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Discussions open minds
World-class Hebrew U scholars enlighten students.
BAILA LAZARUS EDITOR AND PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
Why docs Israel get such a bad rap? This is one of the nagging questions that has been on the minds of people following the media war in the Middle East. The mtyor news stations in the United States have pegged Israel as the aggressor in the conflict and they don't look like they arc going to change their minds.
This, said Hebrew University professor Dr. Gadi Wolfsfeld, is what's known in journalism as a "frame" or storyline that designates who are the heroes and who are the villains.
It's very hard to overcome prejudice with facts."
i-?rotFrancKRaday
"Once you establish a storyline, you can't deviate from that storyline," Wolfsfeld told a full Norman Rothstein Theatre at the opening of Stretch Your Mind: The Best of Hebrew U.
In his speech - Understanding Israel's Image in the International News Media - Wolfsfeld explained the rationale behind the decisions of many newsrooms to make the Palestinians look like victims in the conflict. The biggest issue, he said, is that North American audiences don't really care about foreign news. To make such news entertaining, it has to be very graphic and very simple. That means, you can't change who the good guys are, otherwise the viewing public will get confused and ook for another news station, Wolfsfeld explained.
In addition, most newsrooms like to believe they are doing something that fights iiy'ustice. The Palestinians become the underdogs because the perception is that the root of all evil in the Middle East is Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, Wolfsfeld said.
Wolfefeld, who is a professor of political science, communication and journalism, was the keynote speaker of a program that brought six scholars from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem into Vancouver for a night and day of learning.
The opening event Sept 8 also
included a reception in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC), Hav-dalah prayers, musical entertainment and a dessert reception.
Tough to defend Israel
On Sunday, the scholars each presented three sessions focusing on their areas of expertise. Topics were as diverse as Jewish Mysticism as a Path of Freedom, and Gene Delivery Systems and Therapy.
Prof Frances Raday, in a session titled Religion, Secularism and Human Rights in Israel, discussed the long Jewish tradition of respect for the individual and how that tradition impacted on the Enlightenment sensibilities in Europe.
The founding of the state of Israel in 1948 confronted Jews with a whole new challenge: that of governing.
Israel has a state religion, which makes it no different, Raday pointed out, from England or Scandinavian countries. As in those countries, she explained, having an official religion docs not mean that religious minorities are not respected or accorded full civi rights. She admowledgcd that Arab citizens in Israel suffer from employment discrimination and other disadvantages, but pointed out that they have legal recourse and the right to vote.
Raday forcefully attacked the religious lobby in Israel, whoso political power in minority governments she credits with holding other citizens hostage.
Charedi officials, said Raday, use their powers to manipulate the system. For example, restaurants with belly-dancers have been denied kashrut certificates - effectively damning their businesses - for reasons that have nothing to do with the food preparation. Most irritating to average Israelis, she added, are the incongruous rules regarding. military service by Charcdim and non-Charcdi Israelis, which arc a result of nothing but political force.
Finally, she said, the recent United Nations conference in Durban, South Africa, represented the triumph of lies over truth. An apparently left-wing Israeli professor, Raday neverfiie-less acknowledged that, despite its failures to ensure that the finest aims of human rights lavre are realized in daily activities, Israel has.done well at protecting its minority citizens. To call Israel an apartheid state, as hap-