Why the NY Times obsession with Israel and not with West Papua (half a million dead)?

September 23, 2019

A Papuan independence rally last month before the Indonesian troops opened fire

 

WHY THE OBSESSION WITH ISRAEL AND NOT WITH WEST PAPUA (HALF A MILLION DEAD)?

[Note by Tom Gross]



*

In a short interview I gave yesterday evening , above or here, I discuss not only the continuing substantial coverage about Israel in media outlets such as France 24 and the international New York Times, where Israel continues to be the lead story.

I also ask why there has been so little coverage in the western media after the US military admitted killing over 30 innocent Afghan farmers in a drone strike last Thursday:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/afghanistan-dozens-civilians-killed-drone-attack-190919072728303.html

I’m not making a military judgment regarding the Afghan conflict. I’m wondering why the western media does not even want to report and discuss dozens of other conflicts (even those the west is involved in) in anything like the way it scrutinizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a conflict where far fewer people have died compared to many of these other conflicts.

This is particularly the case in the New York Times’ international print edition which, day after day, fills much of its news and opinion pages with generally very one-sided pieces seemingly designed to portray Israel in a negative and misleading light.

 

At the same time, there is almost no coverage of, for example, West Papua where up to half a million people have been killed (and thousands raped) since it was illegally occupied by the Indonesian militarily in 1963.

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/West-Papua-the-forgotten-people-481450

https://thediplomat.com/2014/01/the-human-tragedy-of-west-papua/

https://www.ipwp.org/about-west-papua/

 

More Papuans have been killed during this past summer. The Guardian, unlike most other anti-Israel left-wing media, has covered some of these deaths:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/02/west-papua-students-reportedly-shot-by-militias-as-video-of-soldiers-firing-on-crowds-emerges

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/13/west-papuan-leader-taken-into-custody-in-dramatic-arrest

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/29/west-papua-deaths-as-protest-turns-violent

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/22/west-papua-protests-indonesia-deploys-1000-soldiers-to-quell-unrest

 

* There is another interview with me on last week’s Israeli elections here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dly0jhdMFf4

http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001870.html

 

* You can also find other items that are not in these dispatches if you “like” this page on Facebook www.facebook.com/TomGrossMedia

All notes and summaries copyright © Tom Gross. All rights reserved.