[net.religion.jewish] Egyptian attack

wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (10/10/85)

Regarding the recent news item about the Egyptian officer shooting up
the resort area and killing a number of Israeli tourists:

The first TV news item covering this that I heard emphasized that the
action was that of a single armed man (originally identified as a
policeman) running amok, and shooting *randomly*, and that 5 or 6
Israelis *and* 5 or 6 Egyptians were killed. Succeeding news broadcasts
(on other channels at the same timeframe, and on later newscasts)
completely ignored the killing of Egyptian nationals and mentioned
*only* the deaths of the Israelis (which were revised up to seven, I
believe). Also later broadcasts variously identified the shooter as a
"customs official" and a "soldier".

I *think* that it was CBS (evening news) that reported the slaying of
both Israelis and Egyptians, and that the other networks mentioned only
the Israelis. However, I think that the next day, and thereafter, the
network that originally mentioned that individuals of both nationalities
were slain began to mention only the Israeli victims.

Anyone follow this story and agree with these impressions I gathered?
Anybody have any comments on this rather obvious "embedded editorializing"
technique? It looks like a calculated method of inflaming pro-Israel
individuals' anti-Egyptian feelings. After all, if it was the act of an
independently-acting madman, who was shooting *people*, not specific
nationalities, it can't be an act of political terrorism, and is a
non-political mass murder. As the latter, it would not even be mentioned
outside the country in which it happened, unless one or more of the
victims happened to be famous.

Could this have been a deliberate effort to politicize a truly
non-political action? If so, anyone care to offer speculation as to the
motivation behind such treatment and who would be behind it? (Conspiracy
theories involving the Trilateral Commission are about as good as any
others here, I suppose.)

Will Martin

UUCP/USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin   or   ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA

matt@brl-tgr.ARPA (Matthew Rosenblatt ) (10/11/85)

WILL MARTIN writes:

> Regarding the recent news item about the Egyptian officer shooting up
> the resort area and killing a number of Israeli tourists:
   . . .
> Anyone follow this story and agree with these impressions I gathered?
> Anybody have any comments on this rather obvious "embedded editorializing"
> technique? It looks like a calculated method of inflaming pro-Israel
> individuals' anti-Egyptian feelings. 

Could be.  The networks have been accused of pro-Israel bias and anti-
Israel bias at different times.  People go nuts and start shooting even
in a MacDonald's.  

The only thing that inflamed THIS pro-Israel individual was a radio report
to the effect that other Egyptian soldiers had prevented some Israeli
medical students who were on the scene from rendering aid to the wounded
Israelis.  If that's true, it puts those Egyptians in the same class as
the Russian soldiers who wouldn't allow an American sergeant to assist
the American officer they shot in East Germany, with the result that the
officer bled to death.  That would reinforce the idea that the American/
Israeli side is civilized, while our adversaries on the Russian/Arab side
are heartless barbarians.

Any further information as to whether the above radio report was true?

				-- Matt Rosenblatt

kjl@BBN-META.ARPA (Ken Lebowitz) (10/11/85)

The killing of the 9 Israelis in the Sinai has pretty much disappeared from
the American press but it remains a prominent story on Kol Yisrael.
Apparently the Egyptians have not yet given the Israelis their official
version of what happened and why the Israeli doctor was prevented from
providing aid to the wounded.  The Israeli minister of health was
interviewed on the radio and he said that 7 of the 9 stood a good chance of
surviving if they had received medical treatment!

Ken Lebowitz
BBN Laboratories

ARPA:	kjl@bbn-clxx.ARPA
CSNET:	kjl%bbn-clxx@csnet-relay
UUCP:	...!{decvax,ihnp4}!bbncca!kjl

slerner@sesame.UUCP (Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner) (10/13/85)

> Regarding the recent news item about the Egyptian officer shooting up
> the resort area and killing a number of Israeli tourists:
> 
> The first TV news item covering this that I heard emphasized that the
> action was that of a single armed man (originally identified as a
> policeman) running amok, and shooting *randomly*, and that 5 or 6
> Israelis *and* 5 or 6 Egyptians were killed. Succeeding news broadcasts
> (on other channels at the same timeframe, and on later newscasts)
> completely ignored the killing of Egyptian nationals and mentioned
> *only* the deaths of the Israelis (which were revised up to seven, I
> believe). Also later broadcasts variously identified the shooter as a
> "customs official" and a "soldier".
>..... 
> Anyone follow this story and agree with these impressions I gathered?
> Anybody have any comments on this rather obvious "embedded editorializing"
> technique? It looks like a calculated method of inflaming pro-Israel
> individuals' anti-Egyptian feelings.


Could it also be that the original report was based on *inacurate*
first reports, while the later broadcasts where refined by more information?
I believe that the Israeli government protested the fact that it was
a *soldier* who had no business in the restricted zone who committed the
murders.  (I'm not 100% sure of this, did anyone else pay atention to
Israels press release?)

In any case, while you are correct that there is a danger of 'editorializing',
additional time also (often) gives additional facts and details.


-- 
Opinions expressed are public domain, and do not belong to Lotus
Development Corp.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner

              {genrad|ihnp4|ima}!wjh12!talcott!sesame!slerner
                      {cbosgd|harvard}!talcott!sesame!slerner
                       talcott!sesame!slerner@harvard.ARPA 

dwl10@amdahl.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) (10/17/85)

> > Anyone follow this story and agree with these impressions I gathered?
> > Anybody have any comments on this rather obvious "embedded editorializing"
> > technique? It looks like a calculated method of inflaming pro-Israel
> > individuals' anti-Egyptian feelings.
> 
IF IT WERE AN ISRAELI RUNNING AMOK IN EGYPT, THE NEWS WOULD HAVE SLANTED
IT THE OTHER WAY. THEY ARE ONLY INTERESTED IN SENSATIONALISM, THEY DONT'T
TAKE SIDES. :-)                                                           ION?
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
                               Dave Lowrey

"To vacillate or not to vacillate, that is the question....
 ....or is it?"
                                ...!(<sun,cbosgd,ihnp4}!amdahl!dwl10

[ The opinions expressed <may> be those of the author and not necessarily
  those of his most eminent employer. ]