The “NEW” Jerusalem Post

It is particularly difficult to critique that which a newspaper does not cover or that which the paper chooses to relegate to the back pages

The new Jerusalem Post, now under the editorship of David Bar Ilan’s appointed successor, a Meretz man, Jeff Barak, has chosen not to cover the continuing case in the Israel High Court of Justice that is being valiantly waged by Joyce and Stanley Boim, Jerusalem Post readers and American Israeli citizens whose son David, age 16, was murdered last May, 1996. Why did Barak deem this less than newsworthy?

The Boims are trying to get a judgement by the High Court that will require the Israel Ministry of Justice to demand the arrest of their son’s killer, Amjad Hamawi, who has found refuge in the safe haven of the Palestine Authority. No major organization in Israel will take up the Boims case – not Yesha, not Young Israel, not Likud, not any civil rights organization with the exception of one civil rights group now in formation called “Ohev Tzedek”. Meanwhile, the Post keeps the court case from the public eye. The public is then led to believe that the Israeli government is doing its best when it is actually doing nothing at all. Why did Barak deem this less than newsworthy?

The Post continues its policy on this matter when it sends a senior reporter and photographer to cover the press conference held on March 13 with the Boims, the Wachsmans and the Yamins, all of whom have loved ones who are murdered and the killers roam freely in the Palestine Authority without a request for their arrest. True, the Post putson one of its inside pages on March 14 a quote from a wire service that describes the press conference in a few hidden lines. However, the Post did not even see fit to pick up on a fascinating, newsworthy aspect of the story, which is that Congressman James Saxton appealed to President Clinton to follow through on Clinton’s direct and personal promise to the Wachsman family that the peace process should not proceed unless and until the Palestine Authority hands over Muhammad Deif, the mastermind of the Wachsman murder. Clinton made that commitment at the grave of Nachshon Wachsman last March 14, 1996. The letter from Saxton was read at the press conference and ignored by the Post.Why did Barak deem this less than newsworthy?

Jeff Barak appears at a public forum in Haifa on March 19th. Perhaps he should be asked about the policies of the NEW Jerusalem Post. Perhaps the owners of the Post should be asked a thing or two.