The Guardian, which is opposed to just about anything that Israel says or does, is trying to support J Street since it sees it as another way to create a wedge between US Jews and Israel.
Its running a poll under a picture of a torn and tattered Israeli flag* (hat tip AKUS)
The poll poses the following question: Is J Street helping or hurting the peace process?
Ask yourself what subliminal message the Guardian is trying to convey with the use of this image and what this has to with the question being polled.
In any case, if you have an opinion about the poll, and would like to vote, please do so soon by clicking here – the poll closes in 2 days time.
At present the poll results weigh unsurprisingly in favor of J Street.
63.4% Roadmap. J Street’s voice is valuable
36.6% Roadblock. J Street muddies the debate
* Reproduction of this image is being made to illustrate the Guardian’s perception of Israel. See our Fair Use Notice.
Update
Good news. For most of the day the poll has been running 14% in favor of J-Street and 86% against. The way it should be.
By far the highlight of the day however was the comments in the CiF thread that accompanied the poll.
First we had this from Santa Moniker:
SantaMoniker
27 Oct 09, 1:07pm
Well, well … its not over till its over, but this poll seems to be going the “wrong way” 🙂
I was initially disgusted by that attempt to deride Israel with that picture of the tattered Israeli flag – then I remembered something:
O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
…
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
——-
Just like that star spangled banner, the tattered single blue star of Israel still proudly flies!!!
Am Israel Chai!!!
Then we have this from MindTheCrap:
MindTheCrap
No doubt Georgina Henry will soon issue a statement similar to this:
Thanks to those of you who have raised the issue of the use of the tattered Israeli flag. The intention was clearly not to offend in that we were using the tattered flag in its colloquial sense, and in a general way. But I have asked the Guardian’s style and fashion editor (who shudders whenever the word “tatter” is mentioned) whether guidance should be included on its use. Since we’ve taken the point on board, perhaps the thread could now concentrate on debating the merits of this argument.
And it gets even better. It turns out MindTheCrap was almost right. However rather than Georgina jumping in, we got Brian Whitaker with this utterly moronic comment:
BrianWhit
27 Oct 09, 4:29pm
Staff A torn flag of Israel? Revealing. Very revealing. I like to see where else we have seen the Guardian disrespect a nation’s flag.
georgeindia: Here’s a British flag getting burnt at a demo.
The link that Whitaker was pointing to was of a news article entitled “Yard wants ban on flag-burning in crackdown on demos by extremists” that reported Scotland Yard wants to get tough with rowdy flag-burning protesters. A picture of demonstrators burning the British flag accompanied the news report. How this is even the slightest bit responsive to georgeindia’s comment is totally beyond me.
And it didn’t take long for georgeindia to respond with this:
georgeindia
27 Oct 09, 4:47pm
Brian,
Nice try. Other than reports from incidents such as demonstrations, do you have nice little picture where the only object presented is a burnt/torn British flag (or a flag of any other country for that matter) to represent a country?
You see, this picture of the Israeli flag is not in the context of a demonstration, or flag burning, or anything that fits with the context of the report. Heck, this wasn’t even a report or even an op-ed!This picture is that of the Israeli flag – that’s it. And the only Israeli flag the Guardian could find was one torn to shreds. The photo is not even related to the poll or another article for that matter. I don’t understand, Or maybe I do. What clever explanation can we expect? With your level of access, I’m sure it’ll be easy to know.
And then we had Santa Moniker weighing in with this:
SantaMoniker
27 Oct 09, 5:04pm
BrianWhitaker
“Here’s a British flag getting burnt at a demo “
Um … the caption says:
Yard wants ban on flag-burning in crackdown on demos by extremists
· Calls for firm action after Muslims’ cathedral protest
· Opinion divided over ‘get tough’ measuresCould you explain the relevance?? Did Muslims tear or burn that Israeli flag?
So come on Brian please enlighten us all. We’re all sitting on the edge of our seats in anticipation of your response…
Perhaps though the best of the bunch was this from AKUS:
Three Misguided Idiots: Third Act
Whitaker:
I’ve got a great idea – let’s have a poll to show support for JStreet – that’ll stick it to that CiFWatch (a feig – you should pardon the expression) crowd.
Seaton:
Brian – you’ve been spending too much time with your house Jews – that kind of ethnic language is inappropriate here.
I saw this great picture of a tattered Israeli flag we could use – that’ll get the troops worked up!
Henry:
Great idea – I bet we run 90% pro-JStreet!!! Do it – NOW!!!
—-
Rusbridger:
Let’s see how our poll is doing – OMIGOD! NOOO!!!
16.3% Roadmap. J Street’s voice is valuable
83.7% Roadblock. J Street muddies the debate
What did you idiots do to us????
Call the accountants – how much could we save by replacing these ethical cretins with Jonathan Hoffman???
