Er ist nicht unbedingt das, was man einen Israel – Kritiker nennen würde. Er berichtet seit 1966 aus und über Israel, er hat Journalismus an der nicht unbedingt als fortschrittlichsten aller Lehrstätten zu bezeichnenden Bar Ilan Universität gelehrt, und er war Vorsitzender des Verbandes der Auslands- Journalisten in Israel. Und das hat Jay Bushinsky zu sagen zu Israels Umgang mit ausländischen Medienvertretern.

 "No country could possibly be more obsessed about its image abroad than is Israel. Understandably, Israelis want to be liked and where appropriate, admired.

But in recent years, especially since Operation Cast Lead – the poorly-planned and badly-executed assault on the Gaza Strip that began December 27, 2008 – they have been the butt of international criticism, much of it unwarranted.

The traditional panacea here for this problem is termed hasbara, an untranslatable Hebrew word that literally means “explanation,” but implies “rationale” or “elaboration.” In actual fact, however, the real solution is a change in policy and attitude toward the international news media and especially toward the foreign correspondents based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

This country has the third-biggest international press corps in the world. Its size is exceeded only by the number of colleagues who file from Washington, DC, and alternately Moscow or Beijing.

But the goodwill and respect enjoyed by the journalists who covered the country during its War of Independence 62 years ago and for at least two decades thereafter has been replaced by disdain and disrespect.


THE TROUBLE starts at Ben-Gurion Airport. Regardless of whether they are returning from home leave or an assignment abroad or are arriving for the first time, bona fide and in many cases veteran correspondents encounter poker-faced policemen and women who ask, menacingly, “Why have you come to this country?”

weiterlesen