Israeli Propaganda On The Tennis Channel

This story has quite a history and I've been following it for quite awhile. And there's a lot to be said before I get on the recent news of the Tennis Channel and the matter of Zionist propaganda. So bear with me. So first the background:

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The banning of Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer from the Dubai women’s tournament in early 2009 - which I opposed because Peer is one of those Israelis who protested against the Gaza siege and solely because of that I believe she should have been allowed to play - was given TWO fuckin’ stores in this so-called paper of record, The New York Times.

And in doing so the Times, as with the Tennis Channel, demonstrated its strong bias in favor of Israel and its racist standards: It has one standard of value for one people - Israelis - and another for the other people - Palestinians.

One was written by the Zionist sports writer Harvey Araton (I’ll tell you below why he’s a Zionist, and it’s not because his name sounds Jewish) with the headline: A Political Swing at One Player Sours a Tournament for All.

Araton wants to bring to tears his readers all because one Israel was denied permission to compete in a tournament. And study his headline; “sours tournament for all.” No, the tournament was fine because not every one’s a fanatical Zionist like Mr. Araton. He even suggests a boycott of the Dubai tournament calling on pro-Israel Jews to launch a campaign of intimidation against all sponsors of the Dubai games:

“For one thing, tennis does big business in American markets — think New York, Los Angeles and Miami — with large Jewish populations. The men, who follow the women to Dubai next week, may want to remember that, too, along with the companies that sponsor these events.”

But one story was not enough for the Times. They had to inform readers that the Tennis channel was refusing to broadcast the Dubai tournament because Peer was banned [Tennis Channel Won’t Televise Dubai Event in Protest](More on that later) . Is that really “all the news that fit to print”? Do we really need to now that some special-interest channel whose American subscription base is in the single-digit million isn’t airing a Middle East tournament all because a foreigner was denied entry? But the Times is concerned with documenting everything Israel, but the Palestinians get scant mention even when scores of them die. This is a paper that hardly writes any obituaries for deceased Arab writers, poets, and numerous other notables but once had one for a chef who spent some time in Israel.

The Times is racist and incredibly biased because it highlights the plight of one Israeli athlete someone like Mr. Araton has never written one things about the untold number of Palestinians denied the ability to compete in sports because of Israel’s occupation. The Palestinians Football team, for example, has never even played on Palestinian soil because the Israeli government denies them a visa. Palestinians are denied the ability to train and compete in international events all the time. The Times is racist because they write about Shahar Peer and not someone like Zakia Nasser and her Olympic troubles. ESPN wrote the following:

Then there is Zakia Nassar. She’s a 21-year-old Palestinian from Bethlehem studying dentistry in Jenin, a city in the West Bank. She said it has been her dream since she was 10 to swim in the Olympics but there is no pool available for training in Jenin. There is an Olympic-sized, 50-meter pool in nearby Nazareth, but the Israeli government did not give her permission to use it.

“Without permission, there is no way to go there,” Nassar said. “Many journalists did their best. They talked, they wrote, they talked, they wrote. Our Olympic committee, our swim federation, they said, ‘This is sport; let her train.’ And they said no. I said, ‘I am just going to swim.’ And they said no. They didn’t say anything. They just ignored me.”

Nassar was limited to training only when she returned to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, but she did so only about every two months for two days or so, and the pool is only 12 meters long. Yes, she is very good at flip turns.

“My parents always encouraged me,” Nassar said. “They said, ‘This is your dream, these are the Olympics, you must train as best you can.’ And I’m glad. I’m here.”

Nassar said she received a lot of supportive text messages from Palestinians back home. “All the Palestinian people always support me. They said, ‘We are proud of you. Keep going. Swim your best for Palestinians.’”

She swam the 50 in 31.97, more than seven seconds behind the best time, but it was good enough to win her heat. She will not appear on the cover of Time magazine or a Wheaties box or receive millions of dollars in endorsements, but she can always say she won a race at the Olympics.

“There wasn’t a lot of training,” she said. “But I tried my best, and that’s OK. It has been my dream, and I am excited to be here. I don’t think I will keep on swimming. I have to concentrate on dentistry now. But maybe I’ll keep on swimming for next time.”

So while Peer is denied entry to just one game, Zakia is denied even the ability to conduct proper training. Will Mr. Araton call for a boycott of Israeli-hosted tournaments because they obstruct Palestinian athletes? Will he write that the Olympic mood was soured because of Israel’s petty actions? No, he will not. Zakia doesn’t even exist for him and for the rest of the Times her story just isn’t the story “fit to print”. And if you suggested a boycott of Israeli tournaments he’d shout you down as an anti-Semite.

Moving on. Why is Araton a bleeding heart for Zionism? It’s because his politics shows in the stores he chooses to highlight. Just days after the Peer story, Araton highlighted another one of his outrages: Sweden’s decision to not allow exhibitioners for the Davis Cup when Israel is competing for security reasons [Life Lessons From Sports in a World of Strife].

“That was the unfortunate message sent by organizers of a Davis Cup tie next month in Malmo, Sweden, when they cited anticipated protests in announcing that the matches against Israel from March 6 to 8 will be played in front of 4,000 empty seats at their Baltic Hall. What, they don’t have metal detectors in Scandinavia?

At best, this can be called a craven circumvention of an unpleasant situation. At worst, it might be interpreted as an attempt to isolate the Israelis, sweep them under the carpet as if they do not exist. It’s fair to ask: would this be the strategy for the United States if a march was organized against its presence in Iraq? If the Russians were coming and Georgian sympathizers were planning to be heard?”

Put aside the debate as to whether Araton is right or wrong. That isn’t my point. My point is that to highlight every single discomfort for Israeli athletes while ignoring those inflicted on Palestinians by Israel is nothing short of racism because it’s underpinned by the valued judgment that Israelis are worthy of more sympathy than Palestinian solely for the reason, and there can be no other reason, that people Araton believe Israelis are more human than Arabs.

All those who protested against Dubai on behalf of Peer but are silent when it comes to Palestinians are nothing but vile hypocrites as journalist Nadia Award points out:

”[W]hat we have here is just another example of double standards – one standard for Israelis, but another standard completely for Palestinians. Did any of these newspapers, athletes, and sport channel executives say anything when Israel bombed the headquarters of the Palestinian Football Association, built partially with funds from the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA)? The facility, which housed the men and women’s football teams, now lies in ruins. What about when Israeli air strikes destroyed sports clubs and youth organization headquarters? What about when three top Palestinian football players in the prime of their careers were killed in their homes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead?”

In the aforementioned piece, Araton even congratulates Andy Roddick for boycotting the men’s leg of the Dubai tournament solely because of Peer [”Andy Roddick has said he will boycott on principle, and good for him.”] If Roddick ever boycotted Israel in solidarity with Zakia or any Palestinian or if Roddick even uttered words of support, Araton would smear him day and night.

Now to the title of the post. As noted above, the Tennis Channel then boycotted the Dubai tournament in solidarity with Peer. Well, that shouldn't surprise us because it turns out that the network owner is himself a fanatical Zionist honored by that Alpha of Israel lobby groups, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. And recently it demonstrated its Zionist bona fides:

Yesterday morning during a rain delay the Tennis Channel turned into the Israel lobby. Anchor Ted Robinson praised "Shahar Peer's reputation for standing up versus the forces of injustice," segueing to a nine-minute video glorifying the Israeli tennis player and Israel while condemning Arabs and Muslims. The film equated the latter with Nazis in their inexplicable hostility to innocent, "modern" "normal" Israelis and Jews. Roll tape:

Beautiful footage of Peer and her lovely family cooking gorgeous dinner, celebrating Shabbat, family, Jewish and Israeli traditions. Father Dovic Peer says to camera: Shahar went through a "normal life, school, her army service"; juxtaposed with baby photo, school picture of Shahar in row of girls in formal dresses, Peer offering military salute. "We're a close family," she tells u, "it's a very cultural thing, because in Israel families are really close." Slow motion shots of delectable food, the handsome family hugging and kissing, pictures of mother Aliza Peer embracing all kids together.

Roll menacing music: Shots of 2009 NYT headline, "ISRAELI TENNIS PLAYER IS REFUSED VISA TO PLAY IN DUBAI EVENT"; masked Arab demonstrations depicted as violent; fire; tire flung into air; frowning old woman in keffiyeh holding up rifle. Shahar Peer asks: "...I don't see why a player cannot go [to Dubai] because she's or he's Israeli or Jewish or Muslim or Christian, and for me not to get a visa to Dubai was for me a really hard thing."

No mention of all the visas Israel denies, the pain of Palestinians and others refused travel to, from, or throughout illegally occupied Palestine and Israel.

Dovic Peer: "Shahar standing up to her right and making it clear that this cannot happen, she opened the door for other players that have any problem...that sports will not mix with politics whatsoever."

Silence about Palestinians imprisoned in Gaza and the West Bank, not allowed abroad even to study--let alone to make millions playing professional sports. Nothing about the three Palestinian national footballers killed in the Israeli 2008-9 bombardment of Gaza.

Cut to photo of police dragging protester. Peer: "After having all these demonstrations against me..." Shot of homemade sign: "Boycott Israel/end Israeli apar--" (the rest of the word cut off). "...And I find the good moments of my career playing in these situations." In Dubai, Peer reached the semi-finals for the first time.

Switch to Shahar Peer boarding propellor plane for pilgrimage to Auschwitz with her mother and darling grandmother Yuliana Eckstein.

Eckstein announces melodiously through translation, "I'm very happy and that's why I'm doing this....; I had said that I'd never travel to Auschwitz...I'm doing it for Shahar....and maybe for the coming generation." Peer affirms, "It was very exciting for me and especially seeing my grandma next to me and telling me all the stories when we were passing by the places...where she was for half a year." Footage of Peer and her grandmother walking in a blissfully sad yet triumphant "March of the Living," whose banner and many Israeli flags are carried by demonstrators depicted as peacefully heroic--in contrast to the alien Arab protesters.

Cut to Eckstein's memories of Auschwitz: her terrible meeting with Joseph Mengele, the doctor of atrocities; lightning montage with lights flashing, Nazi symbols, barbed wire, archived pictures and footage, ghastly music. Peer's grandmother tells us about horror and loss: the murder of her beloved family. Segue to Shahar Peer helping to light a "torch in honor of the second and third generation of the Jewish people [not those who died]", then to Shahar leaning against a red Nazi boxcar, lastly to a frame of Peer with her grandmother and mother all holding an Israeli flag, as the antidote to the past.

Snap back to happy music. Peer: "[T]here is, like, so much to see in Israel." Film of modern blue train--in contrast to red cattle cars at Auschwitz. Skyscrapers, people on pristine beach. Dovic Peer assures us, "It's a normal, Western country."

Switch to Shahar Peer playing tennis in fast motion; cheerful tunes. Slow motion shots of Peer's feet in tennis shoes with gold Reebok logo. Peer confides her dream of winning a grand slam, " I dream about it at night...dreams might come true."

Return to Ted Robinson rhapsodizing: "Wonderful story for Shahar Peer, who's given herself that chance to dream again--pushed herself back into the top 20,...in the second round of the French Open."

Then former tennis pros Leif Shiras and Justin Gimelstob enthuse. "Such a compelling story about Shahar Peer," says Shiras. Gimelstob: "Shahar Peer: what a courageous effort...to play as well as she did this year, getting to the semifinal. She's a true competitor and a worthy ambassador to [sic] Israel."

If sports don't mix with politics whatsoever, then who composed this paean to a foreign country and its number-one player? The Likud government could weave no more obsequious tribute.

Oh, and is it any coincidence: Tennis Channel CEO Ken Solomon was honored by AIPAC last year.

Can you imagine the uproar if an American sports network ever maliciously and dramatically characterized Israel's restrictions and denial of rights against Palestinian athletes as being part of the "forces of injustice"? It would be attacked as being cruelly insensitive to Israel's security needs (a common Zionist talking point to justify oppression against Palestinians by branding them all as threats) and, if not, being anti-Semitic.

But this is the U.S. Where Zionism is preeminent, even in the field of sports. There it is for you and all.