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EDMONTON SUN COLUMNIST
OFFSIDE ON MIDDLE EAST
April 29,
2005
Dear
HonestReporting Canada Subscriber:
It's not
often that professional sports gets mixed up with the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
 But
there is always a first time for everything. On April 28 the Edmonton Sun
published a column by
Lyn Cockburn entitled “Settle ‘Orr’ else!” about Hockey Hall of
Fame inductee and former Boston Bruins great Bobby Orr. Cockburn began by
urging Orr to help settle the bitter dispute between the National Hockey
League and the NHL Players’ Association.
Cockburn
then suggested that Orr should facilitate talks between Israelis and
Palestinians. Initially tongue-in-cheek, Cockburn's suggestion rapidly
morphed into a simplistic analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict, using
moral relativism to equate Palestinian and Israeli actions and intentions.
1)
Drawing false parallels:
Cockburn
compared NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob
Goodenow to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas. She then portrayed Israelis and Palestinians as being one and
the same, "both sides" lacking "real sense" and causing "the
violence on both sides" to continue:
NHL
vs. NHLPA
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Israelis vs. Palestinians
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“He (Orr) went on to label both Bettman and Goodenow intransigent dolts
who are mired in a blame game that leads nowhere. Orr stated flatly that
they ought to come to a resolution or step aside.” |
“Perhaps it will take a Bobby Orr to talk some real sense into the
Israelis and the Palestinians, who have a long and violent history of
intransigence, revenge, futile negotiations, revenge.... Each side is
happy to bore listeners into unconsciousness with rhetoric about how
right they are and how wrong the other guys are. Meanwhile, the violence
on both sides continues.” |
These comparisons ignore
the
complexities of the Middle East conflict – arguably more complicated than
the hockey dispute -- and simplistically cast Israelis and Palestinians as
being equally foolish and intransigent.
2) Rehashing revenge motives:
Cockburn
described
Israelis and Palestinians as having “a long and violent history of
intransigence, revenge, futile negotiations, revenge.”
This
formulation blurs the distinction between Palestinian terror against Israeli
civilians (suicide bombings in buses and cafes, for example), and Israel's
military response in defense of its citizens. Cockburn ignores the
difference between terrorist aggression and military
response to terrorist aggression.
3) Discrediting legitimate security concerns:
Cockburn says the following about Israel’s security barrier:
“Yes, yes, Ariel Sharon is pulling settlers out of Gaza, and shutting down
some settlements on the West Bank - at the same time he's giving the
go-ahead for more settlements on the West Bank and building a great big
stupid fence to keep Palestinians out.”
Cockburn ignores the fact that
withdrawing from Gaza is a major (and painful) Israeli step toward
satisfying Palestinian demands. And as HonestReporting Canada pointed out in
July 2004:
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Israel's security barrier is a defensive response to Palestinian terror
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The
security barrier works: terror is down by 90% in areas where it was built
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By
preventing violence, the security barrier saves both Israeli and
Palestinian lives
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The
security barrier can come down when the Palestinian leadership ends
incitement and prevents terror against Israelis
HonestReporting Canada asks the
following question to the editors at the Edmonton Sun: How did Bobby Orr
and Canada’s favourite pastime turn into a profoundly misleading analysis of
the Arab-Israeli conflict?
How You Can Make a Difference
 Take
one minute right now to write a short letter to the editor. Tell the
Edmonton Sun that Lyn Cockburn has blurred the lines between Palestinian
terrorist aggression against Israeli civilians, and Israel's military
response in defense of its citizens.
Write to
the Edmonton Sun editor at:
mailbag@edm.sunpub.com
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Please
keep your letter polite and to the point, using your own words.
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Please
include your name and phone number.
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Please
forward a copy of your correspondence to
bcc@honestreporting.ca.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to fair and accurate
media coverage of Israel and the Middle East
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