Actually, al-Jazeera does a better job of covering the Middle East than most Arab and Israeli media. While the Israeli media, for example, does include interviews with “moderate” Arabs, for example, they exclude interviews with “extremists” and frequently censor the news, changing words and phrases to those more acceptable to the Israeli audience.

On the otherhand, al-Jazeera frequently interviews rightwing Israeli fanatics like Benjamin Netanyahu, along with many more moderate Israelis. They frequently have interviews with leaders of the extremist Israeli settler movement, for example, and regardless of whether one might agree about the use of the terms “moderate” or “extremist” they are appropriate int he context of how audiences in the Arab world view Netanyahu and the settlers … and how Israelis view “moderate” and “extremist” Israelis.

I think its great that Israel is finally allowing more media into the country. I wish they would stop censoring and restricting media coverage of the Occupied Territories and allow more Arab journalists to cover those activities firsthand without relying on wire serviced news reports covered locally and then transmitted to major media.

Anyway, just my thoughts
Ray Hanania
http://www.ArabWritersGroup.com

And on unrelated note, Anna Nicole Smith just died. Esra’a — any plans to write fanmail to her — or maybe an obit — in the satire section?

Wow, you know about that? I thought no one read/enjoyed those. That’s why I stopped writing it.

this was mostly a response to the comments, not to the post itself, as she stated she was curious and not at all threatened. But the comments that came later is what bothered me which triggered my lengthy response.

I hear what you’re saying. And I’m with you, sister! Hopefully, in our lifetimes, we’ll all be able to visit each other’s countries, report the news with a sense of humor, and get to know each other.

And hello to you, too, Jina,

Israel claim to be a free society, if you don’t allow Al-Jazeerah then you are a hypocrite and shouldn’t claim to be a free society.

I’m proud that Israel allows Al-Jazeera, even if it can sometimes feel like masochistic behavior. You’re right, it goes a long way to providing a proof point for the country’s openness and commitment to freedom of speech.

Great discussion, in the end, Eliesheva, even if it started out a bit angry in the comments…

And on unrelated note, Anna Nicole Smith just died. Esra’a — any plans to write fanmail to her — or maybe an obit — in the satire section?

And if you ‘own’ an Israeli passport and don’t use it to come in or leave the country, they do get mighty pissed, doesn’t matter what your last name is.

I have many more stories like this. What you think about this?

What’s funny is that Iran wasn’t letting an Arab-Israeli in for that Holocaust conference because his passport was Israeli.

Yeah, it’s like what’s the point of the conference if Israelis weren’t allowed to attend? Who else were they expecting? Haha.