from the tyranny of Hamas and that there will ultimately be a two-state solution for both peoples. This, I believe, is the view of most Americans. Not, as Fred writes, a call for a ceasefire without any consequences for terrorists and without a full return of innocent civilians.
Thanks for showing in great detail how Hamas is the Gazan people's worst enemy, ultimately inflicting more pain and suffering under the guise of "liberation".
Thank you for this well written, fact-filled article. Will it be published in our local paper? The misinformation published needs to be corrected for the Topanga community.
Thank you so much! I am guessing you are a fellow Topangan? I'm so glad you found this and agree, things have been getting dicey here. I know there was an unfortunate incident on a Topanga Instagram post as well.
I sent a much more condensed version of this to the editor of the Chronicle. I'm hoping that it gets published, though I truly do not know the ideological persuasion of the editor and how that will affect the articles she accepts. I am hoping she will accept it as a way to offer balance to the previous article in the Chronicle. If not, I'll try to send it to the Topanga New Times.
I'm mildly nervous about people in our community hating me upon seeing the article, not that that stopped me from sending it. I'm not really nervous for my sake, but for my 10-month old daughter's sake. I hope it won't result in me getting ostracized from mommy and me groups or playdates or any such thing. So sad that we live in a time where we have to worry about such things!
Hi Elyse,
Yes, I am a fellow Topangan. Raised my boy and girl twins here who are now 21 at ASU and Northeastern...both dealing with a tremendous amount of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred and misinformation. The world has turned on its axis truly. I am done being a polite, quiet, 'go along' person - when lies are put out there, I am writing letters, making calls and getting involved. At my university and my childrens'...
As for the article, I wrote an email to the editor, Flavia Potenza, with my concerns and critique around the journalistic integrity of the author. It was not intended as a letter to the editor to be published; just a critique of how she is approving articles and pieces going into her paper.
I will copy and paste it here for you. She did respond, appreciated my writing to her, said (if truthful, who knows) that my email made her think and definitely wishes to get another point of view or two published soon. Your 10 month old daughter will be proud of you for standing up to hate and lies. I agree - very sad that this is where things are at right now. I worry about my daughter or son attending a Jewish event on campus and getting bullied and harassed - but we need to continue on as we as a people have always done. Be well. Stay strong and safe.
(email)
Dear Flavia,
As a longtime Topanga resident, I have appreciated the articles and news found in your paper. We are a special community and having a local paper highlighting community issues and events is an important asset to all of us. This is why I am so deeply disappointed in your publishing of the November 24th article entitled 'Israel's Onslaught: To What End?'. Unfortunately, this piece contains an enormous amount of misinformation and bias. I would have hoped that your paper would have upheld the four key principles of journalistic integrity which are so missing in our world of sound bytes, bots planted by foreign governments and uninformed individuals who do not do their research but post lies widely on social media. Fred's article failed to:
1. Seek truth and report it - I will only pick out a few statements that are incorrect or unbalanced and should never have been printed. There are so many in this piece I do not have the time to pull all of them apart. Here are a few...
'The dominant ideology of Zionism is the removal of the Arab population' - not true. If one looks at more objective, well regarded sources, one sees that the dominant ideology centers around the creation and support of a Jewish state in Palestine with no reference around removing Arabs. It also speaks to the return to the land of its indigenous people - Jews have lived continuously in the region for nearly 4,000 years.
'the forced displacement of some 700,000 Palestinians in 1948...' - does not even mention that over 850,000 Jews were kicked out of Arab nations when the state of Israel was formed.
'there is little to no evidence that Hamas use civilians as shields...' - please read the attached strategic communications document from NATO which says repeatedly of the known strategy of Hamas to use Palestinians as human shields.
https://stratcomcoe.org/cuploads/pfiles/hamas_human_shields.pdf
Additionally, the article does not even mention Iran's role in training and arming both Hamas and Hezbollah in the North for many years in order to remove Israel entirely and all its citizens from the region.
2. Minimize harm - needless to say, this incredibly misinformed piece with so many false statements around Israel, Zionism, and Hamas only fuels the flames of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment in our community. Anti-semitic incidents are up nearly 400% as reported by the Anti-Defamation League - this includes physical violence and online violence (harassment, assault, vandalism). The lack of fair balance and truthful reporting only serve to contribute to an environment of hate, bigotry, ignorance and violence.
3. Act independently - I do not know what Fred Samia's background is and if he has any confilcts of interest but it does state that he has worked in the Middle East which should require further transparency as to what role with what organization since he appears to be characterizing Hamas as a revolutionary group instead of a terrorist group. All independent and objectives sources consider Hamas to be a known terrorist organization - and has been designated a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by the United States since 1997. News outlets, including yours, which neglect to describe Hamas accurately constitutes an omission of key information that distorts readers’ evaluations of the conflict between it and Israel.
4. Be accountable and transparent - the lack of accuracy, balance, fairness and low journalistic standards is apparent throughout this piece. It is a 'hit job' on Israel with a statement like 'a large segment of Israeli society is already rabidly anti-Palestinian...'. There is no reference because it is not fact-based. In fact, over 20% of Israel's population is Arab with full citizenship rights - these are descendants from Arab Palestinians who lived in the region when the state of Israel was formed and did not leave. Additionally, in a recent survey published in Reuters, 70% of these Arab Israeli citizens said 'yes' when asked if they feel part of the country (Israel) which is the highest finding for this group since the survey began 20 years ago.
I hope and pray that all the remaining hostages will be returned safely to Israel, that the Palestinian people will be freed from the tyranny of Hamas and that there will ultimately be a two-state solution for both peoples. This, I believe, is the view of most Americans. Not, as Fred writes, a call for a ceasefire without any consequences for terrorists and without a full return of innocent civilians.
Karen
Thanks for showing in great detail how Hamas is the Gazan people's worst enemy, ultimately inflicting more pain and suffering under the guise of "liberation".
"as much, if not more so, of a threat to the Palestinian people as they are to Jews"
Why must you couch your opposition to Hamas this way?
Hamas has done a brilliant job of bringing the Palestinian issue into every household in the West.
So they don't want a liberal democracy - so what? Who are you to tell the Palestinians what to want?