Reuters: Child killings kill the party

We nearly missed this Reuters story headline following the murder of three Jewish schoolchildren and a rabbi in Toulouse last month:

Killings sour good life for high-flying Toulouse

Islamic terror is such a drag, isn't it?

Reuters reports on Palestinian flag raising at UNESCO, forgets a little something

In a story on UNESCO raising the Palestinian flag at a Paris ceremony signifying entry of the ersatz state of "Palestine" into the cultural organization, Reuters correspondent John Irish describes the purported rationale for the Palestinian application:

Some 50 diplomatic guests watched as Abbas lifted the flag to the Palestinian national anthem and said he hoped UNESCO's move was the beginning of international recognition for Palestine. The Palestinian national anthem played as a morning of biting wind and rain gave way to a burst of sunshine.
"It is moving to see our flag raised and for it to be flying in this beautiful city of Paris among all the other states. This bodes well for Palestine becoming a member of other international institutions," Abbas said.
"We hope we will have one independent state in the future that will live side by side with Israel," he said.

Oops!  Apparently, Abbas forgot to include the ever-present obligatory modifier, "side by side in peace with Israel".  An oversight, we're sure.

And Irish fails to mention the genuine reason the Palestinians wish to be a part of UNESCO: so they can prevent Jews from praying at holy sites which they (the Palestinians) will likely control.

Irish does however, attempt to characterize and isolate Israel and the United States as the (only) two nations opposed to the Palestinian attempt to gain statehood without negotiating a peace treaty:

The UNESCO vote was a diplomatic victory for Abbas, who in the absence of peace talks with the Jewish state has pushed for recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations, a move opposed by Israel and the United States. [...]

Israel and its main ally the United States insist that only a peace treaty can establish a universally recognized Palestinian state. But the Palestinians say they have been patient through 20 years of futile talks. [...]

Abbas, who still wants a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution for a Palestinian state even though it is destined to fail because of a U.S. veto, was to meet President Nicolas Sarkozy later Tuesday.

That the Palestinians haven't a hope in hell of winning the requisite nine votes in the UN Security Council due to opposition from other nations, like Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Bosnia and Colombia, fails to warrant a mention by Irish. 

Nor does the fact that the entire European Union has come out against Palestinian unilateralism, appear to be in Irish's notebook.

As an anti-Israel propagandist, it's always most effective to frame the contest as one of: Israel and America versus The World.

Reuters' doors of perception

Today is the one-year anniversary of the last Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) meeting between Israeli and Palestinian officials who had been attempting to negotiate a final settlement of the conflict between the parties.  It didn't go well.  Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad cancelled a scheduled joint press conference with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and stormed out of the meeting because Ayalon wanted the official summary to refer to "two states for two peoples". 

A few days later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to extend Israel's unilateral 10-month settlement freeze in the territories and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas terminated peace talks.

The Palestinians have refused to return to the negotiating table ever since.

Of course, one would never know any of these historical facts reading Reuters anamorphic account of events:

Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed a year ago after Israel refused to extend a moratorium on new settlements in areas the Palestinians want for a future state.

Note how Reuters correspondents Matt Spetalnick and John Irish place blame solely on Israel.  The Palestinians apparently had no hand in the cessation of peace talks which simply "collapsed" (passive voice) following Israel's decision not to renew the building freeze.

But the optics become even more distorted when Spetalnick and Irish bend reality to absolve the Palestinians of their intransigence:

It would also raise pressure on Israel, which despite its offer of direct peace talks has not made any of the concessions that the Palestinians say would make such talks possible.

Israel has offered direct peace talks but only concessions on her part "would make such talks possible".  Again, the passive voice is employed to discharge the Palestinians of any responsibility for their utter rejection of negotiations.

Somewhere in a cemetery in England, George Orwell is rolling over.  But Aldous Huxley is having a good ole laugh.