9/10/10: HuffPost's pathological anti-Semitic bias: Children's edition

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"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
-- Animal Farm

Part 1 of this report, below, documents repeated incidents in which HuffPost buried under trash stories or ignored news of Muslims' violent attacks on Jewish adults and children, their celebrations of same, and threats of more. In one incident, it buried a story of Hamas's mass murder of Jewish civilians under a fawning interview its Middle East correspondent did with Hamas's chief propagandist.

Part 2, in contrast, documents repeated incidents in which HuffPost gave breathless, top-line coverage to Muslim children who were killed in the course of Israel defending itself from these attacks, and framed these stories using vicious anti-Israel libels.

HuffPost has repeatedly claimed it is "nonpartisan" in its news coverage, and is dedicated to "ferret[ing] out the truth, consequences be damned." Given the reality documented in this report, however, we can't help but wonder if this is what HuffPost's past CEO meant when she said the site approaches news with "new ideas about balance and fairness."

If you come to share our outrage over HuffPost's persistent anti-Semitic, anti-Israel bias, particularly as it's applied to children, and would like to make your voice known to its senior management, see "Action Items" at the end of Part 2.

Every now and then, a photo emerges that captures a moment in time that is so poignant, it becomes a cultural icon. A "snapshot" in time of an issue, an event, or a person that says far more than a thousand words.

Then, there are other photos that we, as individuals, feel fit this description --- but which those in positions of power dismiss or ignore. Thanks to the distributive and viral power of the Internet, however, some of these photos can take on lives of their own. With your help, we at HUFF-WATCH hope this is one of those instances.

A few days ago, we became aware of a photo that rocked us to our core. See what you think:

Meet Hodaya Imes, 9, a Jewish girl from Hebron, in the West Bank.

This photo, along with many others, was taken by the AP, HuffPost's primary news source, on September 1, as Hodoya wailed during the funeral service for her father, Yitzhak, and mother, Talya --- who was nine months pregnant.

The previous evening, Hodaya's parents (and their unborn child) and two other Jewish civilians were murdered by Hamas terrorists who ambushed and opened fire on their car with machine guns, in Hebron.

As we documented here, even before the funeral, HuffPost already spit in the faces of Hodaya and her five sibling-orphans in numerous ways:

• HuffPost initially posted the story of the murder of Hodoya's parents deep on a secondary page, beneath stories it decided were of far greater importance --- including:
  

  - A fawning interview that HuffPost's Middle East correspondent conducted with Hamas's chief propagandist, in which she asked him why he thinks the West doesn't make Hamas "a partner" in the peace process (which inspired this sarcastic response from us)
  - "Girl Throws Puppies Into River"

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• It briefly moved this story to its front page, but matched it with an egregiously-biased picture --- of a barrier wall (one of Hamas's big justifications for terror) --- instead of the AP's photo of the bullet-riddled car in which Hodoya's parents were murdered, which HuffPost editors possessed at the time.
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• In violation of its rules, HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish hate-filled comments from cyber-jihadis against Hodoya's parents and Jews in general, including:
  

  - "isreal finally getting a taste of its own medicine"
  - "Settlers"???... More like "land grabbers"

  
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• HuffPost then moved the story back to the secondary page, and put new stories on the front page that it deemed were of far greater importance to its global audience, such as:
  

  - Conan names new show
  - A fistfight among women soccer players
  - A new resort for men and their virtual girlfriends (cartoon characters)
  - HuffPost's original reporting on a man who gave up a scheme to dance for his rent
  

  
  

As documented by numerous sources (here, here, here), thousands of Israelis attended the September 1 funeral for Hodoya's parents, their unborn child, and the other two victims:

The AP photographer on scene took many other photos of Hodoya, more than any other individual. Apparently, he or she saw the same things in her face that we did.

While there's no way to be certain, we believe what the AP photographer saw in her face was the combined horror of not only losing her beloved parents, and her unborn sibling, but the realization that there are beings on Earth who are so subhuman that they deliberately target unarmed civilians who are doing nothing more than going about their business, as her parents were.


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So how much news coverage do you think HuffPost --- the #1 most-read blog in the world --- provided of the funeral of Hodoya's parents, their unborn child, and the other two victims of Hamas's savagery?

Zero. Absolutely none.

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So does this mean that HuffPost's crack team of 53 "editors" (presumably trained by Arianna Huffington, its Editor-In-Chief) didn't run any stories of "personal anguish" on its front page on September 1 and 2?

To the contrary, HuffPost decided that the story of "a traumatized" passenger who's suing an airline deserved coverage on its front page, way up near the top (above a story of a death-match between a mongoose and a cobra) --- and that it should remain there for at least two days straight:

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OK, but what about those 3,000 Gaza Muslims who were photographed erupting in celebrations over the murder of Hodoya's parents? Surely HuffPost found that newsworthy, didn't it?

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Nope. On August 31, Hamas announced its delight with its "heroic operation in Hebron," after which an estimated 3,000 Gaza Muslims --- including children --- were photographed openly celebrating the murder of Hodoya's parents (and the two other Jewish civilians):

The photos were taken by Reuters, which HuffPost also routinely utilizes as a news source.

HuffPost gave no coverage whatsoever to these celebrations. Zero.


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Well what about the second Hamas attack, on September 1, in which its savages opened fire on another car being driven by two Jewish civilians, a rabbi and his wife --- nearly killing one, and seriously injuring the other? Surely HuffPost gave that some coverage, right?

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Nope. From Haaretz, which HuffPost regularly uses --- when it wants to:

Two Israelis wounded in second West Bank shooting attack in two days

Excerpt (emphasis added): [Hamas] said in a short SMS message sent to reporters on Wednesday that its militants opened fire at an Israeli car and wounded two Israelis, one of them seriously.

"This attack is a message to those who promised that Hebron attack, which was carried out on Tuesday, won't be repeated again," said the group's SMS message.

HuffPost gave this story zero coverage. None.

So what types of "personal stories" did HuffPost decide were more important for its global audience to be aware of, and to publish on its front page, instead of this one? Here's a sampling:

Bikini pictures of Demi Moore

Tennis Player COLLAPSES At U.S. Open

A "traumatized" passenger who's suing an airline

'Housewife' Teresa: How We Blew $11 Million

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What about the third Hamas attack, on September 2, in which its savages attacked an Israeli girl with stones, causing a head injury? Surely HuffPost gave that some coverage, right?

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Nope. From Israel National News and many other sources:

Israeli Girl Suffers Head Wound from Heavy Stone in Rock Attack

Terrorists wounded an Israeli girl, a resident of Har Bracha, on Thursday night in a rock attack near the Tapuach junction in Samaria. According to reports, the girl was travelling (sp) with her parents in the family vehicle when Arabs threw stones towards the vehicle near Kfar Haras. The girl was hit in the head by a heavy stone in the attack. [...]

The victim was taken to the Schneider Children's Hospital in Petach Tikvah. Her condition was defined as moderate, meaning that doctors do not currently fear for her life but that there is a risk of permanent handicap.

HuffPost completely ignored this story.

So what kinds of stories did HuffPost decide possessed more timely urgency than this one, that its global audience should be aware of? As shown below, it re-posted its fawning interview with Hamas's chief propagandist...


.... and stories about a Nazi ballerina, and rare color photos of Hitler.

And how long do you suppose HuffPost left these stories published --- instead of covering Hamas's reign of violence and threats against Jews? It left them posted on its World page for an entire week straight:

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"OK, these are all recent examples. But you said HuffPost has a long history of this kind of anti-Semitic bias against Jewish children. Are there any examples?"

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See this archive for our coverage of HuffPost's anti-Semitic, anti-Israel bias, stretching back to 2006. The single best-documented example we have, specifically regarding Jewish children, is from 2009 --- HuffPost's "coverage" of the murder of Shlomo Nativ.

Shlomo, a 16 year old Israeli Jew, was hacked to death by an ax-wielding Muslim terrorist in the West Bank. A 7-year-old companion of Nativ's was also attacked by the same savage, and was clinging to life.

To its credit, HuffPost actually ran the story, and gave it prominent (although not top-line) placement. But HuffPost's pathological anti-Semitic bias as applied to Shlomo, and its willful facilitation of the cyber-jihad in regards to his murder, required a two-part post:

Part 1 documented the fact that HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish comments from cyber-jihadis against Shlomo that were so ghoulish and hateful that they even exceeded what Hamas said about him and his murder. This is why we framed part 1 of our documentation of this incident as a quiz:

Ax murder of an Israeli child: Who said it - A terrorist spokesman, or HuffPost users (with approval)?

Part 2 documented how HuffPost depersonalized Shlomo, and the story of his murder --- whereas it does the exact opposite in regards to Muslim terrorists, and Muslim children (see part 2 of this report). Specifically, even though Shlomo's name and picture, and pictures of the scene of his murder were all available at the time HuffPost ran its story, it used none of them. Instead, it ran a picture of a generic group of Israeli soldiers, at night.

That's it. And on the story page, HuffPost depicted Shlomo as a nameless, faceless victim of an "ax attack" --- not a murder perpetrated by a Muslim terrorist --- prompting this sarcastic response from us.

Yet on the same day, when a Palestinian journalist was merely detained by the IDF, HuffPost ran her picture as the lead:



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OK, you've made your point. But does HuffPost really treat Muslim children so differently?

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Yes --- and it actually gets far worse. As documented in Part 2 of this report, HuffPost does the exact opposite of what it does to Jewish children.

Continue to Part 2

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