HOW THE TV NEWS MISLEADS US

I was researching a story I read online today. In Lebanon, Palestinian 'refugees' who have lived in the country since 1948, in 'refugee camps', are demanding some human rights.

These 'refugees' fled Palestine when Israel declared statehood and the muslim world declared war on Israel.

These 'refugees' have lived in 'refugee camps' in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan ever since. Along with their children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren, however many generations there might be in 62 years.

In Lebanon there are 425,000 'refugees'. They are only allowed to work at the most menial jobs and are denied any public medical or social services. Their living conditions are described as overcrowded and squallid.

Isn't it interesting how the muslim world claims to care so much about the Palestinians yet will not allow them to live decently in Syria, Lebanon or Jordan.

While clicking here and there seeking more information, I came across the headline ' Israeli Arrested For Serial Murders'.

Well, I learned he'd been living in Flint, Michigan, his name is Elias Abu Elazam and he came to America legally from Ramle, Israel.

He had attacked about 19 people, with a knife, killing five. Almost all of his victims were African Americans, and police had been saying they believed he was targeting black men.

Only when I read an article written locally, in Flint, were my suspicions proven right. Abu Elazam is a Palestinian.

So I went back to some web sites I'd already read to check on something. Here are the results:

New York Times: '...arrested at the airport as he tried to board a plane to Israel...' with no mention in the article that he's a Palestinian.

CNN: First two words in headline, 'Israeli Citizen'. No mention in the article that he's a Palestinian.

NBC: Headline, 'Serial Stabbing Suspect Nabbed on Way to Israel'. No mention in the article that he's a Palestinian.

CBS: Headline, 'Israeli Suspect Nabbed in Deadly Stabbing Spree'. No mention in the article that he's a Palestinian.

ABC: Headline: 'Serial Stabber Suspect Arrested in Airport Trying to Flee to Israel'. And finally, finally, ABC did mention he's an 'Israeli-Arab'. That's not quite admitting he's a Palestinian, but they're hinting.

FOX described him as an Israeli citizen, with no mention he's a Palestinian.

Anti-Semitic slant? You betcha. Israeli = Jew to most people. And the headlines were declaring a Jew had gone on a killing spree murdering African Americans.

It didn't take me long, maybe 5 minutes, to learn this Elias Abu Elazam is a Palestinian. If our TV news corporations wanted to tell the straight story, they could have. Instead, they chose to stick with calling him an Israeli with the connotation he's a Jew.

 Update: Now some news organizations are identifying him as a 'Greek Orthodox Christian' or 'a Christian Arab'. Ramle, Israel, does have a small Christian community which includes a number of Palestinians, Arabs who lived in Ramle and stayed there when the muslim countries attacked Israel in 1948. His first name, Elias, does have Greek origins. So it well may be that his religion, or his family's religion, is Greek Orthodox. His heritage, though, is Palestinian.

How often do news organizations identify someone by their religion rather than by their national heritage??? This may be a first.