The newspaper fit to train your puppy with

I really don’t know why anyone would buy the Toronto Star unless one needed to paper train your puppy or to wrap your dishes in it in preparation for a move. I knew the paper had been going down hill for at least a decade but their coverage of the Israel-Palestinian conflict has to be one of the worse Anglo broadsheets published outside the International Solidarity Movement.

Take this recent article published from their own Mid-East Bureau:

SDEROT, Israel–Arkadi Gaydamak rode into this rocket-stricken town yesterday in a gleaming black Hummer, the lead vehicle in a three-car convoy, followed by a Mitsubishi Pajero SUV and a grey Buick Lucerne sedan.

"I am here to see what is happening, to speak to the people," the enigmatic Russian-Israeli billionaire told a phalanx of Israeli reporters and TV crews who crowded around him on a broad limestone terrace in front of Sderot's city hall.

This week, the town has been the target of relentless barrages of homemade Qassam rockets fired by Palestinian militants from inside the Gaza Strip, whose northern border lies just two kilometres from Sderot's southern limits.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, 110 missiles have been fired from Gaza in the past four days, including at least 17 yesterday. More than 60 Sderot residents have been injured, including 22 sent to hospital in the nearby city of Ashkelon, two of them with serious wounds.

The attacks on Sderot have coincided with a new and bloody outbreak of internecine violence among Palestinian fighters in Gaza, mainly between followers of Fatah and Hamas. Hamas has claimed credit for firing most if not all of the rockets that have struck Sderot, terrifying its 24,000 residents, or those who have not already fled to safety in other parts of Israel.

Four issues here.

The attacks on Sderot have not coincided with a new and bloody outbreak of “internecine violence among “Palestinians fighters in Gaza” per say. The attacks on Sderot have been an ongoing reality of life in Sderot for the last 19 months and have morphed into multiple barrages in any given week since the alleged November “ceasefire” accord with the Palestinian Authority/Hamas/Israel.

The Elder of Zyion has been keeping online monthly journal of how many rockets have been launched and on what days of months since last November. While I will grant the barrages have seriously increased in the last week but to suggest that this week has been the only time kassam attacks have been a serious issue is a gross under exaggeration.

Homemade Kassams. The Palestinians have made Kassams literally a kitchen industry belies the deadly nature of these rockets. By referring to Kassam as “homemade” leaves the reader with the suggestion their effectiveness or propensity to cause grievous bodily harm is slight or marginal.

It is not the fear of home repairs which caused the citizens of Sderot to seek asylum outside of the kassam range but the fear of grievous injury or death to oneself or loved ones. It is true kassams are “home-made” and while quality control and the lack of a sophisticated guidance system are obvious limitations of kassams - one should never under estimate their propensity to cause grievous harm to life or limb.

The relatively small number of deaths and injuries owes more to the intercession of divine providence then the “home-made” or primate qualities of these rockets. And dead is still dead; whether the rocket cost $50 or $50,000. Let us not forget, the other deadly product of the Palestinian kitchen industry is suicide belts. Would it be reasonable for Toronto Star reporters to start trivializing suicide belts for their “home-made” quality because the belts certainly are homemade.

Gaydamak.

In light of this humanitarian emergency, it was only a matter of time before Gaydamak showed up. The boyish-looking, 50-something prince of Russian capitalism – who reputedly made most of his massive fortune by brokering Russian arms sales to Angola in southern Africa – descended upon Sderot with an air of purpose that cannot have been pleasing to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
(…)
"I am here with a construction company," said Gaydamak, who promptly introduced Elad Barouch, a principal of Rolan Ltd., a building firm based in Haifa. Gaydamak announced he had come to provide bomb shelters for the people of Sderot, something the Israeli government has either failed or been slow to do. Never mind that Olmert himself had paid a visit to Sderot Thursday evening. Gaydamak dismissed the prime minister's sally as mere grandstanding. "He is doing PR by leaving hundreds of Israelis to die," Gaydamak said. "I am here to work in a very concrete way. We will start to build next week."
(…)
Widely rumoured to harbour political ambitions, Gaydamak is often mentioned as a possible candidate for the mayoralty of Jerusalem and is thought by some to have even higher aims. But he denied such aspirations.

There is no mention anywhere in the report how Gaydamak came to be involved with the citizens of Sderot and the report leaves the reader with the idea that Gaydamak goes around ambulance chasing humanitarian emergencies in the Israeli state.

He actually answered a written plea from a school principal in Sderot begging for help in evacuating families from Sderot and he provided assistance before Olmert’s visit. Not content with just providing buses and accommodation for those who wanted to leave Sderot - he came to discuss with the mayor of Sderot what else needed to be done to alleviate the suffering of the people of Sderot.

Who knew I would know about Gaydamak’s political aspirations from sitting in front of my computer in Toronto than a reporter from a Mid-east bureau? Gaydamak has gone on the record in the Anglo Israeli papers stating he will run for mayor of Jerusalem. Here’s the interview dated May 17th from the Arutz Sheva:

Meiri: My last question is, What about your intentions to be the mayor of Jerusalem?

Gaydamak: I will be Mayor of Jerusalem because it is of absolute necessity that the mayor be someone who acts not for his own personal interests... In the Israeli system, there is a natural division of Ashkenazim and Sephardim, and this parliamentary system is not suitable for Israel because the candidates are elected based on this division, and then they must act not for the people's interests but only for the sake of maintaining the coalition; they are not able to run the country. We should change this system and have a strong presidential system. This is why I decided that I should take control of this city of Jerusalem, for the good of the residents, all of them, Jews and Muslims, and create economic prosperity... and because Jerusalem is the most important symbol of peace in the world, we should also try to solve the problems of confrontation in the Middle East. This is why I should be the mayor of Jerusalem; it's not that I want [this position].

I can hear those reporters at the Toronto Star now thinking, yeah right, who pays attention to Israeli Settler newspapers, radio or television reports - ‘cause we all know the Toronto Star won’t touch anything produced from those evil settlers!! So here’s the Jerusalem Post:

In the interview, Gaydamak affirmed that he will be in the next Jerusalem mayoral race. "I will be the next mayor of Jerusalem," he declared. Gaydamak denied that he would run on a joint list headed by the former Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy, saying that he did not know him. The mayoral elections are scheduled to take place next year.

I have no opinion on whether or not Gaydamak would be a decent mayor for Jerusalem. I can think of no city in Israel where I would rather not be mayor of than Jerusalem. I don’t know how I could possibly manage the Haredim, let alone find the inner fortitude to refuse any of their demands – as my grandfather use to say; what is bred in the bone comes out in the flesh. I have faced down many scary situations and taken more than a few knocks in my time but I would possess less than consistency of putty in their hands. Heavens preserve me if they started to fight among themselves - because I’d probably totally breakdown.

I never wanted to be a journalist but I really think I would do a far better job sitting in a Jerusalem based Mid-East bureau than the current crop turning out this schlock. If the TS reporter wanted to center a report about Gaydamak it would have helped to do a little background work or even interview the man. On second thought, it probably is a good thing I am not sitting in the Jerusalem bureau interviewing Gaydamak. I’d probably try to lobby him to use his connections into procuring me a few missiles for the citizens of Sderot and launch them into the Gaza Strip from Sderot myself – after all, a turn deserves a turn and revenge deserves a bitch.

I will close by leaving Gaydamak to have the last words. Taken from the Arutz Sheva interview:

Gaydamak said, "I understand [your question]. First of all, in general, radio and media are the tools of journalists to explain their stupidity, their lack of information, and their personal opinions. This is the general situation everywhere... In some countries, the journalists also use the media for propaganda... I don't care about their opinion, nor about public opinion - because public opinion is managed by the professionals, and also because it is human nature to want to see other people being shown to be worse than them... The Jews living in Sderot have been living in a very difficult situation, in great danger, and they never know when the rockets will come. We should help them however we can. I am just a yehudi pashut [a simple Jew], and I want to help. I look to see what I can do. I come to share with them what I can. They are families and I want to help them - and the rest I don't care about.